Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros were greatly influenced by American culture. Both authors explain the topic of American identity, in Okita’s poem American identity has more to do with how you experience the culture of a country than with where your family came from. Both Okita’s poem and Cisneros’s short story however, show that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be “American.”
Okita’s Letter “in response to executive order 9066” is the description of a little girl who is overwhelmed by the American Culture. In the letter, we can see how the narrator is affected as she states that her best friend is a white girl named Denise. Denis affects the narrator only because her culture is completely different from Denis’s culture. The Narrator sees herself as part of the American culture because she explains activities that an American would do with her best friend. For example, the narrator and Denise sit around and watch boys together. The Narrator “feels funny using chopsticks” because it is not something you would typically use in America. Although the narrator is not American, she still feels and acts as if she is one.
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For example, “ladies don’t come to church dressed in pants, and everybody knows men aren’t supposed to wear shorts.” Cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be American. In the story “Mericans”, the first real sign of American identity that is obvious is the classification of relatives in the style of the American traditional names, such as “Auntie”, “Uncle.” The narrator also includes the explanation of American T.V Shows such as, “Flash Gordon” “The Lone ranger and