Call Me Maria

As a novel that intentionally spans two different places and cultures, Call Me María is best understood as being specifically about the Puerto Rican experience, both in Puerto Rico and in the mainland United States. Even in her teenage years, María already has a sharp understanding of the ways in which Puerto Rican identity is felt and expressed by the adults around her, as well as how it feels to transcend the cultural boundaries between two places. The relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is a complicated one and has historically been impacted by colonialism and racism on the part of the United States government. While María’s understanding does not directly reflect this dynamic, Ortíz Cofer portrays María’s experiences in a way that addresses how Puerto Rican identity has been impacted by the United States’ colonization of Puerto Rico. This element of the story is best represented by María’s complicated feelings about language and her family members, who each have different relationships to and feelings about the English language. Ortíz Cofer also emphasizes María’s pride in her Puerto Rican identity, especially in the face of conflicting belief systems about whose languages and identities should be most valued in the United States.