Sandra Cisneros is the author of a short story entitled "Mericans”. It has a young female narrator is stuck in an “old world” culture. In this particular case it is a Mexican culture. The narrator does not seem to understand the traditions, this shows a rift between the children that are Mexican but are being brought up in America and their grandmother who has migrated here from Mexico. Ciseneros uses the setting and symbolism to create the theme of individualism conflicting with cultural traditions; the individual children show confusion when it comes to showing which culture they belong to.
The point of the story is to show how the American or “new world” culture is destroying the traditional Mexican culture or “old world” culture. Setting …show more content…
This is significant, because it shows that she is not completely welcome in the Mexican culture. She returns outside and sees her brother talking to this American couple. They give her brother a whole handful of Mexican gum. They seem to be trying to speak Spanish to the young boy, assuming that the only language that he can speak is English. Her brother asks his siblings a question in English and the couple is astonished that the young boy can speak English. Junior then replies with “Yeah, we’re Mericans, [while] inside the awful grandmother prays.” (20) This statement is what ties the whole entire story together and shows the combination of Mexican and American traditions and how this couple who didn’t know it, but has a white culture that is breaking down the beautiful Mexican culture. The grandmother just prays that this is not what her culture is coming to, and that her children and grandchildren do not lose sight of their roots. The strange part is that the children seem to be embraced more by the American couple than they are with their Mexican grandmother. This creates a confusing environment when it comes to how they are supposed to identify
The point of the story is to show how the American or “new world” culture is destroying the traditional Mexican culture or “old world” culture. Setting …show more content…
This is significant, because it shows that she is not completely welcome in the Mexican culture. She returns outside and sees her brother talking to this American couple. They give her brother a whole handful of Mexican gum. They seem to be trying to speak Spanish to the young boy, assuming that the only language that he can speak is English. Her brother asks his siblings a question in English and the couple is astonished that the young boy can speak English. Junior then replies with “Yeah, we’re Mericans, [while] inside the awful grandmother prays.” (20) This statement is what ties the whole entire story together and shows the combination of Mexican and American traditions and how this couple who didn’t know it, but has a white culture that is breaking down the beautiful Mexican culture. The grandmother just prays that this is not what her culture is coming to, and that her children and grandchildren do not lose sight of their roots. The strange part is that the children seem to be embraced more by the American couple than they are with their Mexican grandmother. This creates a confusing environment when it comes to how they are supposed to identify