Comparing Texts from Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros
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Writers such as Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros were greatly influenced by the American culture. “Response to Executive Order 9066” by Dwight Okita, and “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros both authors establish the topic of American identity.In Okitas poem, American identity has more to do with how you experience culture than with where your family came from.Both Okitas poem and Cisneross short story show that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be American.
In response to “Mericans”, the first sign of American identity I notice by this short story is the classification of relatives in the style of traditional American names such as “Auntie” and ” Uncle”. The next thing I notice relates to the young American identity, regarding childhood. As part of the American culture a couple of things that could be experienced in childhood during this period, the narrator tries to avoid falling victim of. For example, the grandmother prays for family members. The narrator imagines that the grandmother is worried because many of her children and grandchildren live in “that barbaric country with its barbaric ways.” This refers to the grandmothers dislike of the United States, which contrast with the narrators view. Despite her Mexican heritage, the narrator feels a stronger connection to the United States than to Mexico.By stating that “We have promised to stay right here the awful grandmother left us until she returns.”Here in this short story, the biggest topic I notice that relates to the American identity is how young boys and girls are playing together, and the girls are constantly agonized and picked on for the fact of being a “girl”. To the point where they tried to keep up and do just the same as the boys would. In Cisneross story, the most important conflict between characters is over their opinion of the United States. Personally I think that this young American childhood identity eventually transpired to the woman of that generation later making a name for themselves by prompting to do anything guys could do they could do as well. In this story The narrators American identity contrasts with the “awful grandmothers” strong Mexican roots, but the Americans judge the narrator based on her looks. A possible theme for Cisneross short story could be that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be American.
The letter ” In Response to Executive Order 9066,” by Dwight Okita is the description of a little girl who is very overwhelmed by the american culture. Reading furthermore of the text we can see how greatly the girl is affected as she states that her best friend is a white girl named Denise. She has been affected by her best friend simply because her family culture is completely different from