Acceptance In Ask The Dust By Sixto Rodriguez

Acceptance is when people truly see you for who you are, not just what to look like, or what you talk like. In the book Freak the Mighty, Freak is shown as ‘robot boy’, or being ‘crippled.’ However, our main character, Max, doesn’t think of him this way. He sees him as Kevin, the smart boy who lives across the street. This is just one of the many examples of acceptance in the book. I think that Freak the Mighty is a story of acceptance, and here's why:

The author shows similarities between the narrator and his more skeptical colleague in an attempt to highlight the narrator’s thoughts. His thoughts show that his caustic colleague is very critical in describing the immigrant mother as a “bugger” and the daughter as a “pimply-faced bitch”. (pg. 55) The story then ends with a sense of hope for the young girl as she returns to school.

Identity crises are common problems for immigrants coming into any country. Deciding whether to stay true to their roots or to assimilate to a new culture puts pressure on many immigrants and their families. Both Jake and Babbitt, from Hester Street and Babbitt respectively, define what means to be American on superficial terms, even though they both believe that being an American does not merely stem from racial identity. They both become obsessed with being as seen as Americans through their social status, physical appearance, the pursuit of wealth, and freedom. While both Jake and Babbitt try to assimilate to American culture, only Babbitt truly succeeds in achieving this goal.

When first read by the reader many different things could be going through their minds, one assumptions could be that the “Indians” that the author is

Victor and Thomas had never been off the reservation before. They experienced what it’s really like to be a Native American in the real world. On the bus ride there, two white men took their seats and made rude comments about them being Native Americans. They received a lot of stares and uncomfortable looks from people as well. The bus ride to Phoenix was hard for Victor because he had to deal with Thomas talking the whole time. Victor especially didn’t like it when Thomas brought up his father in conversation.

Ethos, or argument by character is prevalent in this essay because of Sherman Alexie’s extreme credibility. Considering this essay is pieced together by different anecdotes, the author becomes more and more trustworthy as the story progresses. Sherman speaks of growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern

“ In Colorado My Father Scoured and Stacked Dishes” by Eduardo C. Corral is a poem about the speaker's father who was smuggled into the State. Coming into the State the speaker's father faced many hardship and struggles to make a living in the desert, the mountain, and Oregon. Corral the speaker shows empathy toward his father because he see’s all of the struggles that his father had faced and the speaker couldn’t do anything to help the father out. Corral used code-switching, diction and symbolism to show the hardships and struggles the speaker and his father faced as being Mexican American due to their identity. The struggles to survive when they don’t have money, family support, and also trying to fit in even though he is being disrespected because of his cultural background.

Sherman Alexie’s Indian Killer is filled with racism, stereotyping, anger, and hate. You can feel Alexie’s mood throughout the novel, and it’s easy for readers to see that Alexie is arguing through his fiction novel that there is systematic oppression against Native Americans. However, there is also an underlying argument trying to be made in Indian Killer other than the obvious. Sherman Alexie makes this argument through the characters of Aaron Rogers and Truck Schultz. The topic discussed is one that we see outside of the book in society during times of fear, distress, and tragedy. Indian Killer illustrates a situation uncertainty where individuals take advantage of the panic to push their own agenda on emotional and naïve audiences.

Martirio once had a man interested in her but that opportunity was snatched away from her by Bernarda. On page 191 Poncia says, “Martirio is lovesick, I don't care what you say. Why didn't you let her marry enrique Humanas? Why, on the very day he was coming to her window did you send him a message not to come? And Bernarda responded, “... My blood won’t mingle with the Humanas’ while I live!” This is an example of how different Martirio’s circumstances were from Adela and Angustias. Martirio was repressed from her desire for freedom from her mother and became jealous when her sister’s were not denied in the same way. These two themes lead the characters to believe that escaping one prison will make them free, only to be confined to another. This is the situation the women in the play recognize as a inner conflict. An example of this is on page 169 when Amelia says, “These days a girl doesn't know whether to have a beau or not.” Additionally, On page 208 Adela says, “ I can't stand this horrible house after the taste of his mouth. I’ll be what he wants me to be.” This quote shows how the girls view men as an escape from their sheltered home. Men represent freedom as well as repression. For Example, On page 169 it says “... Her sweetheart doesn't let her go out even to the front doorstep.” This shows us that Bernarda’s daughters realize if they stay at home forever, they will be controlled by their mother,

Family is the first thing anybody grows to know. You become familiarized with the traditions and the people of the unit. In the case of an ethnic family living and growing up in the United States, the unit should be a more joint and stronger community within, and set apart from the rest with its own uniqueness. There should also be a security and comfort entering the home. Yet through the book you begin to see a fissure opening more and more thus separating Richard from his family as he begin to venture out into the “gringo” community. Suddenly the comfort felt in the home diminishes and it becomes awkward. The unity you could sense seems to be no longer present and silence falls over. The community built in order to keep the gringos out is no longer there. In the case of Richard this begins with the start of the path of his education.

Castillo demonstrates injustice in patriarchy by using symbolism. In the novel, Caridad is cheated on by her boyfriend Memo. Caridad starts to heavily drink after work, and while doing so she decides that Memo isn’t the only man she wants to give her love to. Following the drinking, Caridad begins to have meaningless sex with the random men she meets at bars. One

In Pat Mora's poem, "Legal Alien," the author describes her biracial character as being "viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, / perhaps inferior, definitely different, / viewed by Mexicans as alien," a description which highlights the situation encountered by people who strive to be prestigious individuals by floating between cultures and who consequently fail to be a part of any particular group (Mora 9-11). Often the individuals are biologically trapped between two probable lives, and they forge ahead to meet the opportunity of possibly belonging to the higher society while they degrade the small culture which has weaned them from birth. These people find themselves

Immigrants have the continuous struggle of trying to adapt to a country's language and customs. Tan portrays this struggle throughout the wordless novel; the businessman tries to communicate with other people using symbols and drawings in a sketch pad. Another scene that displays the language barrier struggle immigrants go through was when he first arrived. He was being asked questions in a language he didn’t know and was randomly examined by a doctor; this scene reminds viewers of immigrants landing in Ellis Island for the first time and being examined for potential illnesses. When immigrants move to a different country they need to be careful about what they write or say, anything can be taken out of context based on a country’s history. Post September 11, 2001, after the Trade Center incident that Americans would never forget there was a target placed on any civilian who showed Muslim culture customs, such as clothing or headwear. Events and headlines in the news contradict the ideology portrayed in Tan’s wordless novel; however the story starts to take a sudden

The message of this reading is that discrimination happens everywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you are American or not, people will judge you based on your appearance, race, age, sex, etc. What really matters is how to overcome these issues with patience and intelligence. From the reading, even though Dave rejected Carolina’s dad and saw her family as illegal, poor, immigrants. She decided to tackle with issue by being the protector of the family. She didn’t give up and intended to use her ability to help other people in the society as

But the he ends up wanting to get closer with her. He hopes they can end up being together and then it will inspire new ideas for his writing. A reason Arturo falls for Camilla is because he feels she is on the same level as him and they are both struggling to get by. He knows they both don’t belong in California since they are not in “polo shirts and sunglasses.” He knows people judge and look down at them and they get picked on and talked about. Finally Bandini gets a break when he receives news that they want to publish one of his pieces in a magazine. He earns 175 dollars for getting his letter published and he now thinks he is rich. He blows his money on buying alcohol and cigars when he goes out with Camilla. However, she did not like that and said she wanted him to be like how he was when they first met in the coffee shop.