Julie Bettie Women Without Class Analysis

The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways.

As a child, she recognized that her imitation of ‘White” afforded opportunities of mobility, education, acceptance and privilege. Her mother’s appearance as “Black” afforded opportunities of poverty, inferiority, and inequality. So, she fails to mention her mother’s identity and occupation to classroom peers and teacher. Sarah Jane wants cultural assimilation and white privilege.

Because of this, she also believes there is a lack of respect for Hispanic culture. It is also unfair that Spanish is taught with little respect, yet English is usually a “pretentious” subject. She majored in English in college to show her teachers that she was capable of learning about the language, but still has her Hispanic identity. On top of being Hispanic alone, there are even more stereotypes about Hispanic women that both authors talk about.

Other characters, like Frankie 's roommate, also comment on the inherent sexism within their school, like how Frankie is a sophomore who suddenly became hot over the summer, and all these

Cofer utilizes moral and, enthusiastic interest to communicate as the need should arise to others that the generalizations of Hispanic ladies can have negative impacts. Cofer utilizes moral interest to depict her Hispanic childhood. Growing up as a young lady Cofer was instructed to dress a specific path on account of her Hispanic culture and now and again it was confounded, "... Puerto Rican moms likewise urged their little girls to act and look like woman...". Young ladies were raised to act and look more developed than they really were.

She had to act and dress older than all her friends. Her life in every way was different than all the other girls she knew, because she stood out so much. Due to her being a Puerto Rican woman, she was always labeled and stereotyped. Cofer said Latin women

Publication Information Mantsios, Gregory. “Class in America: Myths and Realities (2000).” Rereading America. Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle.

class we learned that social location “can shape our ideas of who we are and what we should attain in life along with our ideas of what others are or are not and what they should attain”. Also, I explained that it can be social classes, race, occupations, sex, religion, race, ethnicity, and age. As I began to explain, I told Yadira that it is unpopular to see young Mexican-American girls with tattoos, at least not in the U.S. Although, it is becoming very popular among white-Americans, it is not as common in Mexican-American households. Being

Throughout the story, she is confronted by men who act like she is the “Hot Tamale” (Cofer 105) hispanic woman, which she describes as “a one-dimensional view that the media have found easy to promote” (Cofer, 105), and according to Looking in the Popular Culture Mirror’s “Sexy, Sassy, Spicy: The Portrayal of Latina Women in American Television” by April Hernandez, it has been a trope going back to the 1920s. She describes how latina women in early films were stereotyped as “sexual bombshells” and it persisted into the 21st Century media. The stereotype profoundly affected Cofer by making non-hispanic men a little too eager to talk to her: the man on the British bus sang to her without being asked. Her date to her first formal dance kisses her extremely hard and says “I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early.” (Cofer, 106)

She employs many literary devices that support her specific claim in this passage as well as she provides many clear examples of how stereotypes have shaped young girls’ lives throughout the book. Through these examples she succeeds to use them as evidence so the audience does not conform to

Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

Selena Quintanilla’s father once said, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans.” In today’s society, many have encountered the challenge of not being able to be who they really are because they fear not being accepted by others, more specifically their culture. But, what happens when an individual is part of two worlds that have just as many rules? Gloria E. Anzaldúa was a Mexican-American writer and poet who made a major contribution to the fields of cultural, feminist, and queer theory. Anzaldúa identifies as a Chicana and speaks different variations of Spanish, some of which she exhibits in her works.

Basically, what the authors tries to show is a strong abandonment of the government to the chronic gang violence and a big division of two group of people. “Sociologist Buford Farris likewise described the social relation between Anglos and Mexican Americans in the mid-sixties as a model of two almost separate systems”2. The division of these two group of people made that a small group of businessmen “controlled all commences and development”3. In the second part, the author gives a description of how the Chicano Movement starts getting Mexican American students and politically aware youth workers and to form the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO). Later, the women movement is going to be added to this group since they were not strong enough or they were not considered equal as the Chicanos.

Within each book, it questions the message of “culture and gender” (Louelí, “An Interpretive Assessment of Chicano Literature and Criticism”). Clearly, positive figures influenced how the Chicano community acted then and now. Rudolfo Anaya and other Chicano writers

Having read the book before this activity I understood that there could be no correlation between what the girls presented and what they believed personally, since they did not choose the side they presented for. I did find myself automatically making snap Judgments about them as they were talking about there given topic. This phenomenon happened because the girls are more salient or stand out more than the situation. Which, in this case is when Dan said informed us that Dayna and Trinae were assigned to talk about a perspective on abortion. I tried to stop myself being fully aware that what stance they shared with the class did not reflect who they are.