When in Rome
The phrase “When in Rome,” refers to a letter sent to a person named Januarius around 390 AD and is actually paraphrased from the original text which says, when translated, “When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but here [Milan] I do not. Do you follow the customs of whatever church you attend, if you do not want to give or receive scandal?” In this text the full idea is “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” In Firoozeh Dumas’s “Hot Dogs and While Geese” along with Julia Alvarez’s “I Want to Be Miss America” this is what both authors are trying to do; fit in with the society they’ve been thrown into.
Dumas starts her essay with humor, “Once we reached America, we wondered whether perhaps my father had confused his life in America
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If there was a ‘Hispanic,’ she usually looked all-American, and only the last name, Lopez or Rodriguez, often mispronounced, showed a trace of a great-great-grandfather with a dark, curled mustache and a sombrero charging the Alamo.” (957) in one of her first paragraphs. She points out the lack of representation of the colored women in America while also calling out white washing. Her mother even comments on this fact by saying ‘The truth is, these Americans believe in democracy—even in looks’ (958). Alvarez brings a “real world” view to her essay by addressing the problems Hispanic immigrants were, and still are facing in America. Alvarez goes on to talk about a racism she faces as well. While the comments made were more out of ignorance than hate, it still bothers Alvarez. “We bought a house in Queens, New York, in a neighborhood that was mostly German and Irish, where we were the only ‘Hispanics.’ Actually, no one ever called us that. Our teachers and classmates at the local Catholic schools referred to us as ‘Porto Ricans’ or ‘Spanish.’
For many years, Latina women have been seen in popular US media and films such as West Side Story, Evita, La Bamba, and many more. However, the Latinas have only been portrayed as sexy and stupid women in these movies. Though these stereotypes are only meant to get a laugh from the US film watchers to see the Latina maid try to speak English with a heavy accent, the stereotypes are insulting and don’t represent the Latina women or culture accurately. In her memoir, “The Myth of the Latin Women,” writer Judith Ortiz Cofer analyzes many presumptions that her white audience might have about Latinas and argues that the stereotypes exist but they are inaccurate. In order to convey how Latinas are affected, Cofer recalls numerous personal encounters
Some advocated for limited Mexican immigration into the United States since they realized that they would make it difficult for them to integrate into white society because Mexicans were typically seen as “poor, dark-skinned, and did not speak English.” This shows how Mexican officials helped shape the way migration was handled as well as how they contributed to the racial subordination they faced in the United
The first of two essay questions focuses on Leo Chavez’s book , “The Latino Threat”. The questions and statements that will be answered include “ What is the Latino threat?, ‘How does he define citizenship?” ,“Identify and discuss two examples of the Latino threat” and “ Identify one policy recommendation and discuss whether you think it is achievable”. Leo Chavez’s book focuses on the guise of Latinos threatening the American way of life. He defines this as “The Latino Threat” , He states that the Latino threat narrative positions Latinos as not sharing similarities with any previous migrant groups into the U.S. and that they are unwilling and incapable of integrating and becoming part of the national community (Chavez,3).
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 Myth of The Latin Woman Analysis Latin American women face challenges every single day and moment of their lives. They are strongly discriminated against in all sectors of employment, in public places, and even while just walking down the street. In her essay, "The Myth of the Latin Woman," Judith Ortiz Cofer describes her own experiences using illuminating vignettes, negative connotation, and cultural allusion to exemplify how she used the struggles in her day to day life as a Latin woman to make herself stronger. Cofer uses illuminating vignettes to illustrate the different situations she encountered as a Latina while growing up and living in America.
The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature
In her book, From Out of the Shadows, Viki L. Ruiz argues the contributions to history that was made by farm workers, activists, leaders, volunteers, feminists, flappers, and Mexican women. She explores the lives of the innovative and brave immigrant women, their goals and choices they make, and how they helped develop the Latino American community. While their stories were kept in the shadows, Ruiz used documented investigations and interviews to expose the accounts of these ‘invisible’ women, the communities they created, and the struggles they faced in hostile environments. The narrative and heartfelt approach used by Ruiz give the reader the evidence to understand as well as the details to identify or empathize with.
“The virtual personas of Latino immigrants (represented as a threat to the nation) make the authority that has accumulated for real immigrants in their role as workers and consumers vanish” (Chavez 47). In the public eye Latinos are depicted as noncompliant and dangerous citizens and noncitizens of the United States. “The virtual lives of ‘Mexicans,’ ‘Chicanos,’ ‘illegal aliens,’ and ‘immigrants’ become abstractions and representations that stand in the place of real lives” (Chavez 47). It is depressing to understand that the majority of the United States strictly sees Latinos as these distorted images. At the end of the day each individual’s life matters, we all need to become more compassionate for one another.
During the Chicano Nationalist Movement, a well-known speaker, Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales, delivered a speech titled Chicano Nationalism: Victory for La Raza. In this speech, Rodolfo Gonzales tries to unify the Latin American people within the United States by using the idea of a family and to create a new political organization for the Chicano people. This speech was a cumulation of various ideas which stemmed from his own life, the experiences of the Chicano people, and the Chicano Nationalist Movement in general. Each of these factors contributed to the context of the speech and how the ideas within the speech are presented by Rodolfo Gonzales. Rodolfo ‘Corky’ Gonzales was born to Federico and Indalesia Gonzales, two Mexican immigrants, on June 18, 1928.
In Caballero, Gonzalez & Raleigh belittle the image and abilities of the non-white Mexican worker (peon). By using the narrator to reinforce the negative stereotypes regarding
In order to write this book, the author clearly uses different manuscripts and papers that helped him to explain and show the situation of this social movement. He also uses and gets information from people that were living those situations, for instance in Chapter one, he mentions a note from Journalist Ruiz Ibañez: “Contrary to the common belief that those groups are composed of “punks” and hoodlums….”1. Related to him, he is an American historian and sociology that obtained his sociology and political science degrees in the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University, as well. Currently, he is a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and he is president of the Center for Latino Policy Research. He wrote not only Quixote’s Soldiers but also, Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986.
“The common denominator all Latinos have is that we want some respect. That 's what we 're all fighting for” - Cristina Saralegui. Judith Ortiz Cofer published the article, “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” where she expresses her anger towards stereotypes, inequality, and degradation of Latin Americans. Cofer explains the origins of these perceived views and proceeds to empower Latin American women to champion over them. Cofer establishes her credibility as a Latin American woman with personal anecdotes that emphasize her frustration of the unfair depiction of Latinos in society.
“Aztlan, Cibola and Frontier New Spain” is a chapter in Between the Conquests written by John R. Chavez. In this chapter Chavez states how Chicano and other indigenous American ancestors had migrated and how the migration help form an important part of the Chicanos image of themselves as a natives of the south. “The Racial Politics behind the Settlement of New Mexico” is the second chapter by Martha Menchaca.
“We speak a patois, a forked tongue, a variation of two languages” (208), meaning she had a language that was neither Spanish nor English, but a language she could relate to when speaking with others, “We needed a language with which we could communicate with ourselves, a secret language”. Pointing out that Chicanos took the initiative to create a language that is a mix of all the different languages they speak. But even with their efforts no matter how much they try she says, “We oppress each other trying to oust Chicano each other, trying to be the “real” Chicanas, to speak like Chicanos. (210)”. They oppress each other by thinking that their way of speaking is better than the others way.
In “La Gringuita”, on the other hand, Julia Alvarez, when talking about her friend Dilita, also a Dominican American, played with the idea of having the best of both worlds as a multilingual - multicultural person – “we can have a good time here, and have a good time there.” She admitted to enjoy being a “hybrid” herself. Indeed, anyone who can speak multiple languages has an undeniable advantage in a melting-pot society like America. The idea of being able to dabble in everything and having doors open is tempting to many immigrants; thus, it has driven as well