Analysis Of Judith Cofer's Survival Of The Prettiest: The Science Of Beauty
Venice Ishibashi
Ella Russel
English 112
17 April 2016 “That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express,” Francis Bacon observes in his “Essay on the Subject.” And yet for centuries, we’ve attempted again and again to define beauty from social, cultural and religious perspectives. But in spite of establishing numerous theoretical definition, we continue to try for a substantial, solid and material structure to define women’s beauty. “Attitudes toward beauty are entwined with our deepest conflicts surrounding flesh and spirit,” Harvard’s Nancy Etcoff wrote in her article, “Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.” Indeed, “beauty is a complex beast surrounded by our equally complex attitudes”, and “The Myth of the Latin …show more content…
She mentions that “mixed cultural signals have spread certain stereotypes” and that these stereotypes have created a “media-engendered image of the Latina in the United States.” Cofer also feels as if this image is “partially responsible for the denial of opportunities for” Latinas to world “in the real world.” This point is interesting because it brings up the concepts of ethos, symbols, and pity. Cofer is a credible source not only because she is an educated woman that teaches at the University of Georgia, but also because her ideas are reasonable and come from her personal experiences and emotions, basically making her a primary source. The stereotype of a Hispanic woman created sort of an identity crisis for Cofer that made her feel as if she was just another “Maria” in the bunch, a foreign woman that could not be taken seriously or even respected in a professional matter. A key source example of this comes from the bus trip she made to London from Oxford University when she was taking summer classes. A man got down on one knee and sang her an Irish tenor’s rendition of “Maria” from West Side Story. It can clearly be seen why she would feel like just another fish in the sea and not like an individual because of the way others saw and treated her, as either a “Hot Tamale” that a man drunk man wanted or an uneducated foreigner. Cofer’s feelings about this come in a moving overview, “You can leave the island, master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, especially one like me who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool, the Island travels with you.” In this passage Cofer concludes that no matter how hard she tries, there will always be someone out there that will view her in a way she sees as
Ella Russel
English 112
17 April 2016 “That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express,” Francis Bacon observes in his “Essay on the Subject.” And yet for centuries, we’ve attempted again and again to define beauty from social, cultural and religious perspectives. But in spite of establishing numerous theoretical definition, we continue to try for a substantial, solid and material structure to define women’s beauty. “Attitudes toward beauty are entwined with our deepest conflicts surrounding flesh and spirit,” Harvard’s Nancy Etcoff wrote in her article, “Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.” Indeed, “beauty is a complex beast surrounded by our equally complex attitudes”, and “The Myth of the Latin …show more content…
She mentions that “mixed cultural signals have spread certain stereotypes” and that these stereotypes have created a “media-engendered image of the Latina in the United States.” Cofer also feels as if this image is “partially responsible for the denial of opportunities for” Latinas to world “in the real world.” This point is interesting because it brings up the concepts of ethos, symbols, and pity. Cofer is a credible source not only because she is an educated woman that teaches at the University of Georgia, but also because her ideas are reasonable and come from her personal experiences and emotions, basically making her a primary source. The stereotype of a Hispanic woman created sort of an identity crisis for Cofer that made her feel as if she was just another “Maria” in the bunch, a foreign woman that could not be taken seriously or even respected in a professional matter. A key source example of this comes from the bus trip she made to London from Oxford University when she was taking summer classes. A man got down on one knee and sang her an Irish tenor’s rendition of “Maria” from West Side Story. It can clearly be seen why she would feel like just another fish in the sea and not like an individual because of the way others saw and treated her, as either a “Hot Tamale” that a man drunk man wanted or an uneducated foreigner. Cofer’s feelings about this come in a moving overview, “You can leave the island, master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, especially one like me who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool, the Island travels with you.” In this passage Cofer concludes that no matter how hard she tries, there will always be someone out there that will view her in a way she sees as