In the excerpt from Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, Scott Russell Sanders creatively responds to a piece written by Rushdie in which he opposed. In response to Rushdie’s piece, Sanders argues against the idea that movement is always beneficial. Sanders uses his direct tone with real examples which gives off the persuasive tone that ultimately leaves the reader thinking about their own life. The first paragraph primarily illustrates a history of migrants, which links present to past. Sanders includes a biblical reference of The Promise Land which symbolizes where one is suppose to end up. The use of asyndeton suggests that the list of people who were migrants could be never endind, allowing the reader to think of more examples themselves. The use of imagery makes the reader think about their own life as Sanders explains a farm, village, a dead end job. The sentence, “Stand still, we are warned, and you die,” is much shorter than the other sentences that surround it. Sanders did this purposefully to bring attention and emphasis to the deeper meaning of the sentence. The next paragraph explains Rushdie’s position and how many Americans would also agree with him for the most part. Sanders uses the word “mongrel” which seems to be negative, but it allows the reader to really think …show more content…
Although the reader knows Sanders position, the formal thesis doesn’t come until that last paragraph which also acts as a conclusion of the piece. The entire first sentence of the final paragraph shows constant opposition between the good and bad of migrant creatures. Sanders plays with both the mental and literal effects of moving. The last sentence connects with the reader, “By settling in, we have a chance of making a durable home for ourselves, our fellow creatures, and our descendants,” by encouraging the reader to think about their own descendants and even their
Living Out by Lisa Loomer is a play that tells the story of the complicated relationship between a Salvadoran nanny and the lawyer she works for. Both women are smart, hard-working mothers who want better lives for their children. The play explores many similarities and differences between them. Through the main character Ana, we understand what it’s like to leave a child in another country and to come to come to the United States. We also get what the potential cost is like to sacrifice your own child in order to care for someone else's. Through the lawyer; Nancy, we understand the pressure on women today. How they try to do everything perfectly and sometimes having to put work before their family. The play also looks at the discrimination and misconceptions between Anglos (White American’s) and Latinos.
He refers to all the immigration groups in a judgmental way. He complains about the intelligence levels of the Italians, how dirty and deceitful the Jews are, and even the immaculate cleanliness of the Chinamen. Although he does possess quite a bit of bigotry that boarders on the line of prejudice when it comes to African Americans he recognizes that they are suffering from racism and he sympathizes with th...
He learned over some time, that it is possible for one to retain separateness but keep individuality, and one can be a public person as well as a private person. He says that at first he wanted to be like everyone else (fit in), and only when he could think of himself as American it was than okay to be an individual in public society. He speaks of a man from Mexico who held on to Spanish: "For as long as he holds on to words, he can ignore how much else has changed his life" (35). The message is to not take words for granted and not to misuse words because they certainly do have meaning. For example, `brother' and `sister' is becoming a public repetition of words. The meaning will become lifeless. Words mean something when the voice takes control "the heart cannot contain!" (39). It forms an intimate sound.
In the first section Skrzynecki suggests that the physical journey is both literally and metaphorically away from Europe and the tragedy of war and represents the undertakers’ changing perspective. The introductory stanza of the first section immediately describes the undertaking of the physical journey which the poet implies is an escape but the voyage is described in an ambivalent tone. The adjective many denotes the fact that there was a whole mass of the immigrants and heat implies that the discomforting and cramped situation of the migrants wasn’t pleasant. Never see again emphasises the fact that these people are migrating and will never return to their homeland. The migrants’ physical description Shirtless, in shorts and barefooted stresses the lack of their belongings as they’ve left everything behind and their milk-white skin implies that their skin colour isn’t right for their adopted country, Australia and depicts that they won’t be comfortable there. The second stanza’s description of the migrants with the imagery of shackles, sunken eyes, ’secrets and exiles portrays them in disgrace as if they are running away from their homeland. Their sunken eyes also conveys their hardship in suffering and the war’s adversity and the shackles further emphasises their oppression and their confinement. To look for shorelines implies their desire to purge their suffering and inner turmoil as they find some consolation and hope in starting a new life. The last word of the stanza exiles implicates their expulsion from their land in fact they actually chose to leave.
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
Parker attempts to persuade the reader by highlighting the flaws in the pro-immigration supporters and their demonstrations. In paragraph 3, she states, “There is something not convincing about illegal immigrants demonstrating to claim they have inalienable rights to come here, be here, work here, become citizens here-and make all these claims in Spanish”. She adds in paragraph 7, “The civil-rights movement was about enforcing the law, not breaking it. The Civil War amendments to the Constitution were not getting the job done in what has been a long struggle in this country to treat blacks as human beings. If Americans were kidnapping Mexicans and selling them into slavery here, I might see the equivalence. But these are free people, who chose to come here and chose to do so illegally.” With these statements, Parker attempts to appeal to the sensibilities of the reader to persuade them into her way of thin...
Happiness, the state of being happy; it is a part of natural human emotion. Happiness is sought out by everyone, as it is one of the most fundamental values of life. It can be as small as going back home after school or as big as winning a lottery. My personal definition of happiness is the simplest things such as spending time with my friends, getting a little break in between studying, listening to my favorite songs, or getting a good mark on a quiz or a test. Similarly, the individuals in the texts had pursued or wanted to pursue happiness through simplest things in life. In the poem “Swing Valley” the writer is reminiscing about the time when him and his friends experienced joy by carelessly swinging on a rope enjoying the momentary release from the gravity. Secondly, the individual from the short story “Home Place” by Guy Vanderhaeghe, also reminisces about his happiness he pursued in his youth and
To illustrate the disdain caused by constant moving, Sanders uses allusions. He alludes to the past when the Spanish came to the New World and imposed their “religion, politics, and economics of the Old” on the people (Sanders). The allusion relates back to the fifteenth century when Christopher Columbus comes over to the America’s and his people bring diseases and kill many of the Indians; in turn, the Indians rebelled against
Throughout all of the readings and letters, there seemed to be a common theme faced by all of the immigrants, and that was hardship. Immigrants alike, no matter their country of origin, faced these hardships. The main thing that all of the immigrants wanted was to be able to have a real life and to be able to provide a better life for their children so they could have successful futures. While reading “Letters from the Great Migration,” it seemed as though each individual in their own words expressed the same dilemmas. Most of the people in their letters were trying very hard to get out of the South and move to the North in order to find decent work and to provide for their families. It seemed like they would endure pretty much anything to secure a job in the North, particularly the man from Houston, Texas. He says that he wants to find a job in the North so he can go “where a man is a man,” (Marcus 134). This shows that people from the South feel like their lives could be fulfilled in a greater way in the North rather than in the South, where they currently reside. Particularly for the men, this quote seems to also suggest that the men in the South do not feel like real men, in the sense that they can’t find decent work in order to provide a good life for themselves or their families. It also appears t...
He explains how, compared to other immigrant groups (like in Shih’s story that depicts her immigrant group as a “model minority”) certain immigrant groups are not equally valued and treated in the United States. Similar to the Criminal Justice system that indirectly targets a particular group of individuals, Immigration laws and policies in the United States treat certain racial groups differently, targeting those who are not “valuable” to society through the federal and state laws, some immigrants who cross the border are criminalized and subjected to discrimination and exploitation. Similar to the issue presented in “The New Jim Crow,” the criminalization of certain racial groups (in this case Latin American immigrants) who cross the border without papers proves that there continues to be an ethic hierarchy where particular groups (because of their race) are excluded from having equal opportunity, forced to live in ghettos and barrios where they often face inhumane treatment as well as the constant fear of being deported by law
Mexican immigrants in the United States are willing to work hard and long hours throughout the day regardless of the amount of sleep or rest they may get. Conversely, this is not how Efren Mendoza, a public city bus driver, views Mexicans and he believes they are not motivated to achieve things in life. One would assume that he would understand how difficult it is for immigrants to assimilate in a new foreign country without knowing anyone or anything here, but he is not on their side and it is somewhat hypocritical of him because he himself is Mexican. It is as though Efren sees his own people as invisible individuals because he does not acknowledge all their hard work and sacrifices they may have gone through in order to arrive in the United States. He further proves his insincerity when he mentions that the “new wetbacks [are] picky about what jobs they’ll do [and that they] half-ass [the] work” that they are given to do (77).
Farming the Home Place: A Japanese American community in California 1919-1982 by Valerie J. Matsumoto presents a close and in-depth study of social and culture history of Cortez, a small agricultural settlement located in San Joaquin valley in California. Divided into six chapter, the book is based primarily on the oral interviews responses from eighty three members of Issei, Nisei, and Sansei generations. However, many information are also obtained from the local newspapers, community records, and World War II concentration camp publications.
Samuelson, Robert J. The Hard Truth of Immigration. 2005. Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader. By Annette T. Rottenberg and Donna Haisty. Winchell. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 704-06. Print.
The movie opens up with rural images of thousands of migrant workers being transported in trucks with a short introduction by Edward Murrow and some occasional interventions of parts of an interview made to the secretary of labor after he saw the impacting images, and to the different people who have seen the lives the workers lead. Most of the secretary’s commentaries depict the exclusion that these people have since they are basically people who are silently crying out for assistance to stop harvesting the fields of their shame, or at least to hope for potential raises and better work conditions. From Florida to New Jersey, and from Mexico to Oregon, these people including women and children travel around the states following the sun and the demand from the seasonal goods while working around a hundred and thirty-six days earning and average of nine hundred dollars a year.
...the realization that they’re so detached from their responsibilities of being a citizen arise, those responsibilities of being involved and aware of people and event which is around them in their own society. This quote supports the story’s position that citizens need to be more aware and involve in society such as knowing people in the society and events that are currently happening.