Accents Quote by Sandra Cisneros
“Well, when you're an immigrant writer, or an immigrant, you're not always welcome to this country unless you're the right immigrant. If you have a Mexican accent, people look at you like, you know, where do you come from and why don't you go back to where you came from? So, even though I was born in the United States, I never felt at home in the United States. I never felt at home until I moved to the Southwest, where, you know, there's a mix of my culture with the U.S. culture, and that was why I lived in Texas for 25 years.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New Yorker, “The Borderlands of Identity”, 2010
Immigrant writers often face conditional acceptance, feeling alienated unless they fit a preferred stereotype, leading to cultural displacement and search for belonging.
In simple terms: Immigrants feel unwelcome unless they match expectations, causing identity struggle.
Key Takeaway
Seek spaces where multiple cultures coexist.
Themes
identity
belonging
immigration
culture
displacement
Mood
reflective
hopeful
critical
Type
personal narrative
social commentary
When to use this quote
- moving to a new region
- joining multicultural communities
- expressing heritage in art
- advocating inclusive policies
Key Concepts
intersectionality
cultural hybridity
social acceptance
Questions to Reflect On
- How does cultural hybridity affect your sense of self?
- What environments foster genuine inclusion?
A Different Perspective
Not all audiences recognize or value hybrid identities, limiting impact.
![“[Dennis Mathis] was very sensitive about keeping the unique way that I spoke English - it had a lot of Mexicanisms or Mexican syntax. So you keep it in because it's adding something unique.” quote by Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b6a/sandra-cisneros-862_mexican_dennis-mathis-was-very-sensitive-about-k_223445.jpg)
![“[Jorge Luis Borges] had short stories, and I was trying to learn how to write short stories, and then he had these things in the middle that were like fables, and I loved hearing fables.” quote by Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a46/sandra-cisneros-862_borges_jorge-luis-borges-had-short-stories-and_102630.jpg)
![“We changed it to emocionó, the way you say in Spanish, "to emotion me" [to be moved]. That, as opposed to "haunt." We wanted the feeling of sadness and grief and obsession, so we used emocionó.” quote by Sandra Cisneros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/8fc/sandra-cisneros-862_changed_we-changed-it-to-emocion-the-way-you-say_108295.jpg)
