In Munoz 's article "Leave Your Name at the Border," the author sheds light on how names can reflect an individual 's ethnicity and perhaps some negative qualities. Munoz also describes how he saw countless examples of people of similar backgrounds having to change their name to a more Americanized version. Munoz even tells a story of how his stepfather adopted an English name for the respect he would gain from others. He proceeds to further explain how the Anglicization of his stepfathers name, from Antonio to Tony, gave him "a measure of access as he struggled to learn English and get more fieldwork." For Munoz ' stepfather, an English name gave him an American identity—one that many individuals hope will lead them and their families into
Wolf Reading Response Eric Wolf described the Chinese Revolution in comparison to that of the Mexican Revolution. For example, during the Mexican Revolution, there were three main crises. The first was the demographic crisis. The second was the ecological crisis. The third was the crisis in power and authority.
Nieves Sanchez became an ‘illegal alien’ at the age of seven. Encountering the normal language and culture barriers that every immigrant faces. She grew up hearing the stereotypes and stigma what an illegal ‘alien’/immigrant is and what they represent. Now she has no country to really call her own, because this country won’t recognized her and her home country most likely reject her. Mostly all her life she has lived has an illegal immigrant and the burden of being an illegal alien.
In Medranos biography on Americo Paredes he argues the three world’s that Paredes lived in during his years on the border, his years of World War 2 in the Far East, and his scholar years at UT Austin. He uses events that happened in Paredes life from a small child all through his professional career as a professor in several universities across the country. He inspired many to do what he did and gave hope to all the Latinos/Latinas in this country. Medrano uses evidence in his book by beginning with Paredes life as a small child living in the border between Brownsville, TX and Matamoros, Mexico. Paredes was a very intellectual young man who loved his community and his people of Brownsville and Matamoros, he loved to tell stories of the life on the Mexican border.
Richard Rodriguez’s claim about a person's identity is the using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a identity. Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were being “welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture. “ (136-137). Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were welcomed when they were identified by their culture. Richard Rodriguez also says “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and I want to be Chinese.“
“But for now Danny’s happy right where he is. Sitting on the train tracks. With his best friend. Watching a sunrise.”(de la Peña 247) Finding inner peace and knowing where one belongs brings many new obstacles, relationships, and hidden secrets.
Soul of a Citizen has introduced us to many individuals who have taken upon themselves to make changes happen. Whether it was being involved in programs, introducing us to new programs, or learning from others’ inspiring actions, we can all use the inspiration within this book to encourage us to act responsibly as a citizen. These actions mimic the Franciscan values that are wrapped around many organizations and schools. One such individual highlighted in this book was Virginia Ramirez. Virginia, a Hispanic woman, who stayed at home with her children, never finished college.
In the passage “Leave Your Name at the Border” the author Mr. Muñoz states that he is a Mexican-American from Dinoba, California, a small town near Fresno. The author primarily focuses on how birth names and acquired nicknames affect immigrants, he criticizes forced assimilation by referencing various personal experiences which include five major points, he begins by mentioning observations he and his mother made suggesting that some immigrants try to appear more fair-skinned and use Anglicized pronunciations in order to fit in or assimilate, he also notices that traditional Mexican names were being phased out and replaced by “American” names within his family and among his hometown friends this signifies how assimilation can erase another
After watching the movie “A Class Apart: A Mexican American Civil Rights Story”, I realized that I didn’t know much about how Mexico lost part of their land to the United States and about how hard life used to be for Mexican Americans compared to now. I learned about how Mexican Americans were treated in the United States. The movie was mainly about how Mexican Americans were discriminated and they were treated as inferior people. They were not seen as actual “Americans”, but as a second class, calling them names like “shiftless, lazy, dumb, etc.” Another important thing I learned is who was Gus García and what he did for Mexican Americans.
Assimilation is usually meant to indicate what happens to immigrants in a new land. However, “rejection, loneliness, discrimination—these were the byproducts of living in the United States” (Ghymn 37). In Marilyn Chin’s essay on assimilation “How I Got That Name,” the speaker acquaints the readers how she got the American name “Marilyn.” The tension between the two cultures is evident, for the speaker is treated as “Model Minority.” Her race and ethnicity define her; in fact, the stereotypes inscribed with her race restricted and cage her significance in the society.
At first, the social peculiarity given to me by my migration status and language limitations made me a victim of bullying, which made me want to go back to the safety and similarity of my home country. However, the persistent nature engraved in me by my parents did not allow me to give in to the constant discriminatory voices that kept telling me that I would never be "American" enough.
Leon, Leila’s stepfather in Bone, by Fae md ng, is an inventor and a collector. He entered America through Angel Island in San Francisco and assumed the identity of Grandpa Leong’s son in order to enter the country. He had to assume another identity, and keeps heaps of paper records to keep track of his names. Paper sons illegally entered the country by claiming relation to a current American citizen.
Richard Rodriguez and Gloria Anzaldúa are two authors who both immigrated to America in the 1950s and received first hand experience of the assimilation process into American society. During this time, Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had struggled adjusting to the school system. Since understanding English was difficult, it made adjusting to the American school system increasingly difficult for Rodriguez. Whereas Anzaldúa, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to America’s school system due to the fact that she didn’t wish to stop speaking Spanish even though she could speak English. Both Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had points in their growing educational lives where they had to remain silent since the people around them weren’t interested in hearing them speaking any other language than English.
narrator thinks of herself as American, not so much Japanese was her friend and the United States government does. Her identity is based on what she likes of her experiences, not so much for heritage. Cisneros 's narrator sees herself as very clearly different from her Mexican grandmother. But others charge for others Mexican
In the short story “ The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez, the lifestyle of a migrant worker is portrayed as discouraging. Migrant workers have to move often. After a long day of picking strawberries, Panchito returns home to find that “Everything [he] owned was neatly packed in cardboard boxes.” he “suddenly felt even more the weight of hours, days, weeks, and months of work.” (1) Moving often is discouraging because everything that you have built at your current location is taken away.
Cathy Linh Che’s “Go Forget Your Father” can be seen to revolve around one word, similar to many other poems. Although used only once throughout the poem, the word “grudges” is the focus of Che’s topic. The word is seen when Che states,”I held grudges like tiny fists of sand, / then, let go” (16-17). These two lines show how the speaker rarely holds grudges for a long period of time. The speaker further proves this by talking about a previous lover in the second section of the poem.