Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance Of A Puerto Rican Childhood

At 15, Cofer visited Puerto Rico for the last time for several years. It was a culture clash as she was plunged into the expectations placed on young Puerto Rican women. Accustomed the quiet isolation of her life in Paterson, Cofer found the experience overwhelming and restrictive. Her desire for privacy was met with affront, and she was constantly monitored as though she “carried some kind of time-bomb in [her] body that might go off at any minute” (139). Her transition into adulthood meant that she was now seen as threatening and threatened by all men (140).

Mamá expected her to engage in the constant work and business she herself engaged in, as part of her induction into womanhood. However, there were also benefits to this new arrangement. Now allowed to engage more fully in the women’s conversation, Cofer began to understand many of the subtleties and meanings that were lost on her as a child. She also saw how the women cleverly expressed their true feelings about their roles in society (142).

Cofer was courted by two boys in the “elegant and brazen” (142) manner typical of the period. One boy repeatedly played her songs on the jukebox to woo her, but her heart was set on the other.