Throughout this book, there are many examples of conflict, including the problems Francisco faces at school, work, and home. At school, Francisco is called a “stinky Mexican” because his mother rubbed garlic on him to cure him of ringworm. Him
Barrientos writes her narrative in the chronological order allowing the audience to understand and follow along in her quest to re-enter the Latino community. Barrientos goes through an identity crisis where she stayed away from speaking Spanish so that she could conform in the American society. Barrientos was once told that she did not seem “Mexican”
In the essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez. The author uses his memoir to show how he has fought through his childhood to understand English and how the english language had formed his identity. To him, Spanish was a private language, spoken only at home and in the comforting presence of his family. The Spanish language allowed him to connect with his parents because that was all they knew. However, After he was somewhat forced to speak English by the public, he became an outsider to his own culture, unable to speak Spanish, but still able to understand it as it states “we remained a loving family, but one greatly changed.
When Rodriguez was a young boy, he enjoyed listening to his family speak, but when he listened, he wasn’t wholly listening to the actual language itself, but to the sounds that the people made when speaking (Rodriguez, 250). Spanish wasn’t simply a language to him; Spanish was the glue and the strong bond that kept the family so close, and this language meant something significant to Rodriguez, and this becomes prominent when he says, “Walking toward our house, climbing the steps from the sidewalk, in summer when the front door was open. I’d hear voices beyond the screen door talking in Spanish. For a second or two I’d stay, linger there listening. Smiling, I’d hear my mother call out, saying in Spanish, ‘Is that you, Richard?’
“But the old lady seemed unimpressed with Daddy whom she called ‘ese gringo’” (Haslam 246). Grandma does not like the father and is very irritated with his actions. This is why the narrator’s family is torn apart. The father is a quiet man that does not really fit in with his wife’s family. On the other hand, the mother always agrees with Grandma and hides certain things from her husband.
Disagreements brought among two can greatly cause an uncertain effect on those surrounded by them, as well as each other. Innocent minded children are targeted to be easily influenced. That is until that child starts becoming experienced and learns to lead his own path perpetually discovering his autonomy. Gabriel and Maria, a dissimilar couple introduced from Rudolfo Anaya’s “Bless Me, Ultima”, presents a conflicting environment on those having to deal with their differing ideal beliefs. Maria, a Luna, daughter of a farmer, peaceful and quiet like the moon.
Rodriguez begins his life as Spanish speaker at home and an English speaker in public. A profound change occurs in his life after the nuns from his school visit his parents. They insist that English be spoken at home. He writes, “The moment after the
Rodriguez’s attitude towards his family and himself can be described as caring, looking out for each other, and loving. The Rodriguez family based on this passage can be shown as a caring family. “Daddy shouldn’t be outside. Here take this jacket out to him.”
Gloria Anzaldúa, in the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” (1987), claims her experiences as a Chicano taught her that her culture was not looked at highly in comparison to the English language. Anzaldúa argues her view about her Chicano language by giving examples of both cultures Chicano Mexican and American cultures. Anzaldúa’s purpose is to inform her audience on how it is to grow up in a Chicano speaking family. Anzaldúa writes in a frustrating tone throughout the story of her life experiences. Thesis: Anzaldúa use of her personal experiences, and Music, Film and Literature are relevant sufficient and
In this article, Author Gloria Anzaldua writes about growing up in America as a Mexican-American and the struggles that she faced due to the language barrier. Gloria claims that she grew up around a variety of different forms of both Spanish and English, “Standard English, working class/slang English, standard Spanish, Standard Mexican Spanish, and North Mexican Spanish dialect”, are just a few. The language spoken, or combinations of the languages correlate with where the Hispanic person was originally from and where in the U.S. they are now, for example, “Chicano Spanish” is spoken in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Another focus of this article is how Gloria would be punished in school for speaking in her native tongue and then at home by her for not speaking English properly. Gloria also felt the university she attended made the Hispanics take two speech classes, “in order to get rid of our accents”, she claims.
How is this purpose conveyed? The audience for this piece are people who are interested in Rodriguez’s childhood and education and seeing how scholarship children can become successful. The writer’s purpose is to explain why and how he became a scholarship and academically successful in a bilingual household with the family’s main focus on Spanish. This purpose is shown as the writer takes the reader on a journey through his childhood.
In the book Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya wrote his novel to introduce the reader to several conflicting cultures in Antonio’s childhood. “Intergenerational cultural dissonance (ICD) is a clash between parents and children over cultural value, which occurs so commonly in the book because the among immigrant family, in which the parents are regarded as a normative experience” (Yoonsun Choi, Michael He, and Tracy W. Harachi). The parents who are named María and Gabriel are immigrant parents adhering to their traditional cultural beliefs while their children endorses Southwestern values and clash. The main character is a seven year named Antonio or for short Tony. He has two sisters and three brothers, but his brother left the house after War II.
One of the area of conflict that rose in the book involves the usage of the English language in relation of the family’s native language, Spanish. As a Mexican-American raised in the States the exhibition of the English language, whether the use of the tongue is fluent or not, cause a strain in the Mexican culture as the culture takes in consideration of their romance and richness of history in their native tongue (Rothman 204). Language represent the supporting backbone of a person as the progress in life as the ability to communicate without misunderstands, however a person can cause the loss connection to the past romance of the culture and art of cultivation that brings the language to lifes from their inabilities to comprehend the ability/asset to its fullest potential (Rothman 204). To fully understand the true meaning behind a spoken chain of words can be understood by the method of trying to first comprehend the cultivation of the word and the definition behind them. Cisneros embeds the use of Spanish in fragments depicting a sense of reality within a fictional novel, Caramelo, as well with the use of interchangeable dialogues with spanish phrase to express the illustration of Celaya’s family and the culture in which is translate in of importance of pride.
There are approximately seven billion human beings in the world, each having their own culture and traditions. Coincidentally enough, “The Tequila Worm” is based on a small town in Texas, with a family who shares the same family traditions as mine. Viola Canales, the author, talks about the main protagonist, Sophia, and how she celebrates her culture. The making of Easter cascarones, celebrating Dia de Los Muertos, and her connection with her father, Sophia’s life is not so different from mine. Therefore, Sophia’s life and experiences are uncanny similarities to mine and that is what this essay will focus on.
Cofer addresses the cultural barriers and challenges that Latinos experience through emotional appeal, anecdotal imagery, parallelism and the use of effective periodic sentences. In her article, Cofer assesses the difficult cultural hurdles of Latin Americans with emotional appeal. She provides insight on her cultural barriers by first conveying the way she had to dress and her struggle, as it shows in this piece of text, “That morning I had organized… which to base my decision” (Cofer 5). This poignancy works to stress an agonizing feeling of uncertainty and restraint towards the author.
