Oppression of Chicanos
Many Mexican-American children face uncertainty when creating their own unique identity. Chicano's experience many negative stereotypes placed on thei culture by American society. Some however are able to overcome these generalizations and do not give up hope for a better future . American History, Eleven and Pocho each have a protagonist that experiences negative stereotypes placed on their Chicano culture however none of them give up up of being accepted into American society even in the face of such adversity.
In American History, Elena, the protagonist seeks to be accepted to American Middle class and even though she experiences many negative stereotypes placed on her culture, she does not give up hope for a better future. From her project housing, she sees a boy named Eugene who has just moved into the house next to Elena's building. Eugenes house represents the American middle class to Elena. She describes the house as …show more content…
Mrs. Prince, Rachael's teachers holds up a red sweaters and asks the class who it belongs to, a classmate tells her that it belongs to Rachel. Mrs. Prince puts the sweater on her desk and tells Alana she "Remembers [Racheal] wearing it once.” Because she’s older and the teacher, she’s right and [Rachael] is not. (140) Here, since Rachel is a Mexican American her teacher put the blame on her and putting it on her desk. The sweater on her desk symbolizes much more than its ugliness. It symbolizes the negative stereotypes of Mexican Americans which is the reason why her teach as well as her peers put the blame on Racheal. Mrs. Prince then tells her to “put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense.” In a symbolic way, Rachael is putting on the stereotypes by wearing the ugly red sweater. Rachael, full of emotions starts crying aloud because of this humiliation. She "Wants today to be far away already, far away