Feelings of an Outsider

Paper Summary:

This paper is a personal narrative of a young, Hispanic boy who was raised in a Hispanic neighborhood within a Hispanic culture. The writer tells of his experiences when he started school and of the emotions and frustrations that he went through. In particular, he talks about the culture shock he experienced when he realized that not all children came from the same cultural background as he and the feelings of inadequacy and shame when he was extracted from normal classes in order to attend ESL classes with other Hispanic children.

From the Paper:

"Everyday the moment Mrs. Figueroa walked in walked in the bright classroom I felt my stomach sink in. As the heads of my classmates turned and looked at me I couldn't help but look down at my desk. Everyone knew that she was coming to get me and that I'd be missing the rest of class but no one understood why I was leaving. As she walked toward my desk she asked me to get my stuff. I went to my "cubby" and got my stuff. Mrs. Milton, who was writing the alphabet on the board, looked over at me and said, "See you tomorrow Randy." I hated responding to her out loud therefore all I did was walk as fast as I could to the door, looking only at the carpet covered with different colored circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares. Mrs. Figueroa walked slowly in front of me and I felt like running past her into the hallway so my classmates would stop staring at me. Mrs. Milton seemb ed to be talking to her self because everyone's attention was focused on me as I walked out of the room filled with posters of different numbers, shapes, and letters."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "I Feel Like An Outsider, Like I Don't Belong" Life With Confidence. 2005.19 October 2007 < http://www.life-with-confidence.com/feel-like-an-outsider.html>
• Fink Igne, Gautreaux Gabrielle. "Me Talk Pretty One Day." Reading Life: An Anthology. Ed. David Sedaris. 510-514.

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