Analysis Of Ted Conover 's ' Coyotes '

In the reading land of open graves by De Leon, discusses the dangers that millions of Mexican and central Americans face when trying to get into the United States undocumented. These people include people who have the dream of living in America and creating a new life where they can support their families. Also for those who have been deported back to Mexico being separated from their families and are in hopes of being reunited with their loved ones. These people face a hard battle ahead of them because they have to travel through the Sonoran desert of Arizona that is one of the largest deserts in North America. And have to deal with not only fighting the harsh desert elements, while only caring as many supplies as they can. They also have to deal with the structural violence that goes under looked that thousands of Mexicans have to face while migrating to the United States.

They plodded on, thin and filthy as street addicts. Cowled in their blankets against the cold and their breath smoking, shuffling through the black and silky drifts…. and the noon sky black as the cellars of hell. He held the boy against him, cold to the bone. Dont lose heart, he said. We’ll be all right (The Road 177).

In Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s book, Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, she allows us to enter the everyday lives of ten undocumented Mexican workers all living in the Chicago area. Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz refers to Chuy, Alejandro, Leonardo, Luis, Manuel, Omar, Rene, Roberto, Lalo, and Albert the ten undocumented Mexicans as the “Lions”. This book shares the Lions many stories from, their daily struggle of living as an undocumented immigrant in America, to some of them telling their stories about crossing the border and the effects of living in a different country than their family, and many other struggles and experiences they have encountered. Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s book delves into

Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s, Labor and Legality is a book written on the Mexican immigrant network in the U.S. She centers it on the Lions, a group of Mexican men from Leon, Mexico that all share their lives and help explain the many networks and strategies that are used in order to excel and gain happiness. There have been many different sorts of misconceptions about immigrants, and in recent years about undocumented immigrants from Mexico. The U.S. has made a sort of war on illegal immigrants and has made it a seemingly high priority in the media and in politics. Therefore, many Americans have been mislead and ill-informed about the history of immigrants/undocumented immigrants. Gomberg-Muñoz’s Labor and Legality helps set us straight. She unveils undocumented immigrants for the people that they are instead of the criminals that the media leads many to believe. Although she doesn’t have a wide range of participants for her study, I believe that she addresses many of the misconceptions and just plain ignorance that American people have of people that are undocumented; why stereotypes are supported by the people themselves, why politicians include stronger illegal immigration laws, and everything in between. Many of her topics reveal a sort of colonialism that the U.S. practices on Mexico; the exploitation of undocumented peoples to the benefit of the U.S. through economics, hypocritical laws and campaigns, and the racist and prejudice consequences.

In Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild, the main character, Chris McCandless, seeks nature so that he can find a sense of belonging and the true meaning of who he is. However, it is the essence of nature that eventually takes his life away from him. At the end of his life, he is discovers his purpose and need of other people. After Chris McCandless death in Alaska, Krakauer wrote Into the Wild to reflect on the journey that McCandless makes. Krakauer protrays McCandless as a young man who is reckless, selfish, and arrogant, but at the same time, intelligent, determined, independent, and charismatic. Along with the irony that occurs in nature, these characteristics are the several factors that contribute to McCandless death.

The Border Patrol may ask the immigrants about why they crossed the border illegally or they may not ask. Truthfully, what do the Border Patrol do after they ask? Often, we believe, the job is being taken care of regarding immigration and who could be cruel to women and children. However, these border patrol agencies are groomed to hunt immigrants like animals and criminals. In the article, “Looking Beyond the Wall,” author Robert Neustadt depicts a conversation with a border control agent, “I’m a junior agent, so I don’t get to go out to play as much. That’s what we call going out on Patrol, explains Wilson” (Neustadt, 2013, p.623). Leaving their home to

Occasionally in a person's life, he or she wonders about a certain purpose in life. In extreme cases, when a person attempts to find one's self, he or she may find his or herself in a dangerous or even deadly position. In Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, Chris McCandless goes out into the wilderness of Alaska to find himself, but he never returns. Jon Krakauer organizes his novel in a circular way, which ties the story together well, and he uses long, periodic sentences to detail and emphasize his points about life and death situations in order to create an aspect of imagery and description throughout the novel.

In her book, Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz describes the lives of ten busboys, she referrs to as the Lions, living and working in the Chicago area. Gomberg-Muñoz provides an insight into the lives of these undocumented Mexican workers. They share their stories of crossing the border, the affects of their absence on family back in Mexico, and the daily struggles of living in a country without the benefits of citizenship. The Lions, as well as other undocumented Mexicans, have to face Americans stereotypes every day. Probably the biggest stereotype the Lions contend with is the belief that all Mexicans are hard workers.

With the fast-paced globalization together with the heightening political economic issues of the world, it has brought forth the illegal immigrants to cross the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona, or as the anthropologist, Jason De León describes it, The Land of the Open Graves. However, there is more to unauthorized immigration than what meets the eye. Scratching the surface of the case of undocumented migrants reveals that it rooted from the intensifying global inequality and crisis of the world. Accordingly, the author’s decision to vividly depict the brutality beyond words the undocumented migrants had suffered while crossing the borders allows the readers to see the bigger picture behind illegal immigration, preventing further unnecessary deaths of the innocents.

Newjack is Ted Conover’s personal memoir as a correctional officer in one of New York’s famous maximum security prisons: Sing Sing. The job of a correctional officer consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, aggravate and abuse them. After a short time at the academy and a brief period of on-the-job training, Conover found himself working, often alone and always unarmed, in galleries housing sixty or more inmates. He heard of many stories that happen in prison. Stories include inmates beating inmates and burning their cell house, an inmate who was beaten by correctional officers after striking an officer in the head with a broom

At the beginning of his essay, Theroux is at the crossing point between Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. He tells of a soldier guarding the entrance who gave a slightly defensive answer when our author asked why he hasn’t visited Nogales, Mexico himself when it’s

The author of “Outlaw; My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” Jose Antonio Vargas conquered his fear of people knowing he is undocumented immigrant by being determined to succeed in life. Given that Jose and his grandmother fear people discovering the truth his life has fallen into pieces. As Jose and his grandmother discuss his situation she asks him, “What will happen if people find out? I couldn't say anything. After we got off the phone, I rushed to the bathroom on the fourth floor of newsroom, sat down on the toilet and cried”(10). As a result, Jose Vargas has become vulnerable and paranoid about everything in his life. This leads to depression and the inability to live a fulfilled life. Eventually Jose decides to face the music and reveal to his boss and fellow co workers about situation. Further in the article Jose decides to “… come forward, own up to what I´ve done, and tell my story to the best of my recollection [...] I don't know what to consequences will be telling my story” (11). In the end he felt relief and finally happy about telling everyone his secret. This challenge was difficult, but with his passion to be truly happy in his job and life he was able to overcome the situation. For the author, Jose Antonio Vargas this situation was difficult but with his family and friends, who supported him, he gathered the strength to defeat the problem.

The last chapter read, Deported, was a great entrance into the eyes of the Border Patrol and their abilities. I found humor with the idea of playing cat and mouse with the BP agents – as the migrants would come in and out on a regular basis. The description of the court hearings is also rather perplexing – as we see something that almost isn’t in the spirit of the US. We see immigrants, some with little knowledge of English or Spanish, g in a court, then are coaxed into a plea deal, and then forced to spend time in jail or leave the United States. This final chapter is the literal reality of the US Border Patrol and its hostile Dynamics. The journey for so many ended in the courtroom, all at the hands of nationalistic

But what is a real American? A piece of paper? If not that, than how far back do you have to be able to trace your lineage to claim the right to live in this country? Author Jason De Leon aims to answer questions like this in his book, 'The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail '. De Leon, an anthropologist and expert in the field, took it upon himself to study the paths of immigrants coming into America through the Sonoran desert region in southern Arizona over the course of the last decade.

In the past these were fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and grandparents. These families came in packs. Now they come as packs of children. Some are led here wit Coyotes. Coyotes are traffickers that bring immigrants wishing to come to the United States for a fee. The article, “No Country for lostkids” by P. J. Tobia tells the story of Nodwin, a boy from Honduras whose parents paid for a Coyote to bring him to them in Virginia. Nodwin states that, “ The big people force the children to take their clothes off and also make them sell bad things,and if they dont do it, they rape them or they kill them”. This is the reason Nodwin had to