Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe Essay

Furthermore, in most cases, it may seem the United States has a system in which immigrants are not given the chance to form a bright future. In the novel, “Antonio soon found himself settling for jobs that were clearly beneath him. He stood under the baking sun at the on-ramp to the Santa Monica Freeway, selling oranges for two dollars a bag: a dollar fifty for the guy from the produce market, fifty cents for him,” (Tobar, 53). Many of the immigrants that live in the U.S. have little power that allows them to succeed. Some races have benefitted from it more than others. The Cubans, for instance, have had it much easier than most immigrants who have migrated to the United States; whereas, Antonio, a Guatemalan, had trouble finding a stable job that allowed him to sustain himself. In contrast to many other races, many Americans described Cubans as being visitors who represent, “all phases of life and professions, having an excellent level of education… More than half of their families with them, including children brought from Cuba to escape communist indoctrination in the schools,”

The reality that immigration policies and registration requirements create for undocumented students is a grim one; despite their scholarly capability, thousands upon thousands of undocumented students who have completed high school do not continue on with their education because of the lack of legal paperwork (DREAM Act). This has been the story line for countless undocumented valedictorians, like Grecia Cantu, who’s dream of going to Baylor University to become a teacher was plucked by a simple mandate of Congress (Smith). Despite having a presidential scholarship to Baylor University, Grecia’s future is hampered by her illegal status in the country and the inactivity of the DREAM Act in congress, which is due largely to its brisk opponents. Critics of the legislation falsely advocate that it grants preferential treatment to undocumented students (Malkin 1). In reality, the DREAM Act only grants qualifying individuals with a temporary residency, a driver’s license, and a work permit (Giving the Fact). This allows the students who meet the criteria the same tuition rates as natural-born citizens and a legal way to work and drive in the country. Another resounding critic among the opponents of the bill includes the common misconception that the DREAM Act will provide amnesty and forgive the federal offense immigrants committed when they entered the country illegally (Smith). In truth, only immigrants who entered the country during their youth, before age 16, are eligible for the benefits of the legislation. Once they apply, they will have to fulfill the requirements of completing a 2-year college or serve a 2-year term in the armed forces to finally receive resident status, not citizenship, after 6 years of proved residency (Creating Opportunities). If Congress allowed this legislation to

was the step-mother’s interest to make sure that his children were gotten rid of, for she wanted

Alienation can be defined as a state of being cut off or separate from a person or group of people. There are many factors that cause people to become alienated: race, political views, social status, etc. The texts “The Great Gatsby”, “The Catcher in the Rye”, and the play “Death of a Salesman” all portray characters who are cut off from the rest society. Despite the character's best effort to fit in, they ultimately fail. The authors argue that one's ideology can cause them to be alienated.

33). Gonzales begins to demonstrate how growing up for undocumented immigrants was difficult. Gonzales outlines a three-stage transition to illegality which is integration, discovery, and learning to be illegal. The first stage consists of all the first-hand life stories he has learned about and observed throughout his study which shapes the togetherness or sense of belonging to undocumented youth. The second stage, discovery, takes place during high school years, and how undocumented youths face more direct experiences of exclusion the early exiters and college-goers. They start to understand the meaning of not being legal which brings to stage 3 causing youths to split the two groups in the third stage, as they learn to be

Societal standards are set in place so one can stay inside the box. But what happens when the boundaries begin to be pushed open and torn down? It has been discovered through many classic novels and historical events that alienation can occur as a result of these broken barriers. By definition, alienate means “to cause (someone) to stop being friendly, helpful, etc., towards you” (Merriam-Webster). This is a major factor in Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston is able to grasp the moral values and societal standards of gender and race in an African American society in the early 1900’s perfectly. She does this through her subjective alienation and psychological progression of the main character, and protagonist, Janie.

In a place where education is not easily accessible to everyone, and where the eagerness to learn and get an education develops within a community, social movements arise. One of many of which one of my good friend has been involved is the Dream Act and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. She is one of the few people that I personally know that has been actively politically involved since we were in high school. Through her I was able to learn and get a better understanding that education is not something that should be taken for granted, there are people like her, who are struggling and have so much potential to make a difference who want to learn but do not have access to education because they are undocumented. Many

These immigrant children did not choose to come to America, they came with their parents. Most of these American are trying to make a good life for themselves. In the first person account “Amy’s Story” Amy, an undocumented Taiwanese immigrant, tells of her struggles to make a life for herself in the United States. When Amy is fifteen, she discovers that “California Proposition 187 took away access to public services, including driver's licenses, from undocumented immigrants.” Later, as she struggles to find a job, she is told by her attorney that marrying an American citizen is “the easiest way to become legal in this country.” Despite her many challenges, she writes about how despite everything [her] family has experienced in this country, [she] would not choose to be anywhere else” (“Amy’s Story”).

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.

Alienation is something we find to be constantly present within our society. This idea is steadily exemplified throughout history whether it be through class, race, or any social unjust. In Kristen Dombek’s piece, she details various accounts of social alienation. The reader follows as Dombek reveals corruption between human relationships and the way we interact with world. She exposes what we are all afraid to admit- modern values and morals. Kristen Dombek presses us with the question of why we do the things we do and live the way we live. Readers are forced to question if they are slaves to the world around them. Do we succumb to the social and economical pressure demanded from us, and if so, will we allow that to happen for the generations after us? Although alienation is something that roots from ourselves as individuals, recognize the factors in our lives that this originates from. Question the relationships people have established in their own neighborhood, or if a prosaic office job is fulfilling. When we serve our economy but it does not do the same for us, the symbiosis or harmony in which live in is disrupted. Will we make a change for the beauty we desire to create and the life we lead in oppression today or tomorrow? In Bank-robbin in Brooklyn Kristen Dombeck explores the ideas of societal alienation by questioning the dynamic of people 's’ lives in their neighborhoods, in the workplace and their roles in society in general.

In 1996 Delia and her family of five immigrated to the United States. Delia’s uncles had been living in the United States, therefore they provided a lot of support for Delia’s family when they arrived (Feliciano Lec.1/13/16). Upon arrival, Delia and her family shared a two-bedroom apartment with her uncle’s family of five. Right from the start, Delia’s family experienced poverty. Due to their lack of documentation, Delia and her family experienced a negative context of reception from U.S. Government Policy (Feliciano Lec.1/13/16). Being undocumented was a primary factor that shaped Delia’s life in terms of the education she could receive and the occupation she would later

Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe is “The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America.” The story revolves around four high school students; Marisela who is a gaudy, driven, dramatic girl who wears “twice as much makeup as anybody else in her circle.”(8) Yadira who is a strong and reserved girl who “never gave away anything important with her facial expressions.”(8) Elissa is a star athlete and Clara usually dresses like a tomboy. They are all eighteen years of age and top students at Theodore Roosevelt High School together in Denver, Colorado, whose parents all came to the United States illegally from Mexico. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States. They

I really enjoyed the book Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski. I learned a lot of things from the book about how to tweak the way I think and feel about body related to sex. There were many take-aways for me personally, and there are also things that I want to tell other people to spread the word. Although I would love to have my best friend read the book, there are two main points I could teach her about from the book.

In the book by Carl Rogers, A Way of Being, Rogers describes his life in the way he sees it as an older gentleman in his seventies. In the book Rogers discusses the changes he sees that he has made throughout the duration of his life. The book written by Rogers, as he describes it is not a set down written book in the likes of an autobiography, but is rather a series of papers which he has written and has linked together. Rogers breaks his book into four parts.

Humans are social animals and according to the ancient rules that are still running our bodies and minds, we still depend on others for intimacy and human connection as mental food and social support to live a healthy life. Alienation provokes in us some of the worst feelings in the world. The feeling of being excluded or rejected incites emotional distress that often gets compared to, or even described as actual physical pain. Social alienation has a negative impact on our lives, exposing us to feelings of loneliness, helplessness, inadequacy and low self-esteem, leading to dire physical, mental and emotional consequences.