Agosin And Barrientos Analysis

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Prof. Tavera ENGL 1301 9 October 2012 Agosin and Barrientos Identity can be looked at from many different perspectives. In our current culture here in the United States factors such as race, nationality, and class are what most people think of when they think about a persons identity. Marjorie Agosin is affected by all of these factors and finds it hard to keep her identity when she moves to the United States. Agosin doesn’t want to lose her cultural heritage and finds it best to preserve her identity through language. Tanya Barrientos finds it troubling when she moves to the United States because she longs to fit in to the American culture. In “Always Living in Spanish” and “Se Habla Espanol” Marjorie Agosin and Tanya Barrientos find…show more content…
Barrientos says “I came to the United States in 1963 at age 3 with my family and immediately stopped speaking Spanish” (Barrientos 560). Her parents found it to their best interest if their children fit into the American culture as best as they can, only because they think that it will help them reach their full potential due to the racial discrimination and stereotypes some people would hold against Tanya for being a Latino. That is why Tanya did everything in her power to just look like the average American. She also explains how “they told me I didn’t seem Mexican to them, and I took it as a complement” (Barrientos 561). She finds it flattering when people who know that she is from Mexico still think she looks like any other white American. She also feels guilty however, because she feels like she is proud of being something that she is not which is wrong in a sense when she is in fact from Mexico and longs to represent something she is…show more content…
Barrientos is thinking about the other people who were put into her position and believes that the others might be “secretly struggling to fit in, the same way I am” (Barrientos 563). But even if they are struggling just like her it doesn’t help anything except for the feeling of loneliness she refers to while trying to be like the other kids. She finally feels accepted in the American culture and starts to believe that she shouldn’t be ashamed of being Latino, she should be proud and then later says, “I wish we all had the courage to come out of our hiding places and claim our rightful spot in the broad Latino spectrum” (Barrientos 563). If Barrientos had to relive her life growing up as a Latino in America she would do it proudly and not try to hide her natural heritage, she would be assertive with who she is and where she came from instead of trying to hide her Latino

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