Barrientos tells of learning to read and write in spanish. One key feature of a literacy narrative is an indication of the narrative 's significance. The aurthorś significance of learning the language is sha wants to feel like she belongs in the Latino community. According to the text the author felt out of place because she did not speak spanish, but she was Guatemalan. “I am Guatemalan by birth but pura gringa by Circumstance?” This quote explains that the author feels out of place. When Barrientos came to the United States she stopped speaking spanish, partly because her parents wanted her to speak english. One reason she did not want to be classified as Mexican American was that society has negative connotations outsiders. Learning spanish …show more content…
For example this quote “Mexican Americans or Afro- Americans were considered dangerous radicals while law- abiding citizens to drop their cultural baggage at the border.” explains that when natives they drop all their ethics and traits to fit in. Image is everything early on, but not fitting into the community again is hard. The author also writes to persuade readers that that she is a true Latina, because she tries to take spanish lessons. Mexican Americans are also seen as people with little education and poor. “To me speaking spanish translated into being poor.” Barrientos also feel that she is judged by society and other Latinas for not speaking her cultural language. In this quote she explains the reaction of people when they figure that she doesn’t speak spanish.”I hear the silent snag, the momentary hesitation I have come to expect at this part of the exchange.” In his literacy Malcolm X states that even though he was in prison, he “never had been so truly free in his life” Malcolm X said this quote because by reading and writing he experienced the world “behind bars”. He could not go anywhere else, but by reading he learned more about the outside world and it gave him a piece of imagery. While he was behind bars he learned to read and write. Malcolm …show more content…
In this quote she explains how she felt and acted before she was “colored”. “I remember the very day that i became colored. Huston felt like she was the only “Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief. Huston used a lot of imagery in her narrative to make her point. She used imagery so that the reader can feel what it was like to be colored. The imagery showed her behavior and how it changed throughout the narrative. “They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. In the end of her narrative, Huston goes to that she doesn’t have separate feelings about being an American citizen and colored. “I belong to no race or time.” This quote is important because in the beginning she was feeling like the only colored person and then it moved to how she felt out of place at times. But in the end she sees that she has always been one. This narrative agrees with how I understand race, because we are all one. In his narrative White describes the lake “fade- proof” and the woods as “unshatterable.” It 's a figure of speech to describe the setting of the lake, because early on he says that it was summertime. The descriptions help form an image for the reader, so they could better understand from the author’s point of