We Hold These Truth Play Analysis

The first question I asked her as, “What was the most difficult challenge she faced being an immigrant in America?” She replied it was difficult because she was alone at first and didn’t really get along with the family she was employed for. It was a struggle because she had to learn a new language and was taught by the family themselves. When she was in Los Angeles she took an actual class to teach her more formal English.

At the school she attended, her white friends tried to rub off her blackness. That one sentences when I read it, I was in shock! How could they do that to her? I continued reading and read she tried out for the football team. Eventually, as she grew older, and the years went by, she became a mother of two children named Alberta Stewart and Norma Holt, and a grandmother of five grandchildren Crystal, Alyssa, Michael, and Drew Stewart, and Sabrina Holt. Even though she had children and grandchildren’s, she felt her identity, as a Black Deaf woman was not defined, it was not until later in life where she found her

When she was younger she never knew that there were books about Chicanos. She was never told she could succeed being Spanish. Anzaldua says, “For days I walked around in stunned amazement that a Chicano could write and get published.” (Anzaldua 379.) After learning this she really does her research and she finds out that there is poetry, music and movies all about the Spanish heritage. She talked about how she had pure joy whenever she found new poetry she could read, “ it made me have a sense of belonging” (Anzaldua 379.) Growing up every Thursday night, her and her family would pile up in the car with a cooler full of water and bologna and cheese sandwiches and head to the drive in. Thursday nights the drive in consisted of Spanish related movies, some of them were Nosotros los probes and Cuando los hijos se

When I asked to interview Sarah’s mother there was small hesitation form her part. She informed me that she does like to talk about life before she had her daughter but would share the information seeing that she and her family will not be identified. Sarah goes to a pubic special education school. Sarah is half Puerto Rican and half Dominican making her 100% Hispanic. Both of Sarah’s parent's native language is Spanish.

She shares some events that happened in the first grade, as she was questioned by students and teachers about her race. Aleeza stated this in her speech “I drew this amazing portrait and I was getting ready for her to compliment me and instead she looks down and she says “Aleeza, that’s not your color” and I'm confused by this because I don’t understand how colors can belong to people.”

One of the ways she gets to people’s emotional side is when she goes on to explain that we all reject people in small ways, but don’t realize it and these acts devalue others and make them feel invisible and unworthy. An example of this that everyone has done is pretend to look at their phone to avoid a conversation or to walk in a different direction to avoid seeing someone. It’s the little things that matter. These little acts devaluing a person actually take a toll on them and makes them feel like they’ve done something wrong; we make them unworthy, especially in our time. She then goes on to tell a story

On the other hand, personal experiences of a Puerto Rican woman are shown and she explains how people around her judge her behavior, her actions, and even the way she dresses.

Her life in the U.S. is limited to the home. “She always sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull”( ) She never come out from the house because she can’t speak English, and she do not want to learn because everything including English is so strange, even her husband is different. She just want to live in

She express her dad how much she hated being called a Mexican. During those times Mexicans were portrait as an inferior ethnic group in America . As the author described it, her dad “ cringed ” after listening to her daughter’s feeling towards Mexicans. Instead of the camp she wanted to attend in Aspen, she was send to Mexico city. As she learned about Mexico, she was amazed on how beautiful mexico folklore was. Her dad wanted her to be proud of where she came from even thought she was not a mexican, as well as finding her own identity in

doing from her country and how she hasn't completely gotten used to the American culture. In this story

Johanna Alatorre is a first generation Chicana student and has been an active member in the Latino Union organization since 2014. As she opened the door to her bedroom and welcomed me inside, she looked nothing like I expected. She did not have strong Mexican features as I had imagined. In the contrary, Alatorre had a very light skin complexion, short wavy brunette hair, and was about four foot eleven. Her large, brown, 80’s vintage eyeglasses stood out, as well as her heartwarming smile. I stood there nervously but a sense of complete comfort arose when I noticed she was wearing a gold rosary necklace and her Mexican huaraches. In that instance I knew we had a lot in common.

Lillian Comas-Dίaz was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Puerto Rico, her parents’ native land, at the age of 6. She was raised in Puerto Rico but admits to this move being a “culture shock” because she was not fluent in Spanish at the time and other native Puerto Ricans racially classified her as a jabá, a person with a black grandparent from the Caribbean (Comas-Dίaz, 2005). This was a derogatory term that made Comas-Dίaz question race and gender relations within the Puerto Rican community. Also, she had a physical impediment that affected her voice for approximately sixteen years (Comas- Dίaz, 2005). During this time, Comas-Dίaz relied on the books in the library to comfort her. She looked to literary works of art and authors who could, in some way, relate to her. Whether the author could relate to her in the ways of physical impediments or being a person of color, Comas-Dίaz relied on their writings to improve her life (Comas-Dίaz, 2005)

In the story she says “I wanted to disappear”, with this being said, it is clear that she was embarrassed and ashamed of her family and culture. This could be because she is still a young woman and still does not understand what it means to appreciate her culture, unlike her parents that have lived longer and do valorize where they are from. Culture is

Observing the men solely we as the audience are able to see that the play would for the most part be about sharp-witted, political strategizing and

She had little schooling, but she had run businesses. She had managed on her own, with a husband and sons, in a country that didn’t care for her or her culture, but only for their aggrandized version of it. Her experiences were rightful cause to be jaded and hard, and yet she saw brightness and she saw brightness in me. She saw the great things in life, she loved hard and appreciated the little things — us going for a walk together or just sitting in the sun on a warm day.