'The Myth Of The Latin Wom I Just Met A Girl Named Maria'

Stereotypes are a form of prejudice everyone will once experience in their lifetime. Stereotypes are centered around an individual's race, gender, social class, religion, and age. They have been known to be elements people use to make judgments and subjectify people to one key feature. As Gordon Allport states, “ To state the matter technically, a noun abstracts from a concrete reality some one features and assembles different concrete realities only with respect to this one feature”(364). Mr.Allport’s words can be summed up to say stereotypes have been used as key fundamentals to associate one feature or aspect of a person with a group that represents it, typically in an unfavorable way.

During the time I been taking English 105 we have talked about many essays. Many of the essays we read in this semester were interesting essays in the 50 essays book. Most of the essays were inspirational to students. Some of the essays were very helpful they help develop our writing skills and how to be more descriptive in our essays. For the student learning outcome the essays should be interesting for the student to feel involved when talking about the essays. Many of the essays in our book were relatable to many students, yet there was one essay that ,in my opinion, did not have to be in our syllabus. In the essay "The Myth of the Latin Women: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria" by Judith Ortiz. The essay I did not believe it had to be in our syllabus because it really did not have to do much with the student learning outcome was "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson.

Stereotypes are dangerous weapons in our society. “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” is a short essay in which the award winning poet and professor of English, Judith Ortiz Cofer, wishes to inform and persuade the audience that labels and stereotypes can be humiliating and hurtful. The author targets the general public, anyone that doesn’t understand that putting someone in a box because of a stereotype is wrong. Cofer starts out the essay by telling the reader a story with a drunk man who re-enacted “Maria” from the West Side Story, and how angry that made her feel. She continues by explaining how she grew up in the United States being a Puerto Rican girl trying to fit in, but always being labeled as an island girl. Cofer carries on by explaining why Latin people get dressed and act a certain way. Then she recalls some more stereotypical incidents.

As human beings, we like to put labels on people around us to help us identify them. Most of these people around us are strangers and we do not know any personal detail about them. We tend to identify them based on their appearance, rather than who or how they are as people. We are often unaware of the impacts our labels have on these people. In the essay “ On being a cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “ The Myth of a Latin woman : I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the writers have successfully portrayed the feelings that arise in people’s mind based on the way they are identified. In both the essays, the writers tell us how they have been incorrectly labeled and judged by society based on their social, physical and racial appearance, how they are tired of it and how they have come to accept and make peace with it.

When Americans meet someone new they are already sticking that person into some sort of category because of their appearance. If someone looks different than Americans are use to, they automatically stick some sort of stereotype to them. Stereotypes are strongly displayed in the media; stereotype can be based of someone’s color, culture, religion, or sex. In Black men in public spaces by Brent Staples, and in The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the authors talk about stereotypes based on their gender and ethnicity and the experiences they both encounter because of their ethnicity and gender which have many similarities and differences. Stereotypes can lead

In life, there is a common ground on which most every person can relate. At one time or another, we have all been promoters of or victims of the unremitting nature of stereotypes. According to the Webster’s dictionary, a stereotype is defined as “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.” Most stereotypes take on a negative form and are based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, status, and personal beliefs. Generally speaking, the greatest problem that arises with stereotypes is that they judge group of people by the characteristics and actions of their ancestors, rather than on an individual basis. More often than not, these assumptions will

In her essay “The myth of the Latin woman,” Cofer explains some of the stereotypes she has faced in her life being a Latina in America and how she was discriminated in many different experience. Cofer ends the article by clearly stating her hopes to change the media which stereotypes on her people from trashy Latina to a well educated and wise Latina. Although Judith Cofer reveals the injustice and discrimination happening in the modern America where people are overlook the fact on discrimination based on their skin color, their accents, and their cloths. In her essay “The Myth of the Latin Women,” depicts Judith, a woman who recognise the problem of society dominates the Latinas in America, matter of fact this can’t be change unless they

What if I were to tell you that you that for the rest of your life, you would be unfairly judged, and possibly even discriminated against, based on false perceptions and ideas gathered from influences that only resemble you in the vaguest of ways, most likely being, skin color? And what if no matter how an individual person chooses to carry oneself, they will still commonly be regarded as a member of said misconceptions? Enter, stereotype: “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.”(1)

Racism has been around America since the era of slavery (18th century) up until now, and racism is still alive and growing in our country. Knowing this shows that we have not evolved like we should as a society. Because of cultural differences and barriers many of us stick around the same crowd and tend to not mix with the “others.” Both Judith Cofer’s and Lawrence Graham retell about the first time they experienced discrimination in high school and realized that it was a small taste to what the real world had coming for them. However, Cofer experienced racism by the stereotypes that are put on a hispanic women while Graham learned how people in his school would not mix with other ethnicities.

. When examining the concept of stereotyping you must be open minded and willing to accept the truth about yourself and others. You must be receptive to the facts. Honestly, creating generalization may be organic to most individuals, but it’s painful and this behavior has long term effects on society. When you wrongfully judge a segment of the population without any factual evidence that directly affect your existence you are proper guilty of the participating in the destructive act. Usually, most people will characterize a group of people, based on the behavior of one person from the group, without taking into consideration that one person cannot represent an entire group. Members of different races and cultures have unique individual experience that define their character. Therefore, a segment of the population can share common interest without being classified. Stereotypes are based on assumption and it is absurd to judge a person based on superficial reason. Consequently, this attuited denies you the opportunity to learn more about a person, so that you can make an honest evaluation of that person traits.

Robert Heilbroner, in his essay “Don’t Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments,” justifies why the ideas stereotyped aren’t always correct. He goes on saying that stereotypes are “a kind of gossip about the world, a gossip that makes us pre-judge people before we ever lay eyes on them. ” which makes us fit more into the life we think we need to live. He

It is important to, first, clarify what a stereotype is. In a sense, stereotyping is a way to identify groups by putting a label on certain ethnic divisions as a whole. “Group identification may be based on such factors as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, age, physical challenge, gender identity, occupation, education, and so on,” (Lee et al., 65 ). According to the journal article Activating Racial Stereotypes on Survivor, this is what the definition of a stereotype embodies. It is the preconceived judgement of an individual for qualities they have little to no control over. Stereotyping is very common among people in

Stereotyping is “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group (dictionary.com). This ideal reflects the tendency to categorize individuals based on their “phenotypic features.” These tendencies occur in interactions between “members of racial categories” (apa.org). Racial stereotyping is a factor that shapes our society and influences literature. Literature defends victims of racial stereotyping through their stories and hardships.

A stereotype is a fixed, overgeneralized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996). We do this to protect ourselves, it is in our nature to associate what we have seen or heard and apply it to new situations. One advantage of a stereotype is that it enables us to respond rapidly to situations because we may have had a similar experience before.

Stereotyping is the way of how a person is categorized by a group of people. Stereotype problems occurs everywhere to anyone. In "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria" by Judith Cofer occurs significant events that touched her that will be forever in her head. Cofer; a writer, is mistaken with the waitress at a restaurant just because of her Latin appearance. In the words of author and essayist Judith Ortiz Cofer, "She ordered a cup of coffee from me, assuming that I was the waitress.(Easy enough to mistake my poems for menus, I suppose)"(236). This is a very good example of how people categorized others. In addition, she mentions in her essay that when people hear the name Maria, the first thing that pops out in their head is "Maria the housemaid or countergirl". This is very funny but it is true, people categories other very quickly without knowing the person. She is not the only person who has been a victim from this stereotype issue, it happens to a lot of people around the world from different ethnicities and backgrounds. In "Just Walk on By" by Brent Staples, the author shows how he was confused with a criminal just because of his skin color and the way he was acting. As Staples addressed, "Rushing into the office of a magazine I was writing for with a deadline story in hand, I was mistaken for a burglar"(242). the author shows the way of how other people