Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe

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Recommended: Essay on social class in the United States of America

Just like Us by Helen Thorpe was on systematic study of four young Mexican women growing up in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado with two of the women living in the country as legal residents and the other two living as undocumented. The definition of sociology is defined as “the systematic study behavior and human groups.” (Scheuble, 2014). Thus definition and can be directly applied the Thorpe’s novel and specifically to the illegal immigrant status of the girls. Throughout her novel she explores situations and problems that occur in America specifically relating to illegal immigrants. For example Thorpe goes on to write about how Yadira was forced into purchasing a fake social security card through the black market. After Raúl Gómez García shot two police officers, employers in the metro area had begun to require further proof of legality, and students who could not provide an actual Social Security cards and government-issued IDs found it impossible to line up their usual summer jobs. (Thorpe, 2009 p. 65). Acquiring fake ID cards had been a rite of passage, a marker of adulthood, and gave Yadira pride that a teenager feels upon earning a driver’s license. Yet buying fake documents was something done by illegal immigrants, the very category she sought to escape.

Karl Marx was an economic determinist and his sociological belief of conflict between owners and workers as well as the belief that all historical change was caused by a series of class struggles between the bourgeoisie 'haves' and the proletariat 'have nots’ can be directly correlated to the experiences of Marisela. During Marisela’s senior year she was heavily relying on the DREAM act to be passed so that she was able to attend college. She was unable to apply to the ...

... middle of paper ...

... the neighborhood that Marisela was raised in where at one time her father was witness to a gang shooting in a local convenient store where he was trapped in (Thorpe, 2009 p. 37). Finally education for the children is essential in the up bring for illegal children. Most often these kids are sent to schools that tend to be located in bad areas and the education is not of the best quality. The girls specifically talk about news report regarding a student protest at Denver’s Abraham Lincoln high school and how they were receiving inferior educations compared to the predominately white school (Thorpe, 2009 p. 71).

Works Cited

Thorpe, Helen. Just like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America.

New York: Scribner, 2009. Print.

Scheuble, L. (2014). Introductory Sociology Lecture. University Park: The Pennsylvania

State University.

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