In Sandra Cisneros’ short story, “Mericans”, the postmodernist themes of isolation and conflict are used to describe her views on diversity. The short story starts off with a girl who is waiting for her grandmother outside of a Catholic church. The narrator made a promise to her grandmother to stay in the same place until she returns. The narrator starts to go into detail about how she has to play her brothers games because if she doesn’t, then he might not play with her at all. Cisneros used the theme of conflict when the narrators brother said, ” We can’t play with a girl!” and ” You throw the ball like a girl!”, which showed she was being made fun of because of her gender (Cisneros 2291). Cisneros further emphasized the insult of being called a “girl” by italicizing it in the text. The theme of isolation is used when the awful grandmother come out of the church and, ” shoved her to the door” (Cisneros 2291). The awful grandmother went on to talk to the narrators brother, and completely ignored her. Towards the end of the story, a man and a women come up to her brother and ask to take a photo with him. The couple is amazed by the way Junior looks, and they end up giving him a handful of gum in exchange for the picture.
“Mericans” allowed Cisneros to express her feelings about diversity in society. She made the main characters in the story Mexican Americans, so they were seen as different from the rest of society. She further expanded on this point when the couple took pictures of Junior, which makes it seem like they have seen nothing like him before. Cisneros also made it seem like being a girl was not acceptable in the story. The narrator seemed to get disgusted when she got called a girl, and did not want to be associated with the term.