Question

Read the following excerpt from Julia Ortiz Cofer’s poem "El Olvido."

It is a dangerous thing
to forget the climate of your birthplace,
to choke out the voices of dead relatives
when in dreams they call you
by your secret name.

Which statement best expresses Cofer’s point?

Although the United States has much to offer, it is a very dangerous place.
Immigrants must remember and preserve their own native cultures.
The voices of dead relatives may enter a person’s dreams at night.
Dead relatives will call people by secret names that no one else knows.

Answer 1

the answer to your question is A

Answer 2

Correct answer: Immigrants must remember and preserve their own native cultures.

Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico. During her childhood her family traveled back and forth between the US and Puerto Rico. Her father was in the military and was stationed in New Jersey. When she was 15, her family permanently relocated to Georgia.

Her poem, El Ovido, published in 1987, urges immigrants not to turn away from the heritage and culture they came from as they settle in a new place -- in this case, the United States. Further in the poem, she says it is "dangerous to disdain the plaster saints before which your mother kneels, praying with embarrassing fervor, that you survive in the place you have chosen to live."