Gary Soto's Like Mexicans: Personal Experiences
My decision to write in response to Gary Soto's work, “Like Mexicans” was influenced for the most part because of the similarities between myself and
Gary Soto, and our families included. Gary Soto is a Mexican American male, who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley in the industrial part of a town called Fresno.
His grandparents came to this Great Valley in search of creating a better life for themselves and their families. I am also a Mexican American male who was born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley in a small town called Porterville. My grandparents migrated with their children, my mother, father, and their brothers and sisters in hopes of creating a better life for themselves as well. At the time economic betterment meant working as a hired slave for minimal income and keeping your mouth shut. After all, you were nothing more than a wetback who came to America to reap her benefits.(This ludicrous ideology is still present today) Gary Soto's grandparents and my grandparents, although they ma y be a generation behind one another, I am sure were exposed to many of the same hardships and or social barriers. It was not uncommon back then as it is not uncommon today for Mexican families with minimal work skills to be forced into the fields to work with their children alongside in hopes of escaping poverty.
For the most part such families remained poverty stricken due to unfair and illegal wages and work conditions. However irrelevant this all may sound, facing similar hardships or obstacles will often create a sense of unity among those who are affected by such conditions. In short, I feel that not only do Gary Soto and I share a common ethnic origin, but all that comes with our origin, be it pride, shame, or ideology.
"Like Mexicans" is a short story in which Gary Soto is constantly being reminded that he should marry his own kind. His own kind being one of Mexican descent, and of poverty and refraining from others, especially “Okies” as his grandmother used to always say. Soto ends up marrying a Japanese woman, not a
Mexican. But he still has to deal with his internal struggle and acceptance of this choice. One cannot be looked down upon for questioning oneself and the decisions one makes, especially when it comes to marrying after being raised in a household that reinforced the belief , “Marry Your Own”. My mother and my father never told me that I should marry one of my own.
The Europeans who claimed what was to become America chose to integrate the land's present inhabitants and future immigrants in order to become the dominating race and, consequently, made other cultures feel inferior to their own. The Angel family, Mexican-Indian immigrants and the subject of Arturo Islas' Migrant Souls, becomes victim to the Americans' forceful demands for conformity. While Sancho, the father, never complains about assimilation, yet never becomes fully "assimilated," his wife, Eduviges, strives to be a part of the American culture. These conflicting reactions and the existing prejudice in the community leave their daughter, Josie, uncertain of her true identity.
‘A Fabricated Mexican’ is a novel by Ricky Rivera in which he chronicles his life as he grows from a child farm worker to a Ph.D. candidate. He takes us through his journey in his search for his personal identity. In the book we find that his journey has not been an easy one. This difficult journey is due to many factors, most importantly the people who have surrounded him during this journey.
Pennsylvania in the western part of the state. Dan grew up in Parkview Avenue in
“The conquest of Western America through the U.S.-Mexico War of 1846-48 forged a new pattern of racialized relations between conquerors, conquered, and the numerous immigrants that settled in the newly acquired territory” (1). In the novel, “Racial Fault Lines” by Tomas Almaguer I am going to identify the Mexican experience in nineteenth-century Anglo California and how it differed significantly from that of other racialized groups.
because they could not speak english, they could not buy food and making friends. The
Illegal immigrants has many background stories about how they survived through the journey and afterward. No one really knows about their life story until people actually read about them or know them in person. Many people leave their family members and come to the United States just for better job, education and life in general. Jose Antonio Vargas is also an illegal immigrant who came to the United States as a child with a stranger, leaving his mother behind. He didn’t know that he was an illegal immigrant until he went to get his driver 's license. Ever since he was ashamed of himself and wanted to reveal himself. That’s why he wrote an essay called “my life as an undocumented immigrant” in the New York Times magazine to tell everyone that he is an
All addictions can be dangerous and harmful to the addicted person and others around him; however, video game addiction can be particularly detrimental to children. Video games are becoming increasingly popular with children of young ages, which in turn may raise...
The bigger picture of low wages and in effect, low production costs should be considered. As the wage rates decrease, the whole population benefits from it by paying low prices for construction, agricultural produce, restaurant meals and cleaning services. It is estimated that because of illegal immigrants, an average American’s wealth is increased; though that increase is remarkably small and accounts for not more than 1 percent (Davidson, 2006).
I was born in Walnut Creek, California on a hot summer afternoon in the year of 1996. When I was only a few weeks old, my mother left my father for good
I come from a small family of three. My family is composed of my mom, Sandra, my dad, Matt, and myself. We live in the small town of Crawford, Texas. My parents moved to Crawford from College Station, Texas in 1995. I was born in November of 1996, and have lived in Crawford my entire life. My mom and dad have been exceptional role models, and with their love and support, they have shaped me into who I am today.
In "Like Mexicans" by Gary Soto, it begins with the statement, “Again I dream” and then further explains a descriptive detail of a meal that only existed through his mind of imagination because of his economic stance. One of the primary points in the poem is the critique of poverty stricken culture of several Mexican and Mexican-American families. An example of the most compelling lines of the poem is his concluding two lines: “let the day end and us begin, the fork, the knife, the plate, all useless.” The selection of words highlights a compelling portrait of himself fantasizing the world where hunger is not prevalent to him, but shortly understands it was an escape and represents a harsh reality of no purpose to have kitchen utensils because
The U.S. govemment has faced the struggle for various decades to put an end to unauthorized immigration from Mexico and into the United States. Immigration as a whole has increased from 71,877,120 in 1960 to 213,316,418 in 2010 according to the data created and also reported by the World Bank. The government has made multiple attempts to stop the immigration process by implementing harsher measures along the U.S. and Mexico border and at work sites across the entire country. These measures however, have failed to end unauthorized immigration as a whole as immigrants still find a way to sneak by, settle, and make a living.. Americans who have a reason to oppose immigration argue that the safety and the strength of the nation’s economy are greatly threatened. However, strong supporters argue that instead of damaging and putting the economy at risk they provide a more stable environment.
According to Shirley & Levy (2013), “The term ethnicity is a cultural heritage shared by people with a common ancestral origin, language, traditions and often religion” (p.3). In other words, the person that I am today has been shaped by my past; I have become an heir of a culture, language, religion and tradition that makes up who I am and from what ethnic group I belong. As a result, my shared cultural background determines the type of foods, family relations, patterns of communication, values and beliefs that I hold. Furthermore, I was told that my descendants shared their rich heritage from the African and Indian descent. At first, this information made me believe that I had to be in Africa or India to be a partaker of their culture. However, growing up in Grenada gave me the opportunity of
I have experienced some negative effects of games like a decrease in academics, but I still manage to get A’s and B’s in my classes because I learned how to prioritize days for me to study for exams instead of playing games. Academics argue that games can be beneficial in other domains of Personal Well-being besides mere enjoyment. Games should be studied for how and when they provide immediate psychological satisfactions. In addition, only moderate play supports Personal Well-Being. There is a typical example of excessive gaming is when the player claims that certain game has affected him by saying “this game fucked up a year of my life.” (Greet et.al.10). I have felt that I experienced video games addiction because I only played games day in day out during my junior year in high school, which a lot thing falls apart around me like my grades and my social life, but during summer I realized that had to find a balance of what’s important to me. Even though my experience with the negative effects of games I find that the positive effects still outweigh
Privileged to say the least, I was born into the opportunity of living and growing up in San Diego. Surrounded by both parents and a younger brother for most of my life, I was raised and attended school in the Ocean Beach area.