Themes Of El Norte

El Norte is an American independent film about a Guatemalan family. The film, directed by Gregory Nava, was first released at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983. El Norte was the first American independent film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay (IMDb.com, Inc., 1990-2012). The film El Norte is about a brother named Enrique and a sister named Rosa. Enrique and Rosa are on a quest to get out of the ethnic and political repressed Guatemala and attempt to escape to the North where they can live the “American dream.” Will Enrique and Rosa live the “American dream” once they escape to the North? Can an illegal immigrant achieve the “American dream?” The answers to

Immigration is a complex and multifaceted issue that faces the US. In his film, Sin Nombre (2009), director Cary Fukunaga aims to juxtaposition the issue of immigration with the issue of gang violence in Mexico, and show the difficulties immigrants face by giving his audience an insider’s perspective into the experience of immigrating to the United States from Honduras. He does this through a variety of characters; most notably Willie and Sayra. Fukunaga did extensive research on life in the Mara Salvatrucha gang and the process of immigrating to America, in order to make his film realistic and authentic. The result is a movie that not only shows immigration in a way that evokes empathy and enforces the humanity of immigrants in the viewer’s mind, but also gives the viewer a look into the realities of being in a gang. Through the use of strong characters, powerful dialogue and vivid imagery, Fukunaga uses pathos to put a human face to the issue of immigration, logos to inform and give his audience context about the issues the film addresses, and ethos to establish his credibility and make the film believable.

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

The story begins in Guatemala; it shows the happy family life which Rosa and Enrique have. Their family friends are visiting and they are talking about the life in United States. Rosa’s godmother says she has been reading Good

Hispanic-American population in the United states is dramatically increasing as a result of immigration patterns and increase birthrate of the ones already residing in the the United States. The movie Selena is an example of Latino family residing in the country who wants to fulfill the “American Dream”. Isolation and discrimination of Hispanic-Americans particularly Mexican family has also been illustrated in the movie. Despite social class stratification, Selena’s family try to breakthrough to the English-speaking audience mainstream to be accepted. In this film, the father is characterized as the head of the family - dominant, strong, aggressive, invulnerable, and superior. Portrayal of tight-knit family values and interdependence is seen in this movie, as well.

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

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.

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

First of all, the setting of this novel contributes to the Rivera family’s overall perception of what it means to be an American. To start this off, the author chooses a small American city where groups of Latino immigrants with their own language and traditions, lived together in the same apartment building. All these immigrants experienced similar problems since they moved from their countries. For example, in the novel after every other chapter the author

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.

During the Mexican-American War the border moved, but the people didn’t. History has shown us that no matter how thick the border might be Latino Americans have a strong connection to their culture and roots; instead of assimilating, Mexicans live between two worlds. The film, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez gave us a perspective of two cultures; “Two cultures- the Anglo and the Mexican- lived side by side in state of tension and fear” . Cortez is running for his life as he heads north, while the Anglo believe that because of his Mexican ethnicity, he would travel south to Mexico. Throughout the film there were cultural tensions and misunderstandings; language plays an important part of someone’s identity, and for many Latino Americans Spanish is their first language. The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez also shows us that language plays an important role, and can cause confusion between two different groups. For example, Anglos refer to a male

Enrique’s Journey focuses and sheds more light and understanding on the aspects and challenges of extreme poverty, family abandonment, systematic issues of an immigration system and what one has to go through in the face of adversity. The book centers on Enrique who starts out as a young boy living in extreme poverty in Honduras with his family. Enrique is an older adolescent, Hispanic, poverty economic status, unemployed most times, and is in a relationship with one child. This case study will further look at Enrique’s personal experiences from a young child up to young adulthood and how that has shaped his development has a person from coming from such difficult environmental circumstances. This will also look at the different environmental perspectives in the micro, mezzo and macro level when pertaining to effects on human behavior.

El Nogalar is a full play production about a Mexican family trying to fight for their pecan orchard. The Galvans are an upper middle class family, but their social status is becoming less and less relevant. The play is special because it has moments of comedy and sadness. El Nogalar portrays a story of a family losing their status and lands to the drug cartel taking over in Mexico.

They decide to leave for Mexico in 1938. They left behind all of their friends, family, and belongings. They are not allowed to speak of where they are from or their past. They discover that someone was chasing them because they are not planning on coming back home.