In "The Story of My Body" Judith Cofer recounts significant life moments similarly to how society picked her apart, attribute by attribute. Cofer 's body image was criticized due to societal values, image standards, and cultural differences, thus giving her a different perception of the world as a whole. Moving from Puerto Rico to the United States caused Cofer to view herself in a different light, due to the difference of image values in the two countries. The American society places a high value on looks and physical appearance. While criticizing appearance seems extremely American, it happens across all cultures but different attributes have a different value. The early Euro-American settlers set the original standard of beauty for the
…show more content…
Cofer hints at perceptions of body image being different based on her location throughout the piece. She summarized this distinction in her quote "I was born a white girl in Puerto Rico but became a brown girl when I came to live in the United States." While in Puerto Rico, she was the superior and although a minority still highly regarded. Contrastingly, in the United States, her minority status set her apart from the usual and to deviate from the standard is a shame. Cofer 's view of herself changed drastically as she grew up in America due to the cultural value variation and it transformed the way she moved throughout society. The hierarchy that Cofer encountered during school that has plagued much of the world, "the hierarchy for popularity was as follows: pretty white girl, pretty Jewish girl, pretty Puerto Rican girl, pretty black girl.", influenced the majority of the world, but the core of Latin America has stayed true to original historical values, "…family, friends and strangers are part of Latin-American hospitality. Failure to eat the right amount may cause personal distress to the hostess. Large, full-bodied women are accorded high status and considered healthy in many Latin-American traditional cultures "(Massara, 1979). This value is why Cofer mentioned in the piece never focusing on her appearance until others made it a big deal. She lived in a world that shared her values for years and then came to a place that judged her differently. While minority communities try to stay true to their culture, Westernization can come into play in some aspect. In Puerto Rico, Cofer was referred to as blanca a term for being lighter, which usually meant higher social status because your ancestor wasn 't dark, insinuating potential slave relation. In the United States, she was again a minority, but her skin received much harsher judgment. Rather than being seen as a high
Cofer hints at perceptions of body image being different based on her location throughout the piece. She summarized this distinction in her quote "I was born a white girl in Puerto Rico but became a brown girl when I came to live in the United States." While in Puerto Rico, she was the superior and although a minority still highly regarded. Contrastingly, in the United States, her minority status set her apart from the usual and to deviate from the standard is a shame. Cofer 's view of herself changed drastically as she grew up in America due to the cultural value variation and it transformed the way she moved throughout society. The hierarchy that Cofer encountered during school that has plagued much of the world, "the hierarchy for popularity was as follows: pretty white girl, pretty Jewish girl, pretty Puerto Rican girl, pretty black girl.", influenced the majority of the world, but the core of Latin America has stayed true to original historical values, "…family, friends and strangers are part of Latin-American hospitality. Failure to eat the right amount may cause personal distress to the hostess. Large, full-bodied women are accorded high status and considered healthy in many Latin-American traditional cultures "(Massara, 1979). This value is why Cofer mentioned in the piece never focusing on her appearance until others made it a big deal. She lived in a world that shared her values for years and then came to a place that judged her differently. While minority communities try to stay true to their culture, Westernization can come into play in some aspect. In Puerto Rico, Cofer was referred to as blanca a term for being lighter, which usually meant higher social status because your ancestor wasn 't dark, insinuating potential slave relation. In the United States, she was again a minority, but her skin received much harsher judgment. Rather than being seen as a high