Heritage and Multicultural American Identities — Test
Question 7 • CMS 2026-2027 English III CREDIT RECOVERY
Read the excerpt from Gary Soto’s story "Like Mexicans." My grandmother gave me bad advice and good advice when I was in my early teens. For the bad advice, she said that I should become a barber because they made good money and listened to the radio all day. “Honey, they don’t work como burros,” she would say every time I visited her. She made the sound of donkeys braying. “Like that, honey!” For the good advice, she said that I should marry a Mexican girl. “No Okies, hijo”—she would say— “Look, my son. He marry one and they fight every day about I don’t know what and I don’t know what.” For her, everyone who wasn’t Mexican, black, or Asian were Okies. The French were Okies, the Italians in suits were Okies. . . . she lectured me on the virtues of the Mexican girl. What inference can be made about the grandmother’s point of view in this excerpt?
Answer
A
She wants to preserve her family’s Mexican culture even though she no longer lives in Mexico.
B
She is unwilling to embrace any aspect of multiculturalism because she detests US culture.
C
She is eager to assimilate herself and her family into mainstream US culture.
D
She believes that marrying an “Okie” is equivalent to ruining any prospects of financial success.
Explanation
The grandmother urges her grandson to marry a Mexican girl and warns him against marrying someone she considers an “Okie.” This suggests she values maintaining Mexican cultural ties within the family, even while living in a setting where people from many backgrounds are around her. The passage does not show that she rejects every aspect of U.S. culture or wants her family to assimilate.
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