Judith Ortiz Cofer’s essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman”, shows us the different stereotypes that she personally had to deal with over the years. Growing up in the United States and being born in Puerto Rico made her want to “belong” as she resented the stereotype that her Hispanic appearance brought on. One main difference between Puerto Rico and the United States that she goes into great detail about is the culture clash of clothing styles. Cofer gets the readers to consider what it would be like to have grown up in the United States being from a different culture. Judith Ortiz is a Latin American that speaks out against stereotyping.
This essay was intended for the public eye and media because it displays us the way Americans automatically …show more content…
Cofer’s first public poetry reading took place in Miami in a boat-restaurant, where an older woman motioned her over to a table “Thinking (foolish me) that she wanted me to autograph a copy of my brand new slender volume of verse, I went over. She ordered a cup of coffee from me, assuming that I was the waitress” (Cofer 811). Cofer jokingly compares her poems to menus because of this incident but, tries not to show how much it affected her since this is a big appearance for her as she shares her poem with the public. It shows that we do not necessarily think that Latinos/Hispanics have well developed language skills like Americans do and that her being a Latina, shows that she is not capable of being a poet. Another part where we would feel the guilt for her is when she agonized over what a career woman would wear, as she only had few role models that fit into that role. Cofer even added that, “It quickly became obvious that to the barrio girls, “dressing up” sometimes meant wearing ornate jewelry and clothing that would be more appropriate (by mainstream standards) for the company Christmas party than as a daily office attire” (Cofer 807). This shows the reader that she is stressing to figure out what exactly a career outfit would look like so she would somewhat fit in with everyone
This essay was intended for the public eye and media because it displays us the way Americans automatically …show more content…
Cofer’s first public poetry reading took place in Miami in a boat-restaurant, where an older woman motioned her over to a table “Thinking (foolish me) that she wanted me to autograph a copy of my brand new slender volume of verse, I went over. She ordered a cup of coffee from me, assuming that I was the waitress” (Cofer 811). Cofer jokingly compares her poems to menus because of this incident but, tries not to show how much it affected her since this is a big appearance for her as she shares her poem with the public. It shows that we do not necessarily think that Latinos/Hispanics have well developed language skills like Americans do and that her being a Latina, shows that she is not capable of being a poet. Another part where we would feel the guilt for her is when she agonized over what a career woman would wear, as she only had few role models that fit into that role. Cofer even added that, “It quickly became obvious that to the barrio girls, “dressing up” sometimes meant wearing ornate jewelry and clothing that would be more appropriate (by mainstream standards) for the company Christmas party than as a daily office attire” (Cofer 807). This shows the reader that she is stressing to figure out what exactly a career outfit would look like so she would somewhat fit in with everyone