factories where they were seen as if sexual innuendo was all they.
understood. She also describes her own experience of being seen.
stereotypically when the boy who took her to her first formal dance.
kissed her and without having received a passional response remarked,.
I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early. Here we see.
not only a stereotypical view of the Latin women but also consideration.
of those women as something that is able to ripen like a fruit or.
vegetable. The incident with a young boy on the bus who was singing.
Maria from West Side Story also seems to have left a bitter taste at.
the author, You can leave the island. and travel as far as you can,.
but if you are a Latina, the island travels with you. The event at the.
hotel seems to be the culmination of the essay. Here a man who seems.
to be well-educated and respectable sings a dirty song to amaze the.
author and people around. It is obviously that the author was deeply.
embarrassed in this incident and she remarks that if non-Hispanic woman.
were in her place, the same man would not show such disrespect because.
she could be somebodys wife or mother, or at least somebody who might.
take offence." But for this man she was just "an Evita or a Maria:.
merely a character in his cartoon-populated universe.".
To support the opinion that the Latin women in the United States are.
viewed as domestic or menial workers the author gives another one example.
from her own life.
She tells us about her first public poetry reading that took place at.
a restaurant. She tells how nervous and excited she was as she walked.
in with her notebook in hand. An older woman motioned her to her table.
and ordered from the author a cup of coffee, assuming that she was the.
waitress. As we see some people only from the appearance of the person,.
following and supporting the existing stereotypes, are able to conclude.
everything about this human being. They just consider the members of.
