Patria By Julia Alvarez Summary

During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal human, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited by working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s encounter with the devil. Despite minor deviations between their themes, the two stories share ideas regarding the devil, specifically his appearance and connection with man’s depravity. overpowering minor deviations between their themes. [MAYBE DELETE THE LAST HALF OF THE THESIS, AND ADD SPECIFICITY TO THE FIRST HALF (WHICH IDEAS OF THE DEVIL ARE SIMILAR?)]]

At some point of a kid’s life, they want to be picky about something. They want to have some control of their little world where adults are constantly telling them what to wear, what to do, and what to eat. Food, for instance, is an easy topic where kids will fight for some independence. Throwing, yelling, crying and even bribing were the essence of a battle at dinner tables. Because some parents would automatically give in to their children’s need, the kids often think they won the battle but technically they didn’t. In the story, “Picky Eater”, Julia Alvarez tells a story of her childhood experience of home meals where her and her sisters were also picky eaters, despite having healthy food served to them. Meals, she said, “at home were battlegrounds. Even if you won the dinner battle, refusing to clean your plate or drink your engrudo, you inevitably lost the war” (Alvarez 145). Battlegrounds at home can occur but it doesn’t have to end up being messy if the parents know how to handle the situation properly.

As the words of our founding fathers, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the American dream that many pursue, whether immigrated to the United States or born here. Within Demetria Martinez’s book, Mother Tongue, a novel, the character named Jose Luis flees from El Salvador to the United States in order to escape it’s brutal civil war. His choice to flee El Salvador and enter the United States under a false name places him in a difficult situation, both in his moral abandonment of his home country El Salvador, and for crossing the United States border illegally. The position of Jose Luis can be dissected into the need for borders, the asylum process into the U.S., the reason why politicians reject immigration, and the potential

’“ You shall open a brokers shop in Boston next month” said the black man.”’ Tom agrees to do what the black man said, but instead of opening the next month, he tells the devil that he is willing to open it the next day. This is just like in todays society where people bargain themselves down to a point with devil which makes them feel trapped in a corner and they feel like they cannot get out of the hands of the devil. Tom let the devil get a hold on him and then Tom said, “ The Devil take me,” ….. “ if I have made a fathering.”’ Just as soon as Tom said that, the Devil took him and rode him off to never be seen again. The people in the world today think that it is okay to let the Devil show up here and there. In the long run, he is going to have a hold on people and before they realize it they are his people and he will have them doing works for him instead of the

“ Gabriel: ‘Oh, yeah… I know it. The devil’s strong. The devil ain’t no pushover. Hellhounds snipping at everybody’s heels. But I

She ultimately chooses to live a normal life, marry, and have children. Though she lost her faith for a short time after the loss of her stillborn child, Patria maintained in her faith, lived her life, and made her decisions for the glory of God. Patria strongly believed religion and revolution did not mix. For example, Patria uses Matthew 7:25 to show how she built her life and family, “Build your house upon a rock, He said, do my will. And though the rainfall and the floods come and the winds blow, the good wife's house will stand” (148). She continues to use the analogy to show that Maria Teresa and Minerva led a life of danger and uncertainty, “My sisters were so different! They built their homes on sand and called the slip and slide adventure” (149). She even confesses “people like me who didn't want anything to do with politics were thinking about it all the time” (149). Patria knows faith and family are her top priorities and truly believes they have no place in

As people grow up, it is made apparent to them that the Devil is an evil and rather a clever person. The greatest example of the devil in action is when the devil tempts Jesus. As most know, the devil fails to get Jesus to do evil. Jesus is both human and divine while the main character of The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker, is a “meager, miserly fellow”. Unfortunately, Tom Walker is not Jesus so the reader must focus in on Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker to see just exactly how and when the Devil won his game. Irving portrays to the reader that the devil cannot be beaten at his own game through setting, characters, and plot. As people have seen in sports, the setting of a game (where, when, weather, etc.) can have a big impact on the game. The same goes for The Devil and Tom Walker.

As life continuously throws obstacles and challenges in life, humans tend to get through it with family members. In fact, most human/ people rely on family members to help them get through obstacles. Sending love to a family member for a hard situation leads to less stress as studies show. Obstacles are a things that happen on a daily basis and love may be the only cure. “Elena” is portraying a huge obstacle taking place, but no help is seeked, Pat Mora knows that this a struggle for others that they face everyday. Challenges vary on size and can have a great or small impact on a person but at the end, the person can overcome the obstacle. In “Elena”, Mora demonstrates love will overcome every obstacle when family is present.

“The moment I understood her hatred, my family had not been personally hurt by Trujillo just as before losing my baby. Jesus had not taken anything away from me. There was the Perozos, not a man left in that family and Martinez Reyna and his wife murdered in their bed and thousands of Haitians murdered at the border. Making the river they say still red. I had heard but not believed. How could our all loving father let us suffer? I looked up challenging him and the two faces merged” (Alvarez 53).

Prayer is an essential to any kind of religious faith. Over the years and years of believing in a higher power,

“The Devil came to me and bid me to serve him”, A woman named confessed to serving the Devil.

The Courage of the Mariposas Everyone thirsts to be fearless. In the American novel, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, the people of the Dominican Republic, afraid and suffering under the dictatorship of Trujillo, look to the Mirabal sisters as fearless. In truth, they were not, yet that makes their story all the more inspiring: they were human and afraid, though they stood up against the tyranny and their hardships regardless. They were able to do this because their courage came from love.

of Jesus! I danced or the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go

In the interesting book Migra! Kelly Lytle Hernández she highlights important information on the history of the Border Patrol on the border of Mexico with the United States, which was established on May 28, 1920 and runs a track record of events that occurred from 1920 to 1970.

. . ."My Faith is gone!" cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to thee is this world given."