Part of the reason these paths are not guaranteed is due to the incredible obstacles found along the way. We first see this with the river in The Wizard of Oz and the Rio Grande in Enrique’s Journey. In Baum’s story, the river. In Nazario’s novel, the Rio Grande is a daunting, near impossible to cross barrier between hell and freedom. It is only thanks to El Tiriandaro that Enrique is able to pass it on the inner tube. This resembles when the Tin Woodman built a raft for himself and his companions. It is hard for one to truly understand the dangers posed by the Rio Grande. As detailed by the New York Times, just this July four people died crossing the river in one trip. This does not include countless other times migrants have fallen victim …show more content…
The first quality that the tales share is an aura of hope. When Dorothy first arrives in Oz, she is made to believe that the Emerald City, and the Wizard, will be able to get her home. While offered no concrete reassurance, Glenda and the Munchkins do make it seem as thought he will be able to help. The Emerald City itself is made out to be beautiful and grandiose. In Enrique’s case, we find his view of the United States through his mother. After seeing the wonderful gifts and money his mother is able to send back for himself and Belky as a child, Enrique surely must feel that the United States is a land of opportunity and greatness. Once accounting for the fact that his mother is there, and that love and affection is what he seemingly desires most in life, it can be seen that the United States gives Enrique hope for reclaiming his relationship with his mother. Another thing to note is that the Wizard himself resembles the television commercials of Las Vegas and in general the perception of the United States. Lordes, like many migrants, sees commercials on television glorifying life in the U.S. These migrants are made to believe that the United States is the key to a happy, wholesome life. The United States offers an opportunity for migrants to support or reconnect with family: a goal that often is not reachable at home. Dorothy experiences something similar with the Wizard of Oz, as he is said to be the best possible opportunity for her to get back to Kansas. As will be discussed further, though, neither of these assumptions are true. In fact, in the eyes of Dorothy, Enrique, and many other Central American migrants, these two figures lie behind a false curtain. The two destinations seem to unfortunately result in a sense of disappointment for the travelers. In Dorothy’s case, the Wizard is almost utterly and totally useless. She realizes after days of waiting For Enrique and other migrants,
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.
In Richard Rodriguez’s “Proofs,” Mexican immigrant’s destination is described, as well as their perceptions and expectations of America. Rodriguez describes the passage to the United States as difficult, yet worthy. He states: “The city will win. The city will give the children all the village could not- VCR’s, hairstyles, drum beat. The city sings mean songs, dirty songs. But the city will sing the children a great Protestant hymn.You can be anything you want to be.” He also states: “Mexico is poor. But mama says there
The article briefly goes over The Wizard of Oz, both the film and the book, and discusses how they fit into Campbell’s hero’s journey. Emerson summarizes Campbell’s idea of the hero’s journey for the reader, then splits Dorothy’s journey into three phases. The first phase is her travels on the yellow brick road where in the film she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, and in the book Dorothy and her companions overcome natural obstacles. The second phase begins when they meet the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City, who sets them on a trial before they can receive their respective gifts. The pinnacle of this trial is the face off with the Wicked Witch of the West, where she is defeated when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her
The emotional letter that Juan left for his mother might be one of the most emotional scenes in the documentary. The pure emotions that the letter was written by Juan to her mother leaves the audience with the bonds and emotions felt between the kids and families. Juan Carlos’s father abandoned the family years ago and left to New York, consequently Juan believe it is his responsibility to provide for his family. He also wants to find his father in New York and confronts him about why he has forgotten about them. The story of Juan is not just about migration of children, but also the issue of family separation. The documentary does not dehumanize but rather bring the humane and sensitive lens to the story of Juan where the human drama that these young immigrants and their families live. Juan Carlos is not the first of Esmeralda’s sons to leave for the United states, his nine-year-old brother Francisco was smuggled into California one month earlier. Francisco now lives with Gloria, his grandmother, who paid a smuggler $3,500 to bring him to Los Angeles, California. Once Juan Carlos is in the shelter for child migrants his mother eagerly awaits him outside. After she sees him she signs a paper that says if Juan Carlos tries to travel again, he will be sent to a foster home.
In document C, Mamacita’s husband exclaims to Mamacita, “We are home. This is home. Here I am and here I stay. Speak English. Speak English. Christ!” When Mamacita came to the United States, she didn’t know any English, so she had a hard time understanding everyone around her. This leads her to miss her old home back in her home country, but it takes a long time for her husband to understand that she is going through a rough time trying to get used to everything. When moving into a country to stay permanently you can have a hard time to getting used to things which can make you wish everything was like it was before and make you feel hopeless. In document D, Esperanza is re-telling the story of Geraldo, a guy Marin met at a dance. She explains, “His name was Geraldo. And his home is in another country….Geraldo–he went north … we never heard from him again.” Geraldo came from another country probably to visit but he got into a hit-and-run accident and died. He didn’t have any identification with him, which made the situation worse since no one knew who he was. No one knew what happened to him back in his home country since in the U.S. no one knew who he was or what he did or who his family members were. Using documents C and D, it was proven that moving into the United States can be an obstacle you can face when trying to achieve the American
After reading The Book of the Unknown Americans, I realized how difficult immigrating to the United States can be. I am an immigrant also, so just reading the story makes me relate to many problems immigrants experience relocating to a different country. Immigrants often face many issues and difficulties, but for some it is all worth it, but for others there comes a point in time where they have to go back to their hometown. Alma and Arturo Rivera came to the United States to better their life, but also so that Maribel could attend a special education school. While Arturo had a job things had gone well for the family, but once Arturo lost the job and passed away the two of them had to go back because they felt that that was the best option for them. Reading this book made me realize how strong an individual has to be to leave their own country and relocate somewhere else not knowing if this will better your life or cause one to suffer.
Most Immigrants who enter the United States are searching for work and the opportunity to live a better life. They are from small towns deep within Mexico that do not offer much opportunity for the people of the town to live a prosperous life and to provide for their family. In the small town of Sierra Mixteco, men women and children arrived in town at various times of the day bent over loads of fire wood gathered from the mountains to sell in the town market. For those who did not sell fire wood, they spent their time making straw hats to sell in the markets of larger towns, both of these jobs only provided pennies a day for the families to survive on. So the stories that the men brought back from the North gave the people of the small towns the hope that a better life did exist.
Throughout Enrique’s many attempts at successfully making his way by train to the border between the United States and Mexico, he has encountered people who were more concerned with stopping and harming the travelers rather than ensuring their wellbeing. Therefore this imagery during the journey part of the novel helps to provide the reader with the sense that not everyone in Mexico is out to get the people who are trying to obtain a better
Enrique decides to set out on a journey to reunite with his mother in the US. It takes eight attempts over four months to finally reach her. The first seven times he is robbed, beaten, and deported again and again, yet never gives up. Like most migrants, much of Enrique's journey is atop a freight train, but there are many dangers between Honduras and the US. If migrants aren’t killed by the trains themselves, they must worry about the gangsters, bandits, and robbers beating, robbing, raping, and even killing migrants. Just as dangerous are the corrupt police called la migra that do whatever they want to immigrants before deporting them. On the bright side Enrique meets a variety of people on his journey, many attempting the same voyage he is. They share their stories and advice about where to go and where to avoid.
...n the trying time of the Great Migration. Students in particular can study this story and employ its principles to their other courses. Traditional character analysis would prove ineffective with this non-fiction because the people in this book are real; they are our ancestors. Isabel Wilkerson utilized varied scopes and extensive amounts of research to communicate a sense of reality that lifted the characters off the page. While she concentrated on three specifically, each of them served as an example of someone who left the south during different decades and with different inspirations. This unintentional mass migration has drastically changed and significantly improved society, our mindset, and our economics. This profound and influential book reveals history in addition to propelling the reader into a world that was once very different than the one we know today.
The travelling progression seems to advance the sense of togetherness between individuals who migrate." when migrant workers whose living conditions I have described here crossed the border, they separate themselves from the social structures of their home country" (Chavez pg. 92) Some migrant workers make a sensible choice to leave their old insufficient way of life for what they think will be a certain paradise and freedom. The American dream search is short lived for some, never thinking about why or what they left behind. In most cases though, this is not the case at all, people leave for their families and the opportunities to work and return home.
The Red Umbrella, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and “A Band-Aid for 800 Children” by Eli Sastow both show the subject of immigration, and how it affects families lifestyle and relationships. The author of these two texts use similar and different techniques to show immigration, and how the feelings of this affects the family. The Red Umbrella, and “A Band-Aid for 800 Children” both have similar techniques showing immigration and how the feelings of the reading affects the family and the situation.
...r (Ellingwood, 2004). Even after more and more cases like this one contienued to happen the U.S. government did not to try and reduce the number of migrants dying. Instead it intensified its border security consciously knowing what the outcome could be. Mexican Senate passed a resolution zeroing in on Gatekeeper and the American government: “The anti-immigration strategy implemented by the U.S. government to seal its border becomes more aggressive every day, raising the cost in human lives of those who attempt to obtain better living conditions,” the resolution stated (Ellingwood, 2004). It noted that “migrants must make their way through heavy vegetation, deep and rocky canyons, and high mountains that make the crossing difficult, slow, and dangerous. Add to this the lack of food and water and the bad climate… and the high number of deaths that the undocumented suf
#1 Which Way Home is a documentary bringing light to youth in Mexico attempting to escape to The United States based on personal motives such as poverty, lack of resources and family dynamics. These children execute social reproduction through the difficulties that cause them to turn to migration. Kevin and Juan Carlos are both young adolescents that want to migrate to U.S.A due to their current personal lives. Although they come from diverse families with different personal reasons to leave, there are resemblances between some of their purposes. Migration was not easy and had many risks including drowning, getting detained, kidnapped, getting arrested by border patrol or raped.
In conclusion, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale, is initially unsatisfied with her life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm and dreams of a foreign land over the rainbow, where there are no worries or disasters. Although as the story progresses, Victor Fleming incorporates a wide range of