Summary Of Jason Deleon's 'The Land Of Open Graves'

Acclaimed American author Richard Rodriquez’s autobiography “Days of Obligation” conveys that his feelings for both Mexico and the United States can be expressed through contrasts. Rodriquez uses pathos, tropes, and schemes to articulate his feelings. His purpose for writing about the contrasts between Mexico and California is to help readers understand the differences that affected his life. Rodriguez’s relationship with his literate audience is personal, since he is opening about his personal life and his views on it.

Reyna Grandes’s Across a Hundred Mountains was written in 2006, it is a stunning and heartfelt novel about migration, loss and discovery. It was published by Washington Square Press and its two hundred and sixty-six pages will captivate the reader from the beginning. The novel depicts the desperation of undocumented immigrants who make the dangerous journey across unfamiliar land to reach the border for “El Otro Lado” (the United States). The author, Reyna Grande gives the reader a glimpse of the everyday struggles these families are faced with and the heart-wrenching decisions made in the pursuit for a better life. There are different themes in this novel, they range from fractured family ties to heartbreaking poverty affecting the family and how religion is used to seek relief from these events. Therefore, an evaluation of the novel will be made on the social issues affecting these individuals, the challenges they face, and apply the ecological perspective along with its strengths. Lastly, an explanation will be given in which a social worker can help to address the issues that affect these individuals.

De Leon’s purpose of this book is to enhance our understanding of the process of undocumented desert migration. Intending to challenge preconceived notions about what a holistic anthropology can look like and how it can be deployed in a politically hostile terrain. He does this by showing how productive it can be to sneak back and forth across the border between “accepted” discourse and excluded discourse in the name of generating new knowledge and new forms of cultural understanding. He goes over almost every aspect about how hard it is for the millions of Mexicans attempting to cross undocumented.

In Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s book, Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, she allows us to enter the everyday lives of ten undocumented Mexican workers all living in the Chicago area. Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz refers to Chuy, Alejandro, Leonardo, Luis, Manuel, Omar, Rene, Roberto, Lalo, and Albert the ten undocumented Mexicans as the “Lions”. This book shares the Lions many stories from, their daily struggle of living as an undocumented immigrant in America, to some of them telling their stories about crossing the border and the effects of living in a different country than their family, and many other struggles and experiences they have encountered. Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s book delves into

The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea traces the journeys of twenty-six men traveling across the border through one of the most treacherous deserts known to man “The Devil’s Highway.” The author’s purpose was to let the world be aware of the events going on all around, with the simple modes of persuasion (pathos, ethos, and logos) Urrea makes you consider what worlds, political and economic, have we created that push humans into impossible journeys? What borders have we imposed, both geopolitical and cultural, that separate human beings so completely?

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

In his essay Bajadas, Francisco Cantu explores the physical and emotional landscapes that shift during his time as a United States border control agent. He candidly writes about his experiences, using imagery to describe the physical landscape of New Mexico in a way that mirrors his own emotional landscape and answers the question that he grapples with most. Cantu writes, “There are days when I feel I am becoming good at what I do. And then I wonder, what does it mean to be good at this? I wonder sometimes how I might explain certain things…” (7). This important question is what drives Bajadas; it is what compels Cantu to write so vulnerably. Through a journal-like structure, Cantu details what his job requires of him and the way he treats

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, shares his life-long journey as an undocumented immigrant in his text, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” As the title suggests, Vargas attempts to convey to his audience, who likely never has and never will experience anything similar to what he has, what it is like to live as an immigrant in the United States of America. Skillfully, Vargas details the perfect number of personal stories to reach the emotional side of his audience, which is anyone who is not an immigrant. Through the use of his personal accounts Vargas is able to effectively communicate that immigrants are humans too while simultaneously proving his credibility, as he has experience and a vast amount of knowledge

Norma Elia Cantu’s novel “Canícula: Imágenes de una Niñez Fronteriza” (“Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera”), which chronicles of the forthcoming of age of a chicana on the U.S.- Mexico border in the town of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo in the 1940s-60s. Norma Elia Cantú brings together narrative and the images from the family album to tell the story of her family. It blends authentic snapshots with recreated memoirs from 1880 to 1950 in the town between Monterrey, Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas. Narratives present ethnographic information concerning the nationally distributed mass media in the border region. Also they study controversial discourse that challenges the manner in which the border and its populations have been

Cultural expectations have prevented humans from being able to lead their own lives the way they see fit. Gloria Anzaldúa and Sandra Cisneros are two notorious Mexican-American writers that wrote extensively about cultural borders and expectations. Anzaldúa came from the Mexico-Texas border, was a cultural and feminist theorist as well as English scholar, while Cisneros also comes from a Latino background and speaks from her cultural hybridity to illustrate cultural expectations. In this paper, I will use Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands / La Frontera” as a lens for Cisnero’s short story, “Woman Hollering Creek” to draw connections of cultural and gender expectations between two different genres of text.

Gloria Anzaldúa writes of a Utopic frame of mind, the borderlands created in and lived in by the new mestiza. She describes the preexisting natures of the Anglos, Mexicanos, and Chicanos as seen around the southwest U.S. / Mexican border, indicative of the nations at large. She also probes the borders of language, sexuality, psychology and spirituality. Anzaldúa presents this information in various identifiable ways including the autobiography, historical/informative essay, and poetry. What is unique to Anzaldúa is her ability to weave a ‘perfect’ kind of compromised state of mind that melds together the preexisting cultures while simultaneously formulating a fusion of genres that stretches previously

The book Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States illustrates the fieldwork of the author Seth M. Holmes by explaining the myriad aspects of migrant workers’ lives in the U.S.—from the politics to the social environments to the physical body. By not only studying, but living, the lives of these migrant workers, Holmes brings the reader a view unseen by the vast majority and provides the opportunity for greater understanding through the intense details of his work. The voices of vastly different characters—real people—are captured and expounded on without judgment but with deep consideration for all factors that contribute to each person’s life, opinions, and knowledge. Ultimately, a picture of intersectionality is painted in the colors of migrants, mothers, fathers, children, doctors, soldiers, executives, the poor, the rich, and more.

In his essay “The Country Just over the Fence,” Paul Theroux describes his trip to Nogales, Mexico. He begins his essay by illustrating the physical appearance of the wall separating Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. He calls it “an unintentional masterpiece”. Theroux feels the wall is somewhat informal. He discovers that crossing the border into Mexico is not too difficult itself. He marvels over the appearance of the wall and also the underlying call to action it places on a person, “Do you go through, or stay home?” Theroux decided he needed to see for himself. After deciding to cross the border, he met many different people. They told him about the celebrations that used to be held between the two neighboring towns which are now divided by the wall. Theroux also met people who had attempted to cross the border illegally into America only to get sent back to Mexico. On his adventure, Theroux also learned about all the medical tourists who travel to the country for cheaper treatments, specifically dentistry. I am interested in discussing Theroux’s presentation of the his decision to cross the border, the people he met, and the medical tourism Nogales, Mexico draws in.

The book ‘Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network’ by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz explains the hardships that surround the Mexican immigrant network. Over the years the ‘undocumented’ workers coming to America from Mexico has increased which has gained the attention of the American government and the media, as it is ‘illegal behavior’. Gomberg-Munoz attempts to create an understanding of the lives of these workers by telling individual’s personal stories. The author reports the workers undocumented lives rather than reviewing their status as this is already covered in society. The author’s main topic revolves around the principle that undocumented workers strive to improve their quality of life by finding employment in the United States (Gomberg-Munoz 9). Gomberg Munoz also presents the daily struggles the works face daily, and how these struggles “deprives them of meaningful choice and agency” which effects their opportunity and futures (Gomberg-Munoz 9). This ethnography shows their social identities through work, the reasons why their position is illegal and how they live their everyday lives under the circumstances.

In the ethnographic text, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, by Seth Holmes, Holmes describes his experience on enduring the living and working conditions of migrant workers. Seth Holmes’ social positions and identities helped bring the ethnography forward by showcasing the stories of Triqui migrant workers and how they suffer in everyday life because of the cycle of suffering. On the other hand, Holmes risks credibility and validity as the ethnographic text is taken from his point of view as a white man rather than a Triqui worker’s. As the author of the ethnographic text, Seth Holmes takes an in-depth look inside the lives of the Triqui workers and the problems they encounter in the face of racism and the social, political, and economic