ipl-logo

Silent Dancing Judith Ortiz Cofer Analysis

730 Words3 Pages

Sampson Paquette Professor Edwards ENGL101C 9-13-2016 The Dance The essay: “Silent Dancing” By Judith Ortiz Cofer reflects on the transitional period in her life where herself and her immediate family made the move from Puerto Rico to the Big Apple, otherwise known as New York city. The timeline for the essay was set in the 1950’s where cultural fusion and blatant racism ran rampant in the streets. A melting pot slowly getting more and more diverse. It describes the struggle which is being foreign in a new land that wants you to assimilate to its lifestyle and habits while on the inside trying to maintain cultural purity. “Soon after, because of economic pressures on our growing family, my father joined the U.S Navy.” (Cofer,48). It was apparent that throughout the story that the move was influenced more by money than anything. The move was absolutely uncomfortable for the family. It was the stark opposite of the environment they were used to, different people, different …show more content…

And sometimes to achieve such goals we have to take risks and move to new places or make decisions that put’s one in a grievous position. This story was just an example of the emotional toll we as humans take to make a gratifying life for ourselves. Some embrace change and some can only take small bits at a time. Overall it is important to make these moves and to find a niche with what little time we have on this planet; be it for yourself or your family. Embrace the good and cast-off the bad because whether you’re living in a place you have been your whole life or are just getting adjusted to new surroundings, the feelings of wanting to be accepted for faith, culture and ethnic back-round are as real as both places. And to be empathetic towards all people is essential to the understanding of a tolerant and respectable lifestyle that we can all share mutually despite our

Show More
Related

  • Personal Narrative Essay About Moving To Florida

    681 Words  | 3 Pages

    Adjusting to the home invasion was not easy, my sister and I never wanted to stay at home, we were afraid of getting kidnapped. I began to think that maybe New York is not the best place for us to live and I became excited to move to Florida. I heard that Florida was a very safe place and it was clean compared to New York. At first, I was really sad and disappointed when I found out we are moving to Florida because I would have to attend a new school, make new friends, and we had no family in Florida. Moving from New York to Florida was a huge change, Florida was almost the complete opposite of what New York was like

    Read More

  • Judith Ortiz Cofer's Silent Dancing

    1389 Words  | 6 Pages

    Stories and memories passed on through generations can help to shape an individual. In many instances, storytelling can tell a lesson or push a person’s opinion about something in a certain direction. Memories can sometimes be unreliable, but can also be all that someone can base their life off of. Judith Ortiz Cofer’s memoir Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican childhood uses storytelling to share her memories in a life lesson manner.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: My Experience As A Dominican Immigrant

    913 Words  | 4 Pages

    This is the reality of the American melting pot, which I have experienced with very positive results. Not only did my family teach me racial tolerance as an American, but many people have also treated me with respect from differing racial and ethnic backgrounds. This is the politicization of my identity as an American, which has taught me the social values of tolerance in American society. More so, New York City is a very diverse place in which the immigrant can blend with other people fare more easily than in rural areas. In my early thirties, I continue to experience a much better life in the U.S. than I would have experienced living in the Dominican Republic.

    Read More

  • Essay On Funny In Farsi

    891 Words  | 4 Pages

    Immersing oneself in a new community can come with difficulties such as language barriers and balancing two different identities. Firoozeh may have decided to add a “simpler” name, but had to deal with the emotional turmoil that came with people not knowing her actual Iranian heritage. Firoozeh also had to help her mother adapt to American culture by translating because her mother could not speak English. Firoozeh’s father had to adapt to the language barriers because his version of English was incomprehensible to the average American. Every single member of Firoozeh’s family had to adapt to American culture by giving up parts of their original identity because they had to make a place for themselves in their newfound

    Read More

  • Summary Of Donna Murch's Living For The City

    402 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Living for the City, Donna Murch argues that the Black Panther Party started with a study group in Oakland, California. She explains how a small city with a recent history of African American settlement produced such compelling and influential forms of Black Power politics. During the time of historical and political struggle in California 's system of public college, black southern traveling workers formed the BPP. In “Jim Crow’s Counterculture”, Lawson argues that the Great Migration and World War II changed the blues music from the thinking and behavior of younger people who want to be different from the rest of society to one that celebrated the work attitude and the war effort as ways to claim “American citizenship”.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Jane Desmond's Article 'Embodying Difference'

    1098 Words  | 5 Pages

    In her article, Embodying Difference, Jane Desmond argues that dance offers important insights into the ways moving bodies articulate cultural meanings and social identities. In other words, she explains the importance of studying the body’s movement as a way of understanding culture and society. She has two main arguments. First, she argues for the importance of the continually changing relational constitutions of cultural forms. Desmond further explains that the key to shedding light on the unequal distribution of power and goods that shape social relations are the concepts of cultural resistance, appropriation, and cultural imperialism (49).

    Read More

  • Essay On Canada Identity

    1066 Words  | 5 Pages

    A melting pot implies that the cultural diversity of minorities “melts together” into the American culture. The melting pot is a symbol for the immigrants’ conformation to the society of the United States. It becomes obvious that Canada’s and America’s attitudes towards immigrants are the complete opposite. Canada does not expect immigrants to give up their cultural identity, and America expects them to assimilate, and become a part of their society. Multiculturalism states that people may live in a society without surrendering their culture or traditions.

    Read More

  • How Did Alvin Ailey Contribute To Dance

    1349 Words  | 6 Pages

    No other choreographer of African-American decent in his time could be even slightly comparable to Ailey’s success. The style of ballet and modern dance were predominately domain to white choreographers and performers. Even today, to some extent, they still are. Ailey was one of the first to modify the norm by inspiring multiethnic dance opportunities.(11) Ailey’s goal as a choreographer was not only to place emphasis on black culture, but moreover to completely remove the idea of colour itself.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Alvin Ailey's Cry

    2321 Words  | 10 Pages

    In 1971, Alvin Ailey choreographed Cry, a three part work solo dance set to gospel music that describes an emotional journey filled with struggle, hardships, defeat, survival and joy. It was intended as a birthday present to Alvin’s mother and a dedication to all black women everywhere. The first part of the dance is the struggle of trying to maintain pride irrespective of the opposition faced from outside. The second part reveals the sorrow within after the woman’s pride has been shattered into pieces and finally the third part is a spirited celebration of finding strength and joy in God. Even though cry was dedicated to only black women, i argue the notion that all women both black and white of the nineteenth century could relate

    Read More

  • Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Myth Of A Latin Woman

    508 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the story, “The Myth of a Latin Woman” is about the author Judith Ortiz Cofer talking about her life and growing up as a Puerto Rican girl. She talks about the struggles she had to go through, like always being under heavy surveillance by her family. She would be under their watch because she was a girl and was expected to protect her family’s honor and to behave like in her family’s terms “proper senorita”. I agree that she was forced to mature fast just at her teenage years; a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe Cofer could never act her age.

    Read More

  • Mosquita Y Mari Aurora Guerrero Analysis

    1100 Words  | 5 Pages

    Differences in Expectations an Argumentative Analysis of Aurora Guerrero’s film Mosquita y Mari In Aurora Guerrero’s film Mosquita y Mari discusses the lives of two high school classmates Mari and Yolanda who are growing up in Huntington Park a predominantly Mexican neighborhood in Los Angeles California. In this film characters Mari and Yolanda have contrasting backgrounds. Because Mari’s upbringing contrasts with Yolanda’s it allows for the viewer to question both sides of the immigrant experience and furthermore examine what that contrast can mean for the maturing women.

    Read More

  • What Does Diversity Mean To Me

    416 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although not every move was easy, I soon started enjoying it and looked forward to learning something new about a different place. Therefore, when my father informed me that we were going to relocate to USA, I was on top of the moon. I looked forward to a new environment and new experiences. Despite all the different moves, I found my relocation to Maryland one of the hardest. I soon realized that the schooling was very different and people even talked differently.

    Read More

  • Our Latin Thing Analysis

    551 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nuestra Cosa Latina (Our Latin Thing) is a musical documentary revealing the exciting lifestyle of New York Latinos during the decade of the 1970s. It was filmed at a concert of the Fania All-stars at Club Cheetah and throughout New York City. Our Latin Thing is about the urban Hispanic experience - NYC style. Unfortunately, it reveals the Latin life in N.Y.C., from the illegal cockfights, to a Santeria ritual, and the everyday rhythms of El Barrio, it erratically goes into the community where the city sanitation sweepers seem never to have visited. Some of this material is interesting, much is cost-free, and all of it seems dedicated to solving the problem of how to ease the deadliness involved in photographing a musical performance.

    Read More

  • Essay About Moving To A New Country

    737 Words  | 3 Pages

    Moving to a new country can be difficult sometimes. Leaving all my relatives and friends back home was the saddest thing for me. My mother told me that we were moving to a new country. At first, I thought my mother was joking about it. but little did I know that she was telling the truth.

    Read More

  • Fruit Of The Lemon Analysis

    1020 Words  | 5 Pages

    They feel and become left out when they are with their community’s group of friends. In addition, some older children who came to the United States have a hard time learning a new culture because it was a culture shock to them. There are two major things that become problems in their journey to adopt a new culture; barrier to language and living their lifestyle. While adapting new culture, they have a difficult journey because of the bully, discrimination, and racism that they encounter. Some of these situations that Chin refugees face can be related to how Faith faces her problems with cultures and

    Read More

More about Silent Dancing Judith Ortiz Cofer Analysis

Open Document