"This (Illegal) American Life"
In the story "This (Illegal) American Life" Maria Andreu explains the struggle of smuggling into the U.S. and living as an undocumented alien. Andreu 's parents came into the U.S. in their early twenties, with baby Andreu at the time. Looking forward to have a better life here in the States. When Andreu turned six, her grandfather passed away. Andreu and her mother left the country and arrived to Argentina to attend the funeral. They didn’t have visas. Therefore, they couldn’t enter the U.S. legally. They were stuck in Argentina for two years. Until her father finally found "coyotes" that would smuggle Andreu and her mother back into the U.S. for a certain amount of money. They were dependent of smugglers for
That was just the beginning of her upcoming challenges. Andreu couldn 't do certain things due to the fact that she was undocumented. She struggled for a while but then the Congress passed the amnesty law of 1987. And her future of no success ended up becoming bright and the doors that were once closed, opened up. She then came to realize that she is not any different than anyone else and she fits in with both, the illegal immigrants and the "real" Americans.
I believe that Andreu 's biggest challenges as a child were when her grandfather died in South America, and her and her mother had to leave the country to attend the funeral. It was a challenge because they had no legal way of coming back into the U.S. and they were stuck in Argentina for two years. Resulting in her having to get smuggled back into the United States. In the first place, Andreu 's notes, "We couldn 't get a visa to return. My father sent us money from New Jersey, as the months of our absence stretched into years" (618). When Andreu left the country, she thought she was only going to be gone for a month. She did not expect to live the Argentinian life for the next two years. Feeling homesick and missing the things that were a part of her daily basis in the U.S. made her realize she
Through the view of a young girl, this story really captures what it’s like to feel like immigration is the only option for a family. In the story, set in the 1960’s, Anita lives in the Dominican Republic, a country with a dictator named el jefe. One day at school, Anita’s cousin is called out of class, and Anita is asked to go with. She finds out that her
I thought that Diane Guerrero who is an American actress speech about her family’s deportation was interesting. She recently appeared on an immigration themed of Chelsea handler’s talk show. Guerrero is the citizen daughter of immigrant parents. Guerrero mentioned how her family was taken away from her when she was just 14 years old. “Not a single person at any level of government took any note of me. No one checked to see if i had a place to live or food to eat, and at 14, i found myself basically on my own”, Guerrero added. Luckily, Guerrero had good friends to help her. She told handler how her family try to become legal but there were no sign or help. Her parents lost their money to scammers who they believed to be a lawyer. When her family’s
...rest became a nightmare. Enrique’s time apart from his mother made them more like “strangers” than family. Filled with anger stemming from the years apart from one another, he refused to obey his mother’s wishes to live healthier. While lost in family chaos, he turned back to his addiction of drugs crashing his dream of a perfect family dynamic. Though his dream became a nightmare, he was able to achieve it through one core trait where his inner strength help drive him to not give up his dream of seeing his mother. This signifies that if a person is willing to work hard to achieve their dream through diligence, it can be met. Though the outcome may not be what one hoped for, being able to say you accomplished something is soul-pleasing. His success in making it to the U.S. regardless of many downfalls satisfies one missing piece in his broken puzzle of a life.
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.
For many Mexican immigrants, crossing the border into the land of freedom and the American dream is no easy task. Some immigrants come over illegally by means of hiding in cars to cross borders, using visitor visas to stay longer, marrying to become citizens, and having babies as ‘anchors’ to grant automatic citizenship. Other immigrants gain green cards and work visas and work their way into becoming US citizens legally and subsequently gaining citizenship through paperwork for their families back home. After escaping harsh living and working conditions in Mexico, immigrants come to America prepared to gain education, opportunity, and work. This American dream unfortunately does not come to pass for most.
To begin, Angelou’s early discovery of life showed attainable hope though in storms. At age fifteen, Angelou was set on getting a job on the street cars. No colored person had ever yet done so, but that did not stop her determination. Though she faced great struggles during the process, joy was later received when she finally got the job. One morning when Angelou was about to leave for her newly received job, she spoke with her mother then she stated, “She
Maya Angelou was one of America’s greatest writers in history. She was known for her many writings and for her part in Civil Rights Movements. Maya Angelou went through many hardships during her childhood, the most prevalent of those, racism over her skin color. This racism affected where she grew up, where she went to school, even where she got a job. “My education and that of my Black associates were quite different from the education of our white schoolmates. In the classroom we all learned past participles, but in the streets and in our homes the Blacks learned to drops s’s from plurals and suffixes from past tense verbs.” (Angelou 221) Maya Angelou was a strong believer in a good education and many of those beliefs were described in her
Many people get deported each year, this situation can be prevented, but many do not have money for an attorney or do not simply know their rights. Many Mexicans cross the border of the United States for the American Dream. There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S (Huffington post, 2012). This issue has been escalating for years. There are many opponents to illegal immigration. Many people believe that those that break the law by crossing the border illegally or those who overstay their visas should be immediately deported and not have the right to become a U.S citizen.
In her autobiography, Maya Angelou tells the story of her coming into womanhood in the American South during the 1930s. She begins with the story of an incident she had on Easter Sunday in which she’s in church reciting a poem in front of everyone; however, she messes up leaving her unable to finish the poem, so she runs out of the church crying and wets herself. Growing up her parents had a rough marriage, and eventually they got a divorce when Maya was only 3 years old. Their parents send her and her older brother Bailey to live with their grandmother Mrs. Annie Henderson in Staples, Arkansas. Staples is a very rural area and their grandmother owns the only store in the black section of the town, so she is very respected amongst the people
She learned to read and write at school, but that doesn't mean that other obstacles weren't thrown her way. “I am the only daughter in a Mexican family of six sons”. Being the only daughter meant that she would be spending a lot of time to herself, she needed something to keep her occupied. Who knew that writing would be the answer. When she was in fifth grade and decided to share her plans for college with her father, he had said “Que bueno, mija”. The problem is that her father had envisioned another path for her. “What I didn't realize was that my father thought college was good for girls- for finding a husband”. Just imagine how hard it was for her to go against her father's wishes and continue to follow her true calling.
Maria Elena works as a cleaner in your home You find her quite pleasant but of late she seems to be restless so you decide to find out the reason for it and you are shocked Her story in short goes this way .Maria Elena is an illegal immigrant who lives in San Jose with her husband and 2 children in a run down apartment with two other couples. Maria and her husband Luis heard of how good everything was in the USA from a cousin and decide to leave Mexico, to give a better future for their children. So Luis entered USA illegally made enough money and then called for Elena .Using a false green card both of them work.
Labor and Legality by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz is an intense ethnography about the Lions, undocumented immigrants working in a Chicago restaurant as busboys. The ten undocumented men focused on in Gomberg-Munoz’s are from Leon, Mexico. Since they are from Leon, they are nicknamed the Lions in English. She describes why they are here. This includes explaining how they are here to make a better future for their family, if not only financially, but every other way possible. Also, Gomberg-Munoz focuses on how Americans see “illegal aliens”, and how the Lions generate social strategies, become financially stable, stay mentally healthy, and keep their self-esteem or even make it better. Gomberg-Munoz includes a little bit of history and background on “illegal”
People have to cross many types of borders to change their life directions. Some people struggle to maintain their behaviour and also their personalities. Other people fight against nature to change their attitude as well as their way of thinking. The border I was crossing was the behavioural change as well as the language boundaries. It left a big mark on the person I am in the present day. I changed myself from laziness and not self-conscious to having a good moral also from getting low grade to high grade in school.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” (Maya Angelou “Quotes”). Maya Angelou is an African American author who wanted the whole world to know who she was. Even though Maya Angelou’s life was full of disappointments and miseries, she still managed to rise above them all to become a successful poet. Racism played a really big role in Maya Angelou’s life. Maya Angelou witnessed slavery when she was very young and wished that someday all men will be free. Maya Angelou had many difficulties, and her family was one of them. None of her marriages worked out, and had a son to raise on her own.
Marguerite Anne Johnson, better known as Maya Angelou, was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born and raised in an era that involved the Great Depression and World War I. When her parents divorced at a young age, she and her brother were sent to live with her grandmother in a heavily racially segregated Stamps , Arkansas. She found solace in her brother, Bailey, in the hard times produced by the South. This segregation was severe in this era, especially for shy young Marguerite. Throughout her childhood, she was sent from her grandmother to her father and mother. All these different environments exposed Angelou to a series of experiences including: racism, segregation, music, and politics. These experiences were most likely what prompted her to chronicle her life through autobiographical works as well as poems. In these works, Angelou utilizes elements such as literary devices, poetic devices, allusions, recurring themes and symbols to portray