I Just Met a Girl Named Maria

In the novel “I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Cofer, the author talks about some of the cultural and racial issues that she, as many Latinas who had left their country, has to face. At the beginning of the novel, Cofer describes how stereotypes had a big impact on how Latinas were treated. For example, she as a Puerto Rican woman has to learn how to deal with machismo and the fact that she will always be treat it as a minority. She also made a statement on how the Hispanic culture can be lost in translation and misunderstanding; after a guy told her “I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early” meaning they supposed to be easier sexually. The way Americans saw Hispanic women (with lower standards, like whores, domestic or criminals) made a huge impact on the author and encouraged her to be the opposite of what they expect her to be by being educated. At the end of the novel, Cofer hopes to encourage Latinas to do the same thing as she did, to educate themselves and to learn how to break the stereotypes that surround them day by day. During the past years, the way other people had perceived me, has been affecting my identity in a positive way. Just like Cofer, I had to suffer from stereotypes, for being Latino and part of the minority; people doubted of me being able to get a good education and pursuit my dreams since that’s what most of Hispanics do. And here I am, trying to make a change on how people see Hispanics by getting educate it and not letting other’s racial negative comments to hold me down.