“La Migra” by Pat Mora is a poem about two different situations on the US-Mexico Border. The narrator is takes on the position of a border patrol officer and a Mexican woman. Pat Mora’s poem “La Migra” shows two situations concerning the US-Mexico border in the view of small children. Mora’s choice to address border issues through a simple conversation between children. Mora’s frequent line breaks and use of simple language emphasize the innocence and childish behavior of the two characters despite the complex situation. The poem is composed of two stanzas. Mora uses these stanzas to convey two different situations at the US-Mexico Border. The first stanza places Mora as a Mexican maid. The second stanza places Mora as a border patrol officer. …show more content…
The stanzas both begin with the phrase, “Let’s play La Migra,” but take very different paths after the initial line. The first stanza places the border patrol officer as superior to the Mexican maid, which is what is typically shown in the media. However the second stanza reverses the superiority and places Mexican woman is in power. Mora purposely separated these two stanzas to show both sides of a common situation for undocumented immigrants. The last line of both stanzas end with “Get ready.” Mora does this to emphasize the need of acting fast. The superior person is speaking to the person who is weak in both stanzas. Mora calls attention to the fact that if the Mexican maid loses her focus, then she could get picked up by the officer and that if the officer’s jeep gets a flat tire, then he would be stranded and weak. The similarities and differences between the two stanzas show that even though the characters have difference situations they can be helpless and …show more content…
The border patrol officer has a badge, sunglasses, jeep, boots, handcuffs, and a gun. The badge and handcuffs show that the officer has the power and permission from the state to do whatever he chooses. The sunglasses give him the advantage to see and protect himself in the hot desert. The jeep lets him travel farther and faster than the immigrants crossing the deserts. The boots give the officer protection from the rough desert sand. The gun is a reminder that the officer can do whatever he chooses to do, regardless of the consequences. The Mexican woman does not have material possessions. She has knowledge of the desert, which allows to her position herself and find sweet water springs. She also has her friends too; they give her company and help her fulfill her journey. The difference between the two characters is the material possessions and immaterial possessions. Mora’s word choice is important to note; in the second stanza Mora writes, “All you have is heavy: hat, glasses, badge, shoes, gun.” This line is interesting to note because she makes the word “heavy” a noun and lists the items that the border patrol officer possesses. By phrasing the sentence in this manner, Mora makes sure to emphasize that the goods that the border patrol officer carries will be a burden and cannot help him in the desert sun. The goods he carries is noted as very useful in the previous stanza, but in the
This gives Sanchez liberty to create unique meter of her own which she did in many lines in her poem. In every single line there is a variation of feet, and none of the lines follow a certain rhythm. This disorganization in meter and rhythm reflects the narrator’s own tumultuous life. The reader knows that the narrator struggles with a difficult relationship with her mom, and to release those feelings of anger towards her, she smoke heroin. Thus, the disorganized meter and rhythms sound just like the narrator’s own life. The meter also becomes more disorderly as the narrator becomes more involved in frenzied, drug-related activity. In line fourteen, the sentence reads “I did it. Uh. Huh. I did it. Uh huh.” Clearly, Sanchez used free verse with no meter to mirror the narrator’s own troubled
In a story of identity and empowerment, Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem “Borderbus” revolves around two Honduran women grappling with their fate regarding a detention center in the United States after crawling up the spine of Mexico from Honduras. While one grapples with their survival, fixated on the notion that their identities are the ultimate determinant for their future, the other remains fixated on maintaining their humanity by insisting instead of coming from nothingness they are everything. Herrera’s poem consists entirely of the dialogue between the two women, utilizing diction and imagery to emphasize one’s sense of isolation and empowerment in the face of adversity and what it takes to survive in America.
Vallejo utilizes the form of free verse in this poem. He uses free verse to go beyond the constraints of usual structures and forms to express his point of view on the hardships of the world, without regards to the “beauty” of the poem. This poem consists of thirteen non-rhyming couplets, each being identical in structure. This poem is without rhyme because Vallejo wants the content to be perceived as deeper than a rhyme scheme. Rather than writing poems for the art form and beauty of it, Vallejo often writes to bring attention to human suffering and problems in the world
The repetition of the words “waited” (13), and “watched” (14), throughout the stanzas adds anaphora and mystery to the vivid disapproval surrounding the family. Moreover, the use of repetition deepens the focus on the shame and guilt the young girl and her family are experiencing. The anaphora used throughout the poem intends that there is something being waited for. Therefore, the colonialist settlers are continuously waiting and watching for something to happen. In the last stanza Dumont states, “Or wait until a fight broke out” (55), suggesting that this is the action being waited for. As a result, the negative action causes the family to feel shame and regret. Overall, the use of musicality and anaphora successfully allows the reader to experience the pressure of
This poem captures the immigrant experience between the two worlds, leaving the homeland and towards the new world. The poet has deliberately structured the poem in five sections each with a number of stanzas to divide the different stages of the physical voyage. Section one describes the refugees, two briefly deals with their reason for the exodus, three emphasises their former oppression, fourth section is about the healing effect of the voyage and the concluding section deals with the awakening of hope. This restructuring allows the poet to focus on the emotional and physical impact of the journey.
La Migra is a poem about two children a girl and a boy, who are playing a game about Mexicans crossing the American border. This poem is divided in two stanzas, because it expresses two different points of view; the girls point of view that is pretty much as the point of view an Hispanic or any immigrant would have, and the boys point of view that would be the point of view a racist border patrol or just anyone racist would have. Change in the point of view of the two children implies realism into the poem La Migra. The main point of this poem is to remind the reader about human feelings, and remind the reader about illegal immigration into the United States. Pat Mora uses Image, blank verse, and anaphora to develop her theme of immigration
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
Poems are forms of communication that give an applicable view of the past, present and future events. Reading the poem titled “America”, written by Richard Blanco brought me memories from my childhood in my parent’s house and also what is happening now in my house as a parent. The poem explains how one person doesn’t have all the knowledge about something. It also, describes the daily life struggles I experienced during my childhood, when my parent 's and I moved from our hometown to live in another town becuase of their work and it brings to light the conflict of cultures I and my children are going through since we moved to United State of America .
I feel that this poem was fairly straightforward and easy to understand. One part that I didn’t fully understand was lines 33 and 34, which were in Spanish. “Agua dulce brota aqui, / aqui, aqui” (Mora, 700 33-34). From the Spanish that I do know, I was able to understand the message as sweet water, here, here, here. I am not familiar with the word “brota,” but was still able to understand the meaning of the message. It was used as a way to stick it to the Border patrolman. In the first stanza he told her not to ask questions because “I don’t speak Spanish” (Mora, 700 11). It almost felt like he was rubbing it in her face and that he was above her native tongue. In the second stanza, she basically painted the picture that his tire was slashed, he was alone in the desert with heavy equipment, and uneducated in her native tongue. She tells him where water is, but since he does not understand the language, he is stuck without it alone in the
It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people overcome physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where a neighbor with a pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall,?Something there is that doesn?t reflect love a wall?
Elena Poniatowska escrita durante una epoca de cambio en Mexico. Antes de sus obras las mujeres mexicanas eran sometidos, docil, y pasivo. En la tiempo de sus obras las mujeres estaba tratando salir de los estereotipos de antes. Esta problema social tomo un afecto en Elena. Aunque ella no viene de un movimiento literatura directamente, ella escrita con el concepto de compremetido. En su narrative El Recado ella crea un mujer estereotipical que no puede controlar sus emociones. La titula es eso porque ella viene a ver su amante, pero el no esta, asi ella escribe las cosas que sentia. La perspectiva es de un personaje y ella nunca interacta con otros personajes. En facto la unica descripcion de un personaje otro de la protagonista es de su amante Martin. Habla de otros personajes, pero solamente de sus acciones. Porque ellas es la unica perspectiva que tenemos es sencillo a sentar compasion para una protagonista de quien nombre no aun sabemos. Ella da la descripcion de toda que vea, y mas importante todo que se sienta. Tambien tropos y figuras retoricas dan un tono significante al poema. Estos sentimientos de la portagonista y el tono emocional de la narrativa transporta una tema de una mujer estereotipical y debil quien quiere ser reconocido.
middle of paper ... ... Ultimately, we have two poems which can be compared on the grounds of their subject, but are poles apart regarding their message. The structure of these poems is not what would be typically expected from a war poem, but are structured on the basis of these typical structures in order to create some sense of familiarity.
Although this section is the easiest to read, it sets up the action and requires the most "reading between the lines" to follow along with the quick and meaningful happenings. Millay begins her poem by describing, in first person, the limitations of her world as a child. She links herself to these nature images and wonders about what the world is like beyond the islands and mountains. The initial language and writing style hint at a child-like theme used in this section. This device invites the reader to sit back and enjoy the poem without the pressure to understand complex words and structure.
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
Octavio past uses dark mysterious tones, and mood to capture the illusion of confusion. To Begin with “The Street” has dark tones and a mysterious mood, an example being the first and second stanza “Here is a long and silent street. I walk in blackness and I stumble and fall”. Secondly in 1962, Paz became Mexico’s ambassador to Indian and resigned six years. This event led him to become confused and alone, thus creating the confusion and lugubrious tone in “The Street”. Lastly Octavio Paz Uses words in “The Street” like “Silent Street, everything dark and door less, dry leaves, and nobody”. He uses words like this to give the poem a melancholy mood. The poem has a mysterious and mysterious mood to it, yet even though Paz does not use many literary devices in this poem it is still interesting and a great poem.