Themes In The Tortilla Curtain

11.5 million immigrants come into the United States every year. 13.5% of United States population are migrants that leave everything behind and their family to get there, and only 28% of foreign immigrants from Mexico make it to the United States every year. Additionally 64.5% of hondurans are living in poverty, according to The Immigration Policy Institute. Sonia Nazario demonstrates how the matter of immigration affects family values, causes discriminacion and more drug use. Many cultures around the world have different ideas about all of these subjects. But some are stricter or looser than others. In “Enrique’s Journey” she conveys the story of Enrique, the main character. The author also shows how specifically Enrique and his family are

Immigration has been occurring since the dawn of time, People moving from one place to another for better living conditions. Immigration is both good and bad for the country that is involved. People bringing in great new ideas to help grow the country but it can also created over population and less job opportunity for the citizens of the country. These are all mentioned in Plymouth Plantation, Mother Tongue, Balboa, and Blaxicans. Immigrants’ impact on America is both negative and positive depending on the viewpoint of the original culture.

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

Stereotyping has been a problem for society for many years. People believe that stereotyping does not exist because they might not experience it, but little do they know stereotyping has existed for quite some time. In the book Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez illustrates stereotyping toward the Mechicanos who lived in Los Angeles in the 1940s by utilizing external conflict, imagery, and symbolism to show how the Mechicanos suffered through the discrimination by the media and the court.

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.

Immigration is deeply rooted in the American culture, yet it is still an issue that has the country divided. Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco, in their essay, “How Immigrants Became ‘Other’” explore the topic of immigration. They argue that Americans view many immigrants as criminals entering America with the hopes of stealing jobs and taking over, but that this viewpoint is not true. They claim that immigrants give up a lot to even have a chance to come into America and will take whatever they can get when they come. The Suarez-Orozco’s support their argument using authority figures to gain credibility as well as exemplification through immigrant stories. These strategies work on the rhetorical appeals ethos and pathos. Exemplification appeals to pathos by making the audience feel sympathy for the immigrants for what they give up, and authority figures appeal to ethos by giving credibility to an expert, by supporting the argument through strong facts. In this essay, I plan to explore how these rhetorical strategies act on their respective appeals, how this is used to strengthen the Suarez-Orozco’s argument to persuade their audience, as well as explore other sources that may support this claim.

The movie “Real Women Have Curves” tells the story of Ana Garcia, a high school graduate on her way to pursuit the American dream. Ana lives in barrio in Eastern Los Angeles, she is a brilliant student whom teacher really admire. Although she wants to go to college, her family, especially her mother, Carmen, tells her not to. In her mother’s eyes, Ana is a spoiled child who only thinks of herself. As the movie rolls along, the conflict between Ana and Carmen grows larger and Carmen turns into Ana’s biggest obstacle in achieving her American dream. Through this movie, it is important to take notice of how gender, education, class and traditional culture can influence a person’s journey to achieve the American dream.

Culture is an essential part of a community’s identity, because it links individuals to a collective bond. The Americas have always contained a vast variety of cultural communities, especially in the United States. The US is known for being one of the most diverse nations in the world, housing hundreds of different cultures. Mexican-Americans display a strong sense of a cultural background, which falls as a subset of the bigger Latino culture that links all Latinos. Oral history is a major aspect on the Mexican culture, which contributes to the truth of how history in the United States actually happened. Many stories embody the cultural aspects of Mexican-Americans and their struggles with living in a discriminatory society. Stories like With

In the book “The Great Gatsby” the story centers around a character named Gatsby, and the story of his dreams being reached, but there are many hardships that need to be pushed through in order to reach his dream. This dream is something he wants, but can’t reach for it is but a fantasy created to help cope with the reality of the harsh world. This same statement could be used on the dreams of many illegal immigrants, or just people coming to the united states, and that’s the American dream. These two dreams seem to be reachable, by the eyes of the person, but there are many boundaries that are in the way, for the American dream there is the social boundaries, and also racial boundaries. Gatsby has his own boundaries too, because his lover,

A lingering question to many of the less fortunate in America pertains to the existence of the so-called “American dream.” Does this American dream exist and is it attainable? The American dream inspires many immigrants move to America, hoping to better their lives and those of their families. However, in the novel, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich’s attempt achieve the American dream deems it not possibly attainable. Likewise, today, in the twenty-first century, the American dream is still not attainable. Ordinarily, no one would go through such physical and mental challenges to achieve a just barely attainable dream, but many of disadvantaged families still do, even today during the twenty-first century.

In her novel Borderlands, Gloria Anzaldua explores the nuances and complications that come with being a member of the Mexican-American community. Her physical home is the border between Mexico and the United States, but she acknowledges that the “psychological borderlands, the sexual borderlands and the spiritual borderlands are not particular to the Southwest” (Anzaldua 19). “In fact,” she continues, “the Borderlands are physically present wherever two or more cultures edge each other…”(Anzaldua 19). Such is the focus of her text, the often uncomfortable meeting space between mainstream white culture in the United States and the indigenous culture of Mexico. The clashing of these two civilizations is personified in the mestizas, people born of both the United States and Mexico, of which Anzaldua is one. The novel presents readers with the often unheard side of a well-known story: the mestiza’s point of view on the issue of the U.S./Mexico border, as well as their struggle to form an identity when they partially belong to

The article The American Dream Is Dying, by David French, supports the events in the novel The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. The article revolves around Tim, a boy who “everyone just knew was doomed” and “no one was optimistic he’d pull through” (French). Similarly, those who lived on Mango Street were often unable to leave their broken households or abusive relationships, whether it was due to poverty or their inability to end a relationship for good. Both pieces of literature reflected negatively in their depictions of the American Dream. However, both works also seemed to share the idea that “only the American people can bring [the Dream] back from the brink” (French). In Tim’s situation, his church showed up at his house to

The prestigious citizens throughout Arroyo Blanco look down on the immigrants and consider them as weak and useless. They perceived them as they are nothing and unhuman like creatures. The wealth believe minorities and immigrants cannot do anything such as read, write, work, or educate themselves. The majority considers the immigrants as wild animals that are dangerous to the community. “The ones coming in through the Tortilla Curtain down there, those are the one that are killing us. They’re peasants, my friend. No education, no resources, no skills - all they’ve got to offer is a strong back, and the irony is we need fewer and fewer strong backs every day because we’ve got robotics and computers and farm machinery that can do the labor of a hundred men at a fraction of the cost,” (Boyle, 101). Boyle describes how the superior group identifies different races. He uses this throughout the novel to keep a division between the two. The rich does not acknowledge the opposite race and pre- judges them before knowing who they actually are as a human being. Every horrific event that happens to them they put the blame on the immigrants for it. Boyle has his characters voice the frustration that they have throughout the story. Delaney uses his frustration and puts it in his writing in his short story called Pilgrim at Topanga Creek. The coyote is used to portray the

The American Dream, coined by James Truslow Adams, famously stated that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.” Indeed, countless people have been inspired by, and pursued for, the dream of equality, prosperity, and a new beginning. The hired girls in My Antonia and the semplica-girls in “The Semplica-Girl Diaries” are amongst the countless dreamers: immigrating to America in pursuit of prosperity for themselves and their family. However, while the hired girls eventually achieved their dreams, the semplica-girls became items of show, seemingly never able to achieve their dreams. By comparing the two stories, we see that the American Dream does

The American Dream is represented in the two poems, “Ellis Island”, and “So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans.” The poem, “So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans” by Jimmy Baca is about Mexicans coming across the border to America to take jobs away. The author demonstrates that Americans discriminate against the Mexicans thinking their “lazy” and they are stereotypical about them, when all they want to do is make little pay to support their families. Jimmy Baca states, “And you grino, / take off your ring, / drop your wallet into a blanket spread over a ground and walk away.” (Line sjkajs) The author stated this to show the Mexicans are leaving their loved ones and home to live this American dream they wished for, the Mexicans sacrificed