Book Of Unknown America Summary

In the book, Hidden America by Jeanne Marie Laskas, I noticed many themes throughout. Perhaps the most important theme that occurred to me was the fact that many of these stories were happening right here in my home state. Throughout three different chapters I truly came to the realization that many situations to do with my life, are possible purely because of the workers in the stories; not only around the world but in places I frequent. The three chapters I chose were: “Underworld”, “G-L-O-R-Y”, and “Sputter”. All of these stories were based in Ohio and I think that has a lot to say about how oblivious we are as a community to the people that work to make our lives how they are today.

As mentioned earlier, the first literature relating to Latin America where from an outside view and opinion. Now with the Chicano literature of the 1970s and ’80s we get a more direct perspective from Latinos themselves. Of course many centuries have passed since the early writings but now works are more sophisticated and adapted to fit the needs of expression and ideas. One of the great more modern writers is Tomás Rivera, known famously for writing "…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" which is also seen in film. In his work we can see various 'chapters' or stories that even though they are short in length they carry a heavy message towards the reader. In this message he presents the hard life of many Chicanos and downs of everyday living for migrant Hispanic workers. In his book there is not a short citation that would fully explain the deplorable situation and circumstances that occur in the lives of the people.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

In the poem “America,” by Tony Hoagland, the idea of Americans being consumed with their money is shown using symbolism and metaphors. The speaker in this poem is a teacher whose name is never mentioned. One thing revealed in the poem is that the speaker has a father who is presumably very wealthy and successful. One of the teacher’s students compares America to a maximum security prison. A recurring theme throughout “America” is Hoagland showing examples of America’s greedy society using a teacher, student, and a father’s experiences. Using metaphors of money and symbols of rivers filled with merchandise, Tony Hoagland captures how the teacher begins to think after he hears his student compare America to a maximum security prison.

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.

Many of the Latino authors in this book, being Americans who left a country in Latin America or who have ancestors who did so, seem to experience what most modern day

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, shares his life-long journey as an undocumented immigrant in his text, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” As the title suggests, Vargas attempts to convey to his audience, who likely never has and never will experience anything similar to what he has, what it is like to live as an immigrant in the United States of America. Skillfully, Vargas details the perfect number of personal stories to reach the emotional side of his audience, which is anyone who is not an immigrant. Through the use of his personal accounts Vargas is able to effectively communicate that immigrants are humans too while simultaneously proving his credibility, as he has experience and a vast amount of knowledge

Reading Enrique’s Journey emphasized the crime and the need of basic necessities of people in Latin America Countries. The author Sonia Nazario, describes his families’ story and how he struggled to make it to the U.S. People for different reasons make the journey to travel to the U.S. It ranges from finding a love one to wanting a better life. While doing so everyone who dares to go on the journey have different experiences. Men and woman have the hardest journey physically compared to children. They go through many obstacles and sometimes not even make it to the other side. They face many dangers such as

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez reveals the struggles that many immigrants face when coming to the U.S., focusing on the story and experiences of the Riviera family. The Rivieras moved the the U.S. to get a special education for their daughter, Maribel, who had serious brain damage. Previously in Mexico, Maribel fell off of a ladder and injured her brain, causing her to have mental instability. This moment changed the lives of the Riviera family, especially Alma and Arturo, Maribel's parents. After the accident, Arturo was quick to blame Alma for it, placing a strain on their relationship and obstructing their honesty with each other.

In the article” Betrayed by America” by Kristen Lewis, the bombing of Pearl Harbor affected the attitudes toward Japanese Americans. The Japanese Americans probably felt mistrusted because the Americans were making up rumors about the Japanese Americans. In the article it says, ” Rumors flew that Japanese Americans were loyal to Japan and that they were spies planning another attack on the U.S. There was no evidence that these rumors were true.” It would make sense to think that the Japanese Americans were spies because Japan was bombing the U.S. It is natural for people to think Japanese Americans look Japanese. Most of the facial features look the same. The article says,” In fact, a military report in January 1942 stated that 3 percent of

Mikayla has been bullied since she was young. She got punched by a second grader at her first day of kindergarten. Her school life became worse and worse, and she was called “Big Fat Loser” because she was fatter than other students. It was difficult for her to accept the abuses, and she attempted to hurt herself. Bullying is someone uses threats, coercion or force to maltreat or humiliate others. The harmful effect of bullying is it can destroy a person’s life, or even make a person die. In the book, “The Book of Unknown Americans” we see that how Garrett abused Mayor and Maribel and the different views and ways of dealing with the problem of bullying by their parents, and I think the way their parents used to solve the problem is not effective.

I started this essay off with a quote one of the characters mention in the book because it basically gives us the main idea the author is trying to get readers to understand throughout the book. By looking at the title of this novel, “The Book of Unknown Americans” and by looking at the author’s name- Cristina Henriquez, we can already get an idea of what this novel is going to be about. When someone first takes a look at the title and author of this book they would assume that it is going to be about immigrants who moved to the United States and struggled to fit in. After reading this novel, I now understand how difficult it was for these Latino immigrants to leave everything they have in hope for better lives here in the United States. Each person has their own meaning of what it means to be an American and their own reason of what most immigrants come here for. The Rivera family came here in hope for better resources to help treat Maribel because they didn 't have the resources they needed back in their country.

I attended the Common Reader Event El Otro Lado: Central American Perspectives on Immigration. Throughout the duration of this event two immigrants (Gloria from Guatemala and Christian from Honduras) shared the stories of their journeys, what the immigration process was like for them, and their reasonings behind coming to America.

This in turn has caused many writers to come to the U.S to seek a better life without fear of being persecuted because of their criticisms of their home government. In Pittsburg, Pennsylvanian a nonprofit called City of Asylum allows writers who are exiled from their home country to seek refuge in the U.S (Hinojosa,2016). One writer they focus on named Israel Centeno, who is from Venezuela escaped his country do to his writings about the government. They also explain how many have trouble incorporating life in an America which is very distinct from their own home. The idea of “Who is an American” is presented in a different way where many of the people see the U.S as a safe haven and can express themselves.

Dinaw Mengestu, Richard Rodriguez and Manuel Munoz are three authors that have been through and gone through a lot of pain to finaly get accepted in their societies. They are all either immigrants or children of immigrants that had trouble fitting in America’s society at the time. They struggled with language and their identities, beucase they were not original from the states and it was difficult for others to accept them for who they are. They all treated their problems differently an some tried to forget their old identeties and live as regulalr Americans others accepted themselves for being who they are, but they all found a way to deal with their issues.