The Theme Of Illegal Immigration In Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies?

Before reading Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth Holmes I really only had one stance on illegal immigration. I opposed it and never really understood why someone couldn’t just go the legalistic route and get a visa. I was fine with immigrants coming from Mexico as long as they went and got a visa and went about it legally. I was never able to comprehend why someone could want the so called “American Dream” so desperately and go about it by sneaking across a border and coming here illegally. However, after reading this book my eyes have been opened to the harsh reality that is illegal immigration. How easily these people are taken advantage of and how willing they are to risk literally everything they have at a chance for a better life for …show more content…
Many times in the book Holmes talks about how the immigrants are being easily taken advantage of and how they really can’t fend for themselves. They are constantly faced with the fear of accidently approaching a robber rather than their coyote to take them across the border. If this happens the robbers could easily beat them and take all of their money and belongings and leave them in the desert. He also developed his ideas on the not so formal forms of violence. Like how timid they are doing anything for the fear of being deported. Holmes describes a few different types of violence in this book. These include political violence, structural violence, and symbolic violence. Structural violence was defined in class is basically where the institution or government prevents people from meeting their basic needs to survive on a daily basis. Holmes defines it as being manifested as social inequalities and hierarchies often along social categories of class, race, gender, and sexuality. An example of structural violence that Holmes references in his book is when the immigrants are in Washington State working on a farm. They are paid very little in wages which requires them to get housing that isn’t very decent. They barely make enough food to eat, let alone find a decent place to live. This is one of the better forms of structural …show more content…
I stated earlier that I was always confused on why the illegal immigrants wouldn’t just go the legalistic route to obtain American citizenship. It was only after reading this book that I learned that it is nearly impossible for them to do so. This is because countries in Central America refuse to give their citizens visas to come to America. They refuse to do this because they are aware that if they give them these visas that they will not come back to their home country and will stay in America. I was also unaware of the fact that the living conditions of these immigrants were so terrible. I always pictured them in apartments or like run down homes. In the book Seth Holmes talks about how he lived in a two bedroom apartment with around thirty or so people. He claimed at one point that he asked to sleep in a hallway closet so he could have his alone time rather than sleeping in the living room on a mattress. All in all I would say this book really just opened my eyes to what an immigrant goes through just to get to America and when they get here they are only taken advantage of. After reading this book I was able to gain a better insight on what these people go through and how bad they just want a better