An Analysis Of Stranger In The Village By Luis J. Rodriguez

Have you ever felt alone or different? What do think about when you hear stranger in the village? When I hear the phrase “Stranger in the Village” I think of someone or something that does not belong or is new in the area. Being a stranger in the village can be scary, uncomfortable, or even embarrassing. In this essay, I will use three pieces of writing to show stranger in the village. The first writing is a poem called, “Speaking With Hands,” by Luis j. Rodriguez. In the poem, Rodriguez and his mother are at the market that charges more money for cheaper goods. Rodriguez’s mother then got into an argument with the cashier. The stranger in the village would be Rodriguez and his mother. Rodriguez and his mother are Hispanic, and lives in Watts California. Rodriguez’s mother was not great at English. “She fought with grocer/on prices & quality & dignity” (17-18). This shows stranger in the village, because Rodriguez’s mother does not like the fact that the grocer is selling her bad quality and high priced goods. The second writing is a novel called, “Lindo Jong: Double Face” by Amy Tan. In this novel, a mother’s daughter

In this story, Baldwin goes to Switzerland where they have never seen an African-American. The stranger in the village is Baldwin. People in Switzerland have never seen an African-American, so when Baldwin arrives everyone was amazed and surprised. In paragraph 4 Baldwin says, “If I sat in the sun for more than five minutes some daring creature was certain to come along and gingerly put his fingers on my hair, as though he were afraid of an electric shock, or put his hand on my hand, astonished that the color did not rub off” (Baldwin 87). To me this sounds like people are scared of the African-American culture. This is probably, because they have only heard stories about them, and those stories were probably from the whites, which back then hated the