Where I Was From By Joan Didion: An Analysis

Through the use of pathos, schemes, and tropes, Rodriquez offers his conflicting feelings about California and Mexico. By contrasting Mexico and California with these styles of writing, he sets up

82). The third quote is one of her notes that put the reader inside of her mind and gives proof to the fact that Didion lets her imagination take over her sense of reality. The fourth quote was another example of her starting off realistically and then she added some detail and she was off in her own world, again putting the reader in her mind. Depending on the type of detail she used made her notes realistic or imaginary.

For the first time in 130 years, more young adults are living with parents until their mid thirties. Part of this could be an emotional attachment keeping them from leaving home because after they leave, everything will change. However, many are losing their real sense of home and are just using it as a place where they can avoid paying bills and many other responsibilities. Many young adults now do not understand the extensive sacrifice it is to leave their one and only home. In “On Going Home,” Joan Didion expounds on her struggle to connect with her current house, in a nostalgic and resigned tone, and vivid imagery, symbolism, and comparison Didion expresses the regret she feels every time she remembers she left her “home”.

With all these travelers from the east and different country made California a “melting pot” of different people and culture. When news that California that had gold began to spread outside of the United State it first hit Mexico and Hawaii lead to the first wave of immigrants with the purpose of mining. Then, news the quickly across the world from South America to Europe and from Australian to Asian, the impact was so big that the text said, “Irish immigration to the United States, already at 100,000 a year in 1847, more than double to 220,000 by 1851” (Gillon, 297). With all these people mining towns would quickly pop up across California, and these towns with every race you could think such as Black, French, Irish, Chinese, Mexican, and etc. The towns were constantly busy with people moving to and from mine and rivers. With a day or a week of work could make you a nice amount of profit, you could entertain yourself for a while before you had to go back to mining with bars, gambling parlors, and whore house. Prostitutes made good money because in text said that, “ One prostitute in California Boasted of making more than $50000in a year.” (Gillon, 297). I could imagine myself being there if I made it there.

We will go on a chronological trip through the history of the city of San Diego. First covering the Native Americans. Then we will discuss the Spanish colonization. Followed by Mexican rule. We will finish with Current

She is giving credit towards California with their growth but she still giving the truth. One of the documents that was chosen was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prevented Chinese people working. This would be a domino effect. The exclusion did not just stop there either, Ochoa also referenced the Japanese exclusion. This exclusion would separate the Japanese from “the white Californians.” The next document that Ochoa chose was a primary source from the Editors from The Los Angeles Times. In the document they are segregating Japanese from the whites and calling the Japanese “yellow people.” Ochoa is letting her readers know that people in California did not see minorities as people. Which was common all over

The opening chapter of this book discusses the role of women in the Californian provinces, and the problems they faced just because they are women. One of the major problems that women faced at this time, was the constant sexual abuse by Spanish soldiers. The soldiers raped women of all ages and hurt anyone that tried to stop them. During these acts of abuse, venereal diseases, such as syphillis, would be past along to the Native Women and then across their missions. This disease soon became

Louise Pubols, Fathers of the Pueblo: Patriarchy and Power in Mexican California, 1800-1880, article concentrated on the de la Guerra family from Santa Barbara, California. Pubols expresses to her audience that she wants to depict Mexicans from California Mexico in a different style from the usual. Pubols starts off by giving the reader a simple description of the way the California Mexican is usually presented. Typically, Californian Mexicans have little to no agency; they lose all their land and belongings and are lost to history. Pubols uses the de la Guerra family to show that California Mexicans not only had agency but also played a large part in society. Pubols second argument was that patriarchal language was being used to describe the de la Guerra’s family governance within their community.

Cisneros’ family bounced back and forth between Mexico and the United States for most of her youth, which led to firsthand experience in the difficulties of growing up as a multicultural person (Doyle. 54-55). As an adult, she settled in San Antonio, Texas, but that feeling of not belonging to either culture never left her. She drew on this feeling as inspiration for many works, including “Woman Hollering Creek,” a short story about a Mexican woman, named Cleofilas, brought to live in the United States by her new husband. She is excited to leave her lazy brothers and old-fashioned father behind, and dreams of the endless possibilities that

This portion of Joan Didion’s essay “Goodbye to All That” gives a very detailed account of what it has been like for her to transition through life. Since the newness of New York has worn off. She describes her feelings of depression and how this has changed her perception of the city causing her to avoid the very parts she enjoyed at first.” One day I could not go into Schraff’s; the next day it would be Bonwit Teller” describing the places she once enjoyed and the beginning of her withdraw from the very city she once loved. Didion describes her descent into her darkest depression, allowing us to see how isolated she became through her dark imagery and creates a somber feel to her isolation “I hurt the people I cared about, and insulted those

There are many elements that can be considered when analyzing the book Dorie: Woman of the Mountains by Florence C. Bush from a historical viewpoint. In this book Bush writes about the life of her mother Dora, and her life on the farm in the Great Smokey Mountains before it became a national park. It describes how the lives of the “typical” Appalachian farm family change when they are forced out of the mountains, and into the city. Woman of the Mountains is uniquely told in first person by Dorie; because, all of the information being presented came from her mother’s memories with the exception of Bush’s memories after she was born in 1933. This memoir is successful being that it is relates to its readers by appealing to them using ethos while at the same time describing how a forced change in geography also promotes a change in lifestyle.

“Coming to America/Escaping to Europe” by Janis Stout offers a detailed background and interpretation of Willa Cather’s My Ántonia. By providing a brief historical biography of Willa Cather, Stout raises numerous reasons regarding Cather’s decisions for the novel’s setting, characters, ethnic identities, and plot. Through the article, the reader learns that the life of Jim Burden reflects Willa Cather’s. Because Cather is positively impacted by Russians, Austrians, Norwegians, and Bohemians during her move to Nebraska, the characters play central roles in Jim’s life as well. Similarly, they both share a language of loneliness and homesickness with the immigrants, which greatly contributes to their lifelong relations.

However the young Spanish woman whom resided in this often hostile environment languidly stretched upon rising from her slumber. She would have California no other way. She had been born here, a 3rd generation Californiano, the daughter of a grand ranchero who owned the famed Rancho San Rafael. The lovely Hispanic girl rose from her bed and gently strolled over to the window seat taking a seat and staring romantically overlooking the mint green landscape.

Holding degrees in American Culture, English and American Literature, and English, Dr. Neil Foley specializes in the evolving components of race and social identity in what he calls the Borderlands: Mexico and the American West. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture bridges the gap between the narratives of two Borderlands histories, that of African-Americans and southern history, and that of Mexican-Americans and southwestern history. Looking at Texas, and specifically the area from Dallas in the north, Corpus Christi in the south, San Antonio in the west, and Houston in the east, Foley analyzes how Mexicans, blacks, and poor whites maneuvered and dealt with the racial space in this Borderlands province of cotton culture during the first half of the twentieth century.

Assessments of the California Gold Rush often apply to a romantic gloss, suggesting that the colorful “Days of ‘49’ were a brief , exciting interlude in an otherwise orderly narrative. The Gold Rush was romantic, brief, and exciting, but it was much more than that. During the 19th century California seemed like a paradise for both men and women looking to escape the East coast in search of a new life and opportunity. Many men and women took the opportunity to escape from the west coast to start a new life at the booming industry in California. Many of these travelers were successful in their new adventure while others were not, however it was different for women from different ethnic backgrounds who suffered a inhumane fortune due to the imbalanced gender difference present in California. The culture found in California during the gold rush provides different perspective on the treatment of women and how the standards of sexuality were less important in the United States.