Child Of The Americas, By Stephen Cruz

Assimilation and Marginality

Assimilation to me is when people of different or ethnic backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a nation, or a person becoming acclimated to the dominant culture by acquiring new attitudes and customs, it is a gradual change. Marginality is the state of being excluded and being treated as an outsider based on cultural differences. The following works demonstrate both assimilation and marginality in a number of ways “Child of the Americas”, “Stephen Cruz”, “Mother bathing child”, “Four youths” In the poem “ Child of the Americas” marginality was being portrayed through the author, with her having a mixed background being Jewish and of Puerto Rican decent, and speaking spanglish. In the beginning of the poem, the author was not sure what race she fits in or belonged to. She talked about the mixing of two cultures. As the poem progressed, it was more about assimilation because the author was able to realize her flaws and inacceptance in America, I was able to see that she has a passion for her race. She knows that her race
In this essay racism and discrimination was part of Mr. Cruz’s life, although it was not directly towards him. The “business world” was very merciless with its discrimination tactics. Even when one of his careers hired minorities, it was only because they had to. They made sure to place them somewhere they would get visual attention, but the opportunity for growth and promotions were out of the window. Many people believe that money can buy happiness, Mr. Cruz found himself caught up into a trap, because although he went to school and had high paying jobs, he was not at all content with where he was in life. Which is where assimilation came into place. Stephen Cruz eventually became a professor, making less money than he has made in the past, but it made him happy to go to his place of employment each and everyday. And he was accustomed