The Myth Of The Latin Woman Summary

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1. Title of Essay: “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer

2. Persuasive purpose of essay: In this essay, Judith Ortiz Cofer presents various stereotypes she encountered against her race to the readers. The persuasive purpose of the essay is to disprove the stereotypes the society and media imposed on women of Latin origin.

3. Select a sentence/image/phrase/quote: “But to him, I was just an Evita or a Maria: merely a character in his cartoon-populated universe.”

4. Name the strategy used: Author Judith Ortiz Cofer uses metaphor in the sentence above to demonstrate that she as an individual is generalized by stereotypes. Metaphor is a rhetorical device that compares one object to another in order to emphasize the similarity between the two.

5. Explain the meaning: After the author encounters a drunk man who sings offensive songs to her in public, she reflects on how stereotypes encourage people’s insulting behaviors against Latin women. Through comparing herself to a cartoon character, she emphasizes that she is dehumanized by stereotypes

6. …show more content…
ANALYZE/COMMENT on WHY that literary technique is effective: Judith Ortiz Cofer uses metaphor to apply the characteristics of a cartoon character to herself. Because of stereotypes, people have an incomplete and inaccurate generalization of all Latin women and it is easy for people to automatically assume Cofer to be one of those women. By comparing to a cartoon character, she indicates that she has no control over how other people perceive her. Describing herself as “an Evita or a Maria,” she uses a bitter tone to show that she is undistinguishable from other Latin women and has no value as a unique individual under the stereotypes. Moreover, when she mocks people who generalize other groups of people living in “cartoon-populated universe,” the readers are triggered to contemplate the negative effects that stereotypes have on how people perceive

Summary Of The Myth Of Latin Woman

“The Myth of the Latin Woman” was written by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Judith Ortiz Cofer is an Puerto Rican immigrant who grew up in New Jersey. She is a poet, novelist, and essayist in a range of literary works. Currently, she is the Regents and Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia. As a child, she often traveled back and forth between Puerto Rico and New Jersey. This allowed her to experience different cultures and languages. In the story, Cofer reflects her…

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Summary Of Myth Of The Latin Woman

In the story, “The Myth of the Latin Woman” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the author describes the stereotypes and discriminations against the Latin American women. Cofer portrays how people had stereotyped her on the public transportation, at the hotel, and at the poetry reading. She was mistaken as the waitress at the poetry reading because of how she looks. Many people believe that most of the Latin American women are housemaids as they cannot speak English, so they have to take the low-paying jobs.…

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