Okita And Mericanes: A Comparative Analysis

People often hate being told what to do. Whether it be a command of doing a chore, or a new law that changes a person's life. It is often even worse to be told who you are, having someone else tell a person their identity is often frustrating, and frankly is unfair. In both, "Response to Executive Order 9066," by Dwight Okita and "Mericans" by Sandra Cisneros highlight that American identity should not be judged by what people see on the exterior, it should be self defined by the individual.

In "Response to Executive Order 9066" the speaker addresses how she is being discriminated against and is being forced to go to internment camps based on her Japanese heritage. How ever she also shows that she is American by saying that her "favorite food are hot dogs." Hot dogs being a typical American food. She also mentions how she "felt funny using chopsticks," this shows how she recognizes that the government is stereotyping the Japanese Americans. She shows that she is not the stereotype that people associate with people of Japanese descent by her …show more content…
The narrator and her brother often go through the struggle of having a traditionally Mexican grandmother who believes that is not particularly fond of America. She refers to it as barbaric and shows much disdain of her grandchildren adopting the culture. However, the narrator and her brother enjoy the American culture and often find their identity as American because of the aspects they have adopted. They appreciate their Mexican culture but are not as strict and traditional about it as their grandmother. However, it is evident that the narrator and her brother do not like the way the traditional grandmother treats them because she refers to her as "The awful grandmother." With the repetition of "Mericans" at the end of the story it shows how relieved the narrator was to finally find an identity she