Abir Haidoufi english 162
balancing two worlds
in her essay " its hard enough being me", Anna Lisa Raya, expresses her struggle with questining her multicultural identity for the first time while attending Columbia university.
Raya, a mexican american away from her home in california describes her complex journey searching for her identity.as an immigrant myself, the daunting process of finding one true self in a world where everyone and everything wants to box you into a category is all too familiar. throughout the essay raya's emotional tone sets out to convey the reader of the hardship of being an outsider to White American culture. The author fights through her " Extreme cultural shock" of being boxed as a "Latina" while
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as she faces with the idea that she is too americanized for her native
Mexicans and labeled as "Latina" in college who must speaks her native tongue "latina
[equals] spanish speaking". the author tone comes off as an emotional rant as she battles with her identity crisis of conforming to the idea that she is suppose to be a certain person with certain traits. it is evident the that isolation raya felt consumed her being, depicting the social norms placed upon her as a "latina" college student.
Raya's description of the reality the typical minority faces in their native homeland and abroad is an ugly truth of living as an immigrant ' we face discrimination for being a minority in this country while also facing criticism for being "whitewashed" or "sellouts" in the countries of our heritage'. raya's essay easily informs the reader the dilema every minority faces in his lifetime at one point or another. furthermore the author's choice of simple and direct language invites the reader through her emotional journey , voicing her frustration while engaging the reader every step of the way.
too often the stigma that companies the streotyping sociaty imbarks on the
much time with him. Ray had always longed to see his father again and this
In Amin Ahmad’s I belong here, the reader is faced with a sense of sympathy that makes the reader’s view of the world, not only questionable, but alterable. This personal experience, written in the year 2010 shames the fact that this world has and shows how little progress the world has made in the judgment and discrimination of immigrants. These people look differently, speak differently, and live differently; but on the inside they are the same. Nonetheless, they are looked down upon by people from different cultures. The author uses his personal ethos and pathos to support the claim of value that immigrants are not treated fairly.
This essay relies more on pathos because she shows her emotions towards the students who have suffered because of
Anna Quindlen describes in the essay “Abortion is too Complex to Feel one Way About” the different situation that we as a human race are put in everyday. She talks about the topic of abortion in a way that one feels they have had to make the decision of whether or not a person is pro-choice or pro-life. She uses references that are of different personal experiences in the essay that are vital to the audience. Quindlen is writing to state her point that one should never put their self in this situation because one should take the proper responsibility. In this paper you will read about the conflict with abortion and what Quindlen thinks about this issue.
...s all she says pointing at the idea that English teachers have the power to remove the unwillingness and resistance from their Puerto Rican students by being models of successful avid English language learners and users themselves. This is done by inspiring a proud feeling to their students for their first language, Spanish, and promoting the use of this language first so that they can appreciate and better learn a second not because of a hidden political agenda, but because it would add more to their overall knowledge. This is a great way to see English, not in the political sense but in a broader enriching and fun way that can expand further more outside of what is Spanish and add a feeling of self fulfillment given the idea that the individual is more prepared to communicate to an even bigger amount of other human beings.
to discover how she has lost the ability to feel, ands the unraveling of her own mystery
Immigrants leave their countries in search for a better life and improvement of their situation. There is no singular reason for immigration; motivations range from better economic prospects to political safety. As of late, the number of immigrants living in the United States is an estimated 11 million. Those who immigrate are expected to contribute to the United States culturally, politically, and economically. Yet, full assimilation becomes difficult to achieve when the immigrant is made into “the other” by the country of reception.
...technique suggest that it is a precipitation in fantasy of his lifelong sense of loneliness and exclusion” (Angus 70).
and identifying as an average woman for a large part of her life, she takes on the persona of a
Woolf’s pathos to begin the story paints a picture in readers minds of what the
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
herself and her attempt to break through the strict bonds of society that all the other
In the essay "It’s Hard Enough Being Me," Anna Lisa Raya relates her experiences as a multicultural American at Columbia University in New York and the confusion she felt about her identity. She grew up in L.A. and mostly identified with her Mexican background, but occasionally with her Puerto Rican background as well. Upon arriving to New York however, she discovered that to everyone else, she was considered "Latina." She points out that a typical "Latina" must salsa dance, know Mexican history, and most importantly, speak Spanish. Raya argues that she doesn’t know any of these things, so how could this label apply to her? She’s caught between being a "sell-out" to her heritage, and at the same time a "spic" to Americans. She adds that trying to cope with college life and the confusion of searching for an identity is a burden. Anna Raya closes her essay by presenting a piece of advice she was given on how to deal with her identity. She was told that she should try to satisfy herself and not worry about other people’s opinions. Anna Lisa Raya’s essay is an informative account of life for a multicultural American as well as an important insight into how people of multicultural backgrounds handle the labels that are placed upon them, and the confusion it leads to in the attempt to find an identity. Searching for an identity in a society that seeks to place a label on each individual is a difficult task, especially for people of multicultural ancestry.
who wanted to enter her life, she is left alone after her father’s death. Her attitude
Sula has a feminist spirit and refuses to melt into the typical mold of a woman. She "discovered years before that [she was] neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to [her]" (52). Because of this she decides to lead her life on her own terms. Sula encounters both racism and sexism and is placed in a situation in which she has no release for her wild spirit. She cannot live out in the world with the freedoms of a man, but doesn't want to live as a stereotypically sheltered woman either. In attempting to break these boundaries she is hated by the town and viewed as an "evil" person by the community in which she lives.