Rhetorical Analysis Paper:
My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant The article “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” was written by Jose Antonio Vargas. In it, Vargas tells of the time when his mother brought him to the Phillippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport when he was twelve. His mother told him that she wanted to give him a better life so he boarded onto a plane with a man he had never met before and was told that he was his uncle. He arrived in Mountain View, California and moved in with his grandparents Lolo and Lola. Vargas says that he grew to love his new home and when he entered sixth grade that’s when he found his passion for language. He tells of his struggle of making a distinction between “formal English and
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Even though Vargas knew what he was doing was wrong, he convinced himself that if he lived up to the qualities of a citizen he would be o.k. (Vargas 7). Vargas talks about when he returned to Washington he told one of the higher ups, Peter, about his secret. Peter told him to keep doing what he’s doing and once he has accomplished enough they will tell the chairman. Vargas eventually leaves the paper and moves to New York to join The Huffington Post. Vargas talks about his successes of working for The Huffington Post but ended up leaving because he couldn’t take the guilt and the lies he was telling himself and friends about his problem of being illegal. Vargas ends his article by explaining why he finally admitted to being an illegal immigrant and how he feels now after he has admitted to it. After reading this article I feel that the audience he is appealing to is people who are against illegal immigration or people who are on the edge about it. I feel that his purpose is to show that not all illegal immigrants are bad people and many of them turn out to be successful human beings. He uses many examples of how he contributed to this country and he wants to convince people to allow him to stay and support his staying along with other illegal immigrants who have put their time and effort into making this country a better place. The Kairos for this article is that the election just ended and there are still many debates about illegal immigration so I feel that he
Furthermore, in most cases, it may seem the United States has a system in which immigrants are not given the chance to form a bright future. In the novel, “Antonio soon found himself settling for jobs that were clearly beneath him. He stood under the baking sun at the on-ramp to the Santa Monica Freeway, selling oranges for two dollars a bag: a dollar fifty for the guy from the produce market, fifty cents for him,” (Tobar, 53). Many of the immigrants that live in the U.S. have little power that allows them to succeed. Some races have benefitted from it more than others. The Cubans, for instance, have had it much easier than most immigrants who have migrated to the United States; whereas, Antonio, a Guatemalan, had trouble finding a stable job that allowed him to sustain himself. In contrast to many other races, many Americans described Cubans as being visitors who represent, “all phases of life and professions, having an excellent level of education… More than half of their families with them, including children brought from Cuba to escape communist indoctrination in the schools,”
Vargas is really good at drawing the audience in with his emotional description, and his story telling ability. He is able to make the reader understand the struggle of being an undocumented immigrant trying to live in the United States and be happy with who he is. The audience is able to understand each decision that he makes in order to try to keep himself out of trouble, but they could always see the constant fear that he could come crashing down at any given moment if he was found out. It is hard to imagine living in that kind of situation, and Vargas portrays his experience extremely
Correspondingly, Vargas has not only immersed himself into his new culture, but learned to love it as well. He “built a career as a journalist, interviewing some of the most famous people in the country” (Vargas). Even though he is living the American dream, he is also “living a different kind of reality… in fear of being found out (Vargas).” Because of his status, it is hard to live a “normal” life. Even with all he has done to “earn” citizenship, he is still unrecognized as
Have you ever thought about what it would be like if you found out you were undocumented in America? In the book “Dear America Notes of an Undocumented Citizen,” by Jose Antonio Vargas, you get to read first about Vargas’s experiences. “Dear America Notes of an Undocumented Citizen,” by Jose Antonio Vargas is about Jose Vargas, the author of the book, and his experience coming to America as an Undocumented Citizen. Due to Vargas being an undocumented citizen in America, he has to go his whole life without a driver's license and other important documents. In the story near the end, we see how Jose comes out to the public as undocumented, however nothing seems to happen to him since he came out even though he's undocumented.
Similarly, these two upcoming quotes also show how Murad and Jose gain confidence throughout every challenges instead of losing. From “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” it says “But when I handed the clerk my green card as proof of U.S. residency, she flipped it around, examining it. “This is fake,” she whispered. “Don't come back here again” (Vargas 1). In this quote it shows how Jose handed the clerk his green card and thought it was real but Jose himself didn't ever realize that his green card was fake.
In his essay “Outlaw”, Jose Antonio Vargas admits that he is an undocumented immigrant, and decided it was time to come clean. His essay begins at age twelve, and follows his journey to adulthood, as he fights for full United States citizenship. Not only do I consider Vargas heroic for his determination, but also brave for publishing his story despite possible consequences he may have faced for revealing his immigration status.
“Outlaw: My Life In America As An Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas from the New York Times, is a narrative essay that focuses on telling a story of past events. Vargas proposes that since he grew up in America that this is considered his home. Vargas believed he would be granted citizenship if he worked harder and achieved more. His motivation of sharing his childhood journey would be the relief of him coming forward about his legal status to those who were not aware and to those who he truly cares about but could not risk sharing his story with. Vargas tone and stance attracts people who are or have already been through the same path and for those that come to America to live the “American Dream” like Vargas intended to. Vargas concludes he is trapped in duplicity and being dishonest about his legal status is destroying his character. Even though, Vargas convinces me about his difficult journey as an undocumented immigrant, his belief that coming forward with the truth of his legal status will allow him to regain his values or the trust of those who he has already lied to is unconvincing because after all those years it has become a part of his selfhood.
Jose Vargas tells the story of his life; from coming to America, finding out that he is residing here illegally, learning how to live with that, and finally to sharing with everyone that he is an undocumented immigrant. Jose has a difficult task in front of him, though. He must win his audience over to his side so that he can further his agenda of developing an easier path for undocumented immigrants to receive citizenship. There are many ways he could go about this, trying to skirt the topic of his illegal activities, but Jose is an intelligent man and knows how to influence his audience. He uses the story of his life to connect with others, and in connecting with them wins them over, even if only indeterminably so. In My Life as an
Being a culturally diverse person in American society implies that you have ancestors from different countries. I have two ethnically diverse Grandmothers who are legal immigrants turned citizens, and have studied the process for obtaining citizenship status in the United States, which means I can understand and relate somewhat to those who have faced the same struggles coming into the United States. In the article, My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant, by Jose Antonio Vargas, he tells his story of being an illegal immigrant and the struggles that are associated with his situation: his life as a child, struggling with integrating into western culture, his teen years, living a muted life because of his situation, and his adult life, jumping
Vargas handled it through journalism. The article “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” is about Vargas’s life story as an unwanted American. In the article he uses ethos, pathos, and logos to share his story with the readers. He uses data’s, location, names of palaces, and other events that were happening at the time. For example, “Dream Act” and “Obama administration has deported almost 800,000 people in the last two years”, which was before 2011. He published this article with the New York Times in 2011, but it wasn’t the first time Vargas had published something. He tells the readers that he is “paying state and federal taxes” and on “April 2008, [he] was part of…[the] team that won a Pulitzer Prize” to show that he is credible in telling his struggling life story as an undocumented immigrant.
Throughout the various books that we have read, one of the many concepts that stood out for me was the well-being and healthcare of undocumented workers. Due to the current criminalization of immigration, most undocumented workers live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. This really made me think about the psychological and somatic outcomes of fear, stigma, trauma, and prejudice for undocumented workers. This brought into question the structural and symbolic violence that causes undocumented workers to suffer from mental and physical illnesses and how the treatment, if any, is administered.
There are millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, many of whom are Latinos. Americans today tend to believe that undocumented immigrants are: rapist, drug traffickers, live off the welfare and come to the United States to take American’s jobs. Indeed, American employers are hiring, so jobs are there, but the American people are not doing them. Therefore, someone must do the hard labor that no one wants. Many Latinos immigrate to the United States looking towards a better future for their families. They come with a positive perspective that their children are going to have a better life and are not going to experience any injustices. For many decades, white Americans have oppressed and marginalized undocumented immigrants because
Are illegal immigrants or undocumented immigrants beneficial to America’s economy? Most illegal immigrants have a positive impact on the United States (U.S.) economy. Illegal immigrants have a positive impact on the United States economy because they increase our tax revenue, they add to our social security, and they also increase our employment rates.” In 2000, statistics revealed 8.7 million illegal immigrants resided in the United States” (Knickerbocker pgs.11-12). “A study of illegal immigrants living in Texas showed a 420 million dollar increase in the states economy” (Strayhorn). Companies risk hiring illegal immigrants
We all come from different places and ethnicities, and because of having a dream, people fled away from their home to seek for something to make their life better. Going to a country like United States, is not only a dream but also, an opportunity because many people think that America is the best place to settle in, where work, and education are an easy access. Though this statement is partly true, it is not that easy. Everyone envied because America is a great nation because it's a country of opportunity, but a part of it also is a mixture of feelings that are hard to explain especially if you are immigrant. Every day in your life, you are fighting for something in order to fit in and survive. However, in the process of fitting in or blending to a certain place, people, and culture, it requires a lot of personal choices and a lot of effort as an immigrant. It does not only affect you as a human, but also it draws a lot of attention, conflicts and tension between the government and community. Most immigrants have a harder time to adjust or assimilate even though they speak fluent English and eat American foods. Whenever you see a person of white complexion, people assumed that blue eyes and blonde hair are the characteristics of an American, though these are how we perceived American long time ago, this are still the standards of a few now and doesn’t make a big change at all. The judgement of how a person look physically and how they
Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, shares his life-long journey as an undocumented immigrant in his text, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” As the title suggests, Vargas attempts to convey to his audience, who likely never has and never will experience anything similar to what he has, what it is like to live as an immigrant in the United States of America. Skillfully, Vargas details the perfect number of personal stories to reach the emotional side of his audience, which is anyone who is not an immigrant. Through the use of his personal accounts Vargas is able to effectively communicate that immigrants are humans too while simultaneously proving his credibility, as he has experience and a vast amount of knowledge