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Response To Executive Order 9056 By Sandra Cisneros

508 Words3 Pages

As Americans, we take great pride when knowing you live in the United States but for some it was hard to be seen as an American. Dwight Okita wrote a story about the effects of Executive order of 9066 had on her and other Japanese Americans in their American identity. Sandra Cisneros even wrote about her own experience of not being seen as an American to other Americans. Both Okita and Cisnero's work discusses two different scenarios that show how ones American Identity is not defined by the appearance they make or the culture they come from, but rather their own American pride. Dwight Okita wrote her poem, "Response to Executive Order 9066", from the prospective of a young Japanese American that was pushed away from her white American friend. Within the text it is easy to see that she tried to defend her American Identity by stating things such as "and my favorite food is hot dogs"(Okita,Response..). Okita's work was used to present the idea that American identity is more than the area where your family came from but rather the way you experience the culture. Her best friend at the time, Denise, was quick to become mean to Dwight as soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Executive order 9066. She used words like " 'You're trying to start a war' "(Okita, Response..) to strip Okita of her American identity. …show more content…

The narrator describes her "awful grandmother" who is very strong within her Mexican culture unlike the grandchildren who are wanting to take part in the American culture. The grandmother prays for her children that live in "barbaric state" and the safety of them. It displays how one is trapped between two cultures due to what they want to do and what the family wants to do. Cisnero wrote this about how a family culture and the looks of one can effect their American

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