What Does Transamerica Mean

Gloria Anzaldua has always been aware of her progressive self, an inner self that emerged as lesbian, Mexican American, and oppressed. In Borderlands/La Frontera, the power of Anzaldua’s native tongue emanates from her resistance to Anglo-enforced conventions about culture and gender. She stresses the criticism of biculturalism in How To Tame A Wild Tongue, arguing that Anglo Americans subjugate Mexican Americans, because they might fear inferiority. As a Mexican American woman, her gender defies the normative patriarch, and her ethnicity infringes on Anglo preeminence -- untamed feats that reassert the power of her tongue. Anzaldua exposes the entitled behaviors of Anglo Americans by speaking Spanish against their silencing impositions, while simultaneously broadcasting the language and culture of her people and upholding her bicultural identity.

Michael Walzer’s essay on “What Does It Mean to Be an American?” raises many points about the American citizen. Specifically, he discusses “American” as an adjective (Walzer). “American” is often associated with American citizens; while this is true, the term can also be applied to Canadians and Mexicans (Walzer). American is such an ambiguous adjective that it is applicable to all countries and individuals that are part of the North American continent. Like Mr. Walzer states, American is not a truly defined term and America is not a country (Walzer). Walzer goes on to introduce a Horace Kallen’s opinion on American’s as anonymous and their “unique” pluralism (Walzer). There are exceptions to all things; the positive to being an American is the fact that Americans can be whatever they choose to be. I feel to be an American one must believe in the American ideals, they must believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. American 's in general may be anonymous, however, upon further reflection they have left the definition of “American” open for each American to define the adjective for themselves.

The American is a new man who is neither a European, nor his direct descendant. He is a strange mix of blood which cannot be found in any other country. The American is described as a person whose grandfather was an Englishman, his mother was Dutch and who has married a Frenchwoman. The American is a person who has left behind all his ancient manners and prejudices, and has received new ones from the mode of life he has embraced, the rank he holds and the government he obeys. A person becomes an American after being received in the broad lap of the great Alma Mater, and he becomes melted down into the new race of men whose posterity and efforts could transform the world in the days to come.

In midst of the radicalizations that were apparent in those times, Ferguson brings in the account of the transgendered mulatta. (p. 40). One can imagine the thought that went into this mulatta, where people of all races, sexual orientations could convulge and commit any act of vice that they deemed fit. In this Chapter, one sees a common theme, the expansive arguments around the heterogeneously composed African American culture – something that is visible to this day in the stereotyping that occurs with relation to queer people of color. One can also see another common aspect, in the way in which these articles show the way American industrialization disrupted hegemonic gender/sexual ideals as well as the people mistaking this disruption as racial differences. With the passage of time, these differences became more apparent, but the concept of queer people of color is still something that remains widely shrouded in question in the minds of ordinary

We live in a society where for decades we have been socialized to believe that there are only two genders: male and female. The idea of gender is socially constructed. Society and culture create gender roles and through those roles we all learn to enact our specific roles. With this in mind, this essay will seek to examine how gender shapes the structural and lived experiences of Chicanxs and Latinxs in the U.S. This essay will draw from Abrego, Acosta, Ocampo, and the documentary “No mas bebés” to see how gender affects an individual’s experiences in the U.S.

The Unites States is a true melting pot of ethnicities and cultures. For many members of minority groups a certain hybridity is readily adopted, but for others, cultural assimilation can be quite difficult. Chicana author, Sandra Cisneros described this phenomenon as “always straddling two countries… but not belonging to either culture” (Doyle. 54). African American author, Alice Walker shared Cisneros’ sentiment, but focused her attention on the assimilation of black cultures and subcultures within the United States. Cisneros and Walker make the same poignant statement about the strains of cultural assimilation, with reconciliation of split identities as the goal, in their respective works, 1991’s “Woman Hollering Creek,” and 1973’s “Everyday Use,” yet their unique ethnic perspectives allow them to make it in surprisingly different ways.

Throughout the life span of the United States, from its infancy after the Revolution to the present, people have asked, “What is an American?” This question goes far beyond asking who is a citizen or who resides in this land. No, it asks what the identity of an American is? Through popular, art, film, and literature, the American image is defined as being based on embracing our individual identities.

Americans have not only defined themselves by their religious, ethnic and racial identity, but also by their individual freedom and common values. America has become a nation where its people can fight for what they believe in. Our founding fathers have formed America to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. Being apart of the American culture and living on the land founded by our leaders specifies the meaning of the American Identity.

A deeper examination of Cisneros’ famous short story, “Woman Hollering Creek” will highlight the liberation of those barriers. In this particular short story Cisneros speaks about the main character, Cleofilas, and her struggle with her abusive husband, Juan Pedro. Cleofilas had to live in a society where the women were simply there to assist their husbands, and God forbid she second guessed him. Living and struggling with the everyday battle of stereotypes, she decided to leave her husband at the end of this short story. This all developed the strong independent female role Cleofilas took on by the end of the story. The main character was forced to believe by her family and her husband that she wasn’t worth anything without a man; this made her doubtful of her abilities and her human capital. In the interview by Martha Satz, Cisneros says, “I think many of my stories come from dealing with straddling two cultures, and certainly it's something I'm going to deal with in future stories” (Cisneros 30). Here, Cisneros agrees that her stories have to do with the endless topic about coming from two cultures and the stereotypes it brings along. From firsthand accounts the Mexican American culture is embraced by “machismo”, or that male superiority. “Woman Hollering Creek”

On the other hand, Cofer complains about how men and “educated and professional” Americans misinterpret Latin woman as “whore, domestic, and criminal.” (Cofer) In “Us and Them,” the author, David Sedaris, narrates a story of himself when he was a third grader in New York State. Sedaris begins by describing his neighborhood: “empty, no one outside, but inside watching TV.” (Sedaris)

Salt of the Earth and Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community have a lot of similarities when it comes to the subject of gender roles. So therefore, in this paper I examined the theme of

Explain why these People of Color (POC) appeared to spend so much energy identifying themselves with the category, “American”? When listening to the film and how the People of Color talk about the word, “American,” it is because how others in the world

The author of America and I, Anzia Yezierska, comes to America thinking very highly of it, but once she is in America for a period of time, she goes through experiences that change her mind into thinking America is not all it is made up to be. The author claims, “I was in America, among the Americans, but not one of them” (Yezierska 10). People in America do not consider her an American because she looks different and acts different than them. They see her as an outsider and not an actual American because she originates from a different country.  People believe if one was not born in America, they are not American, but that is not true.

America values freedom of opportunity for all- it is a country founded on the idea of the American Dream, the chance to go from having nothing to having everything. But the American Dream, the chance to become the model “American” has been abjured from the people America was founded on for too long. “American” is not an epithet reserved for birthright residents, but rather a title which embraces all residents of the country, including first and second level immigrants, particularly Japanese. In Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, Keiko, a second level Japanese immigrant who has resided in America her whole life, speaks nothing but English, and goes to a white school, is denied this title.

His closed off body language indicates a sort of fragility that elicits the audience’s sympathy. Standing next to his worn down mailbox, the man’s weary eyes stare almost accusingly at the audience. The Native American man’s piercing gaze sends a clear message: Native Americans are left behind by American nationalism. Rockwell’s ironic tone in “See America First” and use of color symbolism and perspective serve to express the plight of Native Americans and their lack of identity as a result of modern American nationalism.