And the Earth Did Not Devour Them by Tomas Rivera

     The main characters in this story are Harriet Winslow, the old gringo, and Tomas Arroyo. Of the Three, Harriet learns the most as she starts her new life as governess across the frontier. She is a dynamic character that changes in the story because of the things that happen around her. Other characters include Manslavo, La Garduna, Frutos Garcia, La Luna and more. Carlos Fuentes did a very good job of describing these characters and paints a picture, like all great authors, of the characters portrayed in their novels.

The book that I read was called All Creatures Great and Small by Jame Herriot.

The word “unbroken” often refers to many things like behavior, toys, or even the characteristics in people who are not willing to give up if things are difficult. Feeling unbroken I could relate to it when my best friends passed away when I was a kid. There were two times in my lifetime that I actually felt unbroken, It was when my best friend Bob and my uncle Martin passed away.

While going through life's experiences we often get wrapped up in the non-important things rather than what is actually important. We tend to worry about how we can savor a moment instead so sitting back and actually enjoying or learning from it. A life experience that we may all have in common would be school. When it come to school students become bombarded with tons of books and work that they never really get the chance to fully understand the true meaning. Many students are driven to become the best student they can be . The author of “ Achievement of Desire”, Richard Rodriguez, was portrayed to be somewhat like the students explained above. He was so caught up in being the best that he lost himself and who he was. This ties into some of the ideas mentioned in Walker Percy’s essay “ Loss of the Creature”, due to the fact that Rodriguez may have lost his identity. In part one of this two part essay,

When you are young and they ask you what do you want to be when you grow up? Many answered doctor, lawyer, police, and so on. But when it came for my turn to answer that question I didn 't know exactly what to say. None of those things interest me at all. I was always focus on school and getting good grades. My mother and father has always told me you have to do well in school in order to have a better future. Until this day they still tell me this. In harvest of empire by Juan Gonzalez it says “between 1961 and 1986 more than 400,00 people legally immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic and another 44,000 moved to My parents are from the Dominican Republic and they came to the United States in the late 80 's in order to have a better future. My father came into this country to play major league baseball, back in his hometown Consuelo, San Pedro de Macoris. He is known for his baseball skills and grew up with baseball player Sammy Sosa. Although I don’t much about my father, I could tell you he never made it into major league baseball. He wanted to make sure he was always there for his kids. I don’t see my father that often anymore as I used to when I was a kid. My mother came to this country at a young age to get a better education. Both of my parents have resided in the Bronx since they got here to the United States. I was born into a lower middle class family which later on in my life it became a lower class due to the circumstances I been through.

1993, Luis J Rodriguez wrote an autobiographical book taking you through the life of an L.A. street gang member during the 1960’s to the 1970’s, called Always Running. Throughout the whole book he vocalizes his memories of him as a teen living with many obstacles holding him back from success. As the title says “Always Running,” he was constantly running from gangs or the police. For example, he is constantly going into jail. At a young age, he is always ditching school and experimenting with drugs.

The author mentions new things not many of us know about. He was looking for the truth, so he read for several Spanish writers and historians. That what gives the book a really good texture. Esteban who lived during the period of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Esteban was with three other Spanish men not alone. That is why he is considered the first African-American someone knows

“By August 1680, the stage had been set. The movement’s leaders had chose August 12 as the date on which the revolt would take place”(169). The 1680 Pueblo Revolt was the culmination of decades of exploitation and mistreatment of the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico at the hands of their Spanish overlords. The Cortes and Coronados set off on expeditions to New Mexico because of the "gold-laden settlements always rumored to lie just beyond the horizon" (23). Andrew Knaut provides an in depth analysis of the Pueblo culture in his novel as well as the critical events and political legislation that occurred in the time leading up to the revolt.

This novel starts out with Henríquez providing some background information about the main character’s situation through one of their point of views. Chapter one is told from the perspective of Alma, and as the story progresses the reader learns that she is Mrs. Riveras. Alma, her husband Arturo, and her daughter Maribel crossed the border from Pátzcuaro.

The first time that Mr. Hernandez and his brother left his home town was when he was 12 years old and the reason why they left was because they were told by a friend who was in Chicago that there was good work and people made good money. He and his brother decided to try out their luck so they crossed the border and set off to Chicago. When they arrived at Chicago they got work in a factory making metal cabinets for offices. During his time there he had experience something new that he had never new about, “I had experience my first act of racism against me for being Mexican”. He says that the food and the climate was not what he had expected and he only stayed there for three months and decided that the American culture was not for him. He found himself out of place and couldn’t relate with the current culture that he was in, so he decided to go back to Mexico to seek the comfort of his home town. Upon arrival to his home town in Mexico he didn’t know that he would have a strange feeling almost of feeling out of place. The greeting of his friends and family that he got was not one to he had expected. Friends would tease him by calling him “Here comes the gringo” meaning here comes the white man. Mr. Hernandez says that he was tease because people in a way felt like if a person would leave Mexico it was because he felt that he was better than the rest of the people. Mr. Hernandez faced many social pressures from his community for seeking to better his finances.

Jaime is an 18-year-old Mexican American who lives with his mother and sister and has a baby with his current fiancée. He also attends a large urban high school. Within high school, Jaime encounters the challenges of being an immigrant and having a bicultural identity, develops resilience, understands the influences of his mother’s parenting style, and further develops his identity. He is nearing the end of his adolescence and beginning to show traits of an emerging adult.

Many people of different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities come to the land of the free. Despite the novel's age, I think it remains relevant in the sense that America has endless possibilities. As of today’s media, Donald Trump's idea building a wall separating Mexico and the United States is volatile. Not only is it offensive to both sides of the border, but it’s not the best idea. This novel is relatable to the many people who come to the States from poverty, legally and illegally, seeking opportunity.

Thanksgiving is expressed as a holiday many Americans recognize as the day of giving thanks to a variety of things in your life along with representing a humble outlook. Throughout the course of history, a turkey is plucked and cooked to be served as the main course of the meal, alongside side dishes such as the popular mash potatoes and macaroni pasta. Within this full course meal, leftovers are eaten for days, possibly even weeks after Thanksgiving due to the amount of food. With America’s growing population and poverty levels, How many people are starving on this day of giving and feasting? How many individuals are helped and brought into food shelters and provided the food they cannot afford? I am intrigued by these questions as I read

The novel, Jesse, illustrates the struggles two brothers, Jesse and Abel, confronted while attending college and working in the fields. They face poverty when having lost their father, surviving on cheap food, and living alone. Discrimination when the gavachos, white people, harassed, and humiliated the Mexican community. They left home do to having an abusive, alcoholic step-father, thus choosing to live alone. Although Jesse and Abel live alone with these challenges, they still believed by attending college and working hard they could change their lives.

When listening to a really good song, it’s only natural to get that, “I need to know the writer!” urge. 99.9 percent of the time, this leads to a hardcore investigation of the artist, his/her relationships, and about every other song they’ve composed. “Belong to the World” is one of the more sinister pieces from Abel Tesfaye (AKA. The Weeknd)’s 2013 album, Kiss Land. The song portrays of a man, the author, falling in the spell of a woman who equally traits his cold and deadened heart. Written as a message to his lover, the author conveys his sterile feelings through counterarguing himself with the fact of knowing his attempts to pursue her would always be futile. He implies recognizing the fact that someone is unhealthy for you will not cease you from loving them; the song’s symbolization, repetition and varied background music contribute in constructing an empty mood, and also allowing as a passage to connect to the speaker's perception and experiencing his struggles first hand.