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Review of the devil's highway by alberto urrea
Review of the devil's highway by alberto urrea
Analytical essay on the devil's highway
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In both Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway and Quade’s Canute Commands the Tide, we see different portrayals of the lower class. Urrea writes about the real-life incident of the deaths of 14 immigrants in the Arizona desert. these immigrants fled from Mexico to the U.S., pursuing a better life but were abandoned by “their Coyotes”. It was a normal practice for the Coyotes to “leave the humans to die for convenience’ sake” (Urrea 201). They would leave saying they would fetch food and water, seek help, etc. but never return. Urrea details the aftermath of these deaths, talking about Mexican officials to deal with the incident and trials prosecuting the survivors and the smugglers. Urrea states that the “big beasts and the little predators continue to feed on the poor and innocent” (Urrea 204). …show more content…
These immigrants were taken advantage of and only hoped for a better life elsewhere. On the other hand, Quade’s story focuses on two people from different classes. Margaret moves to Santa Fe for a new beginning and meets Carmen, who she hires to be her housekeeper. Margaret has some preconceived notions about Carmen. For example, she sees the scar, a “pink ragged line across [her] brown throat” and immediately thinks a boyfriend or husband may have done it to her (Quade 225). She gives some of her belongings to Carmen, thinking it was “probably nicer than the things Carmen bought for herself” (Quade 234). Even though the two become close friends, their different class standings is a barrier between them. Later, when Ruben threatens them, Margaret just wants him out and offers he “takes whatever he wants” (Quade 250). She just wants all of them out of her perfect home. Margaret does not understand the “terror and fury and love” between Carmen, Ruben and August and Carmen sees how apathetic she is (Quade
To be called a walker you need to come from a place where you work all day but don’t make enough ends meat. Urrea explains the small towns and villages where all the poor Mexican citizens yearn for bigger dreams and a better lifestyle. He talks about the individual subjects and circumstances that bring the walkers to decide to cross the border and risk death. Urrea tells the stories of the fourteen victims and giving brief sketches of each individual lives in Mexico. The men were mostly workers on coffee plantations or farmers. They were all leaving their families who consisted of new brides, a wife and several children or a girlfriend they hoped to marry someday. They all had mainly the same aims about going to the U.S, like raising enough money to buy furniture or to build a house, or, in one case, to put a new roof on a mother's house. All of these men really craved a better life and saw the chance for that in the U.S. Being that these men are so hung...
In his book, “…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him,” author Tomás Rivera documents through a fictional non-traditional novel, the life experiences of a child that endured many difficulties, he describes the hope, struggles, and tragedies of the Mexican-American migrant workers in the 40s and 50s, and how they travel from home to work to survive. The book’s focus is in Texas, although other areas are mentioned throughout the United States. Divided into 14 different short stories and 13 vignettes the author records the predicament of the Mexican-American migrant workers in Texas and explains how the migrants had to overcome constant discriminatory actions by the White Americans and endure difficult living situations because of poverty as well as unsatisfactory job
Immigrants come to America, the revered City upon a Hill, with wide eyes and high hopes, eager to have their every dream and wild reverie fulfilled. Rarely, if ever, is this actually the case. A select few do achieve the stereotypical ‘rags to riches’ transformation – thus perpetuating the myth. The Garcia family from Julia Alvarez’s book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, fall prey to this fairytale. They start off the tale well enough: the girls are treated like royalty, princesses of their Island home, but remained locked in their tower, also known as the walls of their family compound. The family is forced to flee their Dominican Republic paradise – which they affectionately refer to as simply, the Island – trading it instead for the cold, mean streets of American suburbs. After a brief acclimation period, during which the girls realize how much freedom is now available to them, they enthusiastically try to shed their Island roots and become true “American girls.” They throw themselves into the American lifestyle, but there is one slight snag in their plan: they, as a group, are unable to forget their Island heritage and upbringing, despite how hard they try to do so. The story of the Garcia girls is not a fairytale – not of the Disney variety anyway; it is the story of immigrants who do not make the miraculous transition from rags to riches, but from stifling social conventions to unabridged freedom too quickly, leaving them with nothing but confusion and unresolved questions of identity.
He wants his readers to know that Mexico 's economy is nowhere near the level of the United States and this causes their people to go through such torture just to cross the border. Throughout his book, Urrea focuses a considerable amount of time on the gangs that offer their services to Mexicans looking to cross the border. These guides or "coyotes" that guide these people, betrays them whenever the going gets tough or border patrol is seen. Betrayal is a common theme that is seen throughout The Devil 's Highway and it is a theme that Urrea tries to entrench in the heads of his readers. Another main point that is focused on in the book is the dangers of Arizona and the despair that comes with the deserts there. The heat of the deserts and the toll it takes on those who cross it frequently appears throughout The Devil 's Highway. All these main points that Urrea discusses throughout his story are all similar. In the end, all of these main points are used to describe how difficult the Mexicans have it. From the difficult economy in Mexico to being easily exploited for money to risk their life in the hot, deadly desert of Arizona, Urrea attempts to cement the point that these illegal immigrants are humans as well. He wants his readers to know that these Mexicans are just trying to survive economically like everyone else does in the
Symbolism is the key to understanding Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street”. By unraveling the symbolism, the reader truly exposes the role of not only Latina women but women of any background. Esperanza, a girl from a Mexican background living in Chicago, writes down what she witnesses while growing up. As a result of her sheltered upbringing, Esperanza hardly comprehends the actions that take place around her, but what she did understand she wrote in her journal. Cisneros used this technique of the point of view of a child, to her advantage by giving the readers enough information of what is taking place on Mango Street so that they can gather the pieces of the puzzle a get the big picture.
In this book, the lives of two wealthy American citizens and two illegal immigrants collide. Delaney and Kyra were whites living in a pleasurable home, with the constant worry that Mexicans would disturb their peaceful, gated community. Candido and America, on the other hand, came to America to seek job opportunities and a home but ended up camping in a canyon, struggling even for the cheapest form of life. They were prevented from any kind of opportunities because they were Mexicans. The differences between the skin colors of these two couples created the huge gap between the two races.
In this short story Sandra uncover the tension between Mexican heritage and demands of the American culture. Cleofilas life consisted of never ending chorus, no good brothers, and a complaining father. She is so excited when the day come for her to become married so she can move away from her town where she grew up, were there isn’t much to do except accompany the aunts and godmothers to the house of one or the other to play cards. She was excited to be far away, all she could think about was to have a lovely house and to wear outfits like the women on the tele. Her picture of the ideal Mexican wife soon became a nightmare when she finally arrived to Texas, where she
In the opening pages of the text, Mary, nineteen, is living alone in Albuquerque. Vulnerable to love, depressed and adrift, she longs for something meaningful to take her over. Just as she is “asking the universe whether or not there was more to life than just holding down boring jobs”, she takes on the job of helping an illegal (political) refugee, José Luis who had been smuggled from El Salvador to the United States, to adjust to his new life in Albuquerque. She instantly falls in love with him and hopes to start her life over with the new aim of “taking the war out of him.”(p. 4) Providing a refuge for him, Mary, as Fellner suggests, “imagines herself to be whole and complete in the experience of love”. (2001: 72) She willingly puts José Luis as the “center” of her life (p.5) with the hope that “love would free her from her dormant condition” (Fellner 2001: ...
The author of the book The Devil's Highway: A True Story, is Luis Alberto Urrea, who was born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1955. Urrea grew up in poverty and was raised in California, his father is Mexican and his mother American. (Urrea, 2017) Urrea graduated from the University of California and completed the graduate program at the University of Colorado. He has written 16 books and also writes poetry. Correspondingly, the book The Devil’s Highway: A True Story, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize. Other books of his have also won prizes like the Christopher Award, and an Edgar Award for the best short story in the genre mystery. Also, Urrea is a part of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame. His books are used in college classrooms across the country, he has taught at Harvard University and Louisiana State University. (Urrea, 2017)
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).
Estrella and Cleofilas have come to accept that they don’t get much for their hard labor. They both learned how society looks at immigrants from other countries. They both were looked down upon. Estrella works hard in the hot heat. She comes to realize that picking grapes doesn’t earn enough money, and it all depended on the piece rate of the grapes. Society turns around, eats the grapes and doesn’t think twice about how the grapes came to their mouths. When the society doesn’t think of the age or person that has picked the grapes.
In Alarcon’s second stanza, he states,” Mexican is a lifelong low-paying job”(6-10). Mexican’s are generally taken advantage of due to their immigration status and paid at very low-wages. They are mistreated the majority of their lives, “as language poses a barrier to many immigrants seeking to obtain benefits”(Njenga, 2016). “A check mark on the welfare police form”(11-15). According to Walsh, (1999), “n the 1920s, the real problem for growers lay not in the fact that Mexicans relied on the relief system, but in the fact that they did so where they were visible”. This is in reference to the seasonal farm laborers that come to the United States every
In the first half of Grande’s novel, she states her life before becoming an immigrant where she lives in Mexico of the 1980s expressing
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros describes the problems that Latino women face in a society that treats them as second class citizens. A society that is dominated by men, and a society that values women for what they look like, and not for what is on inside. In her Novel Cisneros wants us to envision the obstacles that Latino women must face everyday in order to be treated equally.