West Side Story Analysis

The Film "West Side Story" illustrates how the Puerto Ricans of New York faced discrimination and were used as scapegoats by the American people during the cold war time period to escape their anxieties. Due to the fear of communism and possible nuclear war the 1950-1960s time period was a very fragile time for the American people which produced an air of xenophobia throughout the country. The air of xenophobia is present throughout the play due of the repeated mention of stereotypes about Puerto Ricans and the constant feeling that the Puerto Ricans do not belong. The people of American often dealt with these anxieties in one of two ways, through escapism or through and through the scapegoating. This is made very clear through the comparison of West Side Story to the play The Music Man in the document “West Side Story and The Music Man: Whiteness, Immigration, and Race in the US during the late 1950s”. Like many waves of immigrants, the Puerto Ricans faced discrimination when they arrived and for some time after. This came in the form of people being discriminatory directly to them, housing discrimination and job discrimination. Therefore, the play “West Side Story” expresses the discrimination that Puerto Ricans faced due to the xenophobic nature of the time period.

“Éste es un mundo brillante, éstas son mis calles, mi barrio de noche, con sus miles de luces, cientos de millones de colores mezclados con los ruidos, un sonido vibrante de carros, maldiciones, murmullos de alegría y de llantos, formando un gran concierto musical (Thomas, Down These Mean Streets, 1998, p. 3)”, is how Piri Thomas describes his birthplace, East Harlem. The diversity of cultures, the vibrant street life, the passion and conflicts of everyday life and media portrayal in movies such as West Side Story make East Harlem an exciting and mysterious place. But hidden under the dirty faces of the children is the struggle in the search for acceptance and belong,

West side story is an old musical film in 1961. It was taking from William Shakespeare`s play Romeo and Juliet. The story was about two groups of boys one from United States (Jets) lead by Riff and the other from Puerto Rico (Sharks) lead by Bernardo.

In 1945, technological advances in the aviation field helped Puerto Ricans migrate in immense numbers, and also the air fare of flights were affordable for the average Puerto Rican instead of a higher upper class only being able to afford air travel. Puerto Ricans then began to travel all over the US, but a massive number, about 200 to 500 thousand migrated toward New York. Now before the mass migration, Puerto Ricans were already living in New York, specifically in East Harlem known as “El Barrio” to many Puerto Ricans. They had moved there mainly because of the affordable housing rent and non-existent racial discrimination since racial discrimination was still big in the 1920-60’s. The

New York City became a major focal point for Puerto Rican migration. Between 1951 and 1957 the average annual migration from Puerto Rico to New York was over 48,000. Many settled in East Harlem, located in upper Manhattan between 116th and 145th streets, east of Central Park. Because of its high Latino population, the district soon came to be known as Spanish Harlem. (Green). Pretty interesting! Beings that I am in Manhattan myself as well as my parents.

The migration of Puerto Ricans into the United States began in the late 1840’s,and occurred in three major waves, the second occurring around 1910-1940, and the third and largest occurred during and after the Vietnam War in and around the 1960’s. Each group containing a new generation of Puerto Ricans, and each laying a foundation for the next generation of Puerto Ricans immigrating into the United States. Each wave of immigrants felt that they were going to live a better life in America, and they ended up in the major cities, which were highly concentrate with a large number of Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics. The "industrial capitals," such as New York City, Hartford, and Chicago, and places where they were able to find jobs in factories were other prevalent places. The later immigrants pursuing employment as agricultural workers, in places such as tobacco fields. With the migration of more and more Puerto Ricans, small communities which began to be heavily populated by Puerto Ricans grew larger and larger, and there was a need for politics, and strong Puerto Rican politicians to represent the people of the community.

The newly arrived Puerto Ricans and those born in Brooklyn of Puerto Rican parents did not mix (Santiago pg.230). The American born Puerto Ricans often did not speak Spanish. They did not view Puerto Rico as their home, it was a place they visited on vacation. They complained that Puerto Rico “was backwards and mosquito – ridden” (Santiago pg. 230). Brooklyn born Puerto Ricans were able to walk between the Italians or morenos “neither one or the other, but looking and acting like a combination of both, depending on the texture of their hair, the shade of their skin, their makeup as the way they walked down the hall” (Santiago pg.

It was the day of Allie’s funeral and I wasn’t going. I mean I would’ve, it’s not like I wasn’t invited and all, but I was just in the hospital. I had broken my hand when I smashed all those stupid windows in the garage. But none of that matters anyway, Allie was dead and he was never coming back. Mom had come in to my room this morning all dressed in black and she just held on to me and started crying. She said, “It’ll get better before you know it Holden”. I just smiled and let her hold me, but I knew she was lying. I hated her a little for saying that. She and I both knew it would take a long time before anything got better. After letting go of me and wiping her face with a tissue

Lin-Manuel Miranda made this play to show the colorful people of Washington Heights. This play does a good job with diversity because it includes people from many cultures. You can find latinos, blacks, whites, and many more their. Washington Heights is a diverse community with troubles such as rising rent and closing businesses. It shows how the people come together and support each other as a community. The residents are very hard working and they rejoice with music and dancing.

It makes sense that an influential story such as Romeo and Juliet would be remade to appeal to a modern audience. Therefore, West Side Story is a present day remake of the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet. One of the main similarities between the play Romeo and Juliet and the movie West Side

The discrimination from those living on the Island towards those now living in the US is a situation seldom discussed but nevertheless concrete. A possible cause for this attitude might lie in the North American stereotypical branding of all Puerto Ricans based on their views of such immigrants. Moreover, the overall change of environment over several decades generated key cultural differences that distanced the two groups. Additionally, immigrants in New York slowly experienced the process of acculturation, as they were inevitably exposed to different cultures in their everyday lives. This contrasts to the situation experiences by Islanders, who remained mostly isolated and “protected” by their shores. For them, inter-cultural interactions were infrequent by comparison.

Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are both iconic, enjoyable stories that most people have heard of. Romeo and Juliet was written much earlier than West Side Story was, however it was still based on older Italian stories. These stories can teach us a lot about our daily lives and how we live them. In order to do this though, we have to make other comparisons throughout the story first. So, let’s dive in and analyze the differences between the stories, their origins, and their authors.

At around 12:00 PM on November 27, 1981, Miracle on 34th Street and West Side Story actress Natalie Wood boarded her yacht, called the Splendour, along with her husband, Robert Wagner, and her Brainstorm co-star, Christopher Walken. Two days later on November 29, 1981, Wood’s waterlogged body would be discovered floating face down about two hundred yards off of Catalina Island, California. She was found not far away from a dinghy from the Splendour, which was washed up onto rocks. Its ignition was off, the gear shift was in neutral, and the oars were locked in place, suggesting that the vessel was not started by Wood prior to her death. The coroner reported that Wood had a blood alcohol level of .14, along with superficial bruises on her arms and legs and a cut on her cheek.

How long is it appropriate to “remain a child”? By writing The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger proposes this question to any reader. Throughout the course of this book we see the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, navigate his life after his expulsion from his school. Along this adventure, Holden realizes that the real world is full of “phonies”. He does not like this in any way, because it means that everyone around him, including himself, is going to eventually transform into a phony. By the end of this book, Holden’s ultimate desire is to be a “catcher in the rye” (Salinger 225), which is a protector of innocence. However, once entering an elementary school, Holden realizes that some of the kids are already corrupted, as the word “F--k you” is etched onto the walls of the school multiple times. By scenes such as the once described above, J.D. Salinger allows the reader to understand that, while everyone must mature at their due time, the preservation of innocence is crucial to anyone; this we see in the ways he connects Holden with innocence: repeated scenes of Jane Gallagher and Holden’s anxiety around the topic of sex.

In the book, the Catcher in the Rye, written by J. D. Sallinger, the main character, Holden Caufield, goes through an emotional period of his life as a teenager. He suffers from depression due to the loss of his brother, and isolates himself from many social activities within the community. Since the Catcher in the Rye takes place in the 1950s, one may wonder if the character Holden Caulfield is easily identifiable to present day teens. Tennagers can definitely relate to this story and find a connection with Holden. The main reasons why Catcher in the Rye is still relevant are Holden and today’s teens share the same wants and needs. They both want to be independent and experiment with adult activities, they both struggle with having a real direction in life, and they both have the tough task of having to deal with their feelings and emotions.