In Reyna Grande’s compelling memoir, The Distance Between Us, she vividly recounts her life and journey from Mexico to the ‘El Otro Lado,’ the United States. Grande grew up in Iguala, Guerroro, a small town in the heart of Mexico. She and her family were brought up in extreme poverty and thus, her parents left for the United States in order to support them. Grande and her siblings were forced to live with their stern, disapproving grandmother and often faced difficulties because of their abusive and impoverished environment. Abandoned by both parent, the three siblings endure various hardships with the hope of a window of opportunity opening for their family. Even through trial, hardship, and pain, selfless individuals will exhibit their abiding …show more content…
Originally, she gets a job at the train station in order to pay for her additional school uniform, but when Betty gets hurt, she works to pay for her medication and states she doesn’t want “her little sister getting any scars on her face” (116). When Betty first entered their household, Mago did not like her at all because she symbolized the reason why her family could never be together. Betty was born in the United States and is an American citizen. Her birth also means that Mago’s beloved parents would never need to leave ‘El Otro Lado.’ In contrast, when Betty bawling when their mother left again, Mago “was the one who picked her up and held her” even though she had a “dislike for [her]” (93). At that moment, Mago empathized with Betty because it was official that all four were betrayed and abandoned by their parents. Mago endeavors in order to support her family. She surpasses what a sister in a traditional, healthy family would do for their …show more content…
Their family’s dysfunctionality is often highlighted by the weight illegal immigration carries and how burdened they children feel in regards to their family. Mago provides the unconditional love and support Reyna needed in order to grow up to be as successful as her is now. When Grande’s father comes to Mexico, he originally plans to only bring back Mago, but she sternly declares that she “won’t go… if [he doesn’t] take Reyna” (149). Mago was more than prepared to spend the rest of life in Mexico instead of America if it meant that Reyna would be by her
Gloria Anzaldúa's personal experience growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was inspiration for Borderlands, which was published in 1987. In this highly acclaimed work, she explores the effects of the Mexican-American border on her self-identification as mixed race, Chicana, a woman, and a lesbian. Shunned from each of these groups, Anzaldúa creates a new mestiza identity which both allows for and encourages a synthesis of disparate elements of identity into a synergistic whole. A mestiza is a woman of mixed Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native American descent. This consciousness which encourages opposition and contradiction is made necessary by the conditions created by the geographical, political, and psychological border.
She explains how at a young age she had to help her grandma and begins to recall memories of her grandmother and share them with the readers. Both stories highlight the lives of Mexican women that live in the United States and bring focus to the challenges they face in balancing the expectations of their own culture with those of a different society. The theme of both stories is the cultural struggles along with the ability to maintain their own identities at the same time all while having the pressure weighed on them when fitting society's expectations. Both stories express the gender norms and the oppression that are placed on both women from each story by having Cleofilas be in an abusive marriage and Ana is expected to live up to the religious/cultural expectations set on her. The settings in which the stories take place are important due to the fact that they are both
In hard times sacrifices must be made in order to determine the moral characters of an individual in their society
The Children’s Blizzard shows many acts of selflessness. Selflessness means, steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. However, selflessness has some connotative definitions as well such as: death, sacrifice, heroism, protecting, bravery, endurance, or
Naturally, the Maginot line isn’t someone who they’d be fond of having around their children. Early on Claudia and Frieda are at Pecola’s house looking for her but instead encounter Maginot line who they quickly tell they can’t go in her home. They simply were following their mother rules and their mother made the rules by listening to those around her. Showing the reader just how taboo the people thought Maginot Line was. They didn’t want Maginot Line to have any type of influence over the way their children act or talk.
In Central America, some parents leave their children, and set out a journey to the United States in hopes of making a better life for them. Throughout the years, the children who are left behind eventually go on a journey to be reunited with their family. On the journey, the children acquire many character traits and skills that ultimately make them grow as a person. In the book by Sonia Nazario titled Enrique’s Journey, author Nazario writes about Enrique, a young Honduran boy, who goes on a long and strenuous trip to find his mother. In the article “Desperate Voyagers,” by Ioan Grillo, it talks on the subject of children fleeing their country due to gang violence.
Enrique’s Journey is a real life story based on a son and his mother having to be seperated from one another due to the migration of the mother to the United State. Enrique’s mother Lourdes left Enrique in their hometown of Honduras at the age of 5, Enrique was devastated he could not handle the pain of being without his mother. After being separated from each other for 11 years Enrique was confident and gained all the strength inorder for him to reunite with his mother whether he has to make the dangerous odyssey of crossing through the border. Family abandonment leads to unimaginable repercussions. Lourdes reason behind leaving her family was to provide a better future for her children.
In the short story “ Aguantando” he shows us an independent women who is willing to do anything to make a better future for his sons despite their social economics situation. The mother of Yunior is a strong female role who in this story did not depend on any men, not even the father of her sons to move along with their lives. She worked hard to provide for her sons, she try to remain strong and she tried to keep herself strong despite all the problems that surrounded her. This comes to show that Diaz was not afraid of showing a strong independent women in his stories and that like men women can be independent human
Sonia Nazario’s book Enrique’s Journey follows a young man on his journey from the Honduras to the United States in search of his mother, who left when he was only five years old, in hopes of providing a better life for her children. Throughout the novel, Nazario recounts the struggles that Enrique faced along the way, both physical and mental. Enrique made eight attempts to get to the United States, enduring several beatings, days without food, fear of corrupt local authorities, and the perils of riding aboard a dangerous train for hundreds of miles. In the end, he must overcome these obstacles, as well as his own vices and internal struggles, to finally see his mother.
The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature
Situated near the U.S.-Mexico border during the early twentieth century is the fictional setting of Fort Jones, the outskirts of which is where Americo Paredes’ short story “Macaria’s Daughter” takes place. Emblematic of the disappropriation of Mexican land, as well as the increased marginalization of the Mexican people, the overbearing presence of Fort Jones reveals the struggle for preservation that characterizes the Mexican-American community of the story. “Macaria’s Daughter” is the tragic account of what happens in a small community when the upholding of Mexican values and institutions, and opposition to Anglo-American culture, become more important than a young woman’s life. In this essay, I will argue that “Macaria’s Daughter” is a text
My most rewarding accomplishment consists of my ability to overcome the fear and weakness that was conceived upon my arrival to the United States from Mexico, in addition to a newly evolved character which allowed me to achieve academic, professional, and personal success. Nearly seven years ago, my mother and I immigrated from a harsh economic climate in Mexico that was plagued with unemployment. Additionally, our family faced bankruptcy. While holding onto our faith, we left our hometown with only what we could carry and bought two one-way bus tickets. With nothing more than fear, two bags, and $50 in each of our pockets, we set out for what would be the most challenging journey of our lives.
As I ponder over my life, each memory seems identical to the other, and I find myself drifting through a reality of similar events that generate the same memories and emotions. Looking back further into my childhood includes memories of my homeland. I remember entering a new world at the age of five, where all of my later memories would be formed. This was when my family moved to the United States from Peru, my native country in the South. The complete change in culture and values truly impacted me when I first moved to Florida, and I reflect over the significant effect it has had on my character during the last thirteen years of my life.
As a young child, after being told of how poor her houseboy Fido was, Adichie did not believe his family could also be hardworking. “Their poverty was my single story of them. ”(Adichie) She also details how later, on a trip to Guadalajara she was overwhelmed with shame because her only image of Mexicans was the “abject immigrant” due to the “…endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system, sneaking across the border, being arrested at the border, that sort of thing.” (Adichie)a She was caught by surprise when she saw Mexicans happy and at work in the marketplace.
Pecola is challenged by the idea that her mother prefers her work life, that they have an outdated house, and that she does not look like the Shirley Temple doll with blue eyes. Morrison went into great detail when describing the elegance and beauty that was present in the Fisher home, to demonstrate that those who do not fit into the ideal American life often feel shame. The Breedlove family lived a very simple life, and in no way did they fit into what society believed to be correct. Mrs. Breedlove was the only member of the family that truly understood what the American Dream looked like. The work that she did for the Fishers lead her to envy the American Dream.