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Cultural Differences In Sandra Cisneros 'Mericans'

1241 Words5 Pages

In Sandra Cisneros “Mericans” she creates a young character named Michelle who faces cultural differences and nonunderstanding, gender roles and culture stereotyping which can be exhibited in the real world. The author introduces Michelle as a foreigner with in her own culture, with this being said throughout the story Michelle seemed to be uninterested in her Grandmothers ideals and the principles of the Mexican heritage. The evidence behind this statement is; throughout the passage Michelle refers to her grandmother as being “awful” (Cisneros 93). I think a big reason for this is the fact that the grandmother has the children wait outside the church doors as she goes and say her daily prayers. Michelle does not understand the reason for …show more content…

It seems as she has no interest in pursuing the Spanish language and refers to English which creates a language barrier. We see this in the passage when the grandmother calls for Michelle in her Mexican name “Micaela” and her brothers refer to her as “Michelle”. (Cisneros 95) The author gives the grandmother a type of resentment attitude towards Michelle because of the constant absence of interest in the culture they share together. In the passage the narrator mentions “The awful grandmother knits the names of the dead and the living into one long prayer fringed with the grandchildren born in that barbaric country with its barbaric ways” (Cisneros 94). At an early age it’s customary that in the Mexican culture, young girls portray the idealistic of the parent to the younger siblings. We see this in the passage when Michelle is the one who goes looking for the grandmother in the church. Even though Michelle is the middle child she is the one who seems to hold the most responsibility when it comes to her brothers. In the article “Mexican Family Culture” by Cassie Damewood she reports “Sisters were relied upon to emerge in the image of their mothers, learning how to cook, nurture children and cater to the needs of the men in the family” ("Mexican Family …show more content…

N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2015. Damewood, Cassie. "Mexican Family Culture." LoveToKnow. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2015. Lopez, Tracy. "Non-Spanish Fluent Latinas: “Don’t Judge Us” - NEW LATINA™." NEW LATINA™. N.p., 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 July 2015. Mckee, Chris. "Interviewer ‘assumes’ NM Boxer Can’t Speak English." KRQE News 13. N.p., 19 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 July 2015. "Non-Spanish Fluent Latinas: “Don’t Judge Us” - NEW LATINA™." NEW LATINA™. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2015. Roberts, Edgar V, and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Pearson Education, 2015. Print. "Sorry, I Don't Speak Spanish: Hispanics Deal with the Loss of Spanish Fluency." Minero Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July

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