Formalism In The Novel 'The Illegal'

“If you move, I’ll kill you. I’ll break you in two” (Nazario 87). Enrique’s Journey, a nonfiction book by Sonia Nazario, painstakingly follows the trek of a young teenage boy’s treacherous journey to the United States from Honduras. At the tender age of five, a horrified and confused Enrique watched his mother Lourdes walk away from him and onto El Norte, The North. Eleven years later Sonia Nazario, a project reporter for the Los Angeles Times, traces each bitter step of Enrique’s gruesome and long expedition to reunite with his estranged mother. A novel for the ages, Enrique 's Journey allows for insight into the plight of millions of individuals that cross the border illegally due to life circumstances. This fast paced novel and this critical analysis paper depict and explain a problematic and undeniable issue polarizing the Western world: illegal immigration.

In “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora, the speaker describes how her life is while being a part of two cultures, Mexican and American. Through the use of repetition, symbols, and diction, the speaker presents to the reader the idea that an individual is responsible for supporting herself. The speaker uses lines one through seven to introduce herself and being Mexican and American, describing how she can slip from English to Spanish any time she needs to. However, the first line is the most significant line in this section.

Immigrants have the continuous struggle of trying to adapt to a country's language and customs. Tan portrays this struggle throughout the wordless novel; the businessman tries to communicate with other people using symbols and drawings in a sketch pad. Another scene that displays the language barrier struggle immigrants go through was when he first arrived. He was being asked questions in a language he didn’t know and was randomly examined by a doctor; this scene reminds viewers of immigrants landing in Ellis Island for the first time and being examined for potential illnesses. When immigrants move to a different country they need to be careful about what they write or say, anything can be taken out of context based on a country’s history. Post September 11, 2001, after the Trade Center incident that Americans would never forget there was a target placed on any civilian who showed Muslim culture customs, such as clothing or headwear. Events and headlines in the news contradict the ideology portrayed in Tan’s wordless novel; however the story starts to take a sudden

Lawrence Hill’s novel, The Illegal, is a classic tale of struggle in the lives of immigrants that illegally enter countries. The illegal takes to ground when a young aspiring athlete, Keita, who is affected by the instability in his country. Zantoroland, Keita’s country, is home to rife political conflict. Hence, his family known to be Faloo, become victims of this instability. Keita’s father, Yoyo, is a journalist that uncovers high ranking government officials and so when a coup d’état happens, it puts a target on his family’s head including Keita. Keita needs to leave the country or there is the possibility of being killed by these new government “officials”. His talent regarding athletics is his only way out of the country. Keita’s journey

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.

This structure depicts the economic exploitation of one Hispanic by another. At first Enrique and Rosa do not see, as illegal immigrants, it is nearly impossible to be free. Enrique and Rosa might be safer living in America than in Guatemala, but as an illegal immigrant they will never reap the benefits American citizens have.

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

These truths are that people will always want to better themselves. Living in poverty can make a person do extremities. Mothers and fathers will leave children in hope of a better chance, like Enrique's mother and himself. Readers are persuaded to think about immigration in a new light. It is more than looking for jobs, it is looking for a future. Central Americans are living in poverty and fantasizing about being worth more. The author shows a boy with this dream as he strives to make a life for his child. Immigration is strenuous and all that some know. Readers are becoming informed of how dire the task of having a good life can be for Central American

Signs Preceding the End of the World is an insider’s look at the mind and journey of an illegal immigrant. A Mexican young woman crossing the border story is what challenges the ethics of readers. The main character in Signs Preceding the End of the World is Makina. “Makina is in charge of a small Mexican town’s telephone. A reliable, messenger, she knows how to keep a secret and when to keep her mouth shut. She is dangerous when threatened, quick to defend herself against lecherous fools, and unafraid of speaking truth to power” (Long). Makina is just like an ordinary person. She is no different from an average American. Makina has a job and harmless when not threatened. Americans act as if immigrants are so beneath them. Immigrants are hard workers, just like Americans. Immigrants want better lives for themselves and their families, just like Americans. Americans and immigrants are not the only ones who want these things. People all around the world want what is best for everyone they know. Most people will do whatever it takes to get to what they need; even if it is in life threatening conditions. Signs Preceding the End of the World challenges our ethics by placing the reader in the mind of an illegal immigrant, allowing the reader to know the true feelings and experience of the immigrant.

The Movie “The Immigrant,” directed by James Gray in 2013, is a historical piece, mostly because it was not made in 1921 when the events it portrays actually happened. I would also have to attribute the movie to be a drama as well as a romance, as the movie is about an evil man hooking the main character, Ewa who is played by Marion Cotillard, into becoming a prostitute. The movie has certain aspects of romance as well as fear. There are many times where you feel love will be sparked and Ewa will live happily ever after. However, these moments are fleeting and go away very quickly, only to pop up again a few minutes later. In the two hour duration of the movie, I felt hopeful, as well as sad. While not learning any historical information, I was entranced in the lives of the characters. I feel as though they did a fantastic job of portraying the time period, through the cloths, speech, and even the way the buildings were built.

The border between the United States of America and Mexico always had been always a theme for a lot of discussions. And, in the book “Sunshine/Noir II” Juanita Lopez and Michael Cheno described, through texts, their point of view about the topic. Both authors represent that the control of the border has become way more restrict and militarized. In that sense, Michael Wickert presents his idea in a poem form, text named “The border Is a Fight”, that describes the dramas of a Mexican family that has to cross the border every day in a hope to get a better future. Whereas, Juanita Lopez demonstrates it through an essay that uses personal narratives of the author’s relatives to illustrate her point of view. Therefore, the both authors exploit their point of views using different text forms, and figurative images, like metaphors and personification, for delivering their ideas in the way they do.

The first literary device that the author uses to express the theme is the characterization of Jefferson. As we can notice right from the beginning of the story, Jefferson is characterized as “immigration transformed”. (27) This suggests that he was different before, and he

The Barbarian Nurseries is a novel, a work of fictional story that is not based on true events but encompasses situations and issues of today’s society through careful representations of characters and their experiences. Hector Tobar formed a realistic story that presents issues that illegal immigrants are facing in the United States. Thus, The Barbarian Nurseries is a fictional novel that provokes emotional response on the reader by presenting the injustice of law enforcement. This novel illustrates how the employer and law enforcement judge the illegal immigrant character unfairly. However, Junot Diaz who is a Dominican American writer, creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology states, “Every single immigrant we

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

In the text, “Mexican Migrant Workers in the 20th Century,” the whole text explains different events. For example, the text states, “Mexico experienced a revolution in 1910.The revolution put some in danger and they fled for safety.” This leads to Mexicans flooding into the USA, which causes some problems, such as, “Americans grew upset, believing that immigrants were ‘taking’ their jobs.” It is not until 1965 when, “Cesar Chavez first created a union for farm workers.” Then, in the text, “Deportation at Breakfast,” the text metaphorically shows opportunity. The events begin when, “the authorities came in,. They grabbed Javier quickly and without a word.” This leads to the narrator going behind the counter, since no one notices Javier is gone, the customers mistakenly think the narrator is Javier, so instead of telling the other customers the truth, he keeps