About a third of the global population learns English as a second language (L2). L2 students routinely read English literature. Many L2 readers are members of cultures with painful colonial pasts. The English language functions in part to support western cultural and economic domination. L2 students have a complex identity, as members of their own culture, but also as elites having options in the global economy. This study used content analysis, content clusters and Appraisal analysis to explore how three cultural groups with colonial histories responded to an English-language translation of a Bulgarian poem about an elite, L2-educated character in a colonial situation. Results suggest that bilingual youth do not see themselves as elite, and that authentic literature in translation helps them perceive status and positionality.