How Does Xuela Lose Identity In The Autobiography Of My Mother

“Theresa, a Haytien Tale” is a short story that was originally published in Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper in the United States, in 1828. This fictional short story is centered around three free women of color, Madame Paulina, and her daughters, Amanda and Theresa, and their actions to help Haiti to become independent during the Haitian Revolution. The reason the author chose to publish “Theresa, a Haytien Tale,” a text that highlighted liberating roles for female heroine of color who aided in the Haitian Revolution, in Freedom Journal was because the story reflected and brought attention to the social issues occurring at that time in New York.

The gender binary is not the only aspect of the lasting impact of colonization that affects an individual’s personal identity

Early in her life, Xuela rejects her racial stereotype but does not make public her higher self esteem. Even as a child, she keeps to mostly to herself, and because of this, hardly anyone understands her.

Examining “Claims” on another lever, one finds messages speaking out against the portrayal of a good woman in Puerto Rican societies. Women are expected to sacrifice every aspect of their own lives for their husbands and children. The Grandmother accepted her role in society, but always had dreams of claiming her own life. “Grandmother” made a promise when she was married, and she kept her promise. She raised five children and led a life committed to a husband who was expected by society to wander. But all along, Grandmother had dreamed of the day when she could secure her freedom. She dreamed of sleeping in her own bed and simply being herself. Her dream is finally realized in old age, as described in the poem. Grandmother “claimed the right” to be herself and live her life. Her days were constantly occupied by caring for her children and her nights were always invaded by her husband’s presence. Now that her family has all moved on, Grandmother has her house and her life for herself. Each right that she has claimed has multiple meanings about her life and society, her dreams and true personality.

Oppression is something that all humans are faced with at some point in their lives. No matter how large that oppressing force may be, it is sure to have an effect on those in its path. Zora Neale Hurston, and Celeste Ng are two authors who wrote about how their characters live in the face of hardships and both show a dramatic change in their characters from beginning to end. Hurston writes about a young woman, Delia, living in the 1920’s dealing with an abusive husband in her short story “Sweat.” Ng’s novel Little Fires Everywhere follows two families living in a prim and proper town in Ohio in the 1990’s. Throughout these works, the characters are consistently challenged by cruelty of the powerful forces surrounding them, but more importantly,

Anywhere in the world, someone acquires something, whether it be money, a car, or even an idea. We can “own” many intangible and tangible items in life, but how does ownership relate to a sense and development of self? This question has been constantly answered for centuries through intelligent people like Plato, Aristotle, and Jean-Paul Sartre. However, the question has received no agreeable answer. In the end, people will agree that there is a strong and positive relationship between ownership and a sense of self because the things you own will define and develop who you are positively by exhibiting what you like, what you can and cannot do, and in the end, characterizes you, as long as you use the things you own properly.

Jamaica Kincaid successfully convinces her audience that post colonial impact still remains. Through the use of rhetorical appeals such as pathos, logos and imagery she successfully explains her claim. Through this novel she gives an insightful explanation of what antigua is like from a person who comes from that area. Kincaid being born in antigua, she gives us a view from her eyes on what antigua is really like while going through post colonial impact. Kincaid incorporates historical background in text to convince her audience that this impact is holding back antigua from the good and enjoyable place it can really be. She develops a connection with the audience when she makes them feel like the tourist that is figuring out what's going on in the background of antigua. This connection serves as pathos as it makes the audience feel the emotion of anger and disappointment for not knowing what mess is really going on in this small island. This demonstration shows how cultures everywhere are affected by postcolonialism and how there is a negative global commonality between tourist and natives.

Kincaid’s On Seeing England for the First Time is an essay on the imperialism political and cultural dominance on it’s colonies. The narrator and her people are taught to love, admire, and emulate British Culture. However, as the narrator grows up she realizes all the discrepancies in all she has learned about the culture she should have and her own country. She picks apart England culture piece by piece.

Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American

The examination of black women's need to keep their powerful heritage and identity is important to the protagonist in “Everyday Use.” Walker uses the mother’s voice to show the trials and tribulations of a small African American family located in the South. She speaks on multiple levels, voicing the necessity and strength of being true to one's roots and past; that heritage is not just something to talk about, but to live and enjoy in order for someone to fully understand themselves. Unlike Kincaid, Walker gives her black female character’s an identity of their own, each in their own right, and observes the internal conflicts of each mother and daughters struggle with identity. The mother represents a simple content way of life where identity and heritage are valued for both its usefulness, as well as its personal significance. In order to illustrate how the mother viewed identity versus her daughters, Walker quickly acknowledges that the mother has inherited many customs and traditions from her ancestors. She describes herself as a large big-boned woman with rough man-working hands (485). She also describes here various abilities including, killing and cleaning a hog as mercilessly as a man. Being able to work hard and not care about being such a lady, is how the mother defines identity at this point. On the other hand, the two daughters each have opposing views on the value and worth of the different items

Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”

the fact that the Americans at the time, believe in the American Dream. A Chicana that goes by the name Gloria Anzaldúa, wrote a short essay called “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. Anzaldúa discusses the issues of struggling to keep her culture and native language alive, while people kept criticizing her for not acting more like an American, yet Anzaldúa was an American citizen. The way the idea appear to Anzaldúa was her dentist were trying to clean Anzaldúa teeth, and they got frustrated by being unable to tame her tongue. Then dentist had told Anzaldúa they'll need to do something about her tongue, this leads to Anzaldúa thinking about her past. When Anzaldúa was growing up, she felt angry at those who couldn't accept anyone's language and culture but the American Way. At one point, Anzaldúa decides to change her attitude by teaching people the importance of keeping your culture and native language alive.

For example, a group of teachers attempt to forge the tallies because Jeanne won Festival Carnival Queen but many teachers believed it would too controversial to allow her to be Queen. In the end, her friend confronts the teachers and ensures Jeanne will become Queen.“They're fudging the tally. They're afraid to have a Japanese girl be Queen”(124).In order to fear that parents would have a negative response, the teachers had to have a fair reasoning. The truth of the matter is many painted Japanese Americans as un american and foreign so it follows that many would oppose Jeanne as Queen. This is important because it supports the idea that prejudice affected Japanese Americans because the teachers neglect to view Jeanne as a student but focus on the fact she is Japanese. In the end, Jeanne struggles to accept herself as queen and it stems from the fact that she felt as if she was forcing herself to be someone she was not. Despite the prejudice many held towards Japanese Americans, Jeanne managed to surpass their expectations. At the end of the memoir, Jeanne strays from story telling and provides insight into her life after Manzanar. She reveals that she graduated from college and married outside her race.”Suffice to say, I was the first member of my family to finish college and marry outside of my race”(132). Some members of society neglected to see Jeanne for who she truly was. As a result, Jeanne indoctrinated herself with the idea that she must americanizan herself to be accepted. However, Jeanne was able to overcome her internal conflict and become a successful Japanese-American. This shows that prejudice is nothing more that a preconceived notion and that people can define themselves through their actions. Moreover, this example demonstrates determination and resilience can go a long way. If Jeanne had been afraid to write her experiences

Many individuals were born into a life that their past generations had left for them. Some were born into slavery and forced to work in cotton fields because they had no equal rights as the white individuals. Having gone through the mistreatment, humiliation, and the discrimination done by the white individuals, not many had the opportunity o create the life they desired. This was presented in “The Last Member of the Boela Tribe “ written by Cathy Day in which four generations , Bascomb, Gordon,Verna, and Chicky, were left with a past and present that they could not escape from unable to move forward to create new identities for themselves that is expressed through the use of characterization and symbolism.

Nervous Conditions draws much focus on the lives of women living the impacts of colonialism in a traditional African society in Zimbabwe. These women struggle to assert themselves in a patriarchal society while at the same time it speaks about the history of a country that has been under colonialization. The female characters in the stories struggle in their lives to find ways to deal with their own situation; however, this essay emphasizes African women’s situation in both the colonized and/or patriarchal societies as exemplified by the female characters: Tambu and Nyasha. Tambu leaves her country because of its inequality and male biases so she can seek freedom and gain liberation. Nyasha resisters and defies patriarchy, as manifested by