Essay Questions

What role do poems play in Judith Cofer’s writing? - “But Tell It Slant: From Poetry to Prose and Back Again”

Cofer explains, “In my own work I have often taken this process in a different direction and used my poems as triggers for my essays and fiction. For me, it’s a mental shortcut, a bypassing of few steps necessary for the creative impulse to kick in. It involves attaining sort of out-of-body state for me.” Poems are noteworthy building blocks of Cofer’s fictional works. Staring with poems prompts her to come up with ideas that are expanded into full essays. Accordingly, Cofer utilizes poems to brainstorm for ideas that could be developed into fictional works. Poems are initiators of ingenious ideas. For Cofer, fictional works are founded poetry.

How has literacy promoted Cofer’s reality? - “The Myth of the Latin Woman”

Cofer confesses, “Yet I am one of the lucky ones. My parents made it possible for me to acquire a stronger footing in the mainstream culture by giving me the chance at an education. And books and art have saved me from the harsher forms of ethnic and racial prejudice that many of my Hispanic companeras have had to endure.” If Cofer were uneducated, her life would entail indulging in menial jobs that are associated with the uneducated Latinas. Her career as an author is a remedy which has rescued her from the oppression which other Latina woman have to endure throughout their lives due to their low education. Her confession implies that if Latinas can invest in education and can be accorded education opportunities, they can have higher chances of exploring impressive careers in arts and other prestigious fields including science. Accordingly, education is an effective remedy in empowering the Latin-Americans whose lives are marred with oppressive and mortifying stereotypes.