“Se Habla Espanol” The essay, “Se Habla Espanol,” was written by Tanya Barrientos. Tanya writes about the hardships she goes through trying to speak the language that she pushed away from because of racial stereotypes. Being stereotyped Tanya did not want anything to do with being a Latina, or speaking the Spanish language. Once she realized how society had changed, Tanya tried to regain the culture she had lost during her childhood. 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.
She is uninterested in learning English and feels she is not obligated to, she instead expects her grandchildren to learn Anishinabe. This demonstrates stubbornness within people when they do not invite change into their lives. Stubbornness can hurt
In the novel of Darkwater written by author Georgia Blain, I do not think the characters, although seeming to live in a close knit community really knew each other very well. Amanda, Kate, Cherry, Lyndon, Joe and Steve were all meant to be friends. They hung out together at school and caught up after, but they all held their own secrets and lies. They didn’t seem to confine between each other like true friends do. Amanda kept a lot of secrets to herself, like that she was pregnant and that she was black mailing Cherry’s dad.
The essay “Se Habla Espanol” by writer Tanya Barrientos is a first person narrative describing her life experiences starting from her childhood up through her adult years. Tanya Barrientos is a first generation immigrant, coming from Guatemala at the age of three. In her memoir, Barrientos explains how Americans at that time were not culturally tolerant, and foreigners were expected to “leave their cultural baggage at the border.” As a result, her parents immerse her into the American culture by speaking only English, to ensure her success. However, in doing so she became ashamed of her ethnicity, and failed to identify with her native culture (Roen, Glau, & Maid 2011). .
Barrientos depicts the hardships and discriminations of the growth of a child coming to America from another country and being forced to speak English and not her native tongue. She knew she was not white like the other children and although she was living the American dream with her family, her parents put her into a position to be English speaking where as they spoke in Spanish to one another but English to the children. As she got older she realized she wanted to be a proud Latina and felt like an outcast from her people because she didn’t speak the language. As her efforts continued she felt discriminated upon by the very people she sought out to teach her. Page 58 she says the registrar called her and her brother, “you people”.
Struggle for the American Dream Anzia Yezierka’s, Bread Givers talks about the life of an immigrant girl who struggles to leave behind her Jewish American culture and obtain the American culture by interacting with Americans. Throughout the book, Sara Smolinsky is looked down upon because she’s an immigrant. Because of her Jewish heritage she is being forced to do what her father tells her. As Sara starts to become older she starts to change and do things her own way. Not following her sisters footsteps, Sara wants to make a difference for herself and decides she wants to associate with the American life.
Like author Judith Ortiz Cofer writes her story “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl named Maria” that “As a Puerto Rican girl living in the Unites States and wanting like most children to “belong,” I resented the stereotype that my Hispanic appearance called forth from many people I met” (366). Parents raise their kids to become the stereotype instead making them see the better in them and the batter in
Della Mae Justice took in her niece and nephew who were in foster care. She didn't grow up to immediately become middle-class. What Justice did was work so hard to climb out of the working-class to become middle-class so that her niece and nephew could have more than what she was offered when she was their age. Aware of the financial situations, Justice is compared to others in the upper and working class, she struggles with the different cultures each has. Lewin quotes Justice when she says, "'My stomach's always in knots getting ready to go to a party, wondering if I'm wearing the right thing, if I'll know what to do..." (70) This happens because of the different cultures the middle-class, which Justice is now in, presents, compared to the lower class she used to be in.
Everyone strives to belong. Achieving a sense of belonging can be difficult, especially for families who have to establish new ties in a second culture they have immigrated to. Both the Joy Luck Club and Immigrant Chronicles share the difficulties that first and second generation immigrants have in finding their place in a new country. Although the challenges each generation faces are different and contribute to a lack of connection to one another, belonging is vital to them both, nonetheless. In the Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, all four of the mother’s depicted in the story struggle with the new culture because their first culture is more deeply ingrained in their character.
born wife Betty and daughter Mahtob to visit his family. Once there, Moody decides he wants to stay in Iran, believing it would be a better place for the family. Betty disagrees and tries to leave with her daughter, although Moody is determined not to let that happen. In the movie Not without my daughter, because of Betty’s displacement, she feels as though she doesn’t belong and she is not seen as an equal in Tehran. And this contrasts with how she felt when she belonged and had her identity in America.