Complexion By Richard Rodriguez Summary

“ Complexion” by Richard Rodriguez expounds on how he pitied himself due to the racist ideas that were presented by his family, while “A Supreme Sotomayor” by Maria Hinojosa describes how she was able to thrive despite the racist remarks in her path. Hinojosa was able to isolate herself from the racism and strictly use it as motivation to succeed, yet Rodriguez internalized the racist comments and took on the victim role. The two dealt with racist commentaries, however, the differences would be the delivery of the remarks, the characteristic being attacked, and their response to the situation. Rodriguez spoke about his entire background and his depiction of how life was growing up. For Rodriguez, the racist remarks were passively thrown his way by his mother as well as his …show more content…
While Rodriguez was subjected to comments in his family, Hinojosa was presented with remarks that were presented by the media as well as members of the Hispanic community. The differences with their relationships of the assailants caused a shift in how the two responded to the situation. Since Rodriguez shared a home with the verbal insulters, he constantly had to deal with the attacks, causing him to become a hollow shell of himself. Meanwhile, Hinojosa only heard the statements in the media where the exposure was minimal and occasionally a fellow Latina would spew hateful words at her as well, but she was able to escape easier than Rodriguez. Also, age is a contributing factor because Hinojosa was older when the racial issues were brought up, allowing her to form a strong foundation in herself, yet Rodriguez already processed that his skin color was “ugly” at the mere age of seven. These factors show how racism can alter one’s view of themselves when faced with such tribulations, some are able to move past them and become stronger as a person, while other people crumble under the