The Book Of The Harvest Of Empire By Juan Gonzalez

Hispanics have been immigrating to America since the beginning of the Spanish Colonial era. Up until the 1920’s Mexican Americans have boomed in rural places in america. The 1920’s was meeting the beginning of a renaissance, a better promised life for both native americans as well as immigrants. Businesses were booming, wages were higher, and the industry was creating a bright future for America. However, Mexican Americans continued to face hardships as well as few successes leading up to the 1920’s. Whether these were Native born Americans with a Hispanic background or newly immigrated Mexicans, Mexican Americans faced the hardship of poverty, discrimination, segregation, and struggles during the 1920’s.

Early in our history immigrants could move from a hard lifestyle, such as government corruption or famine to America . Where life was perceived to be perfect and had so much more opportunity. However, as the people changed in positive and negative ways the American Dream was altered as well. The overall idea of the American Dream has changed from ideas and freedoms to more tangible things. For example people used to move to America to have rights and to have a voice. Now some believe that if you wear expensive shoes and spend more money on your car than your house you have fulfilled the dream.

To America, the American dream was not living in a huge, fancy house, but to have a “house, a yard, maybe a TV and a car too – nothing fancy, no palaces like the gringos built – just four walls and a roof” (Boyle 29). The typical immigrant does not come to American with the intentions of becoming wealthy. They come to American to have a better opportunity in life. To be able to own a home, work and have a family. According to The New York Times, “The phrase “American dream” was invented during the Great Depression. It comes from a popular 1931 book by the historian James Truslow Adama, who defines it as, “that dream of a land in while life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone.” “In the decades that followed, the dream became a reality. Thanks to rapid, widely shared economic growth, nearly all children grew up to achieve the most basic definition of a better life — earning more money and enjoying higher living standards than their parents had.” Learning that us Americans are likely to achieve the American dream shows that it is all that much more difficult for immigrants and even more so for illegal immigrants. T.C Boyle, in Tortilla Curtain, attempts to show the separation between the American dream of the community of immigrants and the American dream of the whites.

In Harvest of Empire’s “Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type” Juan Gonzalez outlines how Mexican descendants contributed to U.S. prosperity and culture. Gonzalez’s assertion is that the Mexicans and their culture have been in the United States long before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the establishment of settlements and trade along the Rio Grande by Mexican pioneers, and the important factor Mexican-American workforce had in the nation. He supports his argument using historical records, individual’s stories and local papers. Respectively, Gonzales provides information that Mexicans greatly affected the economic uprising and culture of United States across the border.

America is most known for its diversity, with immigrants from almost everywhere on Earth. The American Dream has lured many minorities to the land of the free and home of the brave, in search of opportunity. Though the U.S. is known for its “American Dream,” America does not have equal opportunity for all of its people. Women and Latinos, specifically, have been denied social and legal equality, with both movements starting in the 1960`s. Latinos had the Chicano movement while women had the second wave of a feminist movement, with similarities and differences in their goals, means, and results. Although Latinos focused on reforming education and work conditions and women wanted to reform their image in society, both educated the public through organizations and used protests to gain limited success of better job opportunity though are still viewed as inferior to white men.

The definition of the “American Dream” by James Truslow Adams, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” this means that no matter your social class, dilemmas, or circumstances at birth one will overcome and make their dream come true. This is a misconception brought upon by us in order to bring more workers to justify a social class clearly. Many immigrants come to the US thinking there will be a better life for them. It is the place where dreams come through. They know it will not be easy and are willing to put the hard work and

The American Dream for everyone alike is to prosper and succeed in a land that individuals are determined to call their own. Almost every immigrant that has entered the United States has done so in hopes of finding a better life for themselves and for their families. For most Hispanic-Americans, the goal was the same. Hispanic-Americans come from a variety of different Spanish-speaking countries. Just as the wave of immigrants from Europe came to the United States of America in the late 1800's and early 1900's, Hispanics came from places like Mexico, South and Central America, and the Caribbean Islands. Although everyone came with the same goal in mind, to make sure their families would have a better life in a new environment, each subgroup within the Hispanic community faced different circumstances once they arrived in the United States and have different definitions of what it feels like to be an American.

Inequalities within minorities is not limited to economic unfairness but also social inequity. The second story that shows how inequality within minorities is “The Myth of the Latin Woman” by Judith Ortiz Cofer. “The Myth of the Latin Woman” is an essay based on the real life experiences of Judith Ortiz Cofer. The story talks about the racist inequalities she has went through as a women of Hispanic descent. “a young man, obviously fresh from a pub, spotted me and as if struck by inspiration went down on his knees in the aisle. With both hands over his hearts he broke into an an Irish tenor’s rendition of Maria from West Side Story”. The author retells one of her experiences from earing graduate credits one summer and she is met by someone whom ignorantly makes racists remark simply because she is Latina. Furthermore in the story Cofer mentions how people gave the man a round of applause. “amused fellow passengers gave his voice the round of gentle applause” (Page 61). This shows that it is acceptable to generalize an ethnic group into a character from West Side Story. In addition to the unfair generalization, Cofer is confronted unfair expectations. I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early”. This is unfair assumption made to Cofer. She is treated like a vegetable rather than a girl who traditionally grows into womanhood. This also generalizes Latin women to be matured at a young age. Which is incorrect just because Latinas fall into a small category in society

     Through our readings of the Mexicans in the U.S. and the African-American experience modules, we begin to understand the formation of identity through the hardships minorities faced from discrimination. In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the ideas of identity shown through the readings. These two modules exemplify the theme of identity. We see how Blacks and Latinos tried to find their identity both personally and as a culture through the forced lifestyles they had to live.

Latino immigrants have been coming to America for a very long time. Most of the time it is for economic prosperity that they were not able to obtain in their home country. The Latino minority group has been getting a stronger presence in the United States as the years go by, but very few people know or understand how Latinos tend to identify themselves.

I was intrigued by these differences in perspective, and attempted to understand why this was occurring. I first asked my parents, as I was only in the fifth grade, and their answer was simply that we were different, and that that wasn’t a bad thing. Feeling displaced, I began to question everything that I did on a regular basis, and if there was a proper manner in which to act for someone in my situation. The constant choice between my Mexican and American identity was always present.

     The American Dream cannot be defined clearly. Each person has his or her own dream. Some see it as owning a house or becoming a millionaire, while others define it as being able to read or to get a job. Society tends to associate this phrase with the amount of money a person earns or how many possessions they can acquire. The American Dream to others, especially immigrants, is a chance to succeed in a new life. The important fact is that Americans are given the freedom to decide what The American Dream is to them and the opportunity to achieve it.

The American Dream can mean a number of different things to number of different people. Over the years this ideal has evolved and its definition will continue to change for many more years to come. What has not changed is the desire to achieve this dream. For decades now, people from all over the world have immigrated to the United States with hopes of obtaining this dream. However it seems that, to many immigrants the American dream has a very different and more modest definition. To many foreigners it means having the basic necessities in life and giving their children opportunities and life they ever had. Immigration can be a good and a bad thing. On one hand the overall standard of living is better but on the other hand it is almost

Over the centuries America has seen many immigrants like Mexicans, Africans, Asians, Indians and etc. making their lives here. But most of these minority groups existing in our society have suffered denial and injustice not only in the past, but it is still prevalent. Most of these immigrants saw this new world as a place to start their lives but instead they have faced harsh

Still, people are willing to risk their lives’ to enter the United States. Some may succeed, while some will be unsuccessful and get deported back to their own country. They sacrifice everything in order to provide a sense of hope for their family. This is what the American Dream represents; being able to prosper, raise a family, and live the means of a good life. Illegal immigrants long for a day where their offspring will develop into a successful individual, rather than growing up in an environment of poverty and despair. Imagine your child working in the fields of Mexico only earning 50 to 60 pesos a day ($5-$6). He/she is planting crops under the blazing sun getting blisters on their feet. The heat consumes the dream and hopes they aspire. People experience many difficulties while seeing more than they desire. Although immigrants approach the U.S. longing for wealth, in reality wages are less than the average salary of Americans. Even so, immigrants gain strength to continue through the encouragement of their family.