Summary Of The Myth Of Latin Women By Judith Ortiz Cofer

n the memoir,”The Myth of Latin Women: I just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer the author asserts that latina women are being stereotyped as early matured and very attractive women who have hardworking (low) jobs. Cofer’s purpose is to finally have people not judge latina women based on the media, stereotypes and myths in order to appreciate others based on their actions and accomplishment but not on how they look like and who they might be. She establishes a informational tone in order to reach everyone in the United States. Cofer uses both Ethos by listing information on all her accomplishments and education and the article based on her own experience and Pathos by explaining how many times she has been humiliated in public based on how she looked like, which affects the audience by making them feel bad and rethink their choices on stereotypes.

During one part of the memoir Cofer talks about one of her very first public poetry readings. Before the event while walking around with her notebook full of her poems an older women called upon her and “ordered a cup of coffee” assuming she was a waitress who worked there and wasn’t a poet. This particularly affects the audience by showing how easy it was for a women to be mistaken for something she wasn’t, a women that worked really hard to get to where she was. This is an effective technique because you get to understand that people can easily mistake others by accident especially on who they are and look like. The author uses Ethos in order to make the audience feel uneducated because most people in the mainstream don’t realize how offensive stereotypical things people say can hurt