People do not always get to have the fairytale life they once dreamed of. Life comes with many struggles, but people can overcome them if they really want to. They choose to follow a certain path in their life, which at times it can be good or bad. In the book, “Tijuana Straits”, by Kem Nunn, the author explains the different life experiences of certain characters in the book and how their life ended up. Unlike a fairytale, he gives the different perspective and point of views of the characters. Nunn gave enough information to know how the character’s lives ended up the way it did. The characters, Fahey, Armando, and Magdalena, were each described with a different persona so that each one sticks out different than the other. Nunn gave the point of view of the characters so the readers can get a sense of what each one of them is thinking of. There’s a character named Fahey, an ex-surfer who took the wrong path and ended up owning and working in his worm farm, which is basically the protagonist in the book. Fahey’s life was described as a rollercoaster and he went into detail about it. Nunn states, “The man was so pissed about not getting more mileage out of a second offense that he kept Fahey in a county lockup for six months awaiting transfer and another six in what they euphemistically called bus therapy-that is, in constant motion, from one facility to another, all the way to Leavenworth and back again.” (77). Nunn describes a scene in which Fahey was arrested for
The themes and idea explored in the novel that shows the life of a peasant in Mexico, most evident in this story are: theme of family, death and revenge. In addition, the author Juan Rulfo became an orphan after he lost his family during the Mexican revolution and he uses this tragic chapter of his life for inspiration in this story. The fact that he did not have a father role model is evident in this story too. Juvencio’s and Don Lupe’s son both of them grew up without the role
In his first novel, the story takes place in an under privileged and impoverished neighborhood of East Harlem New York. The main character, Julio Mercado who is called by his nickname “chino” is an Ecuadorian/Puerto Rican husband and father to be who is working part time at a local grocery store while attending community college. He dreams of somehow making something of himself, owning a home and escaping the grasp of the neighborhood and hardships associated with it. Throughout the novel Chino struggles with where his loyalty should lie, with his wife and unborn child or with the streets he had grown up in and his friend “Sapo” who was his friend since childhood. He in some way feels guilty about dreaming of getting out of El Barrio and making a better life for himself and his family because everything he loved and learned in his life came from there. His best friend Sapo who he loved and respected was a high school dropout who turned out to be a drug dealing street hustler who aligned himself with who Chino referred to as the slumlord of the neighborhood, Willie Bodega. Sapo introduces Chino to Bodega, who has a love interest in Chino’s wife Blanca’s Aunt Vera. He wonders if he could upgrade his lifestyle
The reader sympathizes with Enrique as he is making his seventh attempt to reach his mother. It is this small glimmer of hope that propels him through his treacherous journey all though he, yet again, fails. The author uses “pathos,” the emotional appeal, heavily throughout this chapter in order to grab the audience’s attention. She wants the reader to empathize with Enrique, an archetypal martyr with heroic behavior. The narrator describes the cruelty and suffering of the gangsters, bandits, “la migra” and others. “Enrique thinks of his mother…she will never know what happened.”(Nazario) Nazario uses stream-of-consciousness reflections such as this to cause the reader to subsequently reflect on their own families, and how one would react to this circumstance. Although Nazario uses pathetic writing, she does not make a fully-pathos driven argument such as that of Leslie Marmon Silko’s “The Border Patrol State.” In fact, Enrique’s Journey is written in exposition mode with anecdotes within narratives, which purports as journalistic rather than objective, or biased, writing. It is through this writing style that Nazario builds her credibility, or “ethos.” The exposition mode lays out the effects throughout Enrique’s path as well as brings extent of the hazards to fruition for the
However, fiction is essential to the culture that it is portrayed in. It can show and educate the reader the daily life or hardships of one culture, allowing them to understand in a greater sense. Fiction also gives us the opportunity to experience the possibility of other choices without making those choices, especially as readers we are immersed in the political protests that the girls go through and partake. Alvarez did not write the book merely to entertain her readers, but to help readers learn about themselves and educate them about the Trujillo regime and keep the spirit of the Mirabal sisters alive. Without a novel like this, the world may never know how important the sisters were. They died as true heroes, and Alvarez believes that their story needs to be spread. The true spirit of the Mirabal sisters is their legacy. They are portrayed in a positive light because they did help change the future that we live in today, and if we share important history and stories, such as the Mirabal sisters, we are able to live vicariously through them and honor their selfless
In this story, Sonia Nazario recounts how a Honduran boy called Enrique passed many dangerous situations in his travel to the United States in order to finally meet with his mother. Enrique began his travel to the United States eleven years after his mother left him in Honduras. Enrique faced gangsters, bandits and corrupt police officers when he was in the train called “El Tren de la Muerte”. The only thing that he was carrying was his mother’s phone number. But Enrique never gave up. Enrique’s courage, hope and help from strangers make him achieved his goal… meet with his mother.
Characters: The narrator of the story remains unnamed throughout the whole story. He marries Isabel, and together they form a family. He has a steady job as a high school algebra teacher; however, he has not been able to evolve away from his social class. He and his family live in a housing project…just like the house Sonny and [he] grew up.
Reading this book is an emotional roller coaster ride. At first there was an hollow feeling in my stomach. This was due to all the family related incidents. “Even as scared as I was by the jail, I wanted to sit on the floor outside the cell bars and hold his hand because he needed me” (Jimmy Santiago Baca 2). The quotation shows the bond between father and son. Baca was being self-sacrificing, willing to endure the pain with Damacio in prison. The hollow feeling continued when learning about the hardship that faced Cecilia. “‘You were so drunk you don’t even remember.’ Tears streamed down her cheeks” (Jimmy Santiago Baca 9). I can sympathize for Cecilia because an associate close to me has been a victim of rape. I have witnessed how the event
Cristian Henríquez’s novel The Book of Unknown Americans explores a variety of topics throughout her first three chapters. The themes of family most often come up when revisiting the opening chapters of one, two, and three: whether that being in the form of parental care or in sibling pressure. Through the perspective of Alma, Mayor, and Rafael, all Hispanic Americans, the author presents these “unknown” people and their lives in the opening chapters.
In Sonia Nazario’s novel “Enrique’s Journey”, the main character, Enrique, has his mother leave him at a very young age. She must make the incredibly difficult decision of leaving her child to be able to fund his life. Throughout the novel, many adjectives are used to describe the poor conditions Lourdes had to go through just to try to make a little bit of money for her family. She receives one glimpse of hope through imagery of the United States. It is shown to us, the readers, through imagery and emotion how difficult the decision Lourdes make is for her.
Wendy Guerra’s Everyone Leaves is a story about the obstacles Nieve encountered growing up in Cuba with a broken family. Though one could argue life in Cuba did not hinder Nieve’s hinder Nieve’s chances of becoming successful, Cuba’s shortcomings are stated throughout Everyone Leaves. From the disconnect Cuba has with the rest of the world, to the restrictions that come with living in a communist society on an island nation, the negative effects Cuba has on Nieve is evident. Though there are many challenges Nieve faces on a micro level with her family and friends, the obstacles Nieve encountered on a macro level can be connected to the challenges of life in Cuba. The theme obstacles of life in Cuba was revealed by Wendy Guerra early on
Thesis: The family dynamic, including culture and structure, in Junot Diaz’s Drown influenced the protagonists’ life decisions along with his belief.
Growing up is seen upon as miserable time in a person’s life. That growing into adulthood is a whole mess of feelings and new responsibilities. On the journey one makes while growing up, different situations are experienced and new people are met. Family can help improve and influence the way you grow up. In the book, Everyone Leaves, by Wendy Guerra, Nieve, the main character and narrator, writes in a diary throughout her life. The diary entries are about situations she encounters and people she meets while living in Cuba. In Everyone Leaves, the author reveals the theme that family does not necessarily mean that it is a related bond, but can also be people who influence you to become the person you are, by writing about living with Fausto,
Ian Bogost investigated how games could teach particular procedures and practical systems to players. But Julian Dibbel’s investigation in “Tijuana” revealed how players could transform procedures into self-serving, manipulative machines. Profiteering is likely not the lesson Bogost—or Epistemic Games for that matter—hoped to teach players. But what is the difference between Epistemic Games transferring players’ power into solutions to real-life problems and Blacksnow transferring power into real-life profit? Simply stated, it is the players’ motivation. More complexly stated, a game like Candy Crush commits no moral error by placing players into a work-based system of economic growth.
Alejandro’s father told a story about his childhood called “a cure for happiness”. He tells about his infatuation for a witch doctor and illegitimate daughter of a nun named Esmeralda. This story is relevant in the book because it tackles aspects of Filipino culture such as the church and ironically witchcraft. The next story is called “mang mino”, and it is told in the perspective of Roman. He talks about his life and his relationships with his family. This story is relevant because of how it
The themes of this short story “JUST LIKE THAT” are identity, development and transition from youth to adulthood. The text fundamentally deals with the subject “development and transition from youth to adulthood” and is the main idea of the short