Personal Narrative: Growing Up Mexican-American Is Similar To Living A Dual-Identity

Coming from a Mexican immigrant family I have learned to recognize since a very young age that because of the status that my parents are placed in they cannot pursue a better future like the one I want. I have been given the opportunity to challenge myself with obtaining a higher education than just high school itself. My parents have demonstrated to me through their hard work that I have to value this opportunity unless I want to end up with low paying job. My life long dedication comes from seeing my parents make sacrifices in order for my education to continue.

In this article Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type Gonzalez gives us an outlook different from what we generally read when taught about American History. His effort is to explain how each of the different Latino groups came. What was happening in their home towns that caused them to leave. If people want to accept it, eventually they will have to. That this country is bound to go through an enormous Latino population explosion. Gonzalez writes “Mexican Americans meanwhile, face a frustrating identity problem like that of Puerto Ricans” (pg97). Being a Mexican American myself I could agree that it is at times frustrating identifying. We are either too American to be Mexican. Or too Mexican, to be American. In 1749 because of what was called the promise

Am I Mexican,or am I American? One day, I was thinking about how I had to work twice as hard to embrace them both to please both cultures. I then realized that if I am working to please them both,then I am both. Speaking a language is not a due to pay to be who I am. There is no checklist to qualify for,and no test to pass,you are who you are. I am a bridge that has its beams planted in both sides of the Mexican-American border. When school began and I enrolled in honor level Spanish classes, I did it, not because people thought I had to,but because it will be beneficial to my life. People would sometimes tell me the stereotypical things they believed about hispanics,such as the beliefs that we are lazy. Instead of tearing me down, that only made my work ethic head into overdrive. Confining to others expectations was not what I wanted for myself. Like the bridge between the two cultures,I would stand tall and remain unaffected by the remarks people threw at me. Growing up as a Mexican-American has proven to have its challenges,but I am grateful. These trials have helped make me into the person that I am today,and has given me a different perspective on life than the average

Being a daughter of immigrant parents has never been easy here in America. Both my parents worked excessively hard to be financially stable. Unfortunately at the age of ten my life changed. I learned that my parents no longer loved each other. The arguing and fighting my parents had, only damaged me emotionally. I was too young to grasp the idea that my parents were separating which become one of the hardest times for my mom to maintain my siblings and I. Shortly after, I began attending church and fell in love with the idea of getting closer to God. Luckily, my life took an enormous turn the moment I gave my life to Christ. God has opened numerous opportunities for my education. I am proud of all the accomplishments I have achieved in high

Being first generation Mexican American to me is a title that comes with responsibility as well as an opportunity. Growing up, parents always preach to their eldest children that their actions have the consequences of impacting their younger siblings. I believe that as first generation Hispanics, it is our duty to build a strong foundation that later generations may build on. Whenever I think of being Hispanic, the word heritage comes to mind. In the frame of being an ethic minority in America, it is important for new generations to learn about their individual history and culture. As human beings we find comfort in what we are accustom too; For example I often get advice from friends living on their own saying “leaving home is the hardest

I am a Mexican born in America, and I consider myself a Mexican-American because of my values and how I live my life. In general, society will label us what they consider to be true, but we must not let ourselves be defined by this. As long as we believe we are who we are, racial identification should not impact ourselves or others. Rather our way of carrying ourselves culturally

My parents always wanted to give their children the life they never had. I am Mexican-American, both of my parents immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. before I was born. I have numerous relatives, including my older sister, who do not have the same opportunities I have to achieve success because they are undocumented. For them, college was only a dream that could never be attained. Being the first U.S. citizen out of my entire family affected the way I thought about life. It was expected that I would attend college because I was the only one who had access to all the resources granted to American citizens. Although, I agreed with my family, the pressure to succeed and be a role model to my younger siblings was overwhelming.

Leaving home at the age of 18, loving on my own, figuring how to become an adult, and moving out to college, there were many things being thrown at me in which I was not fully prepared for them. Moving out at 18 is normal for any high school graduate in The United States. Being a Mexican American women it was more than just the net step to life , but a huge accomplishment. Being ascribed into a poor family increased the desire to move forward. My parents did not want me to follow their footsteps into the world of low waged labor, they wanted more. Growing up all I heard from teachers and family members was to go to college. For many it’s the normal thing for a high school graduate to do. For me it was more than socialization it was the path

Much to my own embarrassment, my Hispanic heritage had been a thing I hardly thought of. My Father left my family when I was young, and with him went the hopeful wisps I had of learning about myself. It’s not to say that I wasn’t aware that I was Hispanic, but rather, growing up in a mainly white household I didn’t think I had any right to claim my ethnicity. However, the more I look around me and learn about the community Hispanics have grown accustomed to, the more I find that I understand where I came from. To me, being Hispanic isn’t about what you were told when you were younger, or the traditions you grew up with. Rather, being Hispanic is about learning where you come from, and learning about those who share your same heritage. ‘Hispanic’

“Wow...there is no way you’re Latino. You’re way too white!” was the ignorant remark made by a one of my peers during my school’s annual Latin-American Fest. Initially, hearing this claim made me look into the mirror. I began to stroke my face and examine my physical features. Was this true? Was I not Latino enough? Did the amount of melanin or lack thereof deem me as Latino?

In Mexico, parents play a key role in shaping daily life through the style of relationship they maintain with their children and the family climate that promotes. Within a traditional family, the mother is the one who stays in the home, while the father is the one who goes to work to

In George J. Sanchez’s, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles 1900-1945, Sanchez brings forth a new understanding of Mexican-American culture through the presentation of how the culture made substantial adaptations under limited economic and social mobility (Sanchez 13). Unlike other historians who studies the variations of Mexican American cultural identity from a national prospective , Sanchez creatively selects Los Angeles as his site of research because, not only is the city home to the largest Mexican population in the United States, but also because Latinos play a profound role in shaping the city’s culture. Growing up in an immigrant family himself, Sanchez undoubtedly has many personal

My Hispanic culture is exceedingly unique contrast to other cultures because we have countless of beliefs, holidays, lifestyles, etc. My world of Hispanic culture raised me to become an independent and determined person because being the first generation of a Hispanic family to attend college has my family beyond thrilled for me to put value to our heritage. Putting value in our heritage is a magnificent emotion because people anticipate Hispanics to fail; but, we prove them wrong when we accomplish our goals. The Hispanic culture’s strength is unbelievably astonishing because we are ambitious of our dreams and we don’t cease until we fulfill our wish. Including the Hispanic culture at University of Washington may open people’s mind that we

Criss-cross applesauce I sat upon the rock with the Froggy book upon my lap. The afternoon sunlight hitting upon the pages and illuminating the text. Eyes wandering left, right, up, and down as I see the boy running through the grass and getting on his bike to roam through the rocky driveway. I dare not leave my spot for the sake of his safety and remain seated, opening my backpack to start on the vocabulary words assigned for English class that week. The words of my mother from the morning are in the back of my mind, ¨Llegó pronto y cuida mucho a tu hermanito, te quiero mucho.¨

The personal essay titled “The Space In-Between” by Santiago Quintana details the struggles he dealt with while trying to figure out his identity as a member of both the Mexican and American cultures. Even though Santiago was born and raised in Mexico, he was often questioned about his ethnicity because his physical appearance did not align with that of a “true Mexican.” Instead of having brown skin, black hair, and brown eyes, he has white skin, light brown hair, and blue eyes. Since Santiago looked so different, he was singled out, bullied, and treated as if he were a foreigner in his own country. The difficulties he faced clearly had numerous negative effects on him emotionally, however, there was an unexpected and overwhelmingly positive