Analysis Of When We Arrive By Tomas Rivera

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Recommended: The immigrant experience in the united states

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. Reading the passage When We Arrive, it is about people leaving one state to find a better life in another state. They are traveling in a truck packed to capacity. There are people of all ages looking to improve their life. No one knows where they will …show more content…

Mostly the men are in the field working long hours, in the hot sun, every day. The boy sees his mother crying due to the death of her sister and brother. Now the situation as turned and his family is affected. The father has had a sun stroke and his brother is sick as well. The son would hear his father praying and asking God to help him. The son would get angrier and angrier with God as he heard “his mother and father clamoring for God’s mercy” (Rivera, p. 109). They would work long hours, making sure all the work was done for the boss. The son begins to curse God out and this goes against his mother’s religion. The son makes a statement “I am certain that God has no concern for us” (Rivera, p. 109). After the son vented to God things started to turn around and things started to change. In life, sometimes people feel that God has abandoned them. They believe that they are being punished for things that they have no control over. The story shows that patience is needed, thing will not always happen right away but when it should. The author uses religion to show that the son’s family belief in God will make their lives much happier. God is not the cause of the tragedies and is not punishing the family for anything

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