Essay Sample on Mericans: Cultural Differences in a Changing Environment

"Mericans" was written by Sandra Cisneros and is a story that talks about groups of children, particularly a girl. In the story, the children have mixed cultural practices and beliefs due to changes in the environment. In this short story, the emphasis is based on cultural differences due to background and location. Women are portrayed differently from men because of their personalities and characters. For example, Micaela was aggrieved because of her grandmother's awful behavior. In this case, Micaela did not want to stay with her brothers outside the church or join the grandmother in a religion in which she was not interested. Impatience made Micaela remain under purgatory of monotony.

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Also, women are portrayed to be spiritual and concerned about their families. For example, Micaela's grandmother normally prays for the family (Cisneros 14). In this case, the grandmother intercedes for her family members because they do not go for mass. The grandmother's personality is used to identify how religious women to help are concerned with their family members. Women have been portrayed to be inferior to men. For example, while waiting for the grandmother, Keels pretends to be a fighter plane and tells Micaela to take the position of a German (Cisneros 22). Junior and Keeks have been referring to Micaela as a girl instead of calling her by name. In this incident, Micaela feels that her brothers have been insulting her by calling her a girl because society views women as inferior to men. Also, the idea of taking the position of "Mud people" makes Micaela bitter. In the story, women are described to be emotional and tolerant (Cisneros 24). For example, after being asked to act as Ming the Merciless, Micaela almost cried but she decided to tolerate it as a way of escaping the situation.

Women are portrayed to be terrible because of their characters. For example, the children refer to their grandmother as awful because she speaks to them in Spanish and takes a long time praying inside the church. After Micaela calls the grandmother awful, she similarly sees her granddaughter. In this case, the grandmother sees Micaela as awful because she cannot speak Spanish fluently. According to the narrator, the grandmother assumes that Micaela is unpleasant due to her inappropriate behavior in the church (Cisneros 38). Also, being born in a barbaric country makes Micaela behave in an awful manner.

Women are described as curious as men because of their restless character. Also, the desire to know a lot makes women curious. For example, after joining her awful grandmother in the church, Micaela was excited about the smell of incense inside the church. The female tourist with pants was curious about children's identity. The woman was surprised when she realized that the children spoke were speaking in English (Cisneros 42). The foreign couples represented the differences in cultural practices and beliefs because the man went to church with a short. The female tourist portrayed the wicked character of women because had not seen anyone going entering the church with pants.

Women were used to identifying the differences in cultural and religious practices based on people's backgrounds and geographical locations. The awful grandmother is used as an example of people who preserve their traditions and language. Also, the grandmother portrays how women are interceding for their families through prayers.

Works Cited

Cisneros, Sandra. "Mericans." Ms-New York- 12.3 (2002): 62-65. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Cisneros%2C+Sandra.+%22Mericans.%22+MS-NEW+YORK-+12.3+%282002%29%3A+62-65.&btnG=