Outsiders In Merican

Decent Essays
"Response to Executive Order 9066" and "Mericans" both develop the common theme of people who are thought of as outsiders to the United States being ordinary citizens just as everyone else is. In "Response to Executive Order 9066" the narrator describes their life as a normal US citizen and are being treated as the enemy of the country because of their heritage. In "Mericans" the children act like typical American children but are surrounded by traditional Mexican culture and treated like outsiders by other Americans.

In "Response to Executive Order 9066" the narrator tells about her life and how she was an ordinary American girl until she was started to be considered the enemy of the country she grew up in. Even her best friend turned against

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the story “’Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros the setting symbolizes how Mexican-Americans, in this case, Micaela and her siblings, live in between two different worlds without being completely accepted into either the Mexican or the American culture. The fact that there are only two settings in the story along with the interactions with their grandma and the tourists and the references made about pop culture, gives enough evidence to support the idea that setting of the story serves as a symbol for the antagonist Micaela and her brothers find themselves battling without really knowing it. There are two settings in the story. Inside the dusty and dark church with high ceilings which smells like incense, and holy water, where the awful grandmother…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For this reason, when her journey begins she must tell herself "to be like a soldier in battle" and not "cry or mope" (149) when she is taunted and harassed in school. At this junction, "Warriors Don't Dry" is a command for herself. Yet, she develops "fierce self-confidence that is aptly attributed the warrior" (144) as the memoir progresses. Through her experiences at Central High, Beals actually begins to embody the warrior persona which she has fought to make herself believe she is; without this, the circumstances surely would have overcome her. It is through this embodiment that Beals discovers that she, the warrior, will not settle for less, and that the idea of bravery made her willing to take on the task of being the first black girl in an all white high school.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For some a book composed almost entirely of letters written home from Vietnam may not seem like a desirable read. However, Dear America entices one from the first letter and makes the reader not want to put it down- unless they are reaching for a tissue. The tear provoking collection of letters at first seems like a window into the feelings, thoughts, and beliefs of a soldier suffering the hardships of war, but as it progresses the letters bite at the reader’s soul and makes one feel as though he/she is right there with the soldier. The book becomes more and more heartbreaking and then sends one’s emotions for a whirlwind in the section of last letters. Finally, it concludes with the most emotional letter written which is one from a mother in a world of hurt writing to her fallen son; this last letter leaves one bursting with compassion and feeling as though he/she is the parent who has lost a child to the monster that is war.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In hard times many people feel they are being wronged whether it’s about their race, gender, or employment. This often leads to a unification of like minded individuals looking to change the things they feel are unsuitable for others and their own life. A leader of social justice who fought for the rights of the people was young mother, Ella May Wiggins. She died standing strong in her beliefs on the rights of workers and the standards at which their jobs should be held. She is not unlike the Grapes of Wrath of character Jim Casey who shared her beliefs on the people's right to fairness.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The book, Farewell to Manzanar is a nonfiction story about a little girl named Jeanne who lived during World War II. Throughout the book, Jeanne describes what it was like before living in the camps, what it was like line in the camps, and how living in the camps affected her for years to come because it taught her something about the Americans. In the story, her idea of what the camps meant and what they were intended for changes as she gets older and learns the actuality of the impact it had on her life, and her personality growing up. Before living in Manzanar, Jeanne lived in Long Beach, with her three older brothers, Kiyo, Bill, and Woody, her parents, and her brothers’ wife, Chizu.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Elizabeth Frances was born in a two-story white clapboard house in the modest town of McLouth, Kansas, to Clara Belle and Allen Elzaver in 1914. Their house has stood, mostly unchanged for the last hundred years on a street that bears the name of a family member. In fact, most of the older streets in McLouth bear the names of their family members. Clara Belle carefully chose the name Elizabeth Frances for her newborn, but when her doctor finally sat down a few days later to fill out the birth certificate, he inadvertently wrote Frances Elizabeth, much to the dismay of the family. It may not have seemed a monumental error, but since Clara Belle died of cancer when Elizabeth was seven years old, it was vital to Elizabeth to have the name her mother intended for her.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The common book, Orphan Train written by Christina Baker Kline, not only brought a realistic feature to the novel, but also made the story a touching and perspective changing one. Kline’s insisted on basing the book on real life occurrences and stories from people who experienced the orphan train first hand. By interviewing those who lived through the events first hand, Kline successfully made the book as real and true as possible. Vivian’s past allowed her to have a deep connection with Molly, which is something as an honor mentor leader we can take into consideration and apply ourselves.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What deems a woman as influential? Is it her contributions to society? Her personality? Her lifestyle? Passion, authenticity.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the story, the children were not Americanized, the children were immigrants that were beginning to be exposed to the American culture. That is why the girl even made it a point to specify that her and her siblings were not Americans nor Mexicans, however Mericans. A term she came up with on her own to individualize herself from the people around her. Neither the grandma or the children were represented negatively, the children were only seemed to be negligent of their grandmother because of their want to not be outsiders of a world that interested…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Who Is Marjane?

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An amusing and moving memoir of Marjane, an innocent ten-year-old Iranian girl who protested against the Islamic Revolution written by Marjane Satrapi. At first, Marjane wanted to become a prophet, therefore she began speaking to God in her dreams. During this time, the Shah is defeated, and a new Islamic government takes power. Her school becomes an all-girls school, and she is enforced to wear a veil. Gradually, Marjane and her parents understand that the government is becoming too forceful.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Compare and Contrast Essay In the short stories, “A Quilt of a Country” and “Immigrant Contribution”, there are many similarities and differences. They both talk about how immigration has affected religion, the dinner table, community and individualism, and how the nation has been held together. All of those things are affected by immigration both legal and illegal. Both of these short stories are about how America has been affected by immigration, and the similarities and differences of the stories.…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Her insistence that she is from the “Blackfoot side” (292) when asked which side of the border she is from proves this. The reader can identify irony in the idea that the protagonist and his mother would be able to cross the border with ease if she were to only claim her national citizenship. This reinforces the concept of pride that she is trying to teach her son because when she does not allow the border to alter her identity, she shows him the power of self-dignity. The protagonist’s reinforced idea of his own identity comes about when he is told that his words “do not count” (292) after he states that he is both “Blackfoot and Canadian” (292). He identifies as both, yet his mother’s unshakable identity as only Blackfoot teaches him that he does not “have to be American or Canadian” (293), but can be something else entirely and independently.…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Loose Change Analysis

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Education and Sexuality: Different Processes of Liberation It is common practice to define a period in history by the experiences of the people living during that time. However, this presents an issue when those few experiences are generalized and expanded to represent an entire population during a given time period. When considering the two texts Loose Change: Three Women of the Sixties by Sara Davidson and Migrant Daughter: Coming of Age as a Mexican American Woman by Frances Esquibel Tywoniak and Mario T. García, this point is particularly pertinent. Although Fran from Migrant Daughter: Coming of Age as a Mexican American Woman and Susie from Loose Change: Three Women of the Sixties were both attending school at University of California…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The argument over what it means to be American is an old one, yet still lives today. The two texts, "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros and “In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers" by Dwight Okita, address this argument. Both of the texts assert that cultural heritage and physical appearance do not define the American identity. However, they make this claim in slightly different ways, as explored in this essay. In the story "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros, the narrator and her siblings seem detached from Mexican culture.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson is about the mistreatment of Native Americans. This work related to our class theme diverse voices because it talks about ethnicity and race. The newly settled Americans forced the Native Americans out of their own home because they were different than them. This work also relates to the theme Changing Ways People Think About America As a Nation because Native Americans were the first people in America, so it makes people think that what the people from England did was wrong. It affected all lives and America 's culture.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays