Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
5-2004
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Classical and Modern Languages
Committee Chair
Medina, Manuel Fernando
Author's Keywords
Language; Literature and linguistics; Puerto Rico
Subject
American literature--Hispanic American authors; Santiago, Esmeralda; Ortiz, Cofer, Judith, 1952-
Abstract
United States capitalist development efforts, known as Operation Bootstrap, created an economic need for Puerto Ricans. Two authors, Esmeralda Santiago and Judith Ortiz Cofer, are both women of Puerto Rican decent who lived through this historic period.This thesis examines the lives of both "puertorriquenas" and their experiences in the cities of Paterson, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York respectively. Becoming a woman in an urban environment stands as a unifying experience of both Ortiz Cofer and Santiago. Chapter one examines trauma as a normal part of the urban experience. Chapter two focuses on bilingual and bicultural identity and its use in constructing an identity of "puertorriquenidad." Chapter three continues the analysis of the construction "puertorriquenidad", but observes skin color as an identity marker in the creation of an identity of the self.
Recommended Citation
Joiner, Monica Michelle, "The city as a point of transition in the lives of Esmeralda Santiago and Judith Ortiz Cofer." (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 705.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/705
