Unresolved Contradictions In Sonia Sotomayor's My Beloved World

926 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Issues involved with racial inequality

Ever since the United States was established on the principles stated in our founding documents, it has been a herculean task of our justice system, as well as individuals in history, to ensure that these promises were maintained for all. In Sonia Sotomayor’s autobiography “My Beloved World” she gives us a glimpse of the difficulties of being a lower class Puerto Rican women attending Princeton University, therefore demonstrating the promise that was not kept by the Constitution in ensuring equal opportunity for all. The text shows us how certain groups are deprived from equal opportunity and how it affects their daily treatment and their chances at getting accepted to colleges. The unresolved contradictions questioned ideologies present today express a difference in what was promised and what was given, those which not only apply to the category of race as King emphasized, but also to class, gender and religion. In Sonia Sotomayor’s autobiography, the text reveals the unresolved contradictions of American history through the continuity of mistreatment to racial minority groups due to racialization, class formation and gender formation, ultimately preventing them from achieving this nonexistent American Dream and Melting Pot theory. The American dream is a set of ideals embedded in American society which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work, but is contradicted by the different treatment low income students may encounter. This idea was first officially presented in the Declaration of Independence of 1776, where it stated, “that all men are created equal, that all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are li... ... middle of paper ... ...been racialized to maintain white supremacy and how they ignored until something out of the ordinary happens. The Bracero program may have played a part into the nurses accusatory tone because the Mexicans were only seen as manual labor to Americans in the 1940’s, so embedded into societies mind are still that Latino groups are only valuable to work low class labor jobs, not having a chance to climb up the hierarchy ladder by going to Ivy League schools. Her identity as an immigrant ultimately transcends all other identities at play, and makes her out to be unqualified for certain things in society. Sotomayor tries to prove her value by pursuing higher education at Princeton, but is labeled strictly as an “affirmative action” student who was able to gain access to the institution easier by being a racial group that has been historically excluded or discriminated.

Show More
Related

  • Reverse Discrimination Lisa Newton

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the past 15 years tremendous awareness has been raised around this and programs of preferential treatment emerged. These programs ensured equal rights for people of color and females in the work place, allowing for them to apply for executive level positions and earn the same amount of money, benefits, and prestige as a white male ensuring equality for all race and sex. Lisa Newton argues that, “reverse discrimination does not advance but actually undermines equality because it violates the concept of equal justice under law for all citizens. In addition, to this theoretical objection to reverse discrimination, Newton opposes it because she believes it raises insoluble problems.” Among them are determining what groups have been sufficiently discriminated against in the past to deserve preferred treatment in the present and determining the degree of reverse discrimination that will be compensatory. Newton outlines the importance of ensuring her argument is recognized as logically distinct from the condition of justice in the political sense. She begins her argument for reverse discrimination as unjustified by addressing the “simple justice” claim requiring that we favor women and blacks in employment and education opportunities. Since women and blacks were unjustly excluded from such opportunities for so many years in the not so distant past, however when employers and schools favor women and blacks, the same injustice is done. This reverse discrimination violates the public equality which defines citizenship and destroys the rule of law for the areas in which these favors are granted. To the extent that we adopt a program of discrimination, reverse or otherwise, justice in the political sense is destroyed, and none of us, specifically affected or no is a citizen, as bearers of rights we are all petitioners

    Read More

  • Summary Of My Beloved World By Sonia Sotomayor

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Racial discrimination is an ongoing reality in the lives of many Hispanics. Being a minority and living in poverty is tough. Hispanics have not always been very welcomed in America; they face challenges getting jobs, and being socially accepted. My Beloved World is a memoir by Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor grew up in a very poor neighborhood. She was diagnosed at the age of eight with diabetes, which was very dangerous because of the lack of technology. Her father died when she was very young, yet she is still successful. She is the first Latina Justice of the Supreme Court. Despite the challenges in her life, Sotomayor is driven, independent, and intelligent.

    Read More

  • Bettie's Analysis Of Mexican-American And White Girls

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Bettie’s analysis of Mexican-American and white girls, she finds that race, gender and class are extremely crucial in the outcomes and futures of these girls. The unmentioned and hidden effects of class, race, and gender provide the explanation for much of the inequality seen between the white middle-class girls and Mexican-American working-class girls. Much of this inequality is itself perpetuated within the school system, both by the faculty and students.

    Read More

  • The Hunger Of Memory Sparknotes

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book was published in 1981 with an immense elaboration of media hype. This is a story of a young Mexican American who felt disgusted of being pointed out as a minority and was unhappy with affirmative action programs although he had gained advantages from them. He acknowledged the gap that was created between him and his parents as the penalty immigrants ought to pay to develop and grow into American culture. And he confessed that he got bewildered to see other Hispanic teachers and students determined to preserve their ethnicity and traditions by asking for such issues to be dealt with as departments of Chicano studies and minority literature classes. A lot of critics criticized him as a defector of his heritage, but there are a few who believed him to be a sober vote in opposition to the political intemperance of the 1960s and 1970s.

    Read More

  • gatdream Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Casting Doubt Upon the American Dream

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Dream is a concept elegantly simple and yet peculiarly hard to define. At the root of it is the sense that America was created entirely separate from the Old World; the settlers had escaped from the feudal, fractious and somewhat ossified nations of Europe and been presented with a chance to start anew - "a fresh green breast of the new world." From this blank slate, those first idealistic settlers had created a society where "all men are created equal" and everyone had the chance to do the best for themselves as they could. Let us examine the passage from the Declaration of Independence from which that quote is taken:

    Read More

  • Pursuit of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby and in Wilson's Fences

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Dream has always been a driving force in the lives of Americans. It has become a foundation of ideals and hopes for any American or immigrant. Specifically, one of the ideals that always exist is the dream of America free of class distinction. Every American hopes for a society where every person has the opportunity to be whomever he or she desire. Another ideal in the American dream is the drive to improve the quality of life. As one’s idea of the American Dream gets closer and closer, often times political and social ideals of America cause their American Dream to take a turn for the worst.

    Read More

  • My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Dream has never been available to minority citizens as easily as it is to American-born citizens. Affirmative action was first implemented around the year 1972, however it was not widely accepted or practiced. During this time society was just getting used to including women in higher education institutions so the concept of including minorities in higher education was almost non-existent. My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor shows the challenges that a first generation, Puerto Rican, lower socioeconomic female had during this time. Through her autobiography she shows the struggles she faced throughout her life, focusing on her application to college, college experience and insight into her cultural background. My Beloved World present the ideology of White Supremacy and other phenomenon’s such as structural inequality, and socioeconomic inequality that interfere with Sonia’s inability to receive preparation for college and these things show the that America has not made good on its promise of equal opportunity for all.

    Read More

  • None of This is Fair by Mr. Richard Rodriguez

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    After long years of suffering, degradation, and different sorts of discrimination which the disadvantaged group of people had experienced, the “Affirmative Action Law” was finally passed and enforced for the very first time on September 24, 1965. The central purpose of the Affirmative Action Law is to combat racial inequality and to give equal civil rights for each citizen of the United States, most especially for the minorities. However, what does true equality mean? Is opportunity for everyone? In an article entitled, “None of this is fair”, the author, Mr. Richard Rodriguez explains how his ethnicity did not become a hindrance but instead, the law became beneficial. However, Mr. Richard Rodriguez realized the unfairness of the “Affirmative Action” to people who are more deserving of all the opportunities that were being offered to him. Through Mr. Rodriguez’s article, it will demonstrates to the reader both favorable, and adverse reaction of the people to the Affirmative Action, that even though the program was created with the intention to provide equality for each and every citizen, not everyone will be pleased, contented, and benefit from the law.

    Read More

  • Anne Moody Paper

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anne learned from a young age that if you were a Negro, hard work will get you something, but most of the time, that something isn’t enough for what you need. This is the same for the fight against racial inequality. Though the programs made an impact and were successful in their own smaller battles, the larger battle still had yet to be won. Anne’s experiences had raised several doubts

    Read More

  • Is the American Dream Still Possible?

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    The American Dream is so important to our country and especially for our generation to take seriously. The American Dream is the opportunity to reach the goals one sets for themselves. It is about having your dream job and life you have always fantasized about. The dream is also about having freedom and equality. The American Dream was much easier to attain a few decades ago compared to today. However, it is still possible. The economy was better fifty years ago than it is today. People are in greater debt now and the United States is in higher debt than it was fifty years ago. The American Dream is still possible despite the lack of improvement within social mobility in American society over the past years. The American dream is achievable by being able to live a middle-class lifestyle and that lifestyle is obtainable through hard work and perseverance, even in light of obstacles such as racism. “The American Dream is still achievable, however, the good news is that people at the bottom are just as likely to move up the income ladder today as they were 50 years ago” (O’Brien 1). The ability to attain the American Dream is hindered by race, the middle class, and giving up facing adversity.

    Read More

  • The American Dream

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Dream was derived from the United States Declaration of Independence which states that, “All mean are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (US 1776). This means that every person has equal opportunity

    Read More

  • Review Of Cathy Davidson's Essay 'Project Classroom Makeover'

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a result of her ignorance, Davidson recognizes her privilege as her right and as part of her reality. The most apparent privilege Davidson remains unaware of is her white privilege. Despite of many Civil Rights activists’ efforts, white privilege still exists. White privilege is prevalent throughout the history of education, and it still continues. For instance, in her writing, Davidson describes Horace Mann as “the first great champion of national educational reforms” (57). Davidson claims how Mann not only graduated from Brown University as valedictorian, he also created the “common schools” (Davidson 57) that welcome boys and girls of all classes. Nonetheless, Davidson fails to consider Mann’s privilege. Although Mann was only “the son of a farmer with limited means” (Davidson 57), he has the privilege to attend school because of his skin color. Due to his skin color, Mann had access to education in an era when “several states explicitly forbade the attendance of nonwhite children (Davidson 57). The opportunity to do so gives Mann the possibility to climb up the social ladder and change his status. Therefore, Mann’s white privilege serves a s a key that opens the door to all of his future opportunities. However, for people of other races, it was impossible to do so in the nineteenth century. There were African Americans who were willing to achieve great success but failed because their fate was limited by the privilege they

    Read More

  • Impossible Sub Subjects By Mae Ngai

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mae Ngais’s Impossible Subjects embraces the history of our modern term “illegal alien” by exploring the history behind immigration policy. The legal and social history explains the progression of the term, “illegal alien’s” throughout American life in the early 1900s and the 2000s. Ngai focuses on the era after the Johnson-Reed Act in 1924 and the reform of quotas by the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 to the bracero programs and so on. Impossible Subjects already accepts that white privilege has already expanded in the early 1900s of American history, and she modifies her concentration on immigrants not accepted as the typical ‘white’ American but not yet of African descent either. Throughout Impossible Subjects the book is written in topological order with a chronological order of events within each section. Ngai writes this way in order to better convey her thesis about tracing the origins of the "illegal alien" in American law and society, and explain why and how illegal immigration became one the fundamental problems in U.S. immigration policy. In the below excerpt, Ngai perfectly embodies the intent of her book.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Jon Meacham's Keeping The Dream Alive

    260 Words  | 1 Pages

    The American Dream is often thought of as the ideal American life to live, brought on by hard work and initiative. The words “American Dream” often provoke images of successful men who prosper due to their determination and hard work. In Jon Meacham’s article, “Keeping the Dream Alive”, he states that “Americans have indeed dreamed of steady personal and national progress” [1]. In other words, Americans believe that through their work, the nation will advance into something great. Personally, the “American Dream” means being successful throughout school and the career path that is chosen. As a student, my viewpoint on the ‘American Dream’ is quite optimistic. By way of explanation, students are not able to experience what it is like to work

    Read More

  • The American Dream and the Declaration of Independence

    491 Words  | 1 Pages

    "All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among there are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". It is in this sentence from the Declaration of Independence, that the idea of the American dream has its roots. The phrase, “the American dream” can mean many different things, but among the most basic interpretation is that America is a land of opportunity and freedom for all who come to it. The idea of the American dream has influenced people to come to America in search of economic opportunities, political choice, and religious freedom.

    Read More

More about Unresolved Contradictions In Sonia Sotomayor's My Beloved World

Open Document