“Like Mexicans” Essay
In the short reading “Like Mexicans” Gary Soto is undecided about what route he should pursue when moving on into the future. In his early teens his grandmother told him to become a barber and to marry a Mexican girl, Soto’s mother told him this as well. When Soto was in his twenties he ended up falling in love with a Japanese woman named Carolyn. Towards the end of the story Soto realized that the reason his mom wanted him to marry a Mexican girl was because they are in the same social class as him. At the end of the story when Soto is at Carolyn’s house he perceived that her family was different, but they were just like Mexicans because they were poor. Throughout this story Soto crossed three life changes: Culture, food,
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Poor people” (13). Carolyn’s people had the same attributes that Soto was familiar to. Her family was poor like his family but they were just a different race. Soto did a significant thing by going over to a different household to explore a dissimilar lifestyle than his. Because of his significant act, this opens up Soto’s propositions on people who are not Mexican.
To illustrate, Soto found out that Carolyn’s family would eat different foods than his family. In the beginning of the story his mom can be spotted in the kitchen as “she slapped a round steak with a knife, her glasses slipping down with each strike” (10). Throughout the story, Soto’s mother is seen cooking foods such as burgers, beans, and steak. Soto would always eat food similar to each other; he did not have any variety with food. When Carolyn takes Soto to meet her parents, they ate sandwiches, potato chips, and they drank ice tea. Carolyn’s mother eventually offered Soto a meal of sushi. Soto described it as “a plate of black and white things were held in front of me” (14) when the sushi was at his disposal. After he ate the sushi, Soto and Carolyn’s family talked for an hour while they had Apple pie and drank coffee. It was good for Soto to try the sushi because it shows him how food can be diverse just as much as race can
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It eventually made him only want to marry a woman who was just like him, a woman who was poor. Everyone in Soto’s life wanted him to marry a Mexican girl not only because they would both be poor, but because all of his close family members married Mexicans also. Even his best friend Scott wanted him to marry a Mexican girl, stating “she’s too good for you, so you better not” (12) after Soto asked him if he should marry a Mexican girl instead of Carolyn. Scott felt like Carolyn was too good for Soto because she was a different race than Mexican. If Soto found a Mexican girl instead of a Japanese girl everybody that Soto knows would be fine if he married a Mexican girl because they know they are poor. Soto did not consider Carolyn poor because she did not fit the description of being unwealthy.
In the end of the story, Sotos was happy that he continued with his plan. Soto Should have been thinking more of what he wanted because it could have taken him further. His family brainwashed him by telling him he was not good enough for other girls in a higher social class. Through his journey on marrying Carolyn, Soto went through three major life changes: Culture, food, and marriage. Similarly, In my childhood my father wanted me to be a successful basketball player. That was something I did not want to take seriously for my life so I chose skateboarding. Making my own choice to keep skateboarding throughout my life has brought me many magnificent
‘A Fabricated Mexican’ is a novel by Ricky Rivera in which he chronicles his life as he grows from a child farm worker to a Ph.D. candidate. He takes us through his journey in his search for his personal identity. In the book we find that his journey has not been an easy one. This difficult journey is due to many factors, most importantly the people who have surrounded him during this journey.
In the essay, Mr. Soto spends a good part of the paper thinking whether he should continue his relationship with his new Japanese girlfriend. An example of his struggle was a conversation between Mr.Soto and his mother, “ But the more I talked, the more concerned she became. Was it a mistake? ‘Marry a Mexican girl.’ I heard my mother in my mind” (pp. 220). All Mr.Soto doubt about his relationship stems from the beliefs of his family. He was raised with the notions that a Mexican wife was the best and only option for him. It was only through visiting her family, his inner qualms were calmed: “ On the highway, I felt happy, pleased by it all. I patted Carolyn’s thigh. Her people were like Mexicans, only difference” (pp 222). From the experiences of meeting people he properly never would 've met, Mr.Soto found that race has no bounds, one
Junot Diaz is Dominican American, and he came from a very poor family with five other siblings. Since they were not that wealthy, they lived in a simple way. Even though his mother was basically the bread winner of the family since his father could not keep a job, she still manages to send money back home every six months or so. When they got home from their vacation, they had found out that someone has broken into their house and stole most of his mother’s money. It was easy for them to be a target because they were recent immigrant, and in their neighborhood cars and apartment were always getting jacked. His mother was very upset; she blamed her children, because she thought it was their friends who had done such a thing. “We kids knew where
The protagonist both struggled in their childhood. In addition, both protagonists grew up in families with parents, who were not keen about their children’s life, for instance, Sonia’s parents used to fight all the time, while Martinez parents were uncaring and abusive. Sonia’s relationship with her mother was not that good and this applies to Martinez too. Both protagonists came in terms with their upbringing and had to work hard to change their life situations. In both stories, the theme of poverty is evident in both the
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The Mexican White boy is a good book. It is by the author named Matt de la Pena. Although it wasn’t my type of book I would recommend it to someone. The Mexican White Boy is about a boy who moves with his father side of his family and tries to fit in with the Mexicans although he doesn’t know how to speak Spanish. The story is really relaxing. The plot is great, the theme, the tone, and mood of the story. . The plot of the story is always changing. It changes from enemies to friends. I feel like the author want to change your mind about people. For example, first Danny, the main character, must fit in with everyone. Then he meets a kid named Uno and the first time they meet they get into a fight. But later, in the story Uno and Danny start being friends.
In closing, Francisco faced many hardships throughout his life. He had to adapt to his life here in the United States, deal with being a male in his family, as well as face discrimination. Through all the hard times, family and getting a good education were always his top priorities. With the help of his teachers and counselors, he was able to succeed in school, unlike the majority of the students. Francisco is a true hero in the eyes of many Hispanic immigrants who come to the United States and strive to be the best they can be.
He wanted to be famous, “At ten I wanted fame” (Soto line 1) and to achieve his dreams he became rebellious, this was the only way he had to get the attention he wanted from those around him. Soto portrayed the child’s personality as a reflection of his own, he knew that he could act in similar ways to the character and had no consequences or being discipline it for it; at the end Soto’s parents were acceptable oh his behavior, as long he stayed out of prison. The fact that acting in a good way was not going to lead to receive any attention, acting rebellious is the only way the child has to be noticed. Evidently, there is a lack of respect displayed54t by the child in the poem; he images himself cursing to an imaginary priest, “I said ‘shit.’ ‘Fuck you,’ and “No way Daddy-o” (Soto lines
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After reading The Book of the Unknown Americans, I realized how difficult immigrating to the United States can be. I am an immigrant also, so just reading the story makes me relate to many problems immigrants experience relocating to a different country. Immigrants often face many issues and difficulties, but for some it is all worth it, but for others there comes a point in time where they have to go back to their hometown. Alma and Arturo Rivera came to the United States to better their life, but also so that Maribel could attend a special education school. While Arturo had a job things had gone well for the family, but once Arturo lost the job and passed away the two of them had to go back because they felt that that was the best option for them. Reading this book made me realize how strong an individual has to be to leave their own country and relocate somewhere else not knowing if this will better your life or cause one to suffer.
reminded that he should marry his own kind. His own kind being one of Mexican
Bertolt Brecht successfully accomplishes this in his work through his technique called the alienation effect where “he forces the audience to look at everything in a fresh light and, above all, to think” (Barranger, pg. 121). His main goal by using this was for the audience to “absorb his social criticism and to carry new insights out of the theater into their own lives” (Barranger, 121). Valdez applies this technique through his use of the Secretary, representing the American population as a whole, and the stereotypes of the Mexicans. When she is first introduced to Sancho, she comes with a list of criteria for what the Mexican should acquire including: “suave, debonair, dark, but not too dark, beige, American-made and hard-working” (Valdez, p. 1288). From the start of the play, Mexicans are already being stereotyped on how they should look and act to be accepted by Americans and their culture. This gets the audience thinking of their own perception on Mexicans and what qualities they might consider if they were in this situation. From the qualities represented of each of the “models,” the Secretary then denies any quality of the model that isn’t sufficient enough for her liking, and “shops” around until she finds the right
Fermina Daza was raised in an environment where women’s success is based on her ability to marry a man of honor and monetary value. She is expected to be brought up in this manner by a fellow female or mother; however Fermina’s mother died when Fermina was very young, thus her father, Lorenzo Daza, an illiterate mule trader, was left to take on the role. Márquez identifies Lorenzo’s motives and expectations for Fermina as he states, “When [Lorenzo Daza’s] wife died, he had set only one goal for himself: to turn his daughter into a great lady.” His emphasis on his one goal for Fermina infers that he did not necessarily have the to intentions to build or establish a communicative relationship with his daughter. He wanted better for Fe...
“Any man will be happy with them because they have been raised to suffer” (pg 31, Marquez) This quote talks about how the daughters are taught embroidery, machine sewing, lace weaving, helping the unfortunate, and serving just to cope with the society. Most married women get engaged at the age of 14. The man may be 17 or 18. Not saying that if a female is a hard worker but looks ugly that she wouldn’t get a forced marriage. Many Latin American women would li...