In conclusion, through Gary Soto’s usage of powerful imagery, precise descriptions, and an absence of rhythm, he evokes a sense of sympathy for the community where he grew up while telling a beautiful story. “Oranges,” “The Seventieth Year,” and “Avocado Lake,” showcase Soto’s ability to move a reader using an emotional story without the use of rhyme or rhythm. Through Soto’s poetry, he indicates the traits that define Mexican-American community
Communication is a critical foundation of every relationship; without it the relationship is deemed unsuccessful. Unsuccessful communication can result in constant tension, power inequalities and disagreements. Relational Dialectics is a communication theory, formed by Leslie Baxter and Barbara Montgomery, in which personal relationships are judged upon the management of tension produced by contradictory forces. (Thrift, 2017). Each of the contradictory forces contain two components, an internal source, between the individuals in the relationship and and external source, which is interference from the outside world. The film Safe Haven (Bowen, Hallström, 2013), illustrates the successful use of the contradictory forces, as well as how to manage the tensions of selection, separation, neutralization and reframing set out by the theory of Relational Dialectics. Communication in romantic relationships may pose challenges among significant others when learning how to allude the tensions unexpected realities put upon them. Relational Dialectics, demonstrated by the characters of Katie and
The book, Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua is considered a semi-autograph. Anzaldua uses some of her stories to explain her points which are included in the first part of the book. However, she also uses poems and prose as sources which are located in the second part of the book. Anzaldua uses her stories, poems and prose to explain the division among Mexican cultures or language, gender and sexual orientation.
Throughout the reading, Anzaldúa constantly switched between the Spanish and English language. I believe the switching or languages has a decoding effect on people. The author wants her audience to be more engaged. If the reader doesn’t understand the language, they are more likely to either research or use the surrounding text to understand what Anzaldúa is talking
Mericans written by Sandra Cisneros is a short story in which the internal struggles of being bilingual and bicultural are discussed and analyzed. Through the use imagery, point of view, symbolism, characterization, and character transformation the reader gleans the theme of the story. Furthermore, Sandra Cisneros addresses border identity, crossing the border, and knowing or not knowing that one’s home lies in two countries. The story uses narrative first person point of view and is told through the eyes of the protagonist Micaela. The successful execution of the entire story allows the reader to see the attitude changes from the main character throughout the story from beginning to end. The mix of Spanish and English words throughout the
John’s book, like all others, holds various strengths and weaknesses. Largely, St. John’s thesis is supported by offering a varying look at the borderlands throughout multiple decades and discussing the progression of change as it occurred across eras and regions. St. John provides interesting historical details that would otherwise probably not be known to the reader, such as her statement in the Introduction that the desert border running from west of El Paso to the Pacific Ocean did not conform to any previously existing geographic features. This fact, like others provided in “Line in the Sand,” might not seem interesting but indeed is in the sense that it forces the reader to consider it and to contextualize it based on what the reader knows of the border. For example, reading this fact, I was forced to contemplate how the border boundary was formed west of Texas and how the line that is in place to day came to be. In Texas, the Rio Grande provides an easy natural barrier, but to the west, there were no rivers marking boundaries or any formation that could be used to create a border line. It was interesting to me to learn more about how the western part of the border was drawn, and this process of interesting quote and contemplation occurred various times while reading. To be able to connect with your reader and force them to consider things they might not have considered before is definitely a strength of St. John’s
Tough in the legal level Mexican-origin people was regarded as white people, who had the full citizen rights back to the 20th century, Mexican-origin people was actually treated as the second class citizen in America who didn’t have the full access to the citizenship. The author, Jennifer R. Nájera delivers an entertaining and thoughtful account of the evolvement of racial problems among Mexican-origin people in the South Texas. The book, The Borderlands of Race, is a historical ethnography that demonstrates the suffering and resistance of Mexican-origin people following a chronical order and analyzes the Mexican segregation in the South Texas. Using interviews and local archives together with arguments
Selena Quintanilla’s father once said, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans.” In today’s society, many have encountered the challenge of not being able to be who they really are because they fear not being accepted by others, more specifically their culture. But, what happens when an individual is part of two worlds that have just as many rules? Gloria E. Anzaldúa was a Mexican-American writer and poet who made a major contribution to the fields of cultural, feminist, and queer theory. Anzaldúa identifies as a Chicana and speaks different variations of Spanish, some of which she exhibits in her works. In her short story “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, she centers on the struggles of self-identity that
Ever since the conquistadors had conquered Mexico, the life and culture of many modern Mexicans has been altered by Spain. From the design and organization of towns and cities to religion to class system, Spain has definitely made an impression on Mexico. One of the first imprint the Spanish made was leveling the native temples and then putting their Catholic churches and administrative buildings on top. To me, it’s as they - the Spanish are stating their religion - Catholicism - is superior to theirs. Secondly, the Spaniards used the local people as slaves to build their churches and their government buildings. The fact that they took advantage of these people in their own land is just upsetting. Another thing the Spanish did was they “built” a church in the center of every town while all the important
Culture: the beliefs, customs, art, etc. of a particular society. Being a part of a culture is amazing, diverse, and interesting until the conflict from being a part of more than one culture becomes involved. This type of conflict can even change the way you see your culture.
‘Lo Mexicano’ is a phrase-turned-concept in 20th century Mexican philosophy. The term literally translates to “the Mexican,” however, it is also used to superficially describe the identity of the Mexican individual. The notion came about after the revolution; the phrase was meant to emphasize and unite Mexico as an independent people. Today, the phrase is understood as an all encompassing term for “mexicanness,” or that which makes someone a true mexican.
The American Dream differs from person to person. Every dream consists of striving towards success for a better future. In The Tortilla Curtain, T.C Boyle delves into what the American Dream is to the middle class American family, the Mossbacher’s, and to the illegal immigrant family, the Rincon’s. Throughout the story, it becomes apparent that that the ability for the poverty-stricken Rincon family to achieve their dream is unrealistic. The American Dream is presented to be close to unobtainable to those who need it the most through the use of the coyote, the Arroyo Blanco community, and Cándido’s luck.
From the start, it is clear that T.C. Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain aims to shed a light on the topic of Mexican immigrants in the United States. However, by having both a Mexican and an American woman share similar violent experiences with men, Boyle also places an emphasis on the less pronounced theme of sexual violence and discrimination against women, even in polar opposite realities.
A community that feels beleaguered patrols its borders and reserves its cruelest punishment for “traitors”. It over-emphasizes centripetal belonging at the expense of centrifugal curiosity. “They were the ones who said she was guilty of the unforgivable thing – the thing for which there was no understanding, no excuse, no compassion.
Pablo Neruda's choice of diction and literary devices combine to give off a very calm and soft tone. Neruda, throughout the piece conveys a sense of calmness using sounds and words such as: “sea”, “me”, and “waves . Each of these words fly off of the tongue with ease and grace, similar to how the seas waves are. Neruda creates the image of being near the sea by his diction by choosing words with smooth sounds such as: “me” ,”rose”, “foam”, and “vast”. These words create the soft sounds like what we would see at the sea and that was Neruda’s goal. His vision was not only that we can imagine the sea by the sounds used, but to physically see it with our own eyes by the structure of the poem.