Comparing Sonrisas And La Migra, By Pat Mora

Pat Mora’s “Fences” deals with the timely issues of class division and privilege. She begins her poem on a positive note, saying “Mouths full of laughter,” which creates a safe and harmless tone; in the next line, Mora uses the Spanish word ‘turistas’ (tourist in English) to indicate possibly the ethnicity of the speaker. It is not until the last few lines of the poem, however, when the reader can also detect the class and likely status of the speaker, when the speaker’s mother says, “It’s their beach,” after seeing the speaker’s younger sister running across the sand where the affluent tourists are, thus opening the door for a Marxist reading of the poem. And at only 19 lines, “Fences” is a relatively short poem, but Mora’s use of

Pat Mora’s “Fences” is a delicate poem that deals with the timely issues of class divide and privilege. She begins her poem on a positive note, saying “Mouths full of laughter,” which creates this safe and harmless tone. The next line, she uses the word “turistas,” which is interesting; Mora uses a Spanish word (tourist in English) to indicate possibly the ethnicity of the speaker. It is not until the last few lines of the poem, however, when the reader can also detect the class and likely status of the speaker, when the speaker’s mother says, “It’s their beach,” after seeing the speaker’s younger sister running across the sand where the affluent tourists are. At only 19 lines, “Fences” is a relatively short poem, but Mora’s use of

The poem “Sonrisas”by Pat Mora is a known poem, about a bicultural woman who finds herself living in two separate worlds, she stands in the middle of a doorway because she can't seem to fit into either one of the worlds being a bicultural character. Pat Mora, the author, is a successful poet who was born in El Paso Texas, she grew up being the oldest of 4 children in a bicultural home. Pat was a former teacher, university administrator, museum director, and consultant. She's a popular writer who promotes creativity and individuality and also incorporates it in her writings. Mora uses metaphors, onomatopoeias, assurance, and imagery to describe

The poem “Sonrisas”, meaning smiles, tells about the many smiles that people wear in their daily lives. Mora gives two parts of this poem that explain the cultural differences in Mexican American’s work life and home life. It gives an insight on how Mexican customs differ with American customs, and how these individuals adjust to living two separate lives while trying to hold

Poetry is often used as a form of writing to express emotions or tell a story. The poems “LA Nocturne: The Angels”, by Xavier Villaurrutia and “Meditations on the South Valley: Poem IX” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, are two distinctive poems. In Baca’s poem he expresses the disbelief and the sorrow of the death of a boy named Eddie. While, in Villaurrutia’s poem reveals an expression of secret desire men have. Baca and Villaurrutia’s poems, both use repetition, imagery and metaphors in their poems to convey their message.

The Red Umbrella, By Christina Diaz Gonzalez and MIgration Photograph by Jose Hernandez Claire both poetry the subject of Immigration. They show how immigration affects families. The authors of this text and image uses some similar techniques to portray this subject, but they also use very different techniques to express their feeling about how immigration affects families.

The film Selena uses the themes of discrimination, music, and family to express the struggle Mexican-Americans go through to find and establish their sense of identity. Through the musical career of Selena’s father, we see the difficulty of finding acceptance and establishing an identiity. After having his family, we see the effects his past experiences through his kids. Through Selena’s success, we see the crossing of borders and establishing of new identities.

　　Natalie Diaz's debut collection, When My Brother Was An Aztec, is a book of poems that accounts Diaz's skills in imaginative and lyrical language. The collection explores her past in unexpected form and images, tackling the subjects of her family, most notably her meth addicted brother, life on the reservation, and being a Native American woman. In this collection Diaz has filled the pages with rich and interesting images that rely on Native American culture, experiences of her own as a Native American woman, and mythology. As I read this collection I was struck by how heavy her images rested on the page and yet how weightless they seemed to fly off.

The poem "Sonrisas" by Pat Mora is about someone torn between two lifestyles. Mora uses contrasting diction between the two stanzas to show her feelings towards both rooms; Mora also uses sibilance to further portray the differing nature of those two rooms. Mora's diction and use of sibilance in the first stanza create a tense atmosphere in the room. In lines 6 to 8, the speaker says, "careful woman in crisp beige/suits, quick beige smiles/that seldom sneak into their eyes". Words like "quick", "seldom", and "sneak" in combination lets the reader know that the woman with the "beige smiles" do not have a lasting happiness, and their smiles are not genuine due to the quickness and rareness of the action. In addition, these words have a negative connotation, because their association with rushed, rare and creepy actions, so one

The poem begins explaining to the reader the story of a Mexican American as he worked in an industrial factory at some point in his life. “In the factory I worked, in the fleck of rubber, under a press of an oven yellow with flame.” (Lines 1-3) Soto uses visual imagery to describe the color of

Pat Mora easily obtains the audience’s attention by stating that the two characters will be playing a game. La Migra, is the Spanish translation from border patrol in English. It is often heard and used in the media to instill fear in immigrants in the U.S. towards deportation and troubling means. “Let’s play La Migra” (Mora 528) is the first stanza presented in the poem. Having this as the first line, it makes readers wonder. What game is it? How is it played? What does La Migra mean? (to non-Spanish speakers). It grabs and keeps your attention right form the get go because it gets you thinking about what game is going to be played and wanting to find out more of the game itself along with the rules and players. While continuing to read, more is introduced and us readers find out what kind of game it is. Then it bares the question, why would this be considered a game? Immigrants today are living in constant fear of being deported and taken back to their homeland where one can assume escaped life there in hopes of a better life in the states. While this is a real-life situation that people deal with daily, the author turns it into a game to interest the readers more and give insight into what is going on with border patrol.

This poem tends to reveal character when it described the two points of view between the main characters. “Let’s play La Migra, I’ll be the Border Patrol. You be the Mexican maid… Get ready, get set, run. (Mora 1190-1191). This whole first stanza implies that the border patrol will have it’s advantages and characteristics over the mexican maid and it doesn’t give any of her advantages, just pure weaknesses. It was trying to say that the mexican maid was doomed and the border patrol had full power over her. “Let’s play La Migra, You’ll be the Border Patrol. I’ll be the Mexican woman… you do not understand. Get ready. (Mora 1191). Then in the whole second stanza, things start to turn around. Now the Mexican maid gets full power over the border patrol. It gives all the advantages of

In “So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from Americans,” Jimmy Santiago Baca defends and shuts down the stereotype of Mexican workers. Many Americans hold resentment towards Mexicans presence in the work force, and believe that they are taking jobs away. However, many Americans don’t realize that these Mexican workers fill jobs that others do not want and are usually paid less than an American would be paid. In the beginning of the poem Baca addresses the American stereotype of Mexicans taking jobs from Americans in a very sarcastic manner. He then continues by telling the truth, that Mexicans are actually not taking jobs. He explains how Mexicans come to America to make a living for their family, which

There is only one person in our lives who loved and protected us from the moment that we born, our mothers. Thinking about that important person, Willie Perdomo wrote the poem “Unemployed Mami” in 2002 as part of the book “Postcards of El Barrio” (Poetry Foundation 2015). In “Unemployed Mami” and “Postcard of El Barrio” the author explores the culture, traditions and even the patriarchy that characterizes Puerto Ricans. Moreover, Perdomo shares the life of a son and the life of his beloved unemployed mother, in a time where women stayed at home without having a job, living from what their husbands earn. In order to enjoy and appreciate the content of this poem is important to discuss what it means, where it takes place and what it tells about

In Rafael Campo’s sonnet “In the Form” the writer presents his perspective and feelings between his and his parent’s relationship. Campo struggles to approve their marriage because of the strain it puts on him. The poet describes himself as a sonnet when he introduces the first line of the poem by saying “A sonnet? Tension. Words withheld.”