Transcultural Immigrants’ experience can be describes as being transcultural, meaning their experiences from their country (including cultural signifiers) are translated or transported to the mew country they live in. During the transcultural experience, people can be changed by the new culture, and they also bring some their own traditional culture to the new environment. In 1990s, a lot of Latinos leave their countries to come to the United States because of the civil war. Hector Tobar’s book The Tattooed soldier tells a story of a Guatemalan refugee Antonio who comes to live in Los Angeles. His wife and son were killed by the government army. Antonio has to escape from his country because he could be killed too. After the murder, the sergeant …show more content…
It is an important sigh of transcultural experience. In Hector Tobar’s book The Tattooed Soldier, after the murder, the Soldier comes to live in Los Angeles, and he finds a job in an express company. One day, he meets a demonstration team, these people are fighting for the freedom of Guatemala and El Salvador. Longoria wants to stop those people, but he doesn’t know how to handle those people in Los Angeles. Longoria said, “In Guatemala we knew how to handle these people. In Los Angeles they are allowed to operate freely. In Los Angeles we couldn’t stop them” (68). In his country, soldiers could kill a person without going to jail. They have guns and privilege, and they could treat people like animals. But the United States is a country under the rule of law, they couldn’t kill people anymore. The soldier has been changed by the new country. According to Toabr’s book, Longoria has a yellow jaguar military tattoo. One day an old lady finds he is a former Jaguar soldier who might kill her son by the soldier’s military tattoo, Tobar …show more content…
‘I’ve seen this before.’ ‘It’s a jaguar, senora.’ The expression on her face changed from curiosity to horror. ‘You are one of those, one of those soldiers, aren’t you?’ She dropped his arm and grabbed his shirt and started yellowing. ‘Maton! Murderer! Maton!’ (160) The jaguar tattoo is a culture signifier in Guatemalan, and it means danger and fear. But people are not afraid of the tattoo anymore, the tattoo becomes a mark that makes those victims find he is a killer in Guatemala. In his country, the tattoo is a sign of privilege, they could kill people without getting any punish. But now he couldn’t hurt people anymore in the United States, and he just a normal immigrant in here. The tattoo translates into a new meaning in the United States, and it changes him forever. Latino immigrants also bring their own culture to the new country. In Tobar’s other book Translation Nation, Tobar meets a Latin local soccer league founder Flocelo Aguirre in Dalton, Tobar
Downtown Los Angeles is one of the busiest commercial centers in the United States. However, the city holds two groups of people in different economic level-the homeless and the working class. Hector Tobar frequently includes the landscape of the setting in downtown Los Angeles in The Tattooed Soldier. The novel is about two immigrants from Guatemala who have moved to Los Angeles. The protagonist, Antonio, takes a revenge on the antagonist, Longoria because he murdered Antonio's wife and son when he was a Guatemalan soldier. Tobar applies a number of metaphors to connect the buildings and freeways in downtown to Antonio's position in the city. Buildings, freeways, and shadows are metaphors for Antonio's economic and social status.
Central America has seen tragic events happen to their people, but none as the stories in …after… and The Tattooed Soldier have to share. The main characters in the two books share many themes as they both struggle to survive during the war. This is one of the worst times for Guatemala people because they are left in poverty and the individuals are in the middle of everything trying to survive. They share stories looking back at the war and show how they got to where they are now, while others are telling a story as they live through the war. People died because of some form of mark or symbol that they carried with them during the war or because of someone they were, and this led them to their death. During that time two things are connected
Latinos who were raised in the United States of America have a dual identity. They were influenced by both their parents' ancestry and culture in addition to the American culture in which they live. Growing up in between two very different cultures creates a great problem, because they cannot identify completely with either culture and are also caught between the Spanish and English languages. Further more they struggle to connect with their roots. The duality in Latino identity and their search for their own personal identity is strongly represented in their writing. The following is a quote that expresses this idea in the words of Lucha Corpi, a Latina writer: "We Chicanos are like the abandoned children of divorced cultures. We are forever longing to be loved by an absent neglectful parent - Mexico - and also to be truly accepted by the other parent - the United States. We want bicultural harmony. We need it to survive. We struggle to achieve it. That struggle keeps us alive" ( Griwold ).
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
...country like the United States and how some must suffer to become and overcome differences and one must be assimilated into the American culture. The author admitted that when he saw other Hispanic students and teachers on campus striving to maintain their ethnicity and culture by demanding such things as Chicano studies departments and minority literature classes, and this was no obstacle for Rodriguez in his life, he became successful, a literature genius, a social thinker, and more importantly he never forgot from where he came from, he was proudly Hispanic, he was a proud Mexican.
Ruben Salazar’s early life has a lot influential impact to the community of Los Angeles. Just like Salazar, many immigrants who live in Los Angeles also come to face the struggle of being able to fit in to this new world they call home. Salazar was born on March 3, 1928 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Just a few months later his parents decided to come to the United States just like many to seek better opportunities. Salazar’s Famil...
Throughout the article, Irwin refers to the idea of tattoos with the common assumptions that were associated with like a low status social class and surrounded by a stigma of lacking sense and basic elegance. Tattoos were often once associated with stereotypes such as “dangerous” outcasts that had often associated with this form of body modification. The phenomenon of tattoos started as a sort of strange and more unique practice (as it wasn’t as common) that was surrounded mostly by stigma. Meaning it was focused around
Tattoos in Ancient Polynesian traditions marked the various ranks and statuses of people (Losch). This is the case with anything; we assign meaning to different things. An example of this is a suit. Traditionally, suits are associated with people who have positions of power. Hoodies, on the other hand, can be worn by anyone. It traditionally means comfort and is in no way associated with power or professionalism. But what if a CEO, such as Mark Zuckerberg, wears a hoodie? Contrary to popular belief, people violate norms…seem powerful (Hutson). There is power is breaking social norms. Therefore, although tattoos are traditionally associated with criminals in Western culture, this nonconformity and breaking of rules will actually make the person seem more powerful. Tattoos are a powerful symbol. Although each tattoo is unique in design, overall, the person who wears them is seen as rebellious. The trick to changing society’s mind about this is to accept the fact that tattoos are rebellious; but this does not have to necessarily mean that they are bad. What makes a tattoo bad is the person underneath the tattoo. The parts of the body are quite distinguishable from the self (Mead). This means that the body is a separate entity from a person’s true self. Therefore, in order to change someone’s mind about tattoos they must get to know a portion of a person’s self before deeming them to be bad. They cannot just judge a person as being bad based on their body. Once they get to know a person’s self, then their previously held ideas about the person will be deconstructed along with the reality that tattoos are inherently
The sense of alienation is something that especially stings when it is felt toward something that was once equated to a sense of home and belonging. Anzaldúa delves into the hardships that come with being forced to abandon one’s mother tongue by describing how it not only chips away at the linguistic ability of an individual but also their sense of self. She describes the internalized inadequacy many chicanas who grow up speaking Chicano Spanish feel. This feeling mastitis and they seem to avoid contact with other chicana’s in fear that they will be forced to acknowledge the deep rooted shame they hold for, in their opinion and that of others, not speaking spanish very well. All their life they were belittled for their language and as they grow and utilize a combination of both, Chicano Spanish, they continue to be devalued. The feeling of belonging wholly to one or more parts is absent leaving an ambiguous sensation towards both anglo and latinx sides especially the latinx side. While belonging is partial Anzaldúa explains that it is not complete nor a permanent feeling. Anzaldúa (1987) illustrates this by sharing that, “When watching Mexican movies, I felt a sense of homecoming as well as alienation,”(p. 60). In something that should feel natural and comfortable there underlies a feeling of dejected estrangement. In being pushed to fit the mold chicanx individuals were
Tattoo” can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. One way to interpret the poem is the tattoo is used as imagery to explain how old men are constantly trying to live the way they did when they were young. This is very ostensible in the poem, but this is not the main issue the speaker is addressing in the poem. The issue the speaker explains is how time changes a person. Another way to perceive this poem is that tattoos tell a personal story about the person. Many people excoriate others because they decided to get a tattoo. Some tattoos are important and represent something meaningful, while there are some that are drunken mistakes. The tattoo can be seen as an emblem of manhood. Machismo and the tattoo are diminished with age. In “Tattoo”,
Certain patterns were applied to more wealthy or ranked individuals but also to the common man, just in a more subdued version. Not only was it about wealth and power, tattoos also served as a form of spiritual armor or protection. It is almost like wrapping the body in spiritual armor. Another example is priests who were very much trained in this art form applied the tattoos during rituals, chants, or ceremonies. The Marquesas Island tattoo involved black, carbon-based pigment under the skin with a bird-bone tattooing comb or chisel and mallet.
Many times throughout his book, he continually talks about how he was lonely in prison. He couldn’t see, talk, or touch his family. So in order for him to not feel so lonely he began to tattoo himself with things that reminded him of his family. Now, it wasn’t any minor tattoos he had both of his arms tattooed, as well as his chest legs and back. He did it to keep his sanity, and remind himself of the people that love him outside of the big concrete “house” he had been in jail the majority of his life. He wasn’t so much trying to live up to the reputation of a criminal. He got tattoos for his own personal sanity. He needed something that he could see every day to remind him of the people he has at home rooting for him. There are many criminals that are just like him. Who express their selves through art work, which too many is considered as tattoos. They see tattoos as their masterpiece, creations, and artwork. For many who might not have a voice to tell their story, their tattoos can tell their story. As well as the ones who need a little encouragement every day. One of my coaches is an example of that. Even though he isn’t a criminal, he has tattoos that help him on his lowest days. He has tattoos across his feet that read “Keep Your Head up”. I’m sure that many convicts might need the same encouragement that my coach needs, as a reminder, never to give up and keep going. This scenario would
When reading passages from author Tomas Rivera, we have read several stories about immigrants and their way of life and experiences. What has not been discussed in any of the readings, is the American view. All of the stories are about people of different ethnicities and how they were trying to make a better life for themselves and their family. Some of the passages provide an insight on how the characters felt and how their religions and practices played a part in their everyday lives.
Immigration is a passionate and never ending topic that is discuss throughout America and the world. When the topic of immigration pops up, racism and poverty are sure to follow into the conversation bringing the once goal of the United States, known as “The American Dream” to a terrifying reality. In the novel we see the main character, who has immigrated to America with his family, struggle in his life with drugs, poverty and his father being absent for most of his life. The stories are spilt up into almost random selection of Yuinor’s life. Though, after reading the book, the reader starts to realize that Diaz is painting a bigger picture of immigration this way. Diaz illustrates what immigration i...
This factor caused numerous migrants to leave their homeland, to break free from the authorities' clutches. Generally, symbolism is an object representing another to give it a uniquely distinct meaning that is much profound and more significant.