From the musical West Side Story, we see how there were many people who came from different countries to America in order to achieve the American Dream. Here we see how the Puerto Ricans who are considered as foreigners and immigrants discuss about their life in America, where they are able to live a joyous life with peace. In the song, “I like to be in America,” by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim we see the difference between the people and culture of the White and non-white Americans. In addition, we see how the Puerto Rican girls who came from San Juan, the capital of their country have came to live in America for a glorified life, where they remain hopeful for better living conditions and freedom. For instance, Anita who is a foreigner considers herself to be an American because she finds it better …show more content…
From this dialogue, we see how the Puerto Rican women were very happy and hopeful to be in America and they didn’t consider themselves to be foreigners. The immigrants think that America is a place where everyone can feel comfortable and everything is clean and beautiful. Thus, this shows us that there are many immigrants living in America. Altogether, we see how everyone wants to come to America to achieve the American Dream that they have been longing to achieve. America is a place where we see people from different cultures come together from all around the world to have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity, through their experience, hard work, and determination. The role of the characters in the play is what is significant and develops drama for the audience. In the article, The Women of West Side Story by Elizabeth A. Wells states that “The large set pieces, like the famous all-danced “Prologue” and the “Rumble,” are ritualistic tableaux in which male energy, male behaviors, and male street values are reified” (143). We see how the actual rumble scene was a major scene in West Side Story that actually
Islas, Arturo. From Migrant Souls. American Mosaic: Multicultural Readings in Context. Eds. Gabriele Rico, Barbara Roche and Sandra Mano. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1995. 483-491.
Child of the Americas written by Aurora Levins Morales (1986) is a poem about being a Puerto Rican- born American. It is a poem about an American who came from a mixture of several cultures that make up her heritage as well as her identity as an American. This poem is very interesting to me as it tackles the subject of having a diverse cultural background and what it is to be a multiracial individual. Being that she is of American, Jewish, and Spanish decent she is able to view the United States with a different perspective than one who is of just European decent, or just Spanish decent, etc. Being that the United States is already a melting pot of multiracial, cultural, and religious people, she can feel more comfortable with being a citizen of this nation.
When Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States they did it in two major waves. The first wave of emigration occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The second wave occurred from the 1940s to the present. The workings of Bernando Vega and Jose Cruz deal with the different generations of Puerto Ricans that these two waves brought to the United States. While Vega discusses the early emigration of Puerto Ricans to New York City, Cruz discusses the later emigration of Puerto Ricans to Connecticut. Each author describes a different Puerto Rican experience in the United States. The experiences differed in most aspects; from the context in which each wave of emigration occurred to the type of politics that was practiced.
In this story, the reader can see exactly how, many Puerto Ricans feel when living on other grounds. Throughout this time, the boy that Rodriguez presents us realizes he has his culture and that he wants to preserve it as much as he can. “Because I’m Puerto Rican”. I ain’t no American. And I’m not a Yankee flag-waver”
When they first arrived to the United States their only hopes were that they would have a better life and that there were better special education programs for Maribel to attend at Evers. Alma imagined that the buildings would look a lot nicer than they really were. The family was surprised that they could take things from the street that someone threw out of their house, but were in working condition. When they arrived they didn’t think that you would actually have to learn English to be able to communicate, but after going to stores and interacting with people they learned that they need to learn English if they want to live in America. They hoped that you could be able to afford anything in America by working, but based off of the money Arturo was making they learned that you can’t buy everyth...
“ Ironically I faced discrimination from other immigrants rather than Americans themselves”, stated Valentina Luma when she was been interviewed. This quote was the most relatable to my experience of being an immigrant to United States of America compares to hers. Valentina Luma was the age of nine when her and her family immigrated from Dominican Republic to the United States. Luma’s journey to the United States wasn’t arduous physically rather mentally where the process to get accepted took almost a decade, she admits to understand why some immigrants would rather come to America illegally than wait almost a decade to come. Some of the positive
...hborhood was largely populated by Puerto Ricans also, so a community of equivalent ethnicities also led to Puerto Ricans moving there, because nothing had to be changed language wise, and culture wise. Everything was basically the same, which made it easier for them to transition from Puerto Rico to a New York lifestyle. This also came with a negative. Puerto Ricans had to live in torn up, raggedy buildings with racist Landlords that denied some Puerto Ricans from living in their buildings, so some Puerto Ricans had to keep their identity private in order to not risk being evicted. During this time, many Puerto Ricans decided to migrate over also because the US started to climb out of the great depression that it was in, with the help of the New Deal. Jobs started to arise again and it gave migrants the chance to find work and a chance to change their social status.
In America, it is a common misconception that all foreigners are similar; it is believed that they all have similar dreams and each of them end up chasing after the same jobs. However, this is not the case. Not only do immigrants from different countries hold different dreams, but those with a shared background even have varying hopes and dreams for the future. This is evidenced in Bharati Mukherjee’s essay, “Two Ways to Belong in America.” She utilizes several rhetorical strategies in order to show that immigrants have the ability to be assimilated into the American culture, but that they should not be deported if they choose not to conform to said culture.
When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they were in their own countries not able to make ends meet, just to live in the United States. Virtually all immigrants during the 1900’s had the same dream, to become successful and provide for their families as citizens of the United States, but they soon found out that the life in their new country was not going to be easy.
The struggle to find a place inside an un-welcoming America has forced the Latino to recreate one. The Latino feels out of place, torn from the womb inside of America's reality because she would rather use it than know it (Paz 226-227). In response, the Mexican women planted the seeds of home inside the corral*. These tended and potted plants became her burrow of solace and place of acceptance. In the comfort of the suns slices and underneath the orange scents, the women were free. Still the questions pounded in the rhythm of street side whispers. The outside stare thundered in pulses, you are different it said. Instead of listening she tried to instill within her children the pride of language, song, and culture. Her roots weave soul into the stubborn soil and strength grew with each blossom of the fig tree (Goldsmith).
The American dream, as some may call it, is a cherished idea by those who may lack opportunities. For those in Mexico, it is something that is sure to have crossed their minds sometime in their life. The United States, to foreigners, has been looked at as a sign of opportunity and freedom from oppressive governments or unfortunate living conditions. The Other Side of Immigration takes a look at the Mexican nation and provides thought-provoking interview segments about the people still living in the nation who experience and observe the effects of immigration to the United States.
“We are nation of immigrants. Some came here willingly, some unwillingly. Nonetheless, we are immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants, one, and all. Even the natives came from somewhere else, originally. All of the people who come to this country come for freedom, or for some product of that extraordinary, illusory condition. That is what we offer here—freedom and opportunity in a land of relative plenty.” (Middletown Journal 2005)
The pursuit of happiness for some is a journey that can lead to new and great horizons. Sometimes it means to leave everything behind to start something from the bottom up. More and more people decide to leave their hometown, others their state, and others their country to go and find what their hearts desire. In most case that is the vision of an immigrant, to seek and find that better life. In one way or another we are all immigrants in this earth. Since the foundation of the U.S., immigrants from all over the world have marked its history, even though some oppose to this idea; immigration is a key point for this nation.
Greenwood also expresses his love through his language that he keeps repeat “ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land… and I’m proud to be an American” These line in his song represent his love to America that he loves America no matter what and he also proud of it. He believes that if he represent these line into his song, people who listen to it may inspired them and spread out the loving for America. “I’d thank my lucky stars, to be living here today” He uses the word “lucky” represent that how thankful he is to be living in America; he thinks it’s luck but nothing else. He shows us that if everything goes wrong, he still has chances to start his life again with his wife and his children here in America “ And I had to start again, with
The artistic intensions of this film are implicitly stated everywhere throughout the film. All of the dancing, singing, acting and pretend fighting was done thoroughly and very well, although the miking and mixing during the pretend fighting did not seem realistic. Specific actors, dancers, and singers were trained and taught how to perform in order to get the message across to the audience that this West Side Story is not just a film, but a theatrical, musical, choreographed, work of art. Specific messages are portrayed in different art forms such as the way the Puerto Rican women dressed compared to the American women. The Puerto Ricans had fluffier, more brightly colored dresses than did the Americans and the Puerto Rican women made their own clothes. I lived in Mexico last summer and in my opinion, their authentic style of clothing still has those same characteristics. The exception was Maria, who was also not allowed to wear a brightly colored dress with a low cut neck because she was too young, and although she claimed to be an American girl now which would make her eligible for being more free and independent, or shall we say sexy, she still had to wear a conservatively cut white dress. A characterization was pointed out about American women being able do more and be less conservative than Puerto Rican women.