Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Myth Of The Latin Woman

Identity is not easy to form when being judged and suppression get in the way. Powerful women like Judith Ortiz Cofer, Mazine Hong Kingston, and Alice Walker are just some examples of people who are able to create their identities and express their writing through the power of language for others benefit. Judith Ortiz Cofer’s essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” explains her experiences of being a Latino women in America and how the struggles of being herself created who she is today. Maxine Hong Kingston’s essay, “No Name Women” explains the shun of one women when she decides to commit adultery and the impact of a mother telling her daughter this story. Alice Walker’s essay, “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”

explains how the suppression of talented women can be seen as an act of spiritual waste and how one women can create a body of works through the suppression of these unique women. The attempt to find identity has hindered their ability to be themselves because of the scrutiny that comes from communities.
Judith Ortiz Cofer gives great insight on how being seen as a Puerto Rican woman in America can be like being a disgrace. When growing up in America, Cofer was seen as different. Many people could not look past her heritage to see her intelligence and potential in the United States. Cofer gives humiliating examples of her past to show a world of cultural stereotyping. She goes into detail about being mistaken for a waitress, being sang to on a bus, confronted by man in a hotel, and being expected to mature early to prohibit the behavior of stereotypical Americans. By writing a narrative Cofer is able to express an individual experience and create a more general understanding of being Latino in America. She explains her life story growing up and how, “I was kept under strict surveillance by my parents, since my virtue and modest were, by their culture equations, the same as their honor” (Cofer, 104). She speaks about being dehumanized by her date to the dance for being “thought of as a fruit or vegetable-I was suppose to ripen, not just grow into womanhood like the other girls” (Cofer, 106). She was expected to be different from white females because of the way she dresses and presents herself. The say “She had it coming” comes to mind when reading her essay. Readers feel bad when reading about her experiences when they know she is a successful writer. She became the object of stereotype These events are common in Cofer’s life and by writing about her experiences she provides an escape for other female Latino women in the United States. Cofer is a Latin-American woman who is openly refusing to obey to stereotyping by speaking up about her experiences.
In the same way that Judith Ortiz Cofer is trying to define her identity in America, Maxine Hong Kingston is trying to find hers.

By rewriting her mother’s tale of her non-named aunt, Kingston is trying to cope with the fact that she is the first generation Chinese-American in her family. Her entire family and surrounding village punished her aunt for committing adultery. The reasoning behind it is said that, “adultery, perhaps only a mistake during good times, became a crime when the village needed food” (236). Her aunt was seen as a woman indulging herself in sexual activity when families were barely making ends meet. The villagers planned an attack at her aunt’s house on the day of the baby’s birth to punish her and her family for the crime she committed. Kingston rewrote this story based upon her own understanding of Chinese culture where women always obey orders given. Kingston’s aunt was conditioned to follow orders and could not gather the strength to decline the man’s forcing hand. This example emphasizes how women and men were suppose to act, “Women in old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil…she obeyed him; she always did as she was told” (230). Even more shocking is that the man who basically raped no name woman is the man who is assumed of starting the riot. Kingston wrote this piece as a narrative to explain her understanding of her Chinese culture while trying to justify her aunt’s actions with her American

mentality. She had to take two different cultures and create a new form of identity. The teaching of her mother “warn[ed] us about life” and “told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on” (229). Kingston is trying to discover who she is and China is a place that she only hears about from her mother. The only time her mother tells her about China is when her mother wants to wean her away from doing wrong. Kingston is trying to make sense of her identity from these stories but has difficulties doing so because she is the first generation Chinese-American living with Chinese born parents.
Judith Ortiz Cofer has the burden of telling the story of the no named women. If her mother never told her this story the no name woman would forever be forgotten. Without the conformation from her mother, Cofer would have never known she had an aunt that was a disgrace by her entire family. Similarly, Alice Walker’s family and other African American women’s stories would have never been told if it were not for Alice. These women who had amazing talent and no way to express it would not have been known if Alice Walker did not create the story of, “In Search of Our Mother’s Garden”.
Continuing with forming identity, Alice Walker grew up with the suppression of her identity. During the time of slavery, the talents of many African American women were suppressed.
Walker uses figurative language to appeal to a general audience.

Walker wanted to highlight the African American women during the time of her mother and grandmother who were said to be a spiritual waste. These women who could have been poets, musicians, even painters had to be silent. Their identities were darkened by the depressed era surrounding them. Alice wanted to give insight of their special talents even though they could not express it themselves. She was able to reflect her personal stories, the wonders of her mother’s garden, and the other creative and brave women. She grew up in an America where she observed bright, creative women forced into a life of dark deprivation. She experienced the loneliness of being a slave with talent being wasted. Walker concludes with, “And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read” (454). Alice Walker has the motivation to keep writing because of the brave women in her life. Alice emphasized her identity that was created by these women in her work. Walker got her identity by seeing strong women express themselves even when they are slaves. Walker discovered that she needed to find her own “garden” like her mother found

hers.
When growing up in an age where identity seems to be limited it is no wonder that these women had difficulties forming their own personality. With things such as community, family, and other out side forces it is typical for people to become suppressed. Although faced with these challenges these women are able to conquer there battles and use that ammo to enforce their identity through writing. The power of language is what makes these women so powerful with their pencil.