Globalization In Across The Wire

The world and is not a fair place. This is true in both nature and society, as both have fortunate and unfortunate sides. This is clearly evident throughout the different accounts of people's experiences in the novel “Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border” by Luis Alberto Urrea. The situations in Urrea’s book cover the many different aspects of poverty, immigration, and life where there are uneven distributions of wealth and economic power. It also covers the different aspects of life depending on race, gender or background, where location plays a heavy role in the outcome being positive or negative. As a whole, these stories are an experience that adds insight to the effects of increased globalization, and how it all …show more content…
In the chapter “Los Cementeros” of Urrea’s storytelling novel. The reader can see what impact globalization has on the residents around Tijuana. I will argue that it is the impact of globalization that is felt because of all of the converging factors such as; racial/social inequality, economic imbalance, domestic, and foreign differences. For instance, the social inequality is present in the aspect of the tourists in Tijuana, described as “gringos who came down to party on the weekends” (Urrea 57). This compared to the domestic people like Andres and the cementeros, “the glue addicts and paint-thinner sniffers” (Urrea 57). This inequality and difference in lifestyle can consequently have an affect on the mind on the slighted. In this chapter, Urrea describes the background of these local residents as “homeless boys . . . thrown out or had run away . . . from violent homes or the shattered homes of downtown’s hookers” (Urrea 57). He also states that the “daily life revolved around prostitution and drugs” (Urrea 58). This can correlate to aggression as Urrea describes how they target and lure gringo tourist who’ve ‘had enough to drink’. This dark chapter highlights the actual impact that globalization and uneven distribution of money, power, and assets can have on a macro to micro level in people’s lives. Just to think of what these cementeros …show more content…
As Urrea states, “Christmas was coming . . . Up north, the gringos had just celebrated their Thanksgiving. . . Tijuana as always, was beginning to copy them” (Urrea 102). The impact of the United States holidays being celebrated in the lesser economic regions of Mexico is an example of this globalization influence on society. Urrea even states that “what exactly Mexicans have to give thanks for on North America’s Thanksgiving is not clear” (Urrea 102). This example of the influences of wealth and power can be seen all over, not just in this novel but in the world today. Internationally, the spread of religion, government, sports, and entertainment can be linked to the influence of a state of wealth and power over other states wanting to follow their path. For example, the spread of democracy has been primarily pushed by the United States and in most cases accepted in response to the United States’s economic and military power. The same can be said for American sports, media, entertainment, and as shown in this chapter of the novel, holidays and