Tanya wants to inspire those of her culture that can relate to what she is going through, while also asking for acceptance within the Latino community. Tanya was brought to the United States by her parents who were fluent in both languages. One parent was an artist and the other a psychology professor. Her parents only wanted what was best for her, so they only allowed them to read, write, and speak English. Tanya’s parents did this because they wanted her to fit into this, “red, white and blue world.”(pg 8) They wanted her to be able to speak the English language without a hint of the Spanish accent.
She feels the need of being part of a community. On the other hand Mira has pride for her culture and don’t want to give up her Indian citizenship. Even though Bharati and Mira has different opinions when it comes to immigration, they both have the same sense of betrayal from the immigration policies. The laws mistreated them, and each sister symbolizes the two type of people in America. There are some people who only come here to succeed but not belong in the American family because they still have love for their country.
Mother’s Tongue vs. Public Language Richard Rodriguez and Amy Tan, both writers, talk about their experiences with non-American backgrounds living in America. In both of their essays "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" by Rodriguez, and "Mother Tongue" by Tan, are very similar in that they both emphasize the importance of language and describes how it affected their lives. Both Rodriguez and Tan stress the importance of their family's language. Tan expresses two major issues; how language has impacted both her and her mother's lives and the different English's she uses towards her mother and others. Similarly, Rodriguez explains how language has affected him and his family's lives and the transition from Spanish to English.
Then at times, I feel ashamed. The stereotype that is cast upon me is unreal. I do not understand how people can judge me based on the fact that I do not speak Spanish. So, in a way I am very defensive about it. My whole life I have been treated this way; it is bound to have some negative affect on me.
Henry’s father self identifies as being a Mexican while Henry and the other youth self identify as being Chicanos. It is interesting that since the Chicano movement did not start until after the 1940’s that there was racism within the Mexican community itself. Racism towards Anglos occurs in a scene in the bar where Henry fights with another gang rival. El Pachuco makes the statement “don’t hate raza more than gringo’s”; this statement shows the hatred for Anglos but also speaks to how Mexicans need to stick together. Being that this is a short paper, I will only talk about a few incidents in the courtroom scene as there far too many examples of racism to detail here.
Visual Arts and Poetry The Girl Powdering Her Neck by Cathy Song Portrait by Kitagawa Utamaro The poem Girl Powdering Her Neck was written by Hawaiian native Cathy Song. Cathy Song’s first piece of work The Picture Bride won her the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 1983. Song’s father was Korean American and her mother Chinese American. Her interest in writing began very young, when she would journal her families’ experiences. Her first work was actually about her father and mother, her mother was a picture bride.
These women are free in the sense that they have escaped from Mexico, except that they are at the whim of the “coyote.” Even Mexican’s that cross legally into the Southwest and northern cities (Chicano Barrios) “find themselves in the midst of 150 years of racism.” These people are forced out of their own country and into another to find they are not welcomed. On page 65 Anzaldua talks about how her chicana character tries to “conceal that” she “was not normal, that” she “was not like the others…She has this fear that she has no names that she has many names that she doesn’t know her names” It is interesting to note the contradiction here is that she is looking for an identity but she is scared to have one or that she already has
English 28 25 June 2014 Essay # 1 “My Name” by Sandra Cisneros Does a name identify you? Yes, According to the Narrator of “My Name”, Esperanza thought her name was ugly and carries a negative tenor. There are continuous amount of names that someone can identify with. There are not only names given at birth, but also names that members of society and racial groups could give you; respectful and disrespectful names. A name doesn’t give a person there true identity because it is not chosen, it is selected by other people.
These labels that are constantly put on us drive me insane. There is so much hidden in our family that non-members do not see. In addition to all of these stereotypes that are put on me and the others in my group, I do not like to show people that it bothers me, but these stereotypes have really given me a negative outlook on these people. The stereotypes that have been put on me have made me put stereotypes back on these other people. I now look at the outsiders as "city slickers" or I call them lazy and tell them that they have no discipline.
In contrast, Asagai is patriotic because he is proud of his culture as shown in his words after handing Beneatha her gift, “I shall have to teach you how to drape it properly” (32.) He also tries to encourage Beneatha to embrace her roots by commenting on her unnatural hair as stated in the quote, “And so to accommodate that — you mutilate it every week?” (32). From this quote, it’s shown that Asagai thinks of assimilation as something negative and Beneatha should not become submissive into it. Asagai and George also contrast in how they act towards Beneatha. Asagai is benevolent, while George is egocentric.