After reading the short story of the retelling of the robbery that took place at Junot Diaz’s home, written by Junot Diaz, I gained a better understanding of what life could be like when you are an immigrant, reside in a poorer neighborhood, and the many ways that can affect a person. I genuinely enjoyed reading this short story mainly because of the way Junot Diaz narrated his story, and how he did not sugar coat anything in his story. I also could identify with the main charter, being that I also grew up in what could be considered a “bad neighborhood”, so that made this read even more enjoyable. I believe the purpose of Junot Diaz sharing his childhood experiences with un-trust worthy people is to show how poverty can lead people to do things that they would otherwise never do. I feel this way because in his short story he discusses how …show more content…
Another thing that stool out to me was how nonchalant Junot Diaz was when reacting to being robbed. His nonchalant reaction being that, “Everybody gets hit; no matter who you were; eventually it would be your turn”. These feelings of nonchalance later shifted into feels of being targeted by his neighborhood, mainly because he and his family were immigrants. And to pair with that logic, I was also surprised at how “ok” Junot Diaz was with robbing his friends’ home to get his money back. While it can be understandable to want what’s yours returned when it is taken from you, it is hard to imagine what he risked just to get his families money back. Had he been caught he could have been sent to prison and would have had a very different life t6han he does
On reading Drown by Junot Diaz, clearly explains that Junior and Rafa relationship had many similarities and differences to the relationship between Maggie and Dee (Wangero). While at “Ysreal” their location affected their relationship. “In the Capital Rafa and Junior fought a lot that their neighbors took broomsticks to break up the fights, However it was not like that in the campo. While they were at the campo they were friends”. Rafa was the more dominant of both even though he is the oldest and should be setting example.
Julio, on the other hand, lives in highly ethnically diverse Los Angeles as one of the immigrant children devoid of family ties. This immediate environment of family is what Bronfenbrenner calls the microsystem. Luis enjoyed a physical presence and handling of the eleven family members in their home. But for Julio, it was a negative experience when aspect of physical development as she just a mere immigrant without parents around to give her moral support. On a worldwide perspective, both Julio and Luis desire a better world beyond theirs.
Kids in the most disadvantaged neighborhood, with low family resources, bad schools, and neighborhoods characterized by violence are the ones who are being punished unfairly and are not given second chances. This is because of the discrimination and the bias of the criminal justice system against poor African-American communities, which represent a concentrated disadvantage in that case. Moreover it affirms the theory that the poor are more likely to get to prison because there is a bias in arrest such as the neighborhood social class that affects the presence of the police and their arrests. In that case 6th street is considered a neighborhood that represents communities that are disadvantaged, and therefore the presence of police is greater than necessary. Instead of having the resources from outside to ameliorate the conditions of the neighborhood and improve schools or academic institutions, the efforts and resources are being invested in the war against crimes, but without giving an alternative solution for their
The stories of Junot Diaz feature various elements of social and personal issues that are highly prevalent in young Latinx men, primarily the compulsion and adverse effect of machismo, the poignancy of being an outcast in one’s community, and the lack of a father figure in a boy’s life. The first set of short stories prominently feature Ysrael, a Dominican boy whose face was disfigured by a pig when he was an infant. In “Ysrael”, he is the object of Yunior’s fascination, and the victim or Rafa’s (Yunior’s brother) torment.
“Fiesta 1980” father and son. Junot Diaz story “Fiesta 1980” is a story about an immigrant family that came to the US in the hunt for better opportunities. The story includes a myriad number of culturalisms to show that Yunior’s family is still new and that they still conserve their traditions. Nevertheless, Yunior’s family is not so different from many other Hispanic families in the US; a great amount of Hispanics families can be represented by “Fiesta 1980”.
A texan woman, named Sandra Bearden was looking for a maid to complete housework and look after her son, so she traveled into a poor village in Mexico and met Maria. Maria, being only twelve years old, saw this as an opportunity to move to the U.S. and receive better education which produced a better life. Sadly, Maria’s dreams were crushed because Sandra began to take advantage of her both physically and mentally. Her punishments for not working included: pepper spray in the eyes, a bottle broken against her head, jamming garden tools up her private areas,
Many people are undermined by the drawbacks of belonging to a low socioeconomic status. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is raised in a poor, Latino community, causing her to be introduced to poverty at an early age. This introduction of poverty affects Esperanza in many ways, one including that she is unable to find success. Esperanza struggles to achieve success in life because the cycle of poverty restricts her in a position in which she cannot break free from her socioeconomic status.
Many stories embody the cultural aspects of Mexican-Americans and their struggles with living in a discriminatory society. Stories like With
Similarly, in the movie El Norte one of the Chicano waiters who works in the restaurant with Enrique undergoes discrimination from the other Latino works due to what they consider his over-assimilation into U.S. culture (El
Díaz to appeal to the reader’s sense of logic, he first has to set up the environment that he lives in. In the text, he says “Now it wasn’t like I could publicly denounce these dolts or go to the police (2).” This shows that no one in the neighborhood would care about his problem or believe him. This also shows that Mr. Díaz truly believed that the police would not care about his problem which means that the most logical thing to do was to go get the money by himself. Additionally, Mr. Díaz gives the reader a real life scenario where he had to take the law into his own hands.
Also, he shows how cross-class relationships are not really the norm in his story. Diaz argues that socio-economic difference between the rich and the poor in “Monstro” and shows how wealth influences the character of a person and how they live day by day. Diaz argues that the wealthy are immune to the different harms which the poor are more at risk of. He shows this with Alex.
“No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking could undo the year I’ve lived here (Cisneros 106).” This quote shows Esperanza’s unwillingness of accepting her poor neighbourhood because of the violence and inequality that has happened in it. In the House on Mango Street, the author, Sandra Cisneros, shows that there is a direct link between inequality, violence and poverty. The House on Mango Street shows women are held back by the inequalities that they face. Cisneros shows that racism prevents individuals from receiving job opportunities which leads to poverty and violence.
Disappointment. Betrayal. Deceived. All these terms are common themes in the writing of several immigrants during their journey to America. After reading many personal accounts of immigrants and learning about their expeditions to America, it became evident it is not as joyous a ride as many make it seem.
I chose this film because it showed how hard the union workers and families worked in fighting racial injustices, and because it inspired myself to move forward with strong ideologies and pride. 2. Stereotyping in mass media was an important concern of Chicana/o media activists because it imprinted a demeaning label by only casting Chicana/o actors with "minor roles: villains, sidekicks, temptresses, where their main function is to provide the protagonists, typically a handsome white
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.