Real Women Have Curves Essay

My Dad came to America by himself at the age of thirteen from India, hoping to achieve the widely known American Dream. He wanted to do this for his family and to have a better future. The oldest of two brothers, my father had to work a couple of jobs at a very young age. He skipped school for two years in order to make ends meet. He then started school to get back on track. The thrive and effort he put into his studies and work demonstrates how hard he succeeded to get to where he is now. He got accepted to well known universities. His hardships and work ethics with dealing with the society in America is similar to the film Real Women Have Curves and the articles, “ The economic Reality of being Latino/a in America”, “Unequal Childhoods: Class,

Race, and Family Live”, and “The Patriarchal Family”.
In the movie Real Women Have Curves, the main character Ana lives in a Hispanic community where she deals with working paycheck to paycheck and plus furthering her education.

Ana’s family is a traditional Hispanic family where they believe in working after high school instead of starting college. Ana’s mom looks at life in a very old-fashioned view. She believes that a woman should provide for the family and make breakfast and do the cleaning. Also Ana’s mother emphasizes a lot throughout the movie that a women should look skinny to be able to get a man. In the beginning of the movie, Ana goes through three buses just to get to her high school. This shows that Ana does not go to her local high school and that she is exceptionally smart to get in to Beverly Hills high school. Ana’s teacher is a big part in helping Ana succeed. He knows Ana is intelligent enough to go far in life. Towards the end of the movie, her teacher tells her that she got into Columbia University with a full scholarship. Ana could not believe that she can go far in her future but show knows that her family won’t let her go across the country for school. Ana wants to follow the American Dream and to be able to get worthy of a degree and to have a good stable future. She has an incredible opportunity to take but her families traditions and values brings her down. In the end, Ana realizes that this is her American Dream and she should not let this great opportunity go to

waste.
The American Dream is an idea that all genders would be considered equal. “ The Patriarchal Family”, is an article that states that all responsibility is evenly divided by the man and the women. One line says, “ We are seeing improvements in the degree in which their situations affords them opportunities to exert some leverage within the system of patriarchy,” (Lerner 204). This is saying that most women are having more power and are able to control their lives than compared to other societies. In other countries, most women are used to feeling the lesser than the man, but in America they feel they have the chance to be dominant. Like in the case with Ana’s mom, she feels like she is in charge of the house and the family members.
American may be full of equality and freedom but it was not always like it. Like Ana and her family, they feel the need to not have to further education just because of their class. If America is all the good it is known for, then why does it let people feel lesser. In the article, “ Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life”, the author says, “ America may be the land of opportunity, but it is also a land of inequality,” ( Lareau 45).This quote is very true in saying that people are not equally placed in the same class and there is always discrimination among each other. For the working class, a child’s education does not seem as importants like in Ana’s situation. One line says, “ Working class and poor parents sometimes were not as aware of their children’s school situation; they dismissed the school rules as unreasonable,” ( Lareau 47). Ana’s parents did not seem to show any excitement about Ana earning admission to Columbia University. Nowadays earning such accomplishments is considered a route to successfulness.
The Hispanic community has grown a lot over the past years. Their culture shown in Ana’s family portray how hard their work ethic is. Compared to a middle class, the working class know more about getting what you need with hard dedicated work. In the article, “ The Economic Reality of being Latino/a in America,” explains the true, hard working life of Hispanics. Hispanics like all people living in the U.S wants to follow the American Dream but they do it in a family orientated way. Like in the article, “ Latinos in the United States rest squarely on a strong work ethic, on collective family and extended lain efforts, and a strong entrepreneurial spirit,” ( Lui 139).
The wide-known American Dream is what keeps people thriving to work hard and to have big hopes for their future. My Dad keeps on working harder everyday, whether it is taking risks or planning for what is next. Like my Dad, Ana shows the characteristics of a person following her dream to develop herself into a hard working person. America is the ideal quality of following dreams.