House on Mango Street, When the Emperor Was Divine

I picked three protagonists from three different novels that I thought I could best describe intercultural communication. I chose Esperanza from “The house on Mango Street,” The girl from “When the Emperor was Divine,” and Zikala-Sa from “American Indian Stories.” All three characters are American girls growing up in a time before myself. Esperanza is Mexican-American, Zikala-Sa is Native American, and the little girl is Japanese American. Each one comes from a different culture, therefore making them a minority in society. Their stories all tell how they are treated differently because they are not “white,” or their parents’ first language is not English.

Esperanza is a young girl living in Chicago. Her parents are both Mexican decent. She is part of a lower class society. She lives in a neighborhood with other people all of lower class. Her parents first language is Spanish, her father knows very little English. Even the Nuns at her school cannot believe she lives in such a run down house. She is automatically judged by the color of her skin and the neighborhood she belongs too. She faces many conflicts by never feeling like she truly belongs. She is young and naive. The role models she had in her neighborhood and at school are not who she needs to become like. The language at home is different then that at school. She cannot afford to wear really nice clothes and her dream for their next house was simply to have more than one bathroom for her whole family to share. I think she had to hold a strong head on her shoulders in the tough neighborhood in which she belonged.

The little girl from, “When the Emperor was Divine.” Also grew up a minority. She was a young middle to higher-class girl from California. Her parents were both Japanese decent. She unlike Esperanza never grew up learning how to speak her native language. Her parent wanted her and her brother to be more “American.” Her family obviously had money. She talked about going on...