analyzing nonfiction texts

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Analyzing Nonfiction Texts
Prompt 1
In James Baldwin text, the perception held by the African Americans about themselves and their family structure is influenced by the manner in which the Whites perceive them. In other words, the perception held by the African American is what depicts the ethnic and racial discrimination subjected to them by the Whites. The narrator emphasizes on James being similar to his father and the view that his father and he are in a new era when compared to James’ grandfather who focused on being “holy” due to the white man. The family structure in Anzaldua’s text is affected by the struggles associated with racial and ethnic discrimination due to the separation, loss of family property and loss of lives. The destruction took places when the Mexicans attempted to revolt against the whites who viewed themselves as the most powerful groups. The revolt is associated with families beginning their lives from scratch. In both stories, the nature of the racial discrimination shows that the family life and the political landscape is determined by the majority.
Prompt 2
On individual identity, Baldwin’s text, through the nature of the grandfather, illustrates the sense of personal identity being affected by racial discrimination. The narrator states, “he really believed what white people said about him. This is one of the reasons that he became so holy,” (Baldwin 291). In other words, the grandfather’s self-perception was affected with how the whites viewed him.

In Anzaldua’s text, individual identity is affected by the desire of reaching to the northern part of America by the Mexicans to attain good lives. Anzaldua states, “faceless, nameless, taunted with “hey cucaracho” (33) to illustrate the desperateness and nature of the immigrants as they attempt to cross the border to a region that did not fully acknowledge their presence. In both stories, the manner in which the whites treat the minority groups influences how the minorities view themselves with respect to identity.
Work Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. “Borderlands: La Frontera, second edition”. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1987. Print.
Baldwin, James. “The Fire Next Time: My Dungeon Shook; Down at the Cross (Penguin Modern Classics)”. New York: Penguin Books, 1963. Print.