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More handpicked essays just for you.
Challenges encountered when balancing career and family
Career and family balance issues
Narrative essays about Mexican american family relationships
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Dagoberto Gilb’s “Romero’s Shirt” tells the story of Romero—the protagonist, a family man whose favorite shirt was taken from his juniper. A momentous episode occurs in Romero’s life when he decides to allow an old man cut his juniper which he usually does himself. Before this episode Romero was washing his car and because he didn’t want his shirt to get wet he put it on the juniper. In front of the house came the old man offering his service, Romero who usually doesn’t accustom to this type of jobs gave the old man a chance because he find him likeable. Happy with the little moment that he share with the old man he took a nap and then when he woke up he remember his shirt and didn’t find it where it was. He is upset, but he struggles about …show more content…
Gilb suggest that often parents focus so much in their jobs that it takes away their happiness. Romero works even in weekends and is off in a week day when his family is not in the house consequently he’s not able to enjoy his time of with them. His life is so involved with work that he forgets what makes him enjoy life that “happiness was as easy as some tacos and a five-dollar bill” (395). Gilb also shows that people who believe that materialism will bring them happiness are wrong. Romero likes his shirt because he felt like it show that he was well. He wants his children to be seen in private hospitals rather than the county hospital and he wants to give his daughter the best clothes, his sons more toys and everything his wifes ask …show more content…
He often compares himself with family members who had move to other cities like Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. Because “they came back for holidays with stories of high wages and acquisition” (394) he feels that he is not as successful as them. Often he has to remind himself how he used to live in Mexico where “so many things weren’t available” (394) and where people will do anything just to have the basics. He also has to convince himself that “life in El Paso was much like the land-hard, but one could make do with what was offered”
It is often said that the setting of the story can change the character’s mentality and personality. In the classic vignette, A Summer Life, Gary Soto addresses his childhood to adulthood in Fresno in the course of a short vivid chapters. Born on April 12, 1952, a year before the Korean War ended, Gary experiences his life in Fresno of what he describes “what I knew best was at ground level,” and learns what is going on around the neighborhood with his religious background behind him. Later, when he realizes his father passes away, he undergoes hardships which cause his family to be miserable. Growing up in the heart of Fresno, Gary Soto, the author, explains his journey as a young man to adolescence through his use of figurative language and other adventures. The settings of this book revise Gary’s action and feelings around his surroundings.
“I rather would be blind than then see this world in yellow, and bought and sold by kings that hammer roses into gold.” (King Midas Pg.462 Para.10) Many think that if they got what they wanted they would be happy, but if the world was all based on malterlistic things and everyone got what they wanted there would be chaos and no feelings just want and people would do crazy things to get what they want. Now a day’s people mistake malterlistic things for happiness. “The necklace”, “Ads may spur unhappy kids to embrace materialism”, And “Thrill of the chase” illustrates examples of materialism and show some base their happiness on it.
The push-and-pull factors in Enrique’s yearn for the U.S not only allows him to rediscover himself as an individual in a world of uncertainty, it also eliminates his constant fear of failing as a promising human being; in addition exhibits the undying hope of a desperate man found in hopeful migrants. In Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” his mother’s trip streamed “emptiness” into the heart of a once comfortable child and left him to “struggle” to hold memories they shared. Enrique’s life after Lourdes’ departure triggered the traumatizing demise of his identity. He threw this broken identity away while facing many obstacles, nevertheless each endea...
The main events of the story occur in Honduras and Mexico. Tegucigalpa, Honduras is where Enrique was born and raised by several family members. In Tegucigalpa, Enrique is shuffled from house to house simply because he is unable to control his emotions. This makes Enrique angry and he begins to rebel against the people he lives with. At the age of 17, Enrique decides to leave his family in Honduras and travel to the United States in hopes that he will reunite with his mother. His journey will take him through Chiapas, Mexico, the most hostile city at the point of his travel. In Chiapas, corrupt Mexican police officers and gangs stop migrants and order them to give up anything in their possession. Enrique was beaten and thrown off a train in Chiapas by gang members who raiding the train. After being thrown off of the train Enrique realizes that the journey is not going to be as easy as he dreamed it was. The second most hostile city of the trip, Oaxaca is where many migrants are deported. The people of Oaxaca have a very distinct way of speaking and behaving. In Oaxaca Enrique is kept on toes, wondering if he will be deported because of his awkward dress and dialect. The last important place in the story is Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Nuevo Laredo is last stop for immigrants travelling to the United States. From Nuevo Laredo immigrants will illegally enter Texas and begin their struggle for financial success in America. Enrique does finally enter Texas after being pushed on a boat from Nuevo Laredo. Once he entered Texas, Enrique takes a cab to North Carolina hoping to find his mother. Sonia Nazario begins the story by describing Enrique’s confusion as to why his mother has left him. He doesn’t understand that she can’t afford food and ...
University of California-Berkley geographer and author Michael Johns argues in his novel, The City of Mexico in the Age of Diaz, that the central Zocalo of Mexico City does more than geographically segregate the East from the West, but Mexico’s national mentality as well. During the years of Diaz’s democratic façade, the upper classes thrived upon plantation exports, feudalist economics and the iron fist of Diaz’s rurales while struggling to maintain European social likeness. East of the Zocalo, shantytowns housed thousands of poor pelados that served as societal blemishes of a suburbanite’s experience. In Johns’s work, the penniless and indigenous serve as the scapegoats for the priviledged and their obsession with grooming Mexico City to be a little Europe.
When they first arrived to the United States their only hopes were that they would have a better life and that there were better special education programs for Maribel to attend at Evers. Alma imagined that the buildings would look a lot nicer than they really were. The family was surprised that they could take things from the street that someone threw out of their house, but were in working condition. When they arrived they didn’t think that you would actually have to learn English to be able to communicate, but after going to stores and interacting with people they learned that they need to learn English if they want to live in America. They hoped that you could be able to afford anything in America by working, but based off of the money Arturo was making they learned that you can’t buy everyth...
Throughout Enrique’s many attempts at successfully making his way by train to the border between the United States and Mexico, he has encountered people who were more concerned with stopping and harming the travelers rather than ensuring their wellbeing. Therefore this imagery during the journey part of the novel helps to provide the reader with the sense that not everyone in Mexico is out to get the people who are trying to obtain a better
Both of the short stories Job History by Annie Proulx and Romero's Shirt by Dagoberto Gilb cover the topic of a person who is working as hard as they can to stay afloat as they go from job to job to job working for meager wages. Leeland Lee from the story Job History is a man who his entire life spends time jumping from job to job never sticking around with it that long. Mainly due something bad happening but it also happens due to his own attitude and incompetence. He also has a hard time keeping his family afloat and raising his children right. Romero's Shirt is a story about the titular character and how he also goes from job to job trying to keep his family afloat as well. He is a person who takes his work seriously and takes pride in how little he wants anything. He does his best to make sure his family lives a decent life. The shirt might seem like an ordinary object to the reader at first but later on the story reveals as to why that shirt is so
He tells how crossing the border story and his transformation from illegal immigrant to an American citizen. He explains that by working a factory at the age of 21 make him to transformed himself and he makes himself a better person with the ability to have an education and escape from the poverty of Mexico. He states the significant phrases “As if transformed, I no longer cared about the trappings of wealth or dreams of riches that had motivated me before". by this accident, he starts to be a contribute people for American society in such as the way of having a good education level and motivate him to be a neurosurgeon. He wants to influence and the colleague life by being model of improving as immigrating life. Edwidge Danticat wrote an essay for the New York Times entitled, “New York Was Our City on the Hill”. The essay is about her family’s move from Haiti to New York City. Haiti is the poorest nation on Earth and Danticat’s family was not an exception. When the Danticat’s made the move to New York they were faced with many hardships. With little education, her parents were forced to work minimum wage jobs to support their family. They were unable to afford things like health insurance. This is just one example of a family of immigrants and the hardships they face in America. There are many other
Smeltertown existed as a smelting industry company-community and border town in El Paso, Texas. Through her own familial connection to Smeltertown, Monica Perales “traces the formation, evolution, demise, and collective memory of one of the largest single-industry Mexican-American communities on Mexican-US side of border.” Smeltertown, as a community, was was made up of several real and imagined social worlds that were constantly shaped by ASARCO. The community that was forged in Smeltertown served as a way of survival for its residents, allowing the influence from ASARCO to be lessened. Smeltertown tells the story of how its residents ordered their immediate socials.
To begin with, the narrator happily took the job knowing that having a construction job will make his parents proud. “I would tell my father only after the summer was over, when I could announce after all, I did know what “real work” is like.” (Rodriguez 103) At the start of the story, the narrator begins to realize the diversity within the group of workers. “Carefully completing their work sheet; talking about the fortunes of local football teams; planning Las Vegas vacations; comparing the gas mileage of various makes of campers—they were not los probres my mother had spoken about.” (Rodriguez 104) Thinking that only los probres or the poor, worked menial jobs, the narrator soon realized that what his mother
The lack of a safe home environment, one of the obstacles Panchito faces. When they lived in Fresno, he and his family lived in an old garage, separate from the large main house of their employer. The windowless walls strained “to support the roof full of holes”(Jiminéz 58). In addition, Roberto, Panchito, and their father “sle[pt] outside under the trees” (58). Because of the lack of any plumbing or furniture, they took showers underneath a waterhose and they “[ate] dinner around some wooden crates,”(59). The absence of a proper home environment also speaks for his family’s financial situation. If they cannot afford a home, one could wonder how they can properly support their children. Their severe economic status could also explain their children’s lack of an education.
“This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona” discusses the physical and mental journey of Victor, a Native American man in the state of Washington, as he goes to Phoenix, Arizona to claim his father’s remains and his savings account. While on this journey, Victor learns about himself, his father, and his Indian culture with the help of his estranged friend, Thomas Builds-the–Fire. The author, Sherman Alexie, plays on the stereotypes of Native Americans through the characters of Victor and Thomas. While Thomas is portrayed as the more traditional and “good” Native American, Victor comes across as the “bad” Native American. Through the use of this binary relationship, Alexie is able to illustrate the transformation of these characters as they reconcile with each other, and break out of these stereotypes in the process.
In life, everyone experiences a time of hardship, and for the most part, those affected find methods of overcoming the adversity. The idea of getting through hardship is best reflected in; Sherman J. Alexie’s story “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” (274). In the story, victor whose father had recently died from a heart attack has to travel to phoenix Arizona to reclaim his father’s ashes and his truck. Victor is joined by his former childhood friend “Thomas Builds-the-fire”, who finances the trip to phoenix since Victor did not have the means. They drove back truck from phoenix to the reservation. Throughout the trip, Thomas is always telling stories mostly reminiscing about their childhood. It is through Thomas stories that we learn much about Victor’s father. Through the use of symbolism, and character development, Alexie conveys the idea that, when someone is experiencing an adversity, reconnecting and embracing the past may lead to a discovery of a brighter future.
..., a person who earns $25,000 is happier than a person who makes $125,000 and an employee who makes $500,000 is only slightly happier than someone who makes $55,000. Lastly, there are more important things in life that and make you happy, for example, friends. They don’t come with a price tag, and if they do, you definitely need new friends. Money won’t make you happy since good times can’t be bought. You don’t need a fancy vacation to have a good time; it’s just a matter of who you spend it with. Over the years, humans have blown the value of money way out of proportion. People make it seem like if you’re not filthy rich, then you won’t live a good life but it’s not true. You can lack money and yet still live a perfect, happy life.