Literary Analysis: The Myth Of The Latin Woman

Estrella, too oblivious and innocent to acknowledge the hypocrisy and judgment, is blown away when she realizes that people do not care for her education but more of her presentation and physical appearance. Estrella knows that her curiosity of the world does not concern her teachers but becomes somewhat ashamed of her physical appearance. Often this shame brings migrant children to fall back into the fields, believing their appearance cannot potentially aide them to succeed in greater things. This is visible even today in the United States. Even in this developed country, the United States segregates migrant families and typically stereotype them into doing all the dirty work.

Erik Alvarez Professor Bogusky December 02, 2015 INTRODUCTION Hello everyone, one of my earliest memories that I have from school is from my first day of kindergarten. I remember walking into my ESL, english as a second language class, & instantly being questioned as to why I was in there. My fellow classmates assumed I was asian because of how I looked and teased me to the point of tears. In reality, I am of Guatemalan origin.

Moreover, she reveals that stereotypes mark people as undesirable and separate them from the rest of society, thus impeding their assimilation. Cofer uses another simile when she details her experience with an American boy at her first formal dance: “ … [He] said in a resentful tone: ‘I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early’—my first instance of being thought of as a fruit or vegetable—I was supposed to ripen, not just grow into womanhood like other girls” (549). In this simile, Cofer shows how those who stereotype Latino women compare them to fruits and vegetables because both are supposed to mature rapidly. However, she denounces this comparison by emphasizing that it dehumanizes Latino women and reduces them to the status of mere plants while creating a

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.

Selena Quintanilla’s father once said, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans.” In today’s society, many have encountered the challenge of not being able to be who they really are because they fear not being accepted by others, more specifically their culture. But, what happens when an individual is part of two worlds that have just as many rules? Gloria E. Anzaldúa was a Mexican-American writer and poet who made a major contribution to the fields of cultural, feminist, and queer theory. Anzaldúa identifies as a Chicana and speaks different variations of Spanish, some of which she exhibits in her works.

I identify as a Latina. I have always considered myself as a Latina, but throughout time, I believe that I have assimilated more into a white individual because of the privilege that I hold and because I have lived in the US most of my life. I have received mostly negative messages from those who are not from my ethnicity. My peers and I were told we wouldn’t graduate high school and be laborers for the rest of our lives. With the current politics, I believe that this still holds true where some people still hold stereotypes and give oppressing messages to Latinos.

However, the effects of social racism have largely contributed to all the intersecting dynamics in my life. Cherríe Moraga shares a similar conflicting identity crisis, in which she is labeled, “la guera,” meaning light skinned Latina. She discusses in her essay, “La Guera” how her home environment and other social spectrums treated her white, where she gained the idea that “white was right” because it, “attempted to bleach me of what color I did have” (Morago, 2015). She too describes her experiences of passing as it pertained to her race and the privileges it entailed, in which she refers to as being “anglicized.” Today, as a junior at Washington State University in Pullman, my white appearance deems me part of the majority, therefore excluding me from any racist harassment other students have experienced in just this past year alone.

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

Everyday people are judging and being judged by others with unique criteria that we, as inhabitants of Earth deem necessary checkmarks to be met to afford and be afforded tokens of civility. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “The Myth of the Latin Woman” the memoir is brimming with personal accounts of fetishiztation and discrimination the author experiences as a Latin woman that have vast influence on her life. Throughout the text Cofer conveys the significance of how deep the status “exotic” to describe Latina women is held inside the minds of people which the author alludes to on page 879, “I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early,” [1] after being given a sudden, non-consensual kiss at a dance by her date. The author expresses the cultural dissonance between

“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.

Richard Rodriguez and Gloria Anzaldúa are two authors who both immigrated to America in the 1950s and received first hand experience of the assimilation process into American society. During this time, Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had struggled adjusting to the school system. Since understanding English was difficult, it made adjusting to the American school system increasingly difficult for Rodriguez. Whereas Anzaldúa, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to America’s school system due to the fact that she didn’t wish to stop speaking Spanish even though she could speak English. Both Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had points in their growing educational lives where they had to remain silent since the people around them weren’t interested in hearing them speaking any other language than English.

However, sentimentally, author Judith Ortiz Cofer set main characters through non-territorial eyes to prove an American story allows to also be told by an immigrant. The story develops the point of view of one who receives unfair treatment and faces day to day challenges because of where Elena came to life. After reading the title, readers shall understand the characters set story explains are not considered equally. For example, the quote “The other girls picked up on the “pork chop” and made it into a refrain,” (Cofer 1) clarifies Elena became teased daily for her looks. There later became more than just bullying, for ones crush's mom disapproved of her living spaces either.

Generalizations take after specific individuals for the duration of their lives. Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Latina who has been stereotyped and she delineates this in her article, "The myth of the Latin lady: I just met a young lady named Maria. " Cofer depicts how pernicious generalizations can really be. Perusers can understand Cofer 's message through the numerous explanatory interests she employments.

The Rhetorical Analysis of “The Myth of the Latin Woman” There are many examples of incidents happened because of cultural differences. Some of them are short, single events, while other follow a person or social group for decades. Professor Judith Cortiz Cofer describes the second example in her essay The Myth of the Latin Woman that was originally published in Glamour in 1992. The author focused on the stereotypical view of Latin women from the perspective of the personal experience as a Puerto Rican girl and woman in the USA. Cofer based her essay on examples from her own life and observations of the problem in a broader sense.

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.