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Mayra Chavez
Professor Tyberg
English 100
17 October 2014
Senior Year
The place that you grew up at can greatly determine who you will be, if you will be
successful or if you will working a 9 to 5 job. It is sad that it comes down to the place you grew
up at and your race. Those factors should not justify where you will go in life. Being Mexican I
can relate to the author of diary 103 from the senior year section, you feel a bit discouraged at
times and inferior, but you have to believe that you can and you will.
I selected journal entry number 103. Journal entry number 103 is about a Mexican girl
who does not see herself amounting to anything due to her race, the place she grew up in and
stereotypes. She limits herself from all the great things she thinks she cant do because of selfdoubt and others perception of her. When her senior year came she was enrolled in Ms.
Gruwells literate class. At first she had a negative attitude about herself, but then her mind
began to change as she was exposed to things she thought werent possible. Ms. Gruwell always
talked about how you can be anyone and anything you would like to be. In the beginning she
thought Ms. Gruwell was insane for saying such things, only rich, white people can thrive. In
the end the author of this diary truly believed in herself and began to think positive. The support
of her classmates, give this girl the strength on herself, she is so happy, so she writes a poem. In
which the poem, she compares what people say, and what she thinks. She knew she could

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become the first Latina Secretary of education if she really wanted to be. You can be anything
you set your mind out to be.
I can relate to this diary because I have seen firsthand how the place you grew up in and
your race affect your success. People from low income neighborhoods are looked down upon
and usually shun then they what to become successful. Your race also greatly affects your
success because god forbid you are Mexican or African American, you may corrupt the system
with your incompetency. I am Mexican so I can greatly relate to the discrimination. Although I
have not really experienced harsh treatment I speak for those who have and were not able to
defend themselves. In the diary entry they state, stop giving me discrimination from a short
poem the author wrote. Once those who perform discrimination realize the damage that they are
causing, and look past your flaws in their eyes (which arent really flaws at all.) then they will
truly realize your worth and it is what is inside that matters, and not the color of your skin nor
they place you grew up at.
Being looked down upon can be unsettling and degrading but you have to look passed
that and see the better in yourself, know your worth and do not believe others opinion of you. In
Amy Tans article Mother Tongue she very well makes the point across about cultural racism
without showing any anger or specifically pointing out racism; Amy makes the reader realize
how really not being American can affect how well you could handle everyday situations. The
fact that this story was written by an immigrant, and provides real life stories about her mom and
herself struggling in America, makes me significantly relate to her and this topic. The story
focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amys mother has been looked
down because of the fact that she did not speak proper English. In Tans article she stated that
Fortunately, I happen to be rebellious in nature and enjoy the challenge of disproving

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assumptions made of me (Tan 3). You should be stubborn to the things people tell you that you
cannot do simply because they think that you are not capable. Do what you want and show those
who did not believe that they were wrong for not having faith in you. Prove the expectations
made of you because of stereotypes to be incorrect.
The first female Latina Secretary of education is an immense goal to attain but it is
indeed attainable with hard work and determination. The author of this diary hopes to someday
become the first Latina Secretary of education which she in fact truly believes that she can
achieve, but there was a time where she thought she could not amount to anything because she
was a female, Hispanic and from the ghetto. Often times that is the perception that one has on
themselves when they are not introduced or taught the endless possibilities that they have
towards being successful in life. In the article: In Navigating Multiple Worlds: A Grounded
Theory of Latina Students' Identity as Latina First-Generation College Students by Patricia Lynn
Alvarez she talks about the

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Works cited:
Alvarez, Patricia Lynn. "Navigating Multiple Worlds: A Grounded Theory of Latina Students'
Identity as Latina First-Generation College Students." ProQuest LLC (2011). ERIC. Web.
22 Oct. 2014.
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue.