Palumello it’s a warm, happy and peaceful narrative, written by Donna Caruso, which tells the story of Donna Maria and the love she shared with her grandmother. Through Donna Maria’s memories we get to know her childhood as well as the relation between her and her maternal grandmother. The story starts with Donna’s grandmother singing her a lullaby where she tells her that she is her butterfly and eventually she’d be free followed by more memories of Donna Maria of her childhood and the time she spent with her grandmother while growing up. In the story neither Donna Marie nor the grandmother speak the same language, that’s because the girl had been born in Canada while the woman had immigrated to the country from Italy, still they develop a bond that let them communicate with each other without words. The memories of Donna Marie carry a nostalgic, happy and peaceful mood.…
Historia de una escalera is a play written by Antonio Buero Vallejo in the 18th century. This play is about various characters whom are neighbors living under one apartment building. These neighbors have raised their children in the apartment over generations. The audience sees that a similar conflict arises throughout each generation. Each generation searches for happiness and are not able to achieve it because they make the same mistakes as the generation before them have.…
Chicano/a/xs in the United States experienced racial discrimination through regional segregation, marginalization in suburbia, and construction of a selective fantasy past. This relationship between space, cultural citizenship, and race relations were apparent in the unequal opportunities and the marginalization Latinos faced in racialized suburbia. An imagined Spanish fantasy past was constructed through mission revival and Olvera Street in Los Angeles that placed the Mexican people and their culture in the past. It was implied that the only place for them in modern day Los Angeles was in the past, supporting the belief that the Mexican immigrants in the present were not a part of the Los Angeles community and were just a temporary workforce in America. This further emphasizes this racial segregation they faced from the Anglo community who constructed a physical…
Torn by the inequalities and the inability to truly acclimate himself into mainstream society, Rodolfo Gonzales’, wrote the poem “I Am Joaquin” in 1967 . Rodolfo Gonzales created an epic poem that was able to convey the feelings of his community in conjunction to that of his own. What makes this narrative into an epic is the manner in which the conflict is not a solely against his self imposed identities, but instead the externalities of society, history, and culture. He places himself at the forefront of the conflict and battles against all the predisposed thoughts that circulate society. His internal conflict with society truly allows for him to revolutionize the manner in which Mexican Americans viewed themselves.…
58.6 million is the number of Hispanics currently in the U.S. (Krogstad, 2017) Although it is a commonly known ethnic group, a vast majority of people probably don’t know the history of the word itself. They might know the definition, but not how it came to be, or what it meant in another time. In this paper I will inform the reader how and when the word Hispanic has changed throughout time. I will do this by first familiarizing the reader to the history of the word, second informing the reader of modern-day interactions with the word, finally illuminating the reader to personal interactions of the word.…
Morales provides contrasting ideas between “the disrespect the Hispanic community had towards the Theater” which expresses the opinion the people in the community have about the Mexican people and “the architectural dignity of the Center” which expresses the decadence of the Theater. These contrasting phrases show how the community members feel the Mexicans are unfit to be in such a place. The notion that “they should not have attended” on the opinion that they were only there “to see one performing actress” creates a sense of exclusivity and…
She says that being a Dominican-American novelist is the perfect illustration of the in-between that she has felt throughout her life. Alvarez describes one of the scariest pasts of coming to the United States as “losing [her] Spanish before getting a foothold in English” (Alvarez 1749). “I was without a language, without any way to fend for myself, without solid ground to stand on,” Alvarez tells the reader, illustrating with her own truth what she expresses through the fictional stories of the García family. Through this essay, Alvarez actively ties together her experience as an immigrant…
Thesis (50 words) In her book “Borderlands: La Frontera”, Gloria Anzaldúa composes her experience as a queer Chicana inhabitant of the Mexican side of the borderlands to encourage others to accept their linguistic and cultural identity. She believes that Anglos and men silence the voices of Latinos and women, but they must persevere. Summary (643 words)…
1.One of the most memorable detail from this story is when the patron approaches the Mexican workers and pays them for the services they have just completed. This just made me think of all the unjustified situations that alien immigrants go through daily because of their poor English language skills, which gives them very little possibilities to speak up and ask for what they truly deserve. Another memorable detail about this story is when he writes about the color of someone's skin meaning nothing. He stresses the point that there are people who label him "disadvantaged" because of his color. He also mentions that it is all about the person's attitude and how much each individual is willing to fight to succeed in life and not about their skin…
The Mexican Revolution was another example of this universal crisis between the individual and the collective. This “aspiration” of the Revolution is complicated by internal conflicts and contradictions shown throughout the film Vamonos con Pancho Villa. The lack of a consistent heroic cause or passion is evident; particularly in regards to the “lions” of San Pablo (Rodrigo, Tiburcio, Fatso, Calf, Martin, and Maximo), when they do not offer any valid justification as to what is driving them to join the revolution. Their lack of individuality is reinforced by their inability to collectively coalesce around their leader’s values. One assumes that the revolutionaries as organized and seemingly ambitious they are, would be portrayed as the heroes; this film does the exact opposite; it renders them as “savages” (Robe), especially the leader, Francisco “Pancho” Villa” through his cruelty and indifference towards his own men.…
In the narrative essay, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” journalist Jose Antonio Vargas recounts his childhood journey from the Philippines to the United States. He presents his accomplishments in his education and career as a journalist while living with his grandparents and having an illegal status in the United States. Throughout Vargas’ story, he explains the difficulties that he faced for not having the proper credentials to be in the United States. Building up his essay as a personal narrative, Vargas build the idea that just as any other immigrant he has to make tough decisions in order to survive. While on the process of constructing this idea he adopts a sympathetically tone to the readers.…
Rodriguez properly targets his audience through the use of constant examples of people not being able to understand their heritage blending with their American culture. Within the essay Rodriguez explains that a boy named Michael was taught speak up and to stand straight. When that child went home and talked with his Chinese father, he was ridiculed because of his American ways. The targeted audience is towards those who do not understand how life in America is shaped by culture, as well as those who want a deeper explanation about American culture. The essay is written from the point of view of a Mexican American author, Richard Rodriguez.…
Alan Bialostozky Comm 100C Professor McMurria Spring 2015 Take home exam #3 Leo Chavez article “The Latino Treat Narrative” proposes a well-supported narrative to the nation’s anti-immigration discourse displayed by the media mostly in the USA. In this article, Chavez gives a critical overview and discussion about the images, stereotypes and falsified truths reproduced in society using and crafting recycled myths created by media experts, corrupt politicians, and people who openly hate immigrants from a Latino background. Chavez closely examines how “citizenship” has been seen and discussed through the legal organizations as a form of unity in the country through social and political participation. He claims that just critiquing discourse…
The racial segregation of Latinos in the public school system is discussed in the film, Lemon Grove Incident, where it examines the 1930’s trial of Roberto Alvarez vs. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District that ended school segregation of Mexican children in the district of Lemon Grove, California. The trial is known for it’s success to stop the segregation of Mexican children in the public school system. Although, the case allowed for Mexican integration, it only applied to the small district of Lemon Grove, causing little impact on the rest of the state. Furthermore, Mexican children continued to face segregation in public schools until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, that called for the desegregation of all schools…
It’s hard to believe that our current president, the man who has been entrusted to keep us safe and striving, thinks so negatively about a particular racial group. In Helena Maria Viramontes’ short story “The Cariboo Café” she highlights this exact discrimination to immigrant families. This work of literature makes a strong social commentary by using postmodern techniques such as paranoia, black humor, and magical realism to emphasize the hardships many Hispanic families face. In this short narrative, Viramontes uses three different perspectives to shed light on the…