Zoe Marie Martinez Nunez
English 11000
Professor Jason Lobell
October 17, 2023
I summarized Keila’s narrative and analyzed it. What I have written, I am most proud of when I discussed the different tones the author used in her narrative.
The rhetorical devices that I used were personal anecdotes from Keila’s narrative and direct quotes from her narrative were also used to add more authenticity to my words by adding hers. Additionally, anaphora was also used since the phrase “she adds that” appears several times throughout the profile and I have used contrast to highlight her different experiences throughout the text as well.
This connects to the course themes of language politics with the following question: How do attitudes about language standards empower and oppress language users? In this case, the author is oppressed since she did not feel “Dominican enough” to use her Spanish comfortably.
The intended audience of this profile are people from immigrant families, people who might feel disconnected from their culture, and in some way, people who may not identify with the issues stated but can learn from this narrative.
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Keila Peralta Rodriguez, 20, is a first-year City College of New York student majoring in Psychology. She was born in New York but has Dominican ancestry from her parents. She grew up and was raised by her parents in Queens. Her parents are from San Jose de las Matas, a town situated in the province of Santiago. Keila’s parents did not speak English, so she had to rely on media to learn the language.
“Then in school, they taught me to read, write, and express myself “the right way,” in standard English.”
As Keila’s English grew and developed, her Spanish was left unnoticed at home. She thought that she did not need it in her daily life since English was the language, she would use to communicate.
“Do not get me wrong, I could still speak it (read and write too) but when I did, it didn’t sound like my parents.”
She adds that she was embarrassed by her Spanish because she did not speak it like her parents and frequently mispronounced words when speaking.
When she was a child, Keila admits that she was proud of being Dominican. However, it was confusing for her while being a kid. She talks about how other people at school would ask questions or make assumptions about her Dominican identity. She often heard questions like: “You do not like spicy food? But you are Spanish!” “How do you say…?” These assumptions did not sit well with Keila, but she corrected them out of politeness. Keila also stated that when someone acknowledged her Dominican heritage, they would poorly imitate how a Dominican would act, such as hearing phrases like “Que lo que.” Other people seem to find Dominican culture entertaining from Keila’s perspective.
When it comes to communicating with her family, Keila found it difficult, since she could not recall the word, she intended to speak in Spanish most of the time when she chatted with a Dominican relative. She says that she felt ridiculous after giving up and telling the term in English to explain what it meant.
“It’s just hard to switch between languages.”
Keila described how the work of translating documents for her parents became solely her responsibility. Her brother barely knew a little Spanish and preferred to communicate in English. She recalls how, as a child, she wondered why she translated. Aside from interpreting documents, she was also in charge of translating for her mother during parent-teacher conferences. She felt discomfort when her mother asked questions and she had to translate it back to the teacher.
When she started high school, Keila described how she loved her culture but felt disconnected from it.
“I wasn’t Dominican enough and how I spoke Spanish didn’t help.”
One of her concerns was that she would be unable to pass down her parents’ culture and Spanish. Furthermore, what if her loved ones do not understand her love for her culture; the countryside, going to rivers, or climbing trees to gather limoncillo? Keila noted that she met others from immigrant families who had similar experiences along the route. Knowing she was not alone, gave Keila the confidence to embrace her Spanish and speak it openly, no matter how she sounded or mispronounced a word. It also encouraged her to improve her Spanish since she wanted her mother to realize how much she valued her roots. “That embarrassment that developed into a fear, became a motivation for me. I want to grow closer to my culture, I want to continue to grow and love my Spanish.” Keila culminated.
Keila uses different tones throughout her narrative. First, she introduces her story with a formal tone giving a common background like where are her family from, how she was raised, and how she learned English. Then, she continues the story with a pessimistic tone. This is because she describes her experiences with stereotypes surrounding her Dominican identity and her experiences with translating, which are negative. Finally, she concludes with an encouraging tone since she describes her being able to find people with similar insecurities as her and to find her confidence to not be ashamed of her Spanish and embrace her Hispanic culture.
There are a few dialogues included in Keila’s narrative, but less is more in this case. The dialogue that I am talking about is where she wrote some of the questions, she would be asked in school about being Dominican. I found this interesting because it gives the reader a clear example of how she was stereotyped. Also, there is one simile that I got to identify in her narrative which said that her Spanish did not sound like her parents and even though it is only one, this simile revolves around the purpose of the narrative.
The intended audience of this narrative are people from immigrant families, people who might feel disconnected from their culture, and in some way people who may not identify with the issues stated but can learn from this narrative. The purpose of this narrative is to let know kids from immigrant families that there are more people who they feel know too little about their country of origin or their parents’ culture. This text is appealing because of how clear and concise it is, but that does not exclude the details included in the author’s emotions and issues.
