Pat Mora

Pat Mora, a Mexican-American woman with many titles such as poet, writer, a former teacher, university administrator and the list goes on. She is a leader in contemporary Hispanic poetry and promotes creativity. Mora’s choice in subject matter and theme, in her poems, are shaped by life in the US-Mexican border, for example in La Migra. This poem is about a global issue, illegal immigration; especially in Texas near the border to Mexico. It is tiled in a Mexican slang that means U.S border agents. It is divided into two stanzas to express the two point of views of a border patrol agent and a Mexican woman crossing the border. The characters seem to be two children playing an innocent game but it describes real stereotypes, which is kind of …show more content…
We can say that the speaker is stanza one, the border patrol agent, has superiority vs. the Mexican woman because he is the one in authority. He has a condescending tone and an ironic sense of playfulness in a very serious situation. In the other hand, the speaker in stanza two, the Mexican woman, is independent and has a triumphant tone because she is confident that she will succeed. The entire poem serves as a metaphor as the game they play, this is a euphemism for the actuality of the situation. The poem lacks hyperbole, but the style of writing sounds like a nursery rhyme in the simplistic sense of “I’ll do this” and “you will do that”. Overall, the poem represents the issue of how border patrol agents treat illegal immigrants. Although it does not go into detail, you can get a sense of how the system works and a comparison of the mentality of a border patrol agent vs. an illegal …show more content…
The speaker is a U.S border patrol agent who identifies the Mexican women as a maid because stereotypically that’s how latina women are identified. Whereas in the second stanza, the speaker identifies herself as a Mexican woman who is proud of her roots. In stanza one, there are many symbols that help you picture how the border patrol agent has absolute power over the helpless Mexican maid. In line 3, “I get the badge and sunglasses” symbolically means that he is the one in authority and is has the ability so watch her in the desert. It gives you a form of imagery because that’s how you would normally describe and identify a law enforcement officer. The speaker also uses other ways of symbolism when he mentions “oh, and a gun” emphasizes lack of fear to injure or kill the women, throwing this fact in her face. The speaker states he does not speak spanish so suggests the Mexican woman to not ask question. Although normally a Border patrol agent is white and does not speak spanish, they are required to know the language. But the author uses this as a way to show how different the two are. The speaker mentions “you can hide and run, but you can’t get away because I have jeep.” it is addressing that he has the ability to move fast and she does not. But the Mexican woman doesn’t fear the border patrol agent when she replies in stanza two with