Common Readings Narrative Essay

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Common Readings Narrative Essay The essays “My Hips My Caderas”, “Just a Little Princess?” and “Black vs. ‘Black’” by Alisa Valdes, Peggy Orenstien and Gary Kamiya all blame society for their own issues. They all believe that the American society has caused their self esteem issues and how they view themselves. In the essay “My Hips My Cadaras” we read about her not knowing which race to claim. She does not know how to perceive herself verses how these two cultures reacted to her. In the essay “Just a Little Princess?” we are bombarded by how the Disney Company is influencing how her daughter will perceive herself. Also in “Black vs. ‘Black’” we read of how we as a society are stereotyped and how it can affect the self esteem of the mixed heritage. In this essay I will argue that these three writings promote blame on others for their own self perception. In the essay “Black vs. `Black`” by Gary Kamiya he states “Because who wants to go around carrying the burden because it’s a phantom, an abstract concept that nonetheless weighs you down. To feel “Asian” for me, would be to embrace an entirely political definition of myself, a spokesman for a `myself` entirely constructed by others” (pg 383). Kamilya is blaming society for a political definition of being “Asian”. The fact that he is viewing himself as white and denying his other half is denying part of himself. All of this, as a rebellion toward society (by denying his Asian heritage) and how he feels we will define him somehow. We should not have to worry how others define us. He also states, “It’s all well and good to preach color-blindness, to celebrate a society without quotation marks, but as long as racism exists, it puts pressure on those who are subject to it to define their identity in terms laid down by others” (pg. 383). There will always be racism here on earth and in the U.S. For someone to say

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