Theme Of In Response To Executive Order 9056 By Sandra Cisneros

What does it mean to be an American? Many people have their own unique opinions on this question. Sandra Cisneros's story Mericans and Dwight Okita's short In Response to Executive Order 9066 surround the common topic of American Identity through the eyes of American children. Despite focusing around a common theme, both stories use two separate outlooks to convey their definition of American Identity. The first story that involves American Identity is In Response to Executive Order 9066 by Sandra Cisneros. This short story explains the experience of a particular Japanese girl who is undergoing the process of internment. The story, in letter format, is addressed to presumably the U.S. government with "Dear Sirs...", and explains her innocence. She tells how she favors hot dogs, an American food, and how she does not like to use chop sticks, a traditionally Japanese (or at least

In Okita's story, the girl was singled out by her friend simply because of her ancestry, which was the same of the non-American enemies. In Cisneros's story, Michele and her siblings were seen as non-American, though they self-identified themselves as American because of their beliefs and actions which align with the general American society. Although the two stories focus on American Identity, they disagree on the source of American Identity. Despite her years of "American" behavior amongst her friend Denise, the girl in the first story is singled out solely on her Japanese appearance and accused of working with the enemy. In the second story, the children are initially viewed as non-American, but after speaking English and voicing their parallelism with the American Identity, they are viewed as such. Cisneros's story describes how American Identity is based off of action and character whereas Okita's story describes how American Identity is solely based off of physical