Pat Mora Legal Alien Essay

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Weekly Journal Unit 3: Pat Mora “Legal Alien” Being bicultural can have its disadvantages and its advantages. Pat Mora’s poem “Legal Alien is just one of many poems about being coming from two different cultures. When you say something in English and you try to translate it to Spanish, it gives you a different meaning. The advantages of being bicultural is that you get to experience two different cultures. For example Dia de los Muertos, the day of the dead is somewhat similar to Halloween. You have two different celebrations from two different countries. You can dress up and have candy. Being bicultural can also be somewhat difficult to gain acceptance within your community. Some people may view you as an exotic person and also different. …show more content…

For example in the poem it say “viewed by Mexicans as alien, their eyes say, “you may speak Spanish but you’re not like me” (Mora line 8-10). People begin to judge you because you are Mexican American. Either you Mexican or American. Being bi-cultural means to me that you carry Mexico’s traditions and also you America’s traditions. You are considered Mexican American and you should only view this as being a positive thing. Mexicans view the Mexican-Americans as “aliens “because they are different from them because they weren’t born in Mexico There are more advantages than disadvantages of being bi-cultural. Being b-cultural can be frustrated because all the stereotypes of being Mexican-American. Also the bad reputation that Mexican-American deal with of being from two different cultures. Some of those stereotypes that Mexican Americans deal with are that they are drunk people. Another stereotype is that they have a lot of babies, they are in gangs, or uneducated because of the low education level that their parents had. These stereotype follow Mexican- American around. For example when you are greeted at a high end store in the mall the store associate greet you in Spanish instead of English. I find this somewhat offensive since I can perfectly communicate in English. Another thing I notice is the store associate tend to follow me closely around the

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