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SILENT DANCING
JUDITH ORTIZ COFER
DEVRY UNIVERSITY

SILENT DANCING 2


Sean Carattini
English 101
Professor Monaghan
Assignment 3
August 26, 2014

Cultural characteristics/ social class are directly
affected by environment. In the three essays that we have
examined, location has been an integral part in molding an
individual. Westbury Court by Danticat showcases the trials
and tribulations of growing up in an impoverished neighborhood
in New York City. They All Just Went Away by Oates displayed
the lifestyle of the suburb of Millersport, New York. Cofers
upbringing was similar to Danticat, except for the ethnicity and
location. Cofers essay takes place in Paterson, New Jersey
during a time when the city was transitioning from people of the
Jewish faith to Latin Americans. There are things to be learned
about each of these authors and how they related to the
conditions around them.
Danticat spent some of her formative years in Westbury
Court. We can infer from her essay that she lived in a working,
impoverished community. Descriptions such as graffiti on most
of the walls (Danticat, p.81) indicated the deplorable
conditions of the working poor. In addition, that particular
area is demographically people of the Jewish faith and persons
from the Caribbean. It is not uncommon for children in poorer
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areas to have a greater degree of responsibility as opposed to
children in more affluent locales. Parents of these children
are forced to work long hours or a multitude of employment
positions to provide for their families. Due to the need for
additional income, children are tasked with duties that their
financially stable counterparts are not. For instance, Danticat
was responsible for [picking] up [her] youngest brother, Karl
from day care (Danticat p.81). Danticat and her siblings were
without parental guidance and supervision due to a necessity of
income. The sub-culture of the working poor was the children of
these adults.
On the other hand, Oates grew up in the economically
devastated suburb of Millersport, NY. Instead of the graffiti
on most of the walls and hills of trash piled up outside
(Danticat, p.81), there were abandoned homes among the desolate
fields, woods, and creek banks. (Oates, p.243). It appears
that she lived in a blue-collar town as evidenced by her father
working for General Motors, Mr. Weidel being a railway worker,
and Mrs. Weidel working at a tomato factory. These communities
are filled with individuals that work hard for low wages. When
the major source of employment in this vicinage is lost, the
town as a whole suffers. Education is undervalued because of
the local demand for physical labor. In turn, this creates a
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culture of marginal Americans, uneducated according to Oates.
(p.252).
Cofer like Danticat grew up in an apartment building where,
the American phenomenon of ethnic turnover was changing the
urban core of Paterson (Cofer) from Jewish to Latino. Cofers
father wanted his family to assimilate to the American culture;
as opposed to Cofers mother who was resistant to assimilation
and desperately hung onto their norms and traditions. The
people in this sector patronized those stores that catered to
their particular needs. But Cofers family would walk downtown
to shop at the big department stores on Broadway. (Cofer). [We
never ran into other Latinos at these stores or, when eating
out, and it became clear to me only years later that he women
from El Building shopped mainly in other places-stores owned by
other Puerto Ricans or by Jewish merchants who had
philosophically accepted our presence in the city and decided to
make us their good customer, if not real neighbors and friends].
(Cofer).
Spatiality in all of these essays is viewed differently.
Environment as presented in these works are a major factor when
it comes to cultural characteristics and how they are expressed.
People are the summation of their experiences and part of that
experience is where the individual resides. Environment as
defined by Dictionary.com is, the social and cultural forces
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that shape the life of a person or population.(2014). An
environment is the culmination of the people, places, and things
that reside there. Where there is poverty there is usually crime
and a lack of education. Crime and a lack of education can have
an adverse effect on the community and its people. Cofer and
Danticat both were immigrants who migrated from their poverty
stricken homelands to an unfamiliar place with different
struggles. All three authors witnessed or dealt with this issue
and were changed because of it. These essays demonstrate how a
persons surroundings influence who they will become. The
inspiration for these essays came from their experiences and the
cultural characteristics that were exhibited in their respective
environments.











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Reference List:
Environment. (2014). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
dictionary.reference.com/browse/environment

Oates, J. (n.d.). The Best American Essays 4
th
Edition. They All
Just Went Away p.243, 252

Cofer, J. (n.d.). Silent Dancing

Danticat, E. (n.d.). Westbury Court. Retrieved from
plaza.ufl.edu/lacy.hodges/WestburyCourt.pdf