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 is eager to assimilate herself and her family into mainstream US culture.
B
She is unwilling to embrace any aspect of multiculturalism because she detests US culture.
C
She wants to preserve her family’s Mexican culture even though she no longer lives in Mexico.
D
She believes that marrying an “Okie” is equivalent to ruining any prospects of financial success.
Explanation
The grandmother advises the narrator to marry a Mexican girl and warns him against marrying an “Okie,” showing that she values keeping Mexican identity and traditions in the family. Her broad use of “Okie” for people who are not Mexican, Black, or Asian suggests a strong distinction between her culture and others, not a wish to assimilate. The excerpt supports preserving Mexican culture; it does not say that marrying an “Okie” would prevent financial success.
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