Ask The Dust By Arturo Bandini Analysis

The tone expressed by the authors were very harsh and contradicting. How did they want the face of Mexico to be someone who had no real self-value or morals? The only reason “La China” was the portrait of Mexico was because of her wealth. Believe it or not, it was the woman who lived in poorer circumstances who actually showed the real value of hard work, sacrifice, and beauty without having to try so hard. Therefore, showing the contradiction throughout this

In this short exert form the story “Down These Mean Streets” by Piri Thomas, Piri works really hard to fit in with the Italians. At the beginning of the story Piri Thomas starts by saying, “Sometimes you don’t fit in. Like if you’re a Puerto Rican on an Italian block” (Thomas 814). Many people relate to this story, it doesn’t matter where you are born people will always judge you by the way you look. When Piri says “sometimes you don’t fit in” what he is trying to say is that even though he was born in the U.S but his parents are from Caribbean, the way he looks is Hispanic. Sometimes a person will not fit in in certain situations or a certain place. However, Piri’s father moved his family to a new neighborhood after his little brother died “of some kind of germs” (Thomas 814). This seemed like Piri’s father wanted his family to escape the horrible tragedy. Piri Thomas missed 111th Street because he felt like he fit in better “I missed 111th Street, where everybody acted, walked, and talked like me”. He did not have to deal with racist remarks or disgusted looks towards him at the street that he grew up to.

Her parents, first-generation immigrants from Puerto Rico, try to guide her and give her advice, but ultimately the difference in cultures could not be reconciled. What was acceptable and expected in Puerto Rico was not the same as in America, and it showed. Cofer’s mother, when giving Cofer clothing advice, did not realize how different American girls dressed compared to the Puerto Rican girls. The bright lipstick and more revealing clothes that Cofer was encouraged to wear on a day to day basis were not commonplace for American girls. Cofer also did not dress correctly when it came to formal events. Often not knowing what to wear, she would mix and match pieces of clothing and accessories until she found something she thought looked presentable. However, this still was not right. In fact, a friend of hers pointed out that you could always tell Puerto Rican girls apart from the rest of a group because they tended to “wear everything at once.”

The racist connotation that Miss Jimenez associates with who she thinks would “fit in” society’s box is a definite reflection of the hardships Valdez witnessed in his community. For example, the Zoot Suit Riots that occurred in 1944 was rooted by a reaction by young Mexican-American males against a culture that did not want them to be a part of it. Stuart Cosgrove examines this issue when he states, "In the most obvious ways they had been stripped of their customs, beliefs and language.” (*Vargas 317) These youths were going through an identity crisis because they did not know which culture they could identify with. Miss Jimenez is a character that embodies that repression Valdez explains in “Los Vendidos.”

Los Angeles was the first product off the assembly line of American urban planning. Turned on in the late 19th century, the city-making machine was fueled by an immense immigration of people who sought to create a new type of city out of the previously quaint pueblo. They also strove to craft the first major city developed primarily by Americans and outside of European archetypes. As a result, Los Angles is not only incredibly diverse, but also nearly impossible to define. Since it is a product of the American machine, understanding the community of Los Angeles becomes vital to understanding the United States. But to fully comprehend the present Los Angeles, one must look at the process that created it. Specifically, Los Angeles was

The first play that we are looking at, Fences ,and Zoot Suit plays, I’ve chosen is multiculturalism. This is not the biggest part of the view in of these plays, the specific theme of the ethnic groups by El Pachuco in the Zoot Suit and the conflict of generations

“Where Worlds Collide” is an essay by Pico Iyer who talks about the expectations and reality of Los Angeles through the perspectives of travelers from different backgrounds. In “Where Worlds Collide,” Pico Iyer argues that even though Los Angeles is depicted as a vicinity to receive wealth, happiness, and many opportunities- it is actually the antithesis, and instead, many harsh prejudice and unending craziness will occur instead; Iyer argues this by using allusions, anaphoras, and juxtapositions to help convey what he is saying.

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.

We all know the big city that everyone loves to talk about and be a part of the experience of a lifetime which is Los Angeles, also known as L.A. It is one of the most known cities in California and around the world where people’s dreams come true. L.A. is best known for its beaches, entertainment, amusements, and the people around the city. It’s also known as “The City of Angels”, which is the spanish word for “Angeles”. It is the second most populous city in the United States after New York. I’ve always known L.A. as a big part of my life, being born in the city of luxury and fame. Growing up, I never knew how much of a big deal LA was until I was in high school. Being around so much popularity and seeing the opportunities that LA has brought to people was amazing to me. From the sports games, to the concerts, to the famous celebrities walking the red carpets brung so much excitement to me and I was glad to experience all of it.

The author shows that in order to act the part of being rich white girls they need to change their hair color which is in some way a part of their identity.Also Martinez shows us that the Mimis would purposely pretend to not understand spanish “you no puedo-o hablar-o Españal-o,”(3) This proves that when they acted like rich girls it harmed them since it affected the mimis interactions with other family

Rigoberta starts questioning her perspective on ladinos, wondering if they are really all bad. She befriends Indians who have worked with poor ladinos who suffer from the same problems as her community does. The poor, from ladino to Indian, are exploited just the same yet they are so conditioned to dislike one another it’s hard for them to unite and really consider their circumstances the same. This troubles Rigoberta greatly for she knows that the heart of her distress aches from abuse from the rich landowners and if the poor ladinos are abused the same, they ache as well. Rigoberta dares to live in a state of confusion when wondering why there is such an enormous barrier between ladino and Indian. This confused state of mind is progressive for her time because her culture has long equated change and confusion with chaos and

She discusses how Mexicans identify themselves; since there are many different ways to identify culture, they make up several different cultures (Indian, Black, and Mexican). By the end she talks about the fight that Mexicans put up to stand up for their culture and their identity.

An important theme in Frank Darabont’s film The Shawshank Redemption is hope. The film demonstrates that hope is a good thing and shows the consequences in having and lacking hope. It is important that Darabont’s film showed the theme of hope as it us also important in our lives today because having or lacking in hope affects people personally, nationally and worldwide. In our everyday lives we are presented with cases of people having hope through our own or someone we knows personal experiences and on the news. In most cases, hope is portrayed in a positive light as it helps people get through tough situations. The film makes its viewers think about how having or lacking hope can effect out lives in reality and makes them conclude

During the course of a person’s life, a decision is made as to which direction their life should follow. Most people are encouraged by their loved ones to make this choice for themselves. When Kelly Cherry was twelve, she announced to her musically devoted, string quartet violinist parents that she was going to quit piano lessons and become a writer, in response, “[her] mother said that she would rather kill [her] than have [her] turn out like [her] big brother, a beatnik. She ran to the kitchen to get [a] butcher knife” (“Kelly Cherry”). Needless to say, she was not supported in this career path. Throughout the course of her early writing career, she would hear that she “had no talent for writing” (“Kelly Cherry”). Still, she continued to write, occasionally quitting again and again, like a smoker, only to pick it up again (“Kelly Cherry”). Continually she told herself, “You are not a writer” until one day she revised this to, “If you don’t write your books, no one else will” (“Kelly Cherry”).

In the story "An hour with Abuelo " by Judith Ortiz Cofer. It illustrates the theme that sometimes if you want to achieve something you have to try and do it. In the story the narrator visits his "Abuelo". The text states as the narrators grandpa finished telling his story "Asi es la Vida is the title of my book he says in a whisper". (Judith Ortiz 596)" "Im trying to think of something nice to say. I like it and all, but not the title". (Judith Ortiz 596) the narrator thinks that if he really wanted to achieve his dream of continuing to be a teacher he should have kept trying. "And i think that he could've been a teacher if he had wanted bad enough."(Judith Ortiz 596). These quotes show that the narrator will not give up on what he's trying