Judith Ortiz Cofer establishes the ethos of racial prejudice through her background, education and her own experiences. As she begins to talk about how you can travel far away from the Island, but then she states that, “if you are a Latina, especially one like me….the Island travels with you.” From previous experience, she’s able to know that being Latina can win someone's attention for extra minute, but in other people, it just makes her feel like an island that’s a “place nobody wants to visit”. She knows the feeling of resentment because she was a Puerto Rican girl growing up in the United States, and all that she wanted was to “belong” in society and not draw attention to herself because her appearance was different than others. With knowing…
How do the details Judith Ortiz Cofer includes support her THESIS that latinas are poorly understood and grossly stereotyped? When she goes to her first formal dance, she gets kissed by a guy who just overeager kisses her painfully but Judith didn't respond. Which made the guy think " i thought you Latin girls were suppose to mature". meaning he thought she was going to attack him with kisses.…
In the provided literature surrounding Mexican American Borderlands and The Caribbean Experience in the United States, there are strong common themes of gender roles. These gender roles include common stereotypical roles as well as the struggles which are caused as a result of the roles. In the following essay, the literature will be discussed as well as how each story surrounds these gender roles.…
In Cofer’s essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria,” Cofer uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to portray Latina stereotypes as harmful and inaccurate.…
The kinds of Latinas, Coffer are talking about are mainly Puerto Ricans and Mexican woman. The consequences of irrational assumptions, which helped and encouraged Judith Ortiz Judith Ortiz Cofer, gain the strength and confidence as she worked to prove that stereotypes about her, were strong. On first sight judgments, the audience can decide their attitude towards you. Society can live with them, we can just wait until that person proves himself or shows who he/she is.…
In the late 1800’s and 1900’s America began taking control of smaller nations and territories. This action is called imperialism. America practiced imperialism because of its needs for raw materials and markets, nationalism, and to gain access to different ports for their navy. Among the places taken under American control was the Latin American territory and former Spanish colony of Puerto Rico. America’s imperialism politically striped Puerto Rico of its right to self-govern and control its own affairs, which greatly upset the Puerto Rican people.…
In the essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: Just Met a Girl Named Maria; Judith Ortiz Cofer describes three experiences about racist stereotypes, towards Hispanic and Latin women, happened in her daily life. In fact, stereotypes are common to see throughout the history of human development. When asked about how can we solve this problem indeed, people are always silent and lack of ideas. As an educated one, Cofer can at least have a voice for defending herself and the group of Latinas. For myself, Cofer’s stories reminds me that I also encountered gender stereotypes when I started to learn drums.…
Staples has written for the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago magazine, Down Beat magazine, Ms., New York Times Magazine, and Harper’s; he continues to try and shed light on racism and violence in our world. Cofer has written many books, she is an award winning poet, and is currently the Franklin professor of English and Creative Writing at The University of Georgia; she continues to try to do away with the stereotypes of Latin women through her writing. These two writers are trying to show us that stereotypes and prejudice are not just jokes that we tell each and laugh about, but rather they can and will hurt those being stereotyped. The racist jokes, thoughts, and stereotypes we hear have a bigger impact than to makes us laugh or be fearful, they help to spread racism. We need to try and look deeper and the color of someone skin; we are all human, we all have our strengths, we all have our weaknesses, but we cannot let one of our weaknesses be our susceptibility to take part in racism not matter how good natured we may think it…
The House On Mango Street and “ Only Daughter” both prove that being an Mexican- American women is a struggle. As Cisneros shows her first hand experience, and as well shows it through story telling. Yet without telling a biography and going straight to the point she shows emotion by using literary elements. Sandra Cisneros Chose to use metaphors and imagery to express the hard ships of being a Mexican- American women. If Sandra Cisneros did not use literary elements to show the lifestyle of a Mexican-American women, the points that she showed in both the texts would not have been as powerful as they were.…
Barrientos audiences are anyone who struggles with fitting in society just she do. When Barrientos expressed her disagreement of American society’s alleged of Latino being Mexican to her father, he sent her on a vacation to Mexico and after seeing how beautiful Mexico is, adjusted Barrientos negative understanding of Hispanics. “I found out that he was right, I loved the music, the art, and the architecture. “He’d planted a seed of pride, but it would take years for me to figure out how to nurture it” (85). Barrientos limitation of speaking Spanish hinders her bonding with her origin because Spanish aside from English was a way that Latinos connected. Barrientos was left questioning how she would fit in as Latino if she could not speak proper Spanish.…
In The Myth Of The Latian Woman: I Just Met A Girl Named Maria Judith Ortiz Cofer States “ You can leave the island, master the English language, and travel as far as you can ,but if you are Latina …. the island travels with you”. This shows her view that your ethnicity is where you come from, who you are, and what you take with you when you leave place. That even though she has left the island she brings with her the thoughts of the island. That her being from the island this shapes her culture and everything she does. That no matter if shes own the Island , the U.S. , or London she is still a Latina or more specifically a Puerto Rican.…
In the late twentieth and twenty first century Chicana/o narrative has become a medium to express the injustices that the community faces along with identity conflicts at the individual level. Chicana/o narrative, fictional or autobiographical work, serves as an act of healing and resistance, in which the themes of the gender roles, family, feminism and immigration are predominant. These four themes serve to deconstruct and challenge the patriarchy, while seeking to foster a more inclusive community. Immigration plays a fundamental role in Chicana/o community, Reyna Grande’s memoir The Distance Between Us deconstructing the popular representation of the American Dream by…
In “The Myth of The Latin Women”, there are numerous stereotypes that Latin women are judged for. Being a Latin woman, Cofer was judged falsely. Clothing in the Latin culture is a means of expression. Cofer explains that woman and girls often wear brightly colored outfits, specifically dresses and skirts. The clothing that Latin women wear also has an influence on how others might see them. Cofer describes that, “As young girls, it was our mothers who influenced our decisions about clothes and colors,” Unfortunately, the media twisted this tradition, making it translate into “Hispanic women as the hot tamale or sexual firebrand” (245).…
Puerto Rico is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico is a self-governing commonwealth associated with the United States. All citizens born in Puerto Rico are considered US Citizens. The main language is Spanish and English, however, many other languages are spoken there.…
Are there differences between living in Puerto Rico and living in the United States? I believe that there are big differences. I came to the United States when I was five years old. I then moved to Philadelphia for one year, lived in Georgia for six years, and now I am currently living in Maryland. I always go back to Puerto Rico to visit my family. I love it there. I like living in the United States but there are many things that differ such as the location itself, people and the schools.…