Compare And Contrast Mericans By Sandra Cisneros

There are some similarities and differences between the writing pieces “In Response to Executive Order 9066”, a short story by Dwight Okita and “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros. Both pieces of talk about what their characters think is American identity and what it means to have one. Each piece of writing dives into specific cultural backgrounds but how the characters in the pieces feel about them is different.

In Dwight Okita’s poem, the main character is a 14 year old girl. The poem starts off with a happy mood, then switches to a sad and dreary mood at the end. In the start her life is that of a normal 14 year old girl who lives in the US. Her heritage is not white, but that doesn’t matter to her she still identifies with the American identity. In the poem she said she’s always felt more comfortable doing American culture things versus the culture of her heritage. Since the girl in the poem is of Japanese descent, her family and her were being forced to relocate because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, all people of American descent thought that Japanese Americans posed a threat, and because of this they thought

The girl in the story was born in America while her family is of Spanish descent. In the beginning of the poem while at church, she describes her family with an irritated tone. You can tell the girl wants to leave and that she feels annoyed about being there. Her grandmother speaks to her in Spanish which she can only understand when she concentrates. The main character and her younger brothers have to wait outside of the church in the poem. While they are waiting outside one of her brothers gets gum from a lady, who thinks that he's from there because of the way he looks. When the younger brother offers gum to the siblings the lady is shocked he speaks english. That's when the brother responds “We’re