Francisco Alarcon was a Mexican-American writer who used simple language to explore the complexities of Chicano Life in the United States (Siegel, 2016). According to the American Heritage Dictionary (n.d.), Chicano is described as an American citizen of Mexican origin or descent, especially a man or boy. Alarcon uses alliterated words such as “Mexican”, “a”, and, “it” in this poem to emphasize the meaning of each stanza. He uses short lines because the last word in a line is just as important as the word at the beginning of the next line. By using informal diction, he is able to focus on the everyday life of a “Mexicans” with words in each verse as well as creating the mood and tone of the poem. This poem reveals to America the true feelings …show more content…
of a Mexican-American. This poem has much power and much history.
When he begins the poem you can feel his passion with the precise words, ones that are both specific and concrete that he put in this poem (Alarcon, n.d.). He dedicates this poem to forty-six US Santa Cruz students and seven members of staff who were arrested by supporting workers who worked in a canning factory with most of them being Mexican women (Alarcon, n.d.). This poem speaks not only the words but the feelings and opinions that come with it (Alarcon, n.d.). He talks about it is a way of life and that one feels pain when they hear the words (Alarcon, n.d.). He speaks of how “Mexican” is a “lifelong low-paying job” for they will never be able to outlive the discrimination by society that they face on a daily basis. “A check mark on a welfare police form”, is a way to alienate as well as being singled-out on any paperwork that must be filled out; characterized as just a check mark. “More than a word a nail in the soul” is a metaphor meaning “Mexican” is an action of a nail that strikes to the core of their character. In the next stanzas, he uses “it” followed by powerful connotation of their emotional states. Followed by the verse that uses action words like “strikes” and “burns” demonstrates how hard it is to be Mexican-American in the United States because of the rage American demonstrate toward them. It shows that we who are white or American can see it a way of naming people (Alarcon, n.d.). In the eyes of Mexicans this
word carries a meaning beyond that of just a name (Alarcon, n.d.). References: Alarcon, F. (n.d.) Francisco X. Alarcon. Retrieved from: https://franciscoalarcon.weebly.com/mexican-is-not-a-noun Chicano. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Chicano Kirszner, L. G., & Mandell, S. R. (2012). Portable literature: Reading, reacting, writing (Ninth ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Siegel, R. (2016). NPR. Francisco Alarcon, Whose Poetry Explored Chicano Life in the U.S., Dies. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2016/01/20/463740305/francisco-alarcon-whose-poetry-explored-chicano-life-in-the-u-s-dies
Significantly, the poem’s main character, a ten years old boy, has clear that he wants fame and that he wants to prove to be tough, as he expressed “At ten I wanted fame” (Soto line 1),
Anzaldua grew up in the United States but spoke mostly Spanish, however, her essay discusses how the elements of language began to define her identity and culture. She was living in an English speaking environment, but was not White. She describes the difficulty of straddling the delicate changing language of Chicano Spanish. Chicano Spanish can even differ from state to state; these variations as well as and the whole Chicano language, is considered a lesser form of Spanish, which is where Anzaldua has a problem. The language a person speaks is a part...
Mexico is described as tragic-those who are of Mexican descent are often very traditional in thought. Rodriguez’s father held the traditional beliefs that old men are wise, that life is disheartening, and near one’s death is the point where one must look back on their life. However, he also feels that Mexico is a happier place, with sweeter children and more lavish funerals. Perhaps he views Mexico as the tragic place because it represents a lost heritage to him. He, who in his middle age, finds himself agreeing with the Mexican ideals, nevertheless finds himself affected by living in America. Instead of being raised with the ideas of Mexican culture, he was raised with Protestant optimism characteristic of California. He was forced to abandon the way of life of his ancestors, even if only partially. America-more specifically, California, conquered the Mexican ways, and in so doing, lost the opportunity to reconcile the Catholic South and the Protestant North. Thus, Mexico emerged as the tragic hero and California as the laughing victor. California is comedic because it is a place where it is possible to start anew, to defy the traditional.
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
He begin by introducing a town where people struggle for job to support themselves. Schultz provide a quote "Every day now more men stand at the railroad station" (3), This quote means a lot in poem because they were chosen for work. In the poem Mr. Schultz who is the speaker talk about Hispanics people get jobs first before white and black people because they owner knows Hispanics will take less money and will do all work. This in itself is already a class versus class issue. This shows how lower class are getting used for business; and the lower class people know but they are frightened and concerned about future. In the Unites States, society and class defines people based off of wealth and in this case, the Hispanics are known to be in the lower class. On the other hand the speaker talk about upper level class. Wealth plays a big role in terms of class and perspective. The problem here is that many people are looking for jobs in the United States and the Hispanics are taking the jobs of the Americans for lower wages. The lower class is worried about the money they get which is hard. The wealthy also has their own stuff to worry about which is losing their homes to banks. Just like in the first poem, it is not only about class but perspective. The wealthy has their own problems while the low class has theirs as well. Both classes have their own problems to deal
of the native tongue is lost , certain holidays may not be celebrated the same , and American born generations feel that they might have lost their identity , making it hard to fit in either cultures . Was is significant about this book is the fact it’s like telling a story to someone about something that happened when they were kid . Anyone can relate because we all have stories from when we were kids . Alvarez presents this method of writing by making it so that it doesn’t feel like it’s a story about Latin Americans , when
The 1990 poem “I Am Offering This Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca is themed around the life of a prisoner who has nothing else to offer except poetry. As one learns, more about the author’s background, the context of the poem becomes clearer. Examine this piece of information taken from the biography of Baca, “A Chicano poet, Baca served a ten-year sentence in an Arizona prison and his poetry grows out of his experience as a convict” (Baca). Baca’s experience as a prisoner reflects in his writing in that prisoners are often deprived of their rights and many of their possessions while serving a sentence. In his poem, “I Am Offering This Poem”, Baca speaks from the point of view of a prisoner having nothing to offer his love interest except the
Poems are forms of communication that give an applicable view of the past, present and future events. Reading the poem titled “America”, written by Richard Blanco brought me memories from my childhood in my parent’s house and also what is happening now in my house as a parent. The poem explains how one person doesn’t have all the knowledge about something. It also, describes the daily life struggles I experienced during my childhood, when my parent 's and I moved from our hometown to live in another town becuase of their work and it brings to light the conflict of cultures I and my children are going through since we moved to United State of America .
Moraga, Cherrie. “Queer Aztlan: the Reformation of Chicano Tribe,” in The Color of Privilege 1996, ed Aida Hurtado. Ann Arbor: University Michigan Press, 1996.
La Migra is a poem about two children a girl and a boy, who are playing a game about Mexicans crossing the American border. This poem is divided in two stanzas, because it expresses two different points of view; the girls point of view that is pretty much as the point of view an Hispanic or any immigrant would have, and the boys point of view that would be the point of view a racist border patrol or just anyone racist would have. Change in the point of view of the two children implies realism into the poem La Migra. The main point of this poem is to remind the reader about human feelings, and remind the reader about illegal immigration into the United States. Pat Mora uses Image, blank verse, and anaphora to develop her theme of immigration
This poem is both disturbing to the author, Abel Meeropol and to many of us. In this case I believe that most who have seen the images have been haunted for a day or two and wish that none of that (racism) had happened in America. During that time Racism hit America very badly, Americans hurt the colored people, they hanged them, and let their innocent blood stain every little leaf and root, not to mention that they left their bodies to rot and left it so the trees can let go of them and make of them a strange fruit. With this in mind we can all learn that racism was highly common in the “old” days but I believe that we should all appreciate that it is not highly common right now and if it’s still around in some cities/countries/states then they should read /listen to this poem and learn more about it so people can understand the horrifying meaning in racism. This Author, Abel Meeropol was very successful in achieving his goal from this message to point out that racism was stopped and that racism or discrimination won't be acceptable in
chapter he writes how he is affected because he was considered a minority because of his ethnicity. He had to learn to his roots and love his color. The one he could not accept is that he was given special privileges due to his nationality. He wanted to be awarded the awards on his intellectual merits, not because he was a minority-Mexican-American. He goes into depth on how everyone should be given a fair chance even if you are underprivileged or not. He writes about how his parents especially his mother how she feels betrayed by him, due to him talking about their family out in the public and she considered a private matter. He did not consider himself to be a disadvantaged Hispanic-American. Rodriquez, stated “One Mexican-American said
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).
Two poems that are very different but at the same time are similar are “The Adventure of Juan Chicaspatas” written by Rodolfo A. Anaya in 1985 and “I am Juaquin” written by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales in 1967. These poems are different because one poem focused on the Chicano movement of the 1960’s in the United States, and the other poem focused on understanding the indigenous history of Mexicans. And Some similarities that these two poems have is that both are epic poems because both poems cover a wide geographic area and the setting is frequently set in the remote past, and because both poems contain a long catalog of important people who represent the cultural values of their race and nation.
He relates that the usual course for a poem is to start in the middle, "that is the usual method, but not mine" (7.1). He will start at the beginning and give opinionated views of Juan's parents. Immediately the narrator establishes control, and therefore sets the tone of the poem. He lets the reader know that Juan's parental skills are lacking (according to him) and if he was Juan's parent he would do things differently. Of young Juan's mischievousness, if "they been but both in their senses, they'd have the young master To school, or had him soundly whipp'd at home, To teach him manners for the time to come" (25.5-8) Certainly this establishes his authority. As the reader, we want to believe him. Obviously (to the reader) Juan's parents are negligent in their duties and the reader sees herself agreeing that she too would do the same. He guides us to be prejudiced to Juan's parents and this trust develops between narrator and reader that carries throughout the poem. Of course the narrator like any instigator will deny their input. A particularly amusing part of the poem is where the narrator in self-parody tells us "For my part I say nothing--nothing--but This I will...