Question

what we believe about identity by julia alvarez new york times one of the baffling things that happened when my family arrived in the united states in 1960 was having to find a term for ourselves. no one seemed to know where the dominican republic was. back then there weren’t that many dominicans in the united states – the dictatorship made it difficult to emigrate. so when my family was asked where we were from, we couldn’t just say, we’re dominican, you know, like sammy sosa or alex rodriguez. our classmates often mistook our country for the other caribbean nation of dominica. oh, you lucky dog! we went there for spring break! at least dominica was in the same neighborhood of islands. the hyphenated nationality (dominican-american, chinese-american, even african-american) hadn’t yet been invented. if we had to check a box, the sorry options we were given (negro, eskimo, etc.) didn’t include us. we were vaguely of spanish origin, which was better than the more deprecating slurs of the playground: spic, wetback, greaser. i was born in nueva york, but my parents returned to their homeland when i was a month old. they immigrated again when i was 10. i was american, but not american. i was an immigrant but not really. from the get - go, my identity wasn’t based on the context of the passage, what is the meaning of the word cantankerous as used in alvarez’s reflection on cultural stereotypes? pleasant and easygoing arguing aggressively grumpy and difficult enthusiastic and helpful

Explanation:

To determine the meaning of "cantankerous" in the context of cultural stereotypes, we analyze the options. The passage deals with the challenges of cultural identity and negative stereotypes. "Pleasant and easygoing" (positive) and "enthusiastic and helpful" (positive) don't fit. "Arguing aggressively" implies active conflict, but "grumpy and difficult" aligns with negative, uncooperative stereotypes related to cultural misunderstandings. The context of being misidentified and facing deprecating slurs suggests a negative, difficult portrayal, so "grumpy and difficult" is correct.

Answer:

C. grumpy and difficult