Example Intro

Recently, a Cheerios commercial became a symbol of how much (or for some, how little) our country has advanced on the topic of interracial relationships. A very vocal minority was upset by the cereal company’s depiction of a mixed-race child with her black father and white mother. However, the vast majority of viewers were unfazed. In fact, it might be hard for today’s youth to understand the conflict this topic once raised. Two literary works that explore the effect of interracial relationships are the short story, “American History” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and the song “Society’s Child” by Janis Ian. In “American History”, Elena, the protagonist, meets a young man whose mother rejects her because of her ethnicity. In “Society’s Child”, a teenage white girl is perplexed by society’s reaction to her dating a young black man. Using conflict, diction and symbolism, Ortiz-Cofer and Ian explore the impact of what was once considered a forbidden love in 1960s America.