Barefoot Heart Essay

Enrique’s journey from Honduras to the U.S. unveils the innate loyalty of a loving child to their mother and presents the dangers that a migrant faces on the road with consistent angst; nevertheless, it supports the idea that compassion shown by some strangers can boost the retreating confidence within a person. In Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” he seeks the beacon of light that all migrants hope to encounter; “El Norte.” Like many children before him, it is the answer to the problems of a hard life. While being hunted down “like animals” leading to “seven futile attempts,” he is

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 film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, is an analysis of the Anglo-Mexican

Cisneros’ family bounced back and forth between Mexico and the United States for most of her youth, which led to firsthand experience in the difficulties of growing up as a multicultural person (Doyle. 54-55). As an adult, she settled in San Antonio, Texas, but that feeling of not belonging to either culture never left her. She drew on this feeling as inspiration for many works, including “Woman Hollering Creek,” a short story about a Mexican woman, named Cleofilas, brought to live in the United States by her new husband. She is excited to leave her lazy brothers and old-fashioned father behind, and dreams of the endless possibilities that

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

Heart failure affects nearly 6 million Americans. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. Roughly 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure each year (Emory Healthcare, 2014). Heart failure is a pathologic state where the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the demand of the body’s metabolic needs or when the ventricle’s ability to fill is impaired. It is not a disease, but rather a complex clinical syndrome. The symptoms of heart failure come from pulmonary vascular congestion and inadequate perfusion of the systemic circulation. Individuals experience orthopnea,

First of all, the setting of this novel contributes to the Rivera family’s overall perception of what it means to be an American. To start this off, the author chooses a small American city where groups of Latino immigrants with their own language and traditions, lived together in the same apartment building. All these immigrants experienced similar problems since they moved from their countries. For example, in the novel after every other chapter the author

Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes, is a story unlike any other. The story portrays the reality that undocumented workers have to face in order to support themselves. While dealing with the issues of their past, the issues they're dealing with now, and to those who have yet to come. In the story we learn the struggles that Estrella and her family go through, the unique challenges they face, their values and structure, and last understanding the culture strengths that represent them.

Immigration is a heavy topic to address, but the authors of these articles have a way of putting a human face to these stories that help make the article more personal and understandable. In the article “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line,” the author talks about the story of an immigrant woman who lost her leg while on her way to America. The author begins to explain that the immigrant woman was trying to find work in America so she could support her four year old daughter back home. Archibold, author of “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line,” says, “[the woman] made it to Mexico and onto the train. But after it departed there were cries of “Migra!” — the immigration police — and a scramble that sent her tumbling under the train,” (Archibold 36.) The woman lost her leg, but all she could think about was staying alive for her four year old daughter. This story that archibold plants in the reader’s mind lets the reader understand the reason for why immigrants are so resilient into coming to America. The author for “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family” did the same thing as archibold. Sonia Nazario, author of “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family,” began to tell the story of Lourdes and her children. Sonia explains that, “Lourdes Pineda was the single mother of a 5-year-old

A life in the city of Seguin, Texas was not as easy as Cleofilas, the protagonist of the story thought it would be. The author, Cisneros describes the life women went through as a Latino wife through Cleofilas. Luckily, Cisneros is a Mexican-American herself and had provided the opportunity to see what life is like from two window of the different cultures. Also, it allowed her to write the story from a woman’s point of view, painting a vision of the types of problems many women went through as a Latino housewife. This allows readers to analyze the characters and events using a feminist critical view. In the short story “Women Hollering Creek” Sandra Cineros portrays the theme of expectation versus reality not only through cleofilas’s thoughts but also through her marriage and television in order to display how the hardship of women in a patriarchal society can destroy a woman’s life.

When one visualizes Latino culture, the prevalent images are often bright colors, dancing, and celebrations. This imagery paints a false portrait of the life of many Latino’s, especially those that are forced to leave their home countries. Latinos often face intense poverty and oppression, whether in a Latin country, or a foreign country, such is true in Pam Ryan’s novel Esperanza Rising. Ryan chronicles the issues that many Latino immigrants face. The first is the pressure from the home country. Many of the countries face turmoil, and many are forced to leave their homes and culture. Once in a foreign place, people often struggle with standing by their own culture or assimilating to the new culture. Latino authors frequently use young adult literature as a platform to discuss the issues they face, as young adults are coming of age they struggle with their identities, personifying the struggle of old culture against the new culture.

The story illustrates the overlapping influences of women’s status and roles in Mexican culture, and the social institutions of family, religion, economics, education, and politics. In addition, issues of physical and mental/emotional health, social deviance and crime, and social and personal identity are

Eventually the Garcia’s trailed away from manual labor and began to work in the dry goods business. In many states of the United States, particularly in Texas, Mexican Americans faced prejudice and discrimination daily. Although there was constant violence and judgement casted upon himself and his family Dr. Garcia’s fight for survival and equality stood unshaken. Hector Garcia’s “youth was a lesson” (Sanchez Part 2). Dr. Garcia not only learned academically, but he learned through everyday life. He learned how to cope and live with the discrimination that would persist into his adulthood.

Immigration is process that requires much courage, for it usually entails a feeling of alienation, failure, and nostalgia, though it has the greatest benefits in the successful and exciting opportunities that it gives to immigrants. Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language by Eva Hoffman and Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez are autobiographies of an immigrant and child of immigrants that tell the stories of two young people who are trying to find their way in the exotic world of mid-20th century North America. Both writers began their time in the Americas feeling alienated and alone. Richard is the son of Mexican immigrants, and he begins his journey of assimilation knowing just fifty English words. Eva is a first generation