A Different Perspective By Maribel Arias
A Different Perspective by Maribel Arias
Many times I’ve felt like a fly in a cup of milk, out of place and self-conscious about my appearance.I am a Latina, and for this reason, I can relate to what poet and essayist Judith Ortiz Cofer has gone through. In her autobiographical essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman,” Ortiz Cofer describes some of her personal experiences with stereotypes about Latinas.Throughout her essay, she makes claims and assertions about stereotypes that have been perpetuated about Latinas.Because of the nature of her claims, they can also be applied to other texts, like Christy Brown’s autobiographical piece, “The Letter ‘A’.”Ortiz Cofer’s assertions about feeling like an “Alcatraz,” isolated and imprisoned by the stereotype that Latinas belong in the kitchen, and about the erroneous belief—held even by educated people—that cultural differences are based on genetics help us to understand Brown’s situation—how the Doctors treated him, why people thought he belonged in an institution, how he felt “imprisoned” and “cut-off”(Brown 63).Furthermore, Brown’s claim about using everything that you have to fight—in his case, his left foot—explains the purpose of Cofer’s poetry.
One of Cofer’s most important assertions is her claim that cultural differences travel with minority individuals just as her “island” travels with her (Cofer 219).She asserts that “[the island] can win you that extra minute of someone’s attention.But “the same thing can make you an island an island an ‘Alcatraz’ a place nobody wants to visit” (Cofer 219).Here, Cofer emphasizes the effects of the stereotypes imposed on her. Cofer refers to her “island” to illustrate how she feels about being seen as different.The “island” for her has become a prison.Being a Latina has become predominant over being viewed as a person in the eyes of people from the majority culture.Her cultural identity has become an “Alcatraz,” the prison where people have put Cofer, whose bars symbolize...
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