Read the excerpt from Julia Ortiz Cofer’s poem "El Olvido." It is dangerous to spurn the clothes you were born to wear for the sake of fashion; dangerous to use weapons and sharp instruments you are not familiar with; dangerous to disdain the plaster saints before which your mother kneels praying with embarrassing fervor that you survive in the place you have chosen to live: The items listed in this excerpt symbolize

The clothes, unfamiliar instruments, and plaster saints are all connected to the speaker’s cultural background and family traditions. The warning that it is dangerous to reject or disdain them suggests they symbolize the traditions and customs of the speaker’s native land. The mother’s prayer is one example, but the items represent more than only her religious beliefs.

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