Silent dancing by judith ortiz cofer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Silent dancing by judith ortiz cofer - Essay Example It was during this time that her father moved to the States. He got assigned to duty on a ship in Brooklyn yard. She narrates on how her father moved to the United States, and Brooklyn became his permanent home base until his retirement. This happens more than twenty years later. He went and tracked his uncle who stayed in New Jersey, and that is where he found an apartment which hosted Jewish families. A year later they followed their dad when her mother was still twenty years old (Starvans 12). The narrative then moves from the past to the present when she enters into a living room. The room is filled with people dressed up; the men had dark suits and the women had red dresses. She is here for a party where her cousin had bought a camera, and they wanted to make a movie. At the place, she meets a lot of people originating from Puerto Rico. There, she finds traditional food like kidney beans, and she felt surrounded by her language. The narrator then moves to the future where she se es herself being a secretary for a prominent lawyer as she could type the fastest in her class. She sees herself getting married to an American and doing away with the outdated Puerto Rican culture and belief system. The narrative continues in the same manner where she continues to have memories about the past and narrates about how it was like when they used to have their Christmas. The narrative moves to the present where she narrates about her future plans again. This sequence goes on till the end of the narrative as it keeps on shifting from present to past to future. Ortiz also uses the projection technique where she projects her future in a manner that makes it seem so real and certain. She projects herself and sees herself being a secretary of a lawyer because she was the fastest in typing. She projects her cousin’s girlfriend to being a good wife from the way she sat on the couch and the way she got dressed. Ortiz narrates that her cousin’s girlfriend had wore a full skirt dress, which she had tacked around her carefully. She sat on the couch formally, and her dress got pulled over and past her knees. These qualities project the girl as a humble future wife. Also, when she approached the camera she faced down as she was supposed to by her culture; this shows her humility in her actions hence depicting her as a humble future wife for her cousin. Ortiz projects herself to be an independent American girl and not a naive cultured girl from Puerto Rico. She sees herself marrying her American boyfriend whom she sneaks out on some nights to be with him. Ortiz narrates how she will have an American name, and she is so sure of it (Starvans 134). The narrative also employs the technique of different time frame and structure. The narrative moves the reader from present to past and present to the future and vice versa. The narrative begins with the narrator telling about her past, she remembers about her life when she was young in Puerto Rico. She re members about the birth of her brother and how her father moved to the United States as a navy officer. She then narrates how they moved with their mother to follow her dad in the U.S. She remembers how the dad struggled to make them adopt and become assimilated into the American culture (Starvans 101). She narrates how her dad had a difficult time in getting a house because of his origin. She remembers of their life in their first house and how the heater pipes rattled and made a lot