Response Essays

Response to: Foul Shots In Foul Shots, Rogelio R. Gomez writes about his Chicano background and the neighborhood he grew up in. Furthermore, he describes himself being stereotyped as one of the “barrio boys” basically meaning that he is considered inferior to the Anglos. In high school, the writer states that he was on a basketball team and that there was one day when his coach announced that his team was to “buddy up” with the opposite team. The opposite team was all White and therefore had a big conflict with the “barrio boys” due to racism. One of the Anglos threw a bag of Fritos to the “barrio boys” as an insult because of the “Frito Bandito” commercial which was, at its time, very popular and involved a stereotyped “Mexican bandit” from the Western movies who would steal Fritos. Gomez states in his essay that this insult still persists in his mind after “more than 20 years” have passed because he still wonders what he should have done in the situation and always comes to a though in where he is crushing “a silly bag of Fritos.” The title seems to go well with the whole theme of this essay and has two meanings on being that since they are on a basketball team and a “foul” in basketball is an illegal move and also using the meaning of the word “foul” as unfair; they are being compared in a sense. The Anglos in the essay are very stereotypical due to the fact that they threw a bag of Fritos at the “barrio boys” and treated them very rudely; they basically thought of them as “inferior” as stated in by the author. Something that can also be said in this situation; however, is that the stereotypical thoughts could be turned towards the Anglos implying that the Mexican-Americans discriminate towards them too. The reason why is because, in the essay, it says that the “barrio boys” tried to act like they were superior because of their “toughness” and how they played basketball much better than the Anglos, beating them at every game. This whole problem could have