Answer:
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
