Junot Diaz's How To Date A Browngirl, Blackgirl

In this article, Diaz has suggested several ways to boys that may way avail to date a girl belonging to any ethnicity. The story throws light upon the usual stereotypes of girls which influence a boy’s style of approaching them because he has preconceived notions about the respective stereotypes. Girls belonging to different ethnic origins are known for their attitude and behavior in particular settings and need to be dealt with accordingly in order to have them date you. Throughout the article, Diaz has maintained an instructional tone. Diaz tells what a boy should do when he tries to call the girl next door and instead of her father picks up the receiver at the other end of the line.

Within the latino culture, the older generations take it upon themselves to guide and advise the younger generations. They do so by either sharing an anecdote and adding analytical notes or simply by telling you what to do. These concepts are represented through the short stories “Junito,” by Luis Negron and “How to Date a Browngirl” by Junot Diaz. In both of these pieces, the narrator gives advice to a young latino male, however, through the use of both first person and second person narrative and explicit diction, Negron’s piece was more realistic while Diaz’s piece is more on the side of satire due to the use of only second person narrative and hints of sarcasm.

Navarro discusses that the assumptions of her future were negative and derogatory towards her and her race. There was a relationship that she had with a boy and explained that “He thought I looked ugly because my skin was too dark. He [didn’t] want to take me to the beach or lie down in the park in case I [got] tan again. Another time, he [told] me to shut up because I sound ‘too Mexican’” (Ferber et al, 2013, 128).

As a group, mostly all of our thoughts and opinions were similar when discussing the topic of this paper; which was diversity and ethnocentrism. After reading the first section "In Group Bias", we all agreed that prejudice will arise when different communities are put together. This is simply because people tend to stick together based on their culture, religion, or lifestyle. Natalie mentioned that preferences for an alike group are based on everyone's upbringing; which happens to be the topic of the next section "Questions about Race in Biology and Upbringing". Concerning this section, we realized that multiracial children are often times placed into categories that they do not fully identify with, but they are obligated to identify as because it is how they make friends or meet new kids.

Everybody has an identity but everybody has their own unique identity. Identity means who a person is or who they define themselves as. In the memoir Brown Girl Dreaming written by Jacqueline Woodson, Jacqueline is a young girl growing up in the early 1960s when racism and the civil rights movements are going on. Growing up during this time was hard for Jackie because of all of the racism. Jackie is an award-winning author and is known for growing up in a very tough environment.

Black and Puerto Rican: Developing Piri’s Double-Sided Identity For centuries, American citizens have possessed a tendency to view ethnicity in black and white. A person without pale skin and smooth hair is characterized as black without regard to his or her self-identification. Given the racism prevalent in society, this black-white paradigm causes difficulty for people who are not comfortable in one or either category. Piri Thomas was one of these children, and his memoir recounts his struggle to understand himself. In Down These Mean Streets, Thomas demonstrates how the protagonist Piri’s confusion with his skin color and Puerto Rican heritage lead him to eventually acknowledge and appreciate his identity as an Afro-Latino man in America.

The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named María is an essay by Judith Ortiz Cofer that addresses the impact of stereotyping on Latino women. Throughout the essay, Cofer relates her personal experiences with stereotypes to discuss how they have negatively affected her life and the lives of other Latinas. She also explains how these stereotypes originated and calls on her audience, the majority-white non-Latino population, to stop propagating the stereotypical portrayals of Latino women. In The Myth of the Latin Woman, Cofer speaks out about how stereotyping hinders the process of assimilating to a new culture by appealing to ethos through her personal experiences, using similes that show how stereotypes create isolation, and adopting

The decision to attend a white school is a tough one and Junior understands that for him to survive and to ensure that his background does not stop him from attaining his dreams; he must battle the stereotypes regardless of the consequences. In this light, race and stereotypes only makes junior stronger in the end as evident on how he struggles to override the race and stereotypical expectations from his time at the reservation to his time at Rearden. How race and stereotypes made

“When people rely on surface appearances and false racial stereotypes, rather than in-depth knowledge of others at the level of the heart, mind and spirit, their ability to assess and understand people accurately is compromised.” James A. Forbes said. People have often stereotyped races and ethnicities because based less on fact than rumor and exaggeration. But, many never think through why they did it; they just did it because the society did it. In the novel Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes, in general, most of the characters prejudged others because of their race.

Judith Ortiz Cofer explains her personal experiences of dealing with stereotypes in her short story, “The Myth of the Latin Woman”. She starts off with a story of an Irish man who sang to her. He sang a song that she knew, but he had changed the lyrics to make them uncomfortable for her. She proceeds on by saying that this is not uncommon for Latin women. Puerto Rican women, such as herself, are often victims of stereotypes and racism.

When a group of people are paired together because of one object they share can be linked into one word, Stereotypes. Stereotypes can be found all around the world in every country. Many don’t realize this but stereotypes are even in America. The play “Los Vendidos” by Luis Valdez has concepts that involve modern day stereotypes of Latinos by including fears dealing with, ethnicity, race, and nationality. Ethnicity is one of the very many common types of stereotypes.

From the reading, I understand that in today’s culture that there are still race relations. Even though both groups of boys came from the same educational background and the same impoverished living conditions. I believe his study and findings are still prevalent in today’s society. In this essay, I will be breaking down the parts and discussing social conditions, poverty, self-esteem and motivation between two “groups’’, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers.

These stereotypes almost always lead to quick judgments of people, which can make people weary of others. The protagonist in this story is a stereotypical member of upper-class society. He lives in a nice neighborhood,

Class and gender/sexuality are complicated in “Drown” by Junot Díaz. Yunior and Beto are ex-best friends who are separated through the complications. Their relationship tenses up when Beto decides to better his life through education. At first glimpse, Yunior’s struggle with class and sexuality could be based within his homophobic fear. The typical understanding that Yunior’s unmotivated attitude stems from fear is flawed because it fails to recognize his stance to not change who he believes he is and where he is meant to be.

Stereotyping is defined as fixing or oversimplifying an image or idea of individuals of a certain race, gender etc., however, those assumptions may or may not be true. Stereotypes are hazy generalizations influenced by a number of sources such as, past experiences, media, friends and family. The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met A Girl Named Maria written by Judith Ortiz Cofer offers a philosophical reflection and personal insight into ethnic stereotypes. The author 's assertion- that the media promotes stereotypes- still applies today and is justified through her personal experiences told with logos, ethos, and pathos as well as through my personal experiences.