Samayah Wilcher
Ms. Klein
American Literature
Oct. 5, 2023
America Like Me Essay
In 2018, actress and activist America Ferrera asked over thirty successful professionals in the fields of the arts, politics, and technology, among others, to contribute personal essays to American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures. In her introduction to the anthology, Ferrera claims that only certain voices and stories are truly told and celebrated in America. She explains that her purpose in creating American Like Me is to encourage more people with diverse voices and identities to tell their stories about being American. One author who contributed an essay, Al Madrigal gave advice on how to spend your money,. He talked about doing a lot with the little that you have.
To begin, in the introduction, America Ferrera tells a story about the first audition she ever went on. Ferrera wanted to be an actor since she was a little girl, but people told her that girls who looked like her were not in movies or on television. During her first audition, the casting director told her to “sound more Latina,” which confused Ferrera. She asked, “[D]o you want me to do it in Spanish?” before later realizing that the casting director thought all Latinas spoke in broken English (xx). Ferrera realized that there were not enough stories of Latinas being told because people saw them as a stereotype and did not realize that someone like her, someone who was born in the United States and spoke perfect English was Latina. This moment motivated Ferrera to portray Latinas in a way that broke stereotypes and reflected her truth and the reality of other women like her. She was able to fulfill this goal later when she starred in Real Women Have Curves and Ugly Betty.
Comedian Al Madrigal essay talks about telling people living in America with little money, how to get expensive things for cheaper prices. He speaks about having cash if you can, when purchasing things. Al said that you will convince the seller that is all the cash that you have to buy whatever he is selling by showing them that you have the cash to spend. He uses humor to do this also.
Another advice that Madrigal uses is “Show very little Interest” He claims that if you show the person who is selling very little interest in the things that you really want they will try and convince you buy it at whatever price you want . Madrigal’s essay is good for people with very little money living in America He learns about this from his father and he teaches his son about it too.
While Ferrera believes that people from different cultures should not change the way they talk or do things because of where they're from. Al Madrigal writes about something different. Like Ferrara, he advocates for people however he writes about giving advice to people about living good by buying expensive things at a cheap cost. While Al Madrigal had his dad to teach him tricks in life like how to buy awesome things that he needs at a low price, Ferrera didn’t have her dad to teach her anything because he left her at a young age. Madrigal was proud of his dad but Ferrera was not however what they had in common was that their dads changed their lives..
Ferrera and Madrigal wanted to help people in life. Madrigal makes a list of advice using humor to give people on how to buy things to live better, Ferrera speaks about how people should see people not because of where they are from but see them for who they are. Ferrara stated that everyone should be happy with diversity. Black people or any immigrant can understand how Ferrera feels because they face discrimination too.Or some may take Madrigal’s advice because they want to live good. Everyone should allow other people to live no matter where they come from or where they live, or what they look like.This would make the world a better place.
