“Por favor,” says the lady. “¿Un foto?” pointing to her camera. “Si.” She’s so busy taking Junior’s picture, she doesn’t notice me and Keeks. “Hey, Michele, Keeks. You guys want gum?” “But you speak English!” “Yeah,” my brother says, “we’re Mericans.” Which of the following statements best explains the irony in this excerpt? The woman assumes that the narrator’s brother is native to the region, but he is actually an American. The narrator’s brother does not know how to say the word “Americans” even though he is an American citizen. Neither the narrator nor her brother actually cares for the gum the woman is passing out to them. The children assume that the woman is a foreigner, but she actually lives in a nearby Mexican town.

She is trying to speak to him in spanish because she thinks he is a local, because he doesn´t look white, and she assumes that he is native, the interesting and ironic thing is that the woman doens´t even have in mind that America is a multicultural, immigrant-made nation from all colors and origins and the guy she was asking for the picture was actually american just like her.