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What Is The Melting Pot And The Salad Bowl By Sonia Sotomayor

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Sonia Sotomayor is an appointed US Supreme Court Justice and, at one time, an appeals court judge. She delivered a speech in 2001 to the University of California Berkeley School of Law, to convey her identity as a Latina living in America. Sotomayor uses a variety of rhetorical choices to share her story and family history, explaining what specifically defines a Latina or a Latino, ultimately, to convey the impacts of American social stereotypes of race and ethnic diversity, and explain how Latina or Latino men and women differ from this conflicting stereotype. Sotomayor shares what makes her culture, hers in the first section of this piece, describing how her family came to America, as well as what their life is like here. Sotomayor lists the typical foods her and her family eat describing how " I bet the Mexican-Americans in this room are …show more content…

Specifically, Sotomayor shares two metaphors and the tension they create, being the “ Melting Pot and the Salad Bowl.” This metaphor depicts the difference between a homogeneous society and heterogeneous society and begs the question of which one exists in America. Sotomayor implies that stereo typically, it is viewed that America is a homogeneous society, however this isn't always true. Sotomayor furthers this claim when defining her identity As a Latina in the way her family, “showed me [her] by their example of how wonderful and vibrant life is, and how wonderful and magical it is to have a Latina soul.” This definition of Sotomayor's culture provides her audience with the idea that different cultures don't match their stereotypical images created by America. From Sotomayor’s speech, the audience can come to the conclusion that Identity is shown through what makes a person who they are, rather than what is said of that

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