Analysis Of Aurora Levins Morales's 'Childs Of America'

Tato Laviera, a great Puerto Rican poet, writes one of his most famous and prideful poems called "AmeRican" majorly composed of metaphors, where he dreams of a time when his people, the Puerto Ricans, can create, or how as he states in his poem "give birth" to a perfect race in which we live in peace and happiness; where all cultures are welcome because we ourselves are forged by various races and cultures, and we do not judge others by mere race. Hence, comes the name of “AmeRican”, because we can make the American society a better place. The main subjects that I will focus on are the meanings embedded in the poem discussing only the most important parts, the relationship of the American and Puerto Rican culture and the tension that lies between them. I will also focus on one of the main ideas of the author: a utopian society conveyed by Puerto Rican culture.

In “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri, the author takes his readers on a journey of the oppressive life of a Puerto Rican immigrant. He describes a vicious cycle of stagnancy in which immigrants work endlessly without reward. Hopeful every day that the American dream they once imagined would come to fruition, but instead they are continually faced with trials and turmoil on every hand. Instead of uniting as a body to work towards greatness, the immigrants grow envious of each other, focusing on what they lack instead of the blessings that they currently attain. Contrary to the ideals of early immigrants, Pietri portrays Puerto Rico to be the homeland. The ideals of early immigrants have drastically changed throughout the development of America. Petri paints a completely different picture of America throughout his poem. Early immigrants describe an America that is welcoming, with endless opportunities, and a safe haven. Despite earlier depictions of the immigrant experience, these ideals are challenged because they weren’t integrated into society, were inadequately rewarded for hard work, and were disadvantaged due to their socioeconomic status.

Puerto Rican food has many different ingredients derived from the different ethnic groups. They use many fresh ingredients for bold flavors, but their food generally isn’t spicy compared to other cultures. Puerto Ricans typically eat a light breakfast, but their lunch and dinner is heavy. For them, dinner is the most important meal of the day. Puerto Ricans typically drink coffee and eat mallorca which is a type of sweet bread. They normally start off dinner with an appetizer like soup or stew first. Some of the main Puerto Rican dishes include: carne frita con cebolla which is, fried beefsteak with onions, roast leg of pork, ham, lamb, or any roasted meats cooked in Creole style with blends of herbs and spices. Puerto Ricans also love chicken and many of their popular dishes include chicken like, arroz con pollo, chicken and

Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.

In the famous poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, America is deemed a land of “world wide welcome” for those who seek a new place to call home. The Statue of Liberty is established early on in the piece as a symbol of freedom and protection, a statue symbolic of the spirit of America. In the piece, Lazarus refers to immigrants as the “poor, huddled masses” to whom the United States offers a pair of open “golden doors.” However, many immigrants today feel far removed from the land of freedom referenced in The New Colossus. The promise of a blue sky with endless possibilities is far from reality for the Americans that the poem calls the huddled masses. It is clear that America’s promise of freedom and opportunity, characterized by the

Richard Blanco is the son of two immigrants from Cuba: he grew up in a Cuban cohort in Miami, Florida. It was instilled in him at a young age that his ancestry and America were one in the same. They were both magical. His foreign home was talked about often, never condemned, while America was their physical home and their place to earn a better life than their previous one could afford them. Blanco’s poem, “One Today,” exhibits his cultural pride, optimism, and gratitude for life and his country: The United States.

The poem is filled not with resentment but with optimism, the cheerfulness of that “great, silly grin" (21) that he believes will take him to a future where they will be as American as anyone else. But he also understands that people like him, mainly Mexicans who come to the United States to strive for something better in life.

America is a melting pot of people from all over the world who live here for freedom and the ability to be prosperous. However, at this time, even though we have embraced the diversity in America, there is still conflict between different ethnic groups. The cultures which are present here have given birth to amazing people who have gone on to contribute significantly to the community, state, and even the nation. The Hispanic culture present in America has given rise to people to have gone on to leave a legacy. From Marilyn Alvarez, who protects the citizens of Tampa as a police officer to Senator Marco Rubio who represents the great state of Florida in the Senate.

Due to all the immigration from countries all over the world, America has become a place of diversity among many races and religions. Although, this diversity came with prejudice that has gotten better since the late 20th century, it is still alive today. America became a place for, as Maya Angelou would say, “The Tree, River, and Rock” or peace, security, wisdom, humanity, and freedom to all people regardless of their background. Because of this, the early 21st century has brought many new opportunities for people of all cultural backgrounds.

America is a nation founded on immigration and diverse cultural backgrounds. Individuals that migrate to the United States typically all have one thing in common with each other, that is a sense of belonging and wanting to hold some type of connection to their past roots. In the video Faces of America, individual stories of culture were shared, nonetheless these people shared one thing in common and that was wanting to know about their past and having a connection to their traditional roots. In this essay, I will aim to demonstrate why diversity and different cultures are such an significant part of America and America’s history. Faces of America gave a perspective of different individuals from numerous backgrounds and different cultures, but none of these individual’s lineages were from America.

The American people as a whole faced several challenges during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. While some of these overall challenges were security, drugs and alcohol, abuse, and poverty, a different challenge is addressed in the famous poems, “On the pulse of morning” by Maya Angelou and “One Today” by Richard Blanco. Diversity. Yes, the color of people’s skin causes diversity among a group of people; of a nation. Both poems aim to inform the reader, and help the reader see that we are all people and the race or nationality should not change anything.

The poem is talking about immigrant parents that come to the U.S for the sake of their children to get a better life and to live a life of freedom. The poet made use of different ways to narrate the American dream as to how they see it, She fancied what the middle class Americans have cause she lived all her life in poverty. she says that immigrants wrap their babies in the American Flag. We can take this literally because from the poem we can say that immigrant parents use a lot of American imagery, like the flag on their children making them more American. Many immigrant parents leave their countries and their families and friends to go have a new life for the sake of their children. Immigrant parents have worries about their children being

The poems “On the Pulse of the Morning,” by Maya Angelou and “The Gift Outright,” by Robert Frost share many similar aspects, such as being written for presidential inaugurations and explaining their author’s views of America’s changing state. However, they differ in key aspects, such as the intended audience and the formality of the writing. Angelou’s poem speaks to a broad, diverse audience and displays an informal fashion, while Frost directs his poem towards a predominantly white America and writes in a formal tone. In his poem, Frost speaks directly to the American population as he sees it- a chiefly white society. He refers to the land as “ours,” referencing the struggles faced by colonists in the Revolutionary War.

Morales talks about Puerto Rican cultures by explaining what Caribbean people like to do: eat, sing, how they have different ways to dance and enjoy different types of music. “I am Caribeña, island grown. Spanish is in my flesh, ripples from my tongue, lodge in my lodge in my hips; the language of garlic and mangoes, […] (Morales 1174). She associates with those specific tastes and her home culture. Food is an important element of cultural identity.

Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication