Historical Analysis Of Zoot Suit, By Luiz Valdez

The Film "West Side Story" illustrates how the Puerto Ricans of New York faced discrimination and were used as scapegoats by the American people during the cold war time period to escape their anxieties. Due to the fear of communism and possible nuclear war the 1950-1960s time period was a very fragile time for the American people which produced an air of xenophobia throughout the country. The air of xenophobia is present throughout the play due of the repeated mention of stereotypes about Puerto Ricans and the constant feeling that the Puerto Ricans do not belong. The people of American often dealt with these anxieties in one of two ways, through escapism or through and through the scapegoating. This is made very clear through the comparison of West Side Story to the play The Music Man in the document “West Side Story and The Music Man: Whiteness, Immigration, and Race in the US during the late 1950s”. Like many waves of immigrants, the Puerto Ricans faced discrimination when they arrived and for some time after. This came in the form of people being discriminatory directly to them, housing discrimination and job discrimination. Therefore, the play “West Side Story” expresses the discrimination that Puerto Ricans faced due to the xenophobic nature of the time period.

They are Mexican-American. Their equality rights do not accept in America society. They and their family always spend the life by examining of American government. Henry Reyna, El Pachuco, the Navy during the World War II. He is the young Mexican-American generation. He lives in the South Central Los Angeles, California. They are a mythical figure, a rebellious, street-smart, young Chicano. They make up their hair style. He dresses a long jacket, a baggy trousers, and a lengthy watch chain. He and his people dance with their girlfriends. They wear the zoot suit, the big pride of Mexican-American about the Mexican male, they make the belief to the rebellious generation for the equality rights struggling. Henry and his gang are the antagonist characters to serve the holistic of the world. He kills the murder, help the media, and fed their headline by the police (Scene 1, Act 5, page). Luis Valdez success to create the danger of the character, El Pachuco is in to Henry and the opposite. The riots break out in the streets. the zoot suiters are targeted, the suspects stripped by sailors and marines based on the racism, the discrimination profile. The author is successful to describe the press, the media communication. The laws use the name to disguise discriminate. They create the dangerous situation for their ruse. Their

During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t the only one occurring. Struggling to assimilate into American culture, and suppressed by social injustices convicted by their Anglo counterparts, the Chicano movement was born. In the epic poem “I am Joaquin” written by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1969, we dive into what it means to be a Chicano. Through this poem, we see the struggles of the Chicano people portrayed by the narrator, in an attempt to grasp the American’s attention during the time of these movements. Hoping to shed light on the issues and struggles the Chicano population faced, Gonzales writes this epic in an attempt to strengthen the movement taking place, and to give Chicanos a sense of belonging and solidarity in this now

              The Chicano way was the way it was during the 1940s in the city of Los Angeles. The title of my book is “Zoot Suit and Other Plays” written by Luis Valdez. This story takes place on the year 1942 in the city of Los Angeles, California. The way the story is that the main character of the story by the name of Henry Reyna, the ringleader of the 38th street gang, is unjustly charged for the Sleepy Lagoon murder of a man  and is sentenced to life in prison. He wasn’t the only one charged a few of his gang members were charged as well. Their lawyer George Shearer and a news reporter Alice Bloomfield worked for several months to get them out and after many protests and petitions the 38th street gang was released for lack of evidence to hold then guilty. The main character Henry Reyna is very prideful, brings a big influence to his people, and very optimistic. .

You can see how Maria’s El Salvador is empty of people, full only of romantic ideas. Jose Luis’s image of El Salvador, in contrast, totally invokes manufactured weapons; violence. Maria’s “self-projection elides Jose Luis’s difference” and illustrates “how easy it is for the North American characters, including the big-hearted María, to consume a sensationalized, romanticized, or demonized version of the Salvadoran or Chicana in their midst” (Lomas 2006, 361). Marta Caminero-Santangelo writes: “The main thrust of the narrative of Mother Tongue ... continually ... destabilize[s] the grounds for ... a fantasy of connectedness by emphasizing the ways in which [Maria’s] experience as a Mexican American and José Luis’s experiences as a Salvadoran have created fundamentally different subjects” (Caminero-Santangelo 2001, 198). Similarly, Dalia Kandiyoti points out how Maria’s interactions with José Luis present her false assumptions concerning the supposed “seamlessness of the Latino-Latin American connection” (Kandiyoti 2004, 422). So the continual misinterpretations of José Luis and who he really is and has been through on Maria’s part really show how very far away her experiences as a middle-class, U.S.-born Chicana are from those of her Salvadoran lover. This tension and resistance continues throughout their relationship.

Determined to help his audience - people who stereotype against and do not understand gang life - find commonalities with gang members, Fr. Boyle shares his experiences with gangs in Los Angeles. At the beginning of the novel, Fr. Boyle articulates his thesis and expresses his purpose for sharing his experiences when he states, “Though this book does not concern itself with solving the gang problem, it does aspire to broaden the parameters of our kinship. It hopes not only to put a human face on the gang member, but to recognize our own wounds in the broken

The short play Los Vendidos portrayed by el Teatro Campesino shows the history of Mexican-Americans. It shows racist perceptions and actions towards Mexican-Americans. The title itself implies the exploitation of Chicanos. In translation from Spanish "Vendidos" can mean either those who sell-out others, or those who are sold. In the play either meaning can be applied. Those who are sold would be the eleven different characters that Sancho describes. But, the "sell-out" could be Ms. Jimenez, a main character, who is the exemplary "white-washed" Mexican-American.

While today Los Angeles is prided on being one of the most diverse cities in the United States, there was (and still is) a tremendous amount of resistance that had to be overcome. Society’s inclination to maintain homogeneity along with the testing of loyalties and allegiance through pressures of war have proven great obstacles in the evolution of what is now a majority-minority city. Nina Revoyr’s Southland gives a historic fictional recount of Los Angeles’ most tested times from perspectives looking in to the past, present, and future. The discovery of unpleasant truths through grave social injustices provide a painful reminder of Los Angeles’ history and consequently a warning for future setbacks. Southland is an emotional testament to the inescapability of discrimination within stratified cities and the unspoken necessity of assimilation that occurs as a result.

This play had revealed clear view about class tensions and also explaining about the conflicting issues for ethnics in between 1970-1990. Those issues were also the major responsible factors for this Brutal Riots in Los Angeles. “Well, the terrible thing right now, and I don’t know the statistics, but there’s a growing concern in some communities about how rapidly people are sent from school to jail, how quickly they 're put into the criminal justice system. And of course the rapidly growing number

Throughout the play there are underlying theme that suggest different ideas. The themes I will discuss is how Mexican American men are portrayed in relation

First and foremost, this novel is about Chicano people and the struggles they endured. While each small passage can be viewed as the progression of the unknown male protagonist, it also gives a multitude of other views as well. Middle-aged male

Mexican Americans in Texas have a long and detailed history spanning from the arrival of Cortez all the way to the present day. Through historical events, the culture and identity of Mexican Americans have shifted, diverted, and adapted into what people chose to identify as. The rise of the Chicano identity during the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was an adaptation as a culture to oppressive and unjust treatment from white, Anglos that had almost all political and social power over all minorities. To stop the oppressive voices from silencing and oppressing the Mexican Americans, they had to stand up to fight for their rights as American citizens that also had Mexican or Spanish heritage to be proud of. In Oscar Zeta Acosta’s novel, The Revolt of the Cockroach People, he dives into the Chicano Movement as a witness and an active participant. His larger than life character is on the front lines of the movement and examines the shift in identity among the group. It was particularly rising of their Chicano identity that gave the people cause to organize politically and socially in order to fight for a worthy cause.

On the other hand “Soto” from the jacket asked his mother for a really cool biker type of jacket for school, but instead he was given a really ugly green jacket from his mother. But , Soto doesn't end up liking that jacket at all and doesn't want anything to do with it, he hates that jacket he wishes his mom never got him that cheap jacket Yet Soto still wears it because he eventually is gonna get cold, even though he gets made fun of by all peers at school. Soto is showing how unappreciative he is but, jimenez from the circuit isn't like that he's very thankful and shows how humble he is and sounds like a good kid. So these two boys are really different whose problems aren't really the same Jimenez hates moving and the Soto hates his

The magazines lied! In that, all the pictures of California that were shown, depicted a bright harmonious, luscious, tree lined neighborhood perfect for rearing children. In fact, the author and publishers should be jailed. Insomuch that, they conveniently left out the gun toting, fearless little gangsters, that terrorized many neighborhoods in the urban cities. It was during the 60’s, that a young couple from Shreveport Louisiana, decided to pack up their family of eight, and head toward Sunny California. In hopes that, their family would have a better life free of the problems that plagued the South. Consequently, they moved from being hunted down by the Klu Klux Klan, to being hunted down by shorty and Bae Bae kids. Funny Gang Quotes reports that, “ At school, I always wanted to belong to a gang, and no

The play title “Nuevo California”, written by Bernardo Solano, was first produced on the first of February 2003 in the San Diego Repertory Theater. The play consist of a handful of main characters. The major characters consist of Albert Venado, David Lerman, Sin Fin, the Bird and Rebecca Rowland. However, the characters who are more involved with the plot are Pope Felipe, the first Mexican-American pope, and Juana Sanchez a Mexican woman who feels guilty about her son’s death. Juana Sanchez is also a main character because she was the last wall that Pope Felipe had to knock down before he went away. Juana had built a wall against the United States since her son, Sebastian, had passed away trying to touch and feel the water on the other side