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6. Sánchez writes, “It has taken me years of work to embrace the way I look” (par. 14).
5
Summarize the steps she took and explain how each step led her to appreciate her beauty.
7. What does Sánchez mean when she says she had to “dismantle the white patriarchy that I
built in myself” (par. 14)?
8. What does Sánchez reveal about herself with the last phrase of her narrative: “I contain the
Narrative
beauty of multitudes”?

Analyzing Language, Style, and Structure

9. Vocabulary in Context. In paragraph 8, Sánchez writes that the “sexy women . . . [on
television] were always voluptuous, scantily clad, and fair.” What does the word fair mean in
this context? What other meanings of this word have you encountered?
10. Why does Sánchez likely choose to start her narrative by describing her actions when she was
four years old? What does this choice establish at the very beginning of the piece and how do
we see echoes of this throughout her narrative?
11. Sánchez uses the word ugly, or its Spanish equivalent, six times in the first five paragraphs.
What is the effect of this repetition?
12. Sánchez uses Spanish words throughout her narrative, oftentimes providing the translations
for them. What effect does her use of Spanish words create?
13. Sánchez ends paragraph 5 with a series of rhetorical questions — in other words, questions to
which she expects no answer. What is the effect of this stylistic choice?
14. Paragraph 9 is a bit of a departure from the personal narrative Sánchez is telling. Why might
she have chosen to insert this historical diversion at this point in her story?
15. In paragraph 9, Sánchez describes the process of the mixing of castes in Mexico as “boinking
and raping.” What is the effect of these word choices?

Topics for Composing

16. Analysis. What does Sánchez ultimately learn about how to define and not define her
own beauty? How does she use elements of narrative to communicate these lessons to
her reader?
17. Argument. Write an argument in which you explain what, if any, restrictions should be put on
media companies to ensure that negative stereotypes about race and beauty are not
perpetuated?
18. Connections. The parent company of Instagram conducted internal research on the
effects of that app on teenagers. The resulting study, which was leaked to reporters in 2021,
concluded that, “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls” and “thirty-two
percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel
worse.” What impact, if any, does social media have on you and your self-perception? How do
you think the influence of social media today is similar to or different from that of the TV shows
and magazines that Sánchez consumed in the 1990s?
19. Speaking and Listening. Sánchez grew up in the 1990s with such shows as Full House,
Saved by the Bell, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. In groups or pairs, discuss some of the
shows that you watched growing up and explain how those shows presented ideas of gender
roles, sexual orientation, race, and other factors. How are the representations in those shows
similar to or different from what Sánchez describes?

164
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Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
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For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.

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