Maria Full of Grace: United States Failing Global Expectations

Living in Mexico throughout her teen years was very rough. Unlike other teenagers where their parents constantly provide for their children, Marisela’s life was a lot different than the usual parent- child relationship. She lived with her Abuela ( Grandma) Lupe, along with her 3 brothers and sister. She constantly had to take care of her brothers and sister at such a young age, that she became the mother-like figure of the

The novel Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera brings to light many issues faced by immigrant women. The novel follows the young Makina in her quest to find and bring home her brother from what she imagines to be a mystical far away land. While the novel focuses on the challenges of immigration, the underlying meaning is much more complex. In Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World, the common misconception that women cannot be the strong character in the novel is challenged. This is achieved by having the female protagonist, Makina, go on a quest to save her brother, be a vital individual in her community, and fight the misogynistic society she lives in.

It shows the community does not really welcome immigrants. Also it is very difficult to adopt life in new place, for example washing machine is so complicated for Rosa so she washes all the clothes by hand and lays them on the grass in the garden. Rosa and Enrique attend language school to improve their English. Movie emphasizes the power of the language again and also shows learning English helps their life to get better. Nacha helps Rosa to change her appearance with more fashionable clothing Nacha said “have you ever heard Sears” and tokes her for shopping. When Enrique sees her with new clothing and makeup, he says “What is this? You look like a clown! “. Scene shows Enrique’s attachment to their culture also they try hard to integrate. Enrique gets an offer for a better pay job with the chance to become legal resident but he refuses to leave his sister. The house they are staying is a mess when they come but after a while they clean and organize it and one scene Enrique told his sister that “In this country you work hard you can get somewhere” they are proud to earn better life standards. Then suddenly everything changes, Rosa gets sick, immigration was looking for Enrique. Enrique gets promoted at the restaurant and jealous coworker is upset about it and calls immigration police. At the end Rosa dies in the hospital room. The conversation between Rosa and Enrique is heartbreaking. Rosa said “they told us we make lots of money but

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.

The move to America had a big impact on how Rosa saw things and brought out a different side to her that was not as afraid as she used to be.

Marisol is a young, assimilated hispanic woman in 1990’s New York who works a white collar job in Manhattan and lives in the Bronx. She doesn’t have family or loved ones living close to her except her friend and colleague, June. One night she has an unfortunate

In “The Futility of Global Thinking” writer Wendell Berry gives the people of the next generation advice on the problems they may come in contact with, now that they’re on their own. Berry goes into great detail explaining what problems to look out for and what ideas to avoid when faced with a problem. He is trying to help steer the next generation away from the mistakes previous generations have made so they can truly make their own decision in how their lives are going to play out.

Globalization is the actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in space. From the book, an example of globalization is The Great Depression. The Grapes of Wrath was written during a dark time in American history. Not only did Oklahoma experience the worst dust storm in history but America’s economy was in a downward spiral. Globalization comes into this because not only did America as a whole have to find jobs and boost the economy back up but the world felt the consequences of the Great Depression. This was done by The first phase of the New Deal which attempted to provide recovery and relief from the Great Depression through programs of agricultural and business regulation, inflation, and prices stabilization. Capitalists free markets ran wild across America, especially California. People who had the money to hire paid horrifically low wages. As shown in the book, the whole Joad family worked to whole day and all together made about a dollar. During the great depression states depended on each other. Oklahoma was deserted by most of its farmers because it was nearly impossible to use the land and landowners could not afford to rent their land anymore due to no money being made. This lead to the migrations of “Okies” to move to California leaving Oklahoma needing help from other states in order to stay afloat. The Great Depression, in a way, brought people and America closer together because everyone had to work together or the economy would have gotten

Maria is a religious mother of six who throughout the book she is very close minded and unwilling to change her plans or way of life no matter the influence. Maria is a member of the Luna, a family of religious farmers and as such she wants Antonio to become the next educated priest to guide the Luna in the future. She finds comfort in the steady life of farming and finds her husband 's ideals to be idiotic and unrealistic. When arguing about their land, Gabriel sees it as a symbol of freedom but Maria says in retort “It is worthless! Look

There was a day she was returning to her uncle’s house and he was conversing with these Americans from Minnesota. They were in search for a nanny and Maria was recommended to these folks. She talked it over with her mother and decided to go to earn some money for her family back at Durango, Mexico. These folks had brought their daughter’s birth certificate to pass through the border with no issue.

The other main character of the story is Adelina a girl who leaves her home in California to go to Mexico. Adelina is driven out of the United States because her family won’t accept her relationship with her lover, so they both decide to go to Tijuana, a city in Mexico. Not much is said about Adelina’s experienced in the United States. What we do know is that she had a family that loved her, but she decided to leave it all behind to be together with her boyfriend Gerardo. In Mexico she finds nothing but shame and misery because Gerardo could not find a job and the only way for them to make money was for her to be a prostitute. Besides having to expose her body, Adelina, is physically and emotionally mistreated by her boyfriend until it finally leads to her death when she tells him that she is going back to the United States with Juana.

Although she is not able to be a full-time activist because she has to take care of Carlos, she is able to explore “Colonia La Joya” (122). The horrific conditions of La Joya, a nearby city, does not come to Elena’s attention until she witnesses a “funeral” (121) of a “newborn child”. The multiple funerals of children that Elena had witnessed during her “captivity”, sparked a curiosity in Elena. Through her house “servant” (116), Marisol, Elena learned that the multiple funerals where being caused by the sudden “diarrhea” (118) that the babies would get. Her sudden interest in La Joya was not enlightened until she witnessed a man carrying an unpainted “pine box” (121). Instead of being filled with grief, the man possessed a “proud man Mayan stare” that “penetrated” into Elena’s soul. The eye contact that occurred between the man and Elena sparked the revolutionary side of Elena that was fueled by love. The “grief” filled look that Elena received showed herself in the man’s perspective, she was a “bourgeois housewife” (122) who was “clean” and would be delivering her son in an “antiseptic hospital.” The perspective of the man displays the intersection of class; Elena is able to deliver her son in a hospital that has the proper resources while children in La Joya are forced to live off of contaminated resources. Elena understanding this message promises herself that after her son was born

The narrator states that “it was [Maria] who did away with my generation’s virginity” (65). Garcia Marquez uses a hyperbole to portray how crucial Maria Cervantes’s contradictory role is in the men’s lives. She embraces her sexuality and is very open. In addition she also “taught [the men] much more than [they] should have learned, but she taught us above all that there’s no place in life sadder than an empty bed” (65). She reinforces the idea that sexuality should not be repressed because that would only bring on loneliness and despair. She recognizes the “disorder of love” that the townspeople live with because of repressed sexuality. The narrator describes Santiago Nasar’s passionate relationship with Maria Cervantes. He describes their relationship like “a falcon who chases a warlike crane” and that the falcon can only “hope for a life of pain” (65). The author uses a metaphor to compare Maria to a warlike crane in order to show her power and grace. The crane is a bird that stands tall and may look elegant and enticing but because Maria is “a warlike crane” she is able to stand up and fight for herself while still maintaining her grace. Another aspect of her independence would be that she stands alone in her battle against society. Garcia Marquez gives her these headstrong qualities to show how she follows her own path and goes against the town’s beliefs without showing any signs of stopping and to show that

A mother drives her three kids to soccer practice in a Ford minivan while her husband stays at the office, rushing to finish a report. Meanwhile, a young woman prays her son makes his way home from the local grocery without getting held up at knife point by the local gang. Nearby, an immigrant finishes another 14-hour shift at the auto parts factory, trying to provide for his wife and child, struggling to make way in a new land. Later, a city girl hails a cab to meet her girlfriends at their favorite club to celebrate her new promotion over cosmopolitans. These people – the suburban soccer mom, the tired immigrant, the worried mother from the hood, and the successful city girl – each represent the

In 2005, the three reports entitled Innovative America, Tapping America’s Potential, and Rising Above the Gathering Storm, argue that if the U.S. does not improve its science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education the standard of living in the U.S. may decrease and threaten the economy and national security. The reasoning that the proponents use is that with more innovation and technological advancements, exports will increase and benefit the economy, but if there is no innovation this will harm the economy. The three reports, according to the Congressional Research Service, argue that in order to prevent these issues, we must close the academic achievement gaps in STEM, improve the quality of teachers, increase STEM labor supply, improve on international ranking assessments, produce more STEM degrees, and increase the number of H-1B visas issued. One of the most controversial subjects of the STEM movement is that companies are using H1-B visas to employ foreigners at cheaper rates rather than U.S. citizens. However, critics of the STEM movement argue that this is a strategic idea called “Brain Drain” where the U.S. is “draining” the most talented and skilled workers from other countries in order to gain an advantage on a global stage. In order for the U.S. to remain a leader in innovation and STEM education, the issue of H1-B visas needs to be addressed.