Since the late 1800s and, especially since the US signed the NAFTA and GATT (agreements), whose purpose is to reduce trade tariffs and therefore simplify the trade between U.S. and other countries, the contracted migration from Mexico to the US increased and converted slowly into undocumented migration born from necessity. Concluding, the topic of undocumented migration to the US, splits the opinions and concerns large numbers of authors. Reyna Grande and Luis Alberto Urrea, both authors with a migrant background, discuss the subject of unauthorized migration in their works. Grande's Across a Hundred Mountains tells the stories of Juana Garcia, a twelve-year-old girl, who is searching for her father and Adelina Vasquez, a young prostitute, who intends to return to her family after running away with a man. Juana and her family have lost her younger sister and daughter due to a terrible accident, therefore Juana's father Miguel finds himself forced to borrow money from the richest man in the village. In order to repay his debt, Juana's father has no different choice other than to cross the US-Mexico border illegally and earn money abroad. Grande's book describes Juana's and her mother's struggles to survive without their father/husband, whereby Lupe suffers a mental breakdown and gets arrested for the killing of the creditor. Juana decides to find her - later dead – father, which ends in hers and Adelina's acquaintance. At the end of the story, Adelina finds death at hand of
“The Homeland, Aztlan” by Gloria Anzaldua sent me to the memories of the little Mexican guy, who I met working as a hostess in Brazilian Steakhouse, my first part time job in the U.S. We never got along, because I did not speak English well, and it seemed like he never talked at all. Unremarkable busboy, I was shocked with his story that I heard from one of the servers, and I was surprised how much suffer and asperity this little man went through. He crossed the border illegally, hunted by police and customs, and walked through the desert, hiding and sleeping in the mountain caves to finally reach desirable America. He suffered and went through so much to work tirelessly for the money that I, my shame, was complaining for.
In the reading land of open graves by De Leon, discusses the dangers that millions of Mexican and central Americans face when trying to get into the United States undocumented. These people include people who have the dream of living in America and creating a new life where they can support their families. Also for those who have been deported back to Mexico being separated from their families and are in hopes of being reunited with their loved ones. These people face a hard battle ahead of them because they have to travel through the Sonoran desert of Arizona that is one of the largest deserts in North America. And have to deal with not only fighting the harsh desert elements, while only caring as many supplies as they can. They also have to deal with the structural violence that goes under looked that thousands of Mexicans have to face while migrating to the United States.
Enrique’s journey from Honduras to the U.S. unveils the innate loyalty of a loving child to their mother and presents the dangers that a migrant faces on the road with consistent angst; nevertheless, it supports the idea that compassion shown by some strangers can boost the retreating confidence within a person. In Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” he seeks the beacon of light that all migrants hope to encounter; “El Norte.” Like many children before him, it is the answer to the problems of a hard life. While being hunted down “like animals” leading to “seven futile attempts,” he is
A dream can push people into the upper level, but dreams do not always come true. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez is about immigrants who move to America. This is a book of the story collection; also, it combines different emotions, especially love and guilt. Alma loves her daughter, Maribel, more than anything else like every parent does, so Maribel is the only reason they are in America. Alma does as much as she can to Maribel. Although Alma is a newcomer to America, she becomes stronger because of her daughter.
The mother in “Borders” by Thomas King reveals her pride and courage for her identity as she crosses the border to visit her daughter Laetitia in Salt Lake City. Challenges like self-identity are faced every step of the way, but it a person with pride and bravery who accepts it gladly. This is best demonstrated by King and his use of conflict, repetition and literary devices.
Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.
In the novel Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario demonstrates the onerous journey of illegal immigrants. Sonia Nazario aims for the readers to make them understand what most of the immigrants go through during their journey to the United States. By appealing to ethos and pathos throughout the book, Sonia Nazario portrays the path that Enrique undergoes to reunite with his mother.
Each year, thousands of Central American immigrants embark on a dangerous journey from Mexico to the United States. Many of these migrants include young children searching for their mothers who abandoned them. In Enrique’s Journey, former Los Angeles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario, recounts the compelling story of Enrique, a young Honduran boy desperate to reunite with his mother. Thanks to her thorough reporting, Nazario gives readers a vivid and detailed account of the hardships faced by these migrant children.
The Distance Between Us a memoir written by Reyna Grande, she tells a coming-of-age story and experiences on her hometown, Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico to relocate to Los Angeles, California in order to have a life with full of opportunities. Grande was part of the serial immigration, so she was following her parents coming to the United States, “El Otro Lado, the other side”(4). Grande uses Spanish diction, rhetorical questions, and visual rhetoric to provide ideas about her experience as an immigrant trying to adapt into Mexican and American societies, in order to draw the reader into her world. Through literary devices, Grande makes the reader to identify with her immigration story even if they are not Mexicans or immigrants. The Story is
The book The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna Grande provides an account of Reyna Grande’s life in Mexico and later in the United States. When she is two, her father leaves the family for the United States hoping to earn money for building a house in Mexico. Later, he sends for their mother, Juana, leaving behind three children – Reyna, Mago, and Carlos. The children experience abject poverty and others hardships under the unforgiving care of their paternal grandmother, Abuela Evila (Tobar). Her mother returns with another child, Elizabeth, and establishes an on-again and off-again relationship. Later, their father, for whom they have almost forgotten, returns and takes them on a terrifying journey to the United States ' border (Grande 317). Overall, the book narrates a child’s journey to overcome poverty and deal with the absence of parents through forgiveness and love.
Into the beautiful North, by Luis Alberto Urea, is telling a story of a nineteen year old girl called Nayeli who is encourage by the movie “The Magnificent Seven” to go to the United States with her three best friends. Their mission was to cross the border and recruit seven men to save their town, Tres Camarones, from the bandidos. But she also wanted to bring her dad back home. He and the rest of the men of Tres Camarones went to the United States looking for jobs to sustain their family. The author wants to show how undeveloped Mexican towns such as Tres camarones can cause poverty, lidding to one of the biggest topic now days which is immigration. Immigration is a cruel and hard path caused by
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.
The novel Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande is a story about two young girls and their struggling journey to find happiness between two conflicting and distinct worlds: the United States and Mexico. Juana on one side wants to get to the United States, or “el otro lado” as mentioned in the novel, to find her father who abandoned her and her mother after leaving to find work in the US. On the other hand Adelina escapes from her house in California to follow her lover to Mexico. The girls form a bond in the most unexpected of places, a Tijuana jail, and quickly form a friendship that will connect them for the rest of their lives.
The first issue that many Latino author’s address is the problems in many Latin American countries. In Esperanza Rising Esperanza’s family faces the backlash of the Mexican revolution. Esperanza’s family has land in Mexico which makes them a target for many unhappy citizens in Mexico. Esperanza’s mother has to explain to her that, "the wealthy still own most of the land while some of the poor have not even a garden plot. There are cattle grazing on the big ranches, yet some peasants are forced to eat cats" (Ryan, 25). Eventually Esperanza’s father is murdered by bandit’s and they are forced to leave the dangerous country. Mexico is not the only place with major issues. Young Adult literature often reaches into the historical hardships of other Latin countries, such as the dictators of the Dominican Republican in Julia Alvarez’s novel Before We Were Free. Alvarez talks about the distrust of the police, stating “Back home, [her father] had been tailed by the secret police for months and the family had only narrowly escaped capture their last day on the Island” (Alvarez 233). Young Adult literature reflects this often as a background story, forcing the protagonists into the environment they are in. As well, it frames the families’ mindset and the hardships many have faced before
8. Do you have sympathy or empathy for the wife of Don Elias, Dona Matilde?