Essay about Mexicans Begin Jogging

Pat Mora is an award-winning writer that bases most her poems on tough cultural challenges and life as a Mexican American. She was born in a Spanish speaking home in El Paso, Texas. Mora is proud to be a Hispanic writer and demonstrates how being culturally different in America is not easy. She explains this through her experiences and the experience other’s. In her poems “Elena”, “Sonrisas”, and “Fences”, Mora gives you a glimpse of what life as a Mexican American is; their hardships, trials, strength that make them who they are.

The word choice and word order that the author displayed in the poem attracted the observation of the audience to portray that the “Mexican” culture does not possess any means over what occurs in their lives. The start of the poem where the author states, “Mexican is not a noun or an adjective but it is a lifelong low-paying job” (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The above sentence describes that the Mexican’s low paying jobs are basically all that they will have in life and this is due largely because of their discriminative place in society. Moreover, at the end of the poem, the author mentions that the Mexican strikes and burns just like a verb possibly suggesting that being Mexican is difficult. The use of the word verb may indicate that being Mexican involves action. Being from South Texas, this writer has witnessed that the majority of the Mexican population were not well-educated and they were employed in low paying

Poetry is a form of art and literature that allows a reader to feel what the author wants them to. Pat Mora is a Mexican-American woman that wrote the two poems “Sonrisas” and “La Migra”. “Sonrisas” is about the two types women that are seen in two different rooms, while “La Migra” is about a typical exchange between the Border Patrol and a Mexican maid attempting to crossing the border from Mexico into the United States. Both of these poems show the reader what it is like to be Mexican-American and describes the experiences each speaker in the poem is having.

Soto grew up in a small family, being the second child. “His parents were Mexican-American”(Sullivan). They worked hard to provide for the family, “...his father and grandfather worked in blue-collar jobs at Sun-Maid Raisin and his mother peeled potatoes at Reddi-Spud” (Boyle). Jobs such as peeling potatoes did not pay well, and factory jobs were extremely dangerous. These jobs were their best ways of earning the money they needed. “When Soto was five, his father was killed in an industrial accident”(Lee). The struggle became much more after this as it“… created economic hardship for a family that was already having difficulties”(Sullivan).

To begin, “AmeRican,” by Tato Laviera illustrates a hopeful attitude about the Latin customs that have a place in American culture/society. This poem can be interpreted as a celebration of the Latin presence in New York City, and the poet expresses how Latin people is creating a new generation in the United States. Moreover, the way of how Latin people is living and feeling safe into the United States is changing every day. As the narrator of “AmeRican” mentions “Across forth and across back,” (line 20) The narrator wants to demonstrate that he can be free in the city without the necessity of hiding just because he is from a Hispanic background; and that they can express themselves however they want. Indeed, the city is so diverse and many

The images that Soto articulates give a sense of the destruction of the beauty of the human spirit while still celebrating the beauty of the Fresno valley. Here, Soto depicts a hard-working Chicano that is struggling to continue living, therefore there is nothing the Chicano can really do physically when there is a young thief trying to break into a house. The act of the Chicano passively watching this occurring shows that the worker is so overcome with fatique and the dismayed prospect of having to continue working. And instead of thinking about family, or the workday ahead, the Chicano is losing his or her individual identity because he or she is slowly becoming a part of the valley that he or she works in; therefore causing the Chicano to

In her opening paragraph, Aurora Levins Morales introduces the main idea of the poem: that she is a multicultural immigrant and that America is the great country that it is today because of immigrants. “I am a child of the Americas, a light-skinned mestiza of the Caribbean, a child of many diaspora, born into this continent at a crossroad. I am a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew, a product of the ghettos of a New York I have never known …”(Morales 1174). She sees her herself as a “Child of Americas” into a “continent at a crossroad.” And also sees herself as a combination of cultures. These various influences are what America is the diverse nation that it is today.

He begins the journey by expressing his feelings on living as an immigrant, he writes, "This land in which I was not born, my children were born here, this land didn't rejoice toward me and didn't give me joy." As the book goes on the poems then tell of his childhood in which he describes as a black flower he did not pick, a childhood where he felt like an outcast to all. During this collection of poetry, the author also deplores the breakdown of family values

In Pat Mora’s poem “Legal Alien”, she talks about her interactions with Mexicans and Americans in how they view her differently. “American to Mexicans a Mexican to Americans”(Mora 40). Pat was living in America for a while and when she went back to Mexico they thought of her as an American.

The poem “Immigrants” by Pat Mora, is about a family looking for a bright future for their kids. The children who are born in America, and raised really americanized, but the don't look like white Americans.. The peom show the clear need of an immigrating family looking for acceptance in their new country. The parents make forth efforts to surround their child with materialistic and cultural American traditions. Lastly, after attempts to transform their children from their uniqueness they're still unsure whether America will accept them into society. The cost of achieving acceptance in society is not worth the eradication of your natural and cultural personality.

In the poem, Immigrant by Pat Mora , Mora writes about the lives of a couple who are immigrants and how they raise their children to fit all of the American society standards. Mora uses an optimistic tone in order to reveal the message that being a fine American is accepted more in society’s eyes.

It 's not seeing their lives or hearing their stories, but instead a simple note from a Mexican woman that reminds him that these people he arrested are actual people with actual reasons for crossing into America. Although the note helps to change the cop’s opinion regarding immigrants enough to let them go free, what I feel clinches the cop’s decision is the fact that Makina is the note’s author. The officer probably didn’t expect the young Mexican woman to be literate, let alone a poet, as the reader can tell from the officer’s disconcerted expression as she is writing.

To me, this poem speaks about two different types of cultures; one that embraces all in unity and one which demands others to conform to their way of living. The writer seems to be caught between two lives and two dilemmas. He can either go on and live, but have the burden of leaving his family, heritage or he can fully embrace his culture and reclaim his life. It’s about Mexicans that have struggled to embrace and to claim their cultural and self identity when having to face the American way of life.

Poems often give you insights into your own feelings and experiences. Jimmy Baca wrote a poem called So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans, and upon reading this poem, I discovered many insights into my own feelings. Jimmy Baca seems to be angry at the fact that Americans think Mexicans take their jobs away. The feelings I have towards what’s happening in this poem is that Americans are often victimized, a feeling of being offended, and I feel confused.

How do you escape a racial stereotype? Soto has Mexican heritage and has lived in the U.S. as a legal immigrant working in a factory. In the poem “Mexicans Begin Jogging”, the author shows Marxism through Soto’s stereotype as an illegal immigrant because he is Hispanic and works in a factory. Soto is trapped between his Mexican heritage and his American culture and doesn’t know how to deal with this problem; he is stuck in this predicament where he is a Mexican at heart, but has an American upbringing.