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Blaxicans And Other Reinvented Americans By Richard Rodriguez

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Race or Culture Should race dictate how a person identifies themselves as? Rodriguez was born Hispanic but identifies himself as Chinese. In Richard Rodriguez's essay, “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans,” Rodriguez illustrates the idea that culture should be what defines a person’s identity, rather than a person’s race. Rodriquez states, “The border is over. These people were not being asked whether they had green cards. They were not being asked whether they arrived here legally or illegally. They were being welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture” (90). Rodriguez shows us that from personal experience he has learned that there is no wall preventing you to assimilate to other community accepted by the culture. This

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...Richard Rodriguez’s essay “ ‘Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans,” Rodriguez argues about cultures specifying a person’s identity. Using a race to base their identity as an non valid American life; he argues that a culture is what defines a person. In the essay, he illustrates, “Culture is fluid. Culture is smoke. You breathe it. You eat it. You can’t help it…”(134-137). Rodriguez uses the word “culture” to reveal how a person who moves to a new country can not help to adapt the culture or the tradition the commune celebrates. Usually, this is what happens, people want to blend in the community and make it seem as if they were born there. Another way Rodriguez’s argues that culture is a way to define themselves is through his own self....

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