I haven't think about it, just leave it blank - Essay Example

Every section complements the other, and the organization of the sections makes it easy for the reader to comprehend what the young woman went through in her life. Racial and color discrimination has always been there, perturbing the minds of people belonging to all ages; and, cultural implications impose great impacts on people’s perceptions of beauty and perfection (thesis). This paper tends to shed light on this thesis statement, while presenting examples from the text to show what the young lady has to tell the world about her experiences of color prejudice.

In the skin section, Cofer tells the story how she got chicken pox when she was ten. Before then, she was a pretty girl in the eyes of her mother, but the chicken pox event snatched away all her confidence as she grew into adolescence. She says: “This was when I learned to be invisible” (Cofer 434). This shows how she lost all her self-assurance when a school nurse made her realize the ugliness of her skin. This section connects with the section of color that comes automatically in the reader’s mind, who wants to know whether the color of the skin compensated for her ugly skin or not.

Peurto Ricans called her “pale” and “blanco” because she was fair skinned as compared to other Peurto Ricans. Even there, she would feel that she was an outcast. But, when she moved to the United States, she again failed to fit in the society, as she was darker than other American schoolmates. The irony comes here, when Cofer (434) states: “In the human world color triggers many more complex and even deadly reactions.” Cofer has tried to express the cruelty of humans by comparing them to animals.

Animals consider color to be attractive yet dangerous; while, humans of color are considered unattractive and negligible. Cultural implications of color in Peruto Rico and America made the girl suffer from color complex. Her experiences of being driven away by a supermarket man and being rejected from a date by a white school boy strengthened the idea that she did not fit in the so-called humane society. Another cultural implication comes in the account of the girl’s size section. She is taller than her school mates in Peurto Rico.

But, she is not as tall as her American friends. Hence, she is a tall Hispanic girl, but is short in America. Cofer has tried to express how people’s perceptions are linked to demographical backgrounds. She fears playing with her tall school mates no matter how much she tries. She uses irony to tell that the games which the Hispanic considered as fun are taken as “fierce competitions where everyone is out to “prove” they are better than others” (Cofer 437). Due to the size issue, the girl’s teachers always picked her in the end or never at all.

This made her feel unwanted and inferior. “I wanted to be wanted” (Cofer 437) depicts the despair of the young girl because she wants to be loved and appreciated despite her inability to physically fit with the standards of others. In the looks section, Cofer states that she had to suffer from discrimination in this regard too, while the tragedy was that the cultural implications play their role here as well. She states: “I came there from Peurto Rico, thinking myself a pretty girl, and found that the hierarchy for popularity was as follows: pretty white girl, pretty Jewish girl, pretty Peurto Rican girl, pretty black girl”