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Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Relationship Between Internalized Racism and the Allure of Whiteness

Elena lives in a city that fails to value her Puerto Rican identity, as shown by the girls at school teasing her for what they consider foreign food habits and by Eugene’s mother’s rejection when she comes to the house to study. Ortíz Cofer shows how Elena has unconsciously absorbed their negative ideas, absorbing the racism into her own worldview. Throughout the story, Elena’s view as expressed by the narration shows her sense of shame around her identity and her fellow Puerto Ricans. El Building is consistently described as an embarrassing imposition on the street life of Paterson. Rather than describing the music pouring from the windows as evidence of a lively culture within, the narration calls El Building a “monstrous jukebox.” The community there offers mutual support, including collective mourning of Kennedy’s death, but the overall sense from Elena’s point of view is of the same confusion and chaos she associates with her one memory of visiting Puerto Rico. 

Elena’s internalized racism goes hand-in-hand with the allure of whiteness captured in the story. The house next door is a potent symbol of this allure. Elena can see the life of the house intimately from her apartment, yet it remains always slightly out of reach. This detail reflects the way the world of whiteness and white privilege is apparent but not available to people of color. Elena’s longing for the life she imagines in that house is tied up in her fascination with Scarlett O’Hara, the white, slave-owning main character of Gone with the Wind, a book she imagines Eugene may be able to help her understand. Her father’s desire to move to the suburbs also reflects a desire for assimilation with white culture, since suburbs in this time period were rapidly filling with white people fleeing cities as a means of maintaining housing segregation. While a house with a yard is a typical image of the American dream, in this case, it is also an idea tied up in the allure of whiteness. Throughout the story, Ortíz Cofer develops the relationship between internalized racism and the allure of whiteness. 

The Effects of Racial Discrimination in Youth

As is true for many teenagers, Elena’s life revolves around school. The racial tensions that pervade the story are part of Elena’s everyday life at P.S. 13. The Black girls make fun of her culture, chanting “pork chop” as she turns the jump rope to make fun of Puerto Rican food. While Ortíz Cofer does not show the teachers taking an active role in the taunts, Mr. DePalma willfully ignores whatever goes on during their time outside, an example of the school’s silent acceptance of the racial tensions among the students. The same group makes fun of Eugene for his accent and his childhood in Georgia, suggesting that in general, the school's social culture centers around ostracizing outsiders. Elena, for her part, envies the Black girls who she believes do not feel the cold the way she does and who seem strong and vibrant where she is weak and tired. 

In addition to the day-to-day prejudice Elena experiences from her peers, the school itself has aspects of structural racism, that is, discrimination built into its systems. Elena is a smart and driven student. She has lived in the mainland United States for as much of her life as she can remember, and there is every indication that she speaks excellent English. Even at home, her mother mixes English with her Spanish words, showing the family’s overall bilingualism. Nevertheless, Elena is barred from the honors classes Eugene takes because her first language is Spanish. This exclusion is an example of structural inequality in the school. Although the policy does not explicitly ban Puerto Rican students from honors classes by race, it keeps out students like Elena regardless of their abilities and interests. At the same time, children born on the mainland to English-speaking families can enroll in the classes based on their individual qualifications, without being excluded on the basis of their family’s origin. 

The Tension Between the Desires of Children and Parents

“American History” follows Elena’s transition from childhood to adulthood, a time often characterized by tension between what children want and what their parents want for them. In the story, Elena’s mother has different goals and ideals for Elena than Elena has for herself. While her mother wants Elena to remain a dutiful Puerto Rican child, Elena is both growing up and becoming more assimilated with mainland American culture. Her parents dream of returning to the island, but Elena’s memories of Puerto Rico are of chaos, confusion, and discomfort so deep, she actually wanted to come back to Paterson, despite disliking the city. Elena is also developing the sexual and romantic attractions of a teenager, something that makes her mother anxious, such that she lectures her on morality and virtue. Elena’s interest in Eugene combines both of these areas of divergence, as he is a boy she has a crush on and, as a blond, white boy from Georgia, resolutely a mainlander.

Eugene’s mother’s desires for her child are also out of alignment with his. It is evident that Eugene enjoys and values Elena’s company. She is his only friend at school, and even though they are not in the same classes, he invites her to his house to study for an American history exam. He is shy and lets Elena do most of the talking. However, Elena is not the kind of girl Eugene’s mother wants him to build a relationship with. When she turns Elena away from the door, she makes clear that her objection to their study date has nothing to do with who Elena is as an individual and everything to do with what she, a Puerto Rican from the shabby building next door, represents. The racism behind her rejection is veiled, but Ortíz Cofer’s use of terms like “you people” makes clear that her objection is at least partially based in prejudice. Unlike Elena, who resists her mother’s demands that she go to church instead of to Eugene’s house, Eugene seems unable or unwilling to overcome his mother’s objections. In his case, his mother’s desires for him take precedent over what he wants. 

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