"The Myth of the Latin Woman" Analysis

   Judith Ortiz Cofer started her piece by talking about how when she was in London, an Irish man dropped to one knee and started singing "Maria" from West Side Story when he saw her. 
Even though she blatantly stated, "Though I was not quite as amused..." her diction told us that she wasn't amused with that nor was she happy about being looked at differently because of being a Latina. To prove this, she said, "...you can leave the Island, master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, especially one like me who so obviously belongs to the Rita Moreno's gene pool, the Island travels with you." This is a very powerful statement showing that no matter how hard you try, if you look like a Latino/Latina, the Island will travel with you. Did you notice that Judith Ortiz Cofer capitalized "Island" and used personification to describe how no matter where she goes, people will always notice her for being a Latina? The Island isn't just an island, it is the place that will forever haunt her, because it is a reminder, not of who she is, but of how white American's view her differently. This beautiful island with tropical birds, waterfalls, and clear water is not the island that follows Judith Ortiz Cofer. The island that follows her is the dark island where there's no sunlight, filled with prejudice, and is good at reminding her that she is different from other people just because of her skin color and heritage. 
   Then, she talks about her family and her life as a child. She grew up differently than her friends at school. An interesting thing that she spoke about was the different attire for different occasions. Even though, she was taught to be a proper young lady, her mother wanted her to look and dress like a woman or wear clothes that their Anglo friends thought were too "mature" for a girl of her age. With attire on mind, the tight skirts and bangles that she wore as an adult may have made men think that she was trying to lead them on, when in reality, she was just wearing clothes from her culture. After that, she spoke about how men would refer to Latina women as a "hot tamale" , "sizzling" , or "smoldering" which is a stereotype that Judith Ortiz Cofer is obviously not fond of. Rightfully so, because stereotyping someone is not something that should be done or taken lightly. Another stereotype of a Latina woman, is of them being a sexual being, which is shown by the cat calling and the fact that some bosses talk to their Latina employees as if, "...sexual innuendo was all they understood, and worse, often gave them the choice of submitting to advances or being fired." 
   The next part of the piece that I'm going to bring up are the examples and the fact that Judith Ortiz Cofer throws in a couple of Spanish words here and there in her writing. For the examples, she creates ethos to what she's saying. She talks about how people put others in their "place" then talks about how someone's father put Judith Ortiz Cofer in her place by calling her "Evita" and he, "...half-recited half-bellowed 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.' ". Which shows prejudice once again for she is a Latina and the man is commenting on it by singing, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" which is about people leaving their home, Argentina, and once they're gone, they're saying, "Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance". The way I'm interpreting the chorus is that Evita (the singer) misses Argentina while she is in a different country. So, the man singing this song to Judith Ortiz Cofer, probably only sang the chorus and I doubt that he actually thought about the lyrics. For the next part, Judith Ortiz Cofer threw in some Spanish words into her piece, it may be to add more ethos. It could also be because Spanish is her first language and she feels like adding the Spanish could possibly be pathos to show that she learned English when she moved to the United States to try to fit in the best that she could but the Spanish in the piece will show that she is still herself. 
   At the very end of the piece, Judith Ortiz Cofer tells us that she is a public speaker and that she is trying to end the stereotypes of Latina women. She writes poetry and novels that she reads and sells to get her thoughts out to the public. A couple of her books are: "An Island Like You" 1995, "Call Me Maria" 2004, "If I Could Fly" 2011, "The Cruel Country" 2015 and more.