The Mexican American Family: Play Analysis

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is mainly about four girls named Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia and how they are forced to move to the United States of America. The novel expresses how they struggle adapt and the challenges they face during this transition. The challenges they face are quite similar to the discriminations that black people experienced during those times.

I grew up in a two-parent household with my parents being married before they had children. My father has always been the one that provides finically, while my mother was the one who took care of my siblings and I throughout my childhood. Being that both of my parents were born in Mexico, I consider myself Mexican American. I am proud to be Mexican American. Culture plays a huge role in shaping your identity. A person’s beliefs and morals are made up by culture and remain throughout your entire life. Culture is what made you the person you are today and also determines who or what you choose to associate yourself with. My identity would not exist if it were not for my own culture and the values I have carried from it along the years.

Growing up as a first-generation Mexican American was a huge advantage for me in that it allowed me to grow up in a culturally diverse community. I learned how to work well with people of all backgrounds and empathize with people from all walks of life. However, while being the first in my family to go to college was a momentous accomplishment, the lack of instruction and guidance lead me to commit many mistakes that could have been easily avoided during my first years at college. My timidity and downright arrogance lead me to believe that I did not need anyone’s assistance and thus I found myself denial that there was a problem in terms of my grades during my first semesters. I have since addressed this issue and have worked diligently to

Las Vegas is where I was born and raised. That doesn’t mean that I just gave up on my Mexican culture. Like many others, I have a culture that is both American and Mexican. My culture has shaped my values, perceptions, and behaviors. The culture of my family, community, and society has made who I am as a person in numerous ways. Culture impacted my personality and how I act and feel. To me, culture is a very important part of every person’s life.

In hope to leave the life of poverty behind, Francisco and his family crossed underneath the Mexicali barbed-wire border. For the next ten years, he’s been helping out the family with work and attending school while cautiously fearing deportation. For instance, “ I lived in constant fear for ten long years, from the time I was four until I was fourteen years old” (Jimenez 1). Unfortunately, one day at school border patrol calls Francisco out of his class and deports him and his family. However, Francisco and his older brother Roberto are able to stay, gaining their visas, but struggled with being home alone. Undoubtedly, Roberto showed family loyalty, “ I’ll send you money every month when I get paid” (Jimenez 15). In order to cope with the loneliness, Francisco and Roberto stepped out to school dances, listening to rock music and talking to girls. Eventually, the family is together again legally and back working the fields. Soon after, Francisco is graduating junior high following summer skirmishes, and starts high school; however, his father’s back pain causes him to get a job as a

Breaking Through is a nonfiction book about the author, Francisco Jiménez, growing up as an immigrant in the United States. In the 1940s, Francisco Jiménez and his family immigrated from Mexico to the United States. However, because some of his family, including him, were not legal immigrants, they were deported back to Mexico. When they were able to return, only Francisco and his older brother, Roberto, returned at first, so they could make money to support their family. Throughout this book, there are many examples of conflict, including the problems Francisco faces at school, work, and home.

Latino Families in Therapy Second Edition was published in 2014. Celia Jeas Falicov who is a clinical psychologist, author and currently teaching at the University of California in San Diego wrote the book. As the main contributor of the book Celia’s goal is to help others understand the importance of being competent when working with Latino Families and acknowledging that because the families come from a different background than those giving the interventions we must find therapeutic approaches that will benefit the Latino community. Falicov gives great insight to the different Latino communities that we could encounter and successful evidence based practices that can be used such as a meeting place for culture and therapy (MECA).

Hispanic Americans, or Latinos, are a very large and diverse ethnic group in the U.S. Altogether, they make up about 44 million people or 15% of America’s population. Individuals who make up this category can identify with various nationalities and backgrounds. However, the 2010 U.S Census – as stated in the textbook -- reported that 75% of its total Latino respondents identified being of Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban origin. According to the lecture notes, 65% of Hispanics claim to be Mexican Americans, while 8.5% are Puerto Ricans and another 3.5% are Cuban Americans. These are the three most common Hispanic origins and the rest of the Latino population identifies with other Hispanic nationalities. Of the three common nationalities that

For my project I have decided to incorporate my topic of traditional gender roles in an event the Hispanic Honor Society will host where we will show “La Mission” which is a movie that portrays all the known stereotypes and traditional norms such as sexuality associated with the low-rider Hispanic Culture in the Mission district of San Francisco. After the movie, we will have a panel discussing how the Hispanic culture sees sexuality and how traditional gender roles affect their views. My goal for this event is to raise awareness for how the Hispanic culture glorifies gender roles based on norms set by society over time. I want those who attend the event to realize the catastrophic outcomes that traditional gender roles can have in families,

Up until the 1960s Anglo social scientists wrote most of the literature about the people of Mexican- descent in the United States. Their analysis of Mexican American culture and history reflected the hegemonic beliefs, values, and perceptions of their society. As outsiders, Anglo scholars were led by their own biases and viewed Mexicans as inferior, savage, unworthy and different. Because Mexican scholars had not yet begun to write about their own experiences, these stereotypes were legitimized and reproduced in the literature. However, during the mid- 1960s scholars such as Octavio Ignacio Romano, Nick Vaca, Francisco Armando Rios, and Ralph Ricatelli began to reevaluate the literature written by their predecessors. In their work they analyze

The Mexican culture is very diverse which has undergone many transformations over several decades and the culture varies widely throughout Mexico and the United States. I will be more focused on the other side of the border and express my findings about the Mexican culture in Mexico. According to woldatlas an online database, the majority of Mexicans live in cities like Mexico City with a population of 12 million Mexicans. Following cities include Iztapalapa, Ecatepec, Guadalajara, Puebla, and Ciudad Juarez all ranging with populations of one million to two million Mexicans. The smaller rural communities tend to have a stronger role in defining the country’s collective customs and traditions. The customs

One of the biggest dilemmas that they face is the redirection of familistic living. Asian and Mexican Americans have traditionally lived in homes with generational members all under one roof. Family members did not live in separate homes neither did they practice “living the nest” manners as native Americans do. Children are encouraged to live at home until they found a spouse and were ready to marry. And even then, mother and father in-laws lived with the newly weds and sustain a household compromise of many generations with traditional cultural norms.

The stories of Junot Diaz feature various elements of social and personal issues that are highly prevalent in young Latinx men, primarily the compulsion and adverse effect of machismo, the poignancy of being an outcast in one’s community, and the lack of a father figure in a boy’s life.

Culture is an essential part of a community’s identity, because it links individuals to a collective bond. The Americas have always contained a vast variety of cultural communities, especially in the United States. The US is known for being one of the most diverse nations in the world, housing hundreds of different cultures. Mexican-Americans display a strong sense of a cultural background, which falls as a subset of the bigger Latino culture that links all Latinos. Oral history is a major aspect on the Mexican culture, which contributes to the truth of how history in the United States actually happened. Many stories embody the cultural aspects of Mexican-Americans and their struggles with living in a discriminatory society. Stories like With

Cultural influences people on how to communicate with one another and its methods of communication from one culture to another. Culture plays a significant role in intercultural communication.