Luís Alberto Urrea’s Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border takes an in-depth journey into life on the other side of the border for Mexican refugees. Urrea highlights that despite the numbers of refugee crossing over the U.S. border from Mexico, ultimately a majority of the refugees that enter the U.S. from Mexico only escape to a less harsh poverty from which they fled. In this essay particular, I want to prove the notion that Urrea literary piece symbolizes the overcoming of struggle for the Mexican refugees, and that overcoming the harsh struggles of the Mexican borderlands is an accomplishment for Mexican refugees instead of a problem. Before I go into detail about the symbolism of barb wire in Across the Wire: Life …show more content…
One of the first statements that caught my attention is when Urrea states that "poverty is personal: it smells and it shocks and it invades your space," this is particularly important because it symbolizes the never ending effects that poverty places not only on the less fortunate, but also those who have to interact with the less fortunate. Urrea continues by stating that "you come home dirty when you get too close to the poor" which explains how interact with the less fortunate on a daily basis makes you a part of their struggle. Even Urrea himself experienced personally how the borderlands of Tijuana can have its long term effects on those who are not directly affected by poverty. Urrea stated that he thought even himself had escaped Tijuana for good, but he should have known that Tijuana is the place from which you never truly get away. Urrea believed that even though he escaped from life on the other side of the border, life across the border still existed for …show more content…
What is going on in Mexico to where people abandon their families and loved ones for a shot at a better chance at life even if the chance is not that much better then what they are running from? Urrea states "Imagine poverty, violence, natural disaster, or political fear driving you away from everything you know. Imaging how bad things get to make you leave behind your family, your friends, your lovers; your home..." (12). The problem with this is that America has such an ethnocentric point of view that it is hard for them to understand the struggles of refugees in the Mexican borderlands. Many Americans have little sympathy for Hispanic immigrants because of the financial cost that come with there migration, without considering what immigrants lives may have been like in their homelands. Urrea lays a foundation that attempts to allow Americans to understand the hardships immigrants face in trying to have a better life by giving insight on what happens when immigrants don 't make it to the United States and end up in the dump hills overlooking America. Urrea attempts to help Americans understand that Tijuana is considered an outcast to the rest of Mexico, which does not want to be associated with the horrors of this area. With all of the police corruption, poverty, and violence it seems that Mexico has given up on Tijuana which has led to the dehumanization of the lives of the people who struggle every day to survive
In a story of identity and empowerment, Juan Felipe Herrera’s poem “Borderbus” revolves around two Honduran women grappling with their fate regarding a detention center in the United States after crawling up the spine of Mexico from Honduras. While one grapples with their survival, fixated on the notion that their identities are the ultimate determinant for their future, the other remains fixated on maintaining their humanity by insisting instead of coming from nothingness they are everything. Herrera’s poem consists entirely of the dialogue between the two women, utilizing diction and imagery to emphasize one’s sense of isolation and empowerment in the face of adversity and what it takes to survive in America.
Ruben Martinez was fascinated with the tragedy of three brothers who were killed when the truck carrying them and 23 other undocumented migrants across the Mexico – United States border turned over in a high-speed chase with the U.S. Border Patrol. “Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail” is a story about crossing and life in the United States.
In both the movie, La Misma Luna, and the newspaper series, Enrique’s Journey, migrants are faced with many issues. The most deadly and scarring issues all relate back to bandits, judicial police, and la migra or Mexican immigration officers. The problems that arise are serious to the point of rape, robbing, and beating. It is not easy crossing the border illegally and secretly, but the successful ones have an interesting or even traumatic story about how it worked for them.
The book allowed for the readers to place themselves in the shoes of the Mexican migrants by painting a picture of the hardships they face on their journey to having a better life. However, though the book allows the reader to submerge themselves in the migrants’ perspective, it does not take into account the American attitude regarding the recent influx of Mexican migrants but only alludes to the negative commentary and focus on the harsh moderations of Border Patrol, who were represented as “tonks” in the book. Urrea used this reference to express the actions or shall I say forces border patrol applied when taunting and causing harm to the migrants along their journey. Even though Urrea showed Border Patrol in a negative light, he referenced the formation of BORSTAR, which helped migrants in distress. For instance, he made a note of the rescue of the Wellton 26 and the massive forces that were used to save
Politics create a perception that illegal immigrants are all horrid human beings and deserve to be deported back to Mexico. There are a number of Mexicans who look to cross the border to the United States because they are in trouble and they must do whatever they can in order to survive. Regardless of this, citizens of the United States immediately ask for the heads of illegal immigrants and jump to conclusions that these people are crude and selfish although they are just trying to support their families. Luis Alberto Urrea tackles this problem regarding Mexicans attempting to cross the border in his book, The Devil 's Highway: A True Story. Urrea retells the story of the Yuma 14, also known as the Welton 26, and their attempt to cross the
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...
They come to the U. S. not knowing how to speak English very well, and they struggle getting jobs due to their language barrier. The same thing happened to Jurgis in the book. A study done in 2003, showed that 85% of Mexican immigrants thought that learning English was essential to succeeding in the U. S. (migration policy.org, 1). If immigrants do not have the proper education to learn English, they often get launched into poverty. They also get roped into contracts that often lose them money rather than gain it, due to a misunderstanding with the English language. In the book, Jurgis and his family find a cheap shelter that they can stay at. The problem is that different families all shared the same rooms and beds. The areas were cramped and the family struggled adjusting to their new life. The adults in Jurgis' family all had to find jobs, but when they did the working conditions were very unsanitary. They got paid only enough to survive and when Jurgis gets hurt with no compensation for his injury, the family struggled even more. The women are even forced into prostitution as a means to get by, but by that point the family has
In The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail, Oscar Martinez comments on the injustices that occur while migrating from Central America. Central Americans are forced to leave their countries in fear of the inevitable consequences. The systematic abuse Central Americans endure while migrating is founded on that fear which results in more repercussions for migrants. The psychological effects of migrating is used by Martinez to give insight on the atrocities that happen in Central America. The corruption involved while migrating in Central America is against human rights and should be brought immediate attention internationally. Martinez uses the experiences of migrants to expose Mexico’s passivity on the subject and to expose readers’ to the hard truths that occur while migrating.
Jose Antonio Vargas’s article on My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant is a writing about his childhood journey from the Philippines to the United States as an Undocumented Immigrant. Vargas writes this article to emphasize the topic of immigrant and undocumented immigrant in the United States. He uses all three appeals: pathos, ethos, and logic in his writing, in specific, he mostly uses pathos throughout of his entire article with a purpose for the reader to sympathize and to feel compassion for him. The use of these appeals attract many readers, they can feel and understand his purpose is to ask for others to join and support other people who undocumented immigrant like himself. In addition, it gives other undocumented immigrant people courage
Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem sends out a powerful message without the use of a strict structure. The modest wording and simple structure helps the writer send his message across. In addition, with the use of imagery, symbolism, diction, and tone, Baca is able to argue and ridicule American stereotypes on Mexican immigrants coming to the country and robbing them of job opportunities. The use of figurative language helps support Baca’s point of view on how the American misconception is irrational and prejudice.
Martinez, Oscar. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994), 232.
The author is using personal experience to convey a problem to his or her audience. The audience of this piece is quite broad. First and foremost, Mexican-Americans just like the author. People who can relate to what the author has to say, maybe someone who has experienced something similar. The author also seems to be seeking out an audience of white Americans who find themselves unaware of the problem at our borders. The author even offers up a warning to white America when she notes, “White people traveling with brown people, however, can expect to be stopped on suspicion they work with the sanctuary movement”(125). The purpose of this writing is to pull out a problem that is hidden within or society, and let people see it for what it is and isn’t.
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.
“I do not believe that many American citizens . . . really wanted to create such immense human suffering . . . in the name of battling illegal immigration” (Carr 70). For hundreds of years, there has been illegal immigration starting from slavery, voluntary taking others from different countries to work in different parts of the world, to one of the most popular- Mexican immigration to the United States. Mexican immigration has been said to be one of the most common immigration acts in the world. Although the high demand to keep immigrants away from crossing the border, Mexicans that have immigrated to the U.S have made an impact on the American culture because of their self sacrifices on the aspiration to cross over. Then conditions
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.