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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
3 pages in length. Much of what Richard Rodriguez writes about is the quest for ethnic assimilation, noting that the Hispanic community is sorely in need of contemporary ethnic guides to lead them through their issues of cultural assimilation. To his great dismay, it is with great consternation that he realizes how even his own family lacks the physical features required to be representative of their own ethnic population, with the vast majority of them sporting features such as deeply olive or light skin tone that, unlike his own, tans deeply or burns and peels after a day in the sun and often gets them mistaken for European, Polynesian or "gringo" but never Mexican. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: LM1_TLCRichRodCm.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
through their issues of cultural assimilation. To his great dismay, it is with great consternation that he realizes how even his own family lacks the physical features required to
be representative of their own ethnic population, with the vast majority of them sporting features such as deeply olive or light skin tone that, unlike his own, tans deeply or
burns and peels after a day in the sun and often gets them mistaken for European, Polynesian or "gringo" but never Mexican. "My grandmother would always tell me that
I was hers, that I was Mexican. That was her role. It was not my teachers role to tell me I was Mexican. It was my teachers
role to tell me I was an American" (London, 1997). One gains a significantly better understanding from Rodriguezs insightful prose that all Mexicans
are not created equal in the manner of skin tone, a seemingly inconsequential attribute of human existence that otherwise defines and limits the ability of a minority like Rodriguez to
seamlessly assimilate into white society. Battling the social element is not easy, inasmuch as there are a number of underlying aspects that ultimately get in the way of such
assimilation, however, ones skin color is most times the first impression a Mexican like Rodriguez makes upon society. If Mexicans look too much like their true ethnic composition, they
are faced with the added struggle of overcoming social dictates that serve to place even more cultural and economic barriers between those like Rodriguez and their desire to assimilate.
"Most people tend to use culture in a static sense--he represents this culture and I represent this culture. I think culture is much more fluid and experiential. I
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