Skip to main content

What is the moral dilemma in Judith Ortiz Cofer's "American History"?

In Judith Ortiz Cofer's "American History," the protagonist, Elena, faces a moral dilemma on November 22, 1963. This is the day President John F. Kennedy is shot and when the country mourns the shocking loss of a beloved man. Elena and the other students from school are sent home out of respect for the country's loss. Elena notices on her way home that her apartment building is completely silent. This silence is unusual because there are usually different types of music blasting from the windows and people socializing out front. On this day in history, however, Elena's building is silent to show respect for a time of mourning.


The moral dilemma occurs when Elena decides to go to Eugene's house for their study date rather than to church with her mother. Elena's mother attempts to change Elena's mind by saying the following:



"Hija, the president has been killed. We must show respect. He was a great man. Come to church with me tonight." 



Elena's mother believes her daughter should cancel studying to attend church with her to pray for President Kennedy, his loves ones, and the nation. Elena does not want to miss going into the house next door for her study date with Eugene. Elena's mother argues that her daughter is forgetting who she is and what she should be doing at a time like this. Also, she takes the time to inform Elena that she is headed for trouble if she continues to chase after Eugene and her dreams about his house. Again, the moral dilemma is whether Elena should exercise respect for the president's death or go to Eugene's house to study.


Ultimately, Elena exercises her freedom to make her own choices and decides to go over to Eugene's house against her mother's wishes. Elena is not able to enter the home, though. Eugene's mother, who has a prejudiced and intolerant attitude towards other races and social classes, refuses to give Elena permission to enter the home or be friends with Eugene.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more