The Distance Between Us Reflection In the book Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, she takes us on the journey of her life. The book deals with issues many immigrant families deal with on a daily basis. Reyna explores the difficulties that come with being a child of an immigrant, parents not being emotionally or physically present, and child abuse. I will be speaking about my feelings and thoughts about how this book affected me and what I enjoyed about it. As soon as I finished the book I felt really emotional and my eyes were watery with all the emotions I felt. I did not know how to explain my feelings, because most of the problems Reyna discussed I had not personally gone through. My parents are both from Mexico and they both came …show more content…
to the other side at really young ages. My dad came to the United States at the age of fourteen with no family or large amount of money. My mom came to the United States at the age of nineteen and she does not really talk about her experience of getting here. Nor does she talk about what she did when she finally got to the U.S. I have never asked her about her own experience, but from prior experience about asking her about other parts of her life I know she what not be open about it. After finishing the book I automatically started to wonder who and what my parents left behind in Mexico. Obviously they left the parents and siblings, but I’m wondering what else they left on their journey to a better life. This made me feel sad for them because it most be an incredibly hard decision to leave everything you know. I personally do not think I would be able to leave my home for the unknown, it be take an incredibly brave person to do it. However, I do know that sometimes there is no choice for people and they need to escape their home country to live a better life. Reading this book made me wonder how my parents were able to come to the U.S all by themselves. I was also incredibly grateful that my parents are present in my life not only emotionally, but also in my everyday life. One part of the book that I resonated with was how Reyna’s parents were not present in her life.
Growing up I lived in a small Latino community that can be described as the “barrio”. Growing up I realized how my life was very different than the kids that lived in my apartment complex and down my street. Most of those children had their parents, but their parents were not emotionally present and sometimes not even physically present. I have come to realize how lucky I am to have had parents that have always been supportive in my life. As I was reading the book I felt so angry with Reyna’s mom. I could not understand how it was possible how a mother could just leave her children time and time again. I thought she was incredibly selfish and after the second she left them I knew that this was going to be a pattern in the book. I have never experienced my mom leaving or not being there for me in time of need. However, I felt the pain that Reyna felt when she realized her mom was not the woman she believed she was. Reyna’s mom was not the perfect mother nor was she an average mother and I have seen this time and time again in the neighborhood I grew up in. Many of those children do not finish high school and end up getting minimum wage jobs for the rest of their lives. This happens because they do not have a parents or someone who cares for them to take care of them and keep them on the right path. I was happy to see how Reyna was able to work through her experience despite the …show more content…
obstacles in front of her. It was great to see an example of a Latina women working hard to overcome problems in her life. Another aspect in the book that I liked was how Reyna spoke about other Latino/a writers. Reyna’s mentor showed her that there were books out there by authors that could relate to her. Reyna learned that there were books that had to do with her culture that she can relate to like The House on Mango Street. I have never read this book, but after hearing it about it struck an interest in me to look into more Latino/a writers. It would be great for me to read more books about my culture that I can learn from. Reyna also talked about a very important issue in the book that I think really made me emotional as I read it. My parents have never hit me and despite growing up in families were they did experience child abuse.
This is another part of my life where I am lucky that my parents where able to grow from their experiences and raise their children differently. I was appalled when I read how horribly Reyna’s grandmother treated her and her siblings. It genuinely made my skin crawl reading the horrible stuff they had to endure. I am upset when thinking that these things happen a lot to many children in the world. Reyna did a great job describing the life of a child that lives in an abusive home. It broke my heart when Reyna spoke about being afraid of her father and not understanding how the man who was suppose to protect her could do this. I also thought it was incredible how she was able to forgive him. It obviously was not an easy process for her and her siblings, but I personally do think I would be able to forgive my parents if they put me through that kind of torment. Reading this book was an amazing eye opening experience that has shown me the struggles that many Mexican-American and Latino families go
through. The Distance Between Us, is a book that shows the hardships of Reyna a Mexican immigrant trying to overcome obstacles in her life that come with parents abandoning you, abusing you, and being unsupportive. Even though I was not able to personally relate to any the situations Reyna and her family went through I was able to learn a great deal from her experiences. One of the biggest things I learned was how grateful I am that my parents for gave me a better life than the one they had. It must have been hard for them to move away from everything they knew to get a better life. This book made me empathize with Reyna and her siblings and understand how hard it is to forgive and forget. It was a heartbreaking book that I was able to learn from and I enjoyed every part of it.
I found this book really interesting, especially how Jaycee is telling us her story for the many others who have been held against their will out there so they know they are not alone. She also has her own organisation called the J A Y C foundation. One thing I think that connects me to this book is the relationship between the mother and the daughter.
The book “The distance between us” is the story of immigration written by Reyna Grande. The book recounts her true personal story before and after entering the United States. The story shows how poverty and parenting impacts the family. Grande was 2years old when her dad left her, 4 years old when her mom (Juana) left her and her two siblings (Mago and Carlos) with her grandmother in the Mexico. Since, then she was seeking her parents either her dad or mom in the story. Her illegal and undocumented entry in the United States depicits the struggles and challenges she faced while crossing the border. After she arrived in the United States she found that living in the U.S was not that easy what she has dreamed for and “The man behind the glass” was not like that what she had met before. Her siblings were angry because of their not supportive mother and abusive father which weaken their intimacy in the family. Instead, Mago her elder
Blue Bird was about fourteen. They were taken in and made to feel at home.
I really enjoyed all of the characters and this book tremendously. Both Lupe's and Juan's mother were very strong and God fearing women. They had a very strong bind between their children who were taught values and morals. This book made me want to know my ancestral routes and learn more about my culture. Since this book was a true story about Victor Villasenor's family, it made the stories even more real. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves to read.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
...was outstanding. She gives great insight to the horrors and the suffering and allows the reader to be placed into the same place with a large understanding of the emotions that took place. The only thing to complain about is the prolonging amount of detail on the dates and statistics. It’s hard to follow and difficult for one to pay attention and that’s where it became mundane. I can definitely confirm that it was worth the purchase and the time spent into the read. I could honestly say that I’ve already recommended it to others, and I will continue to do so. The people I’d recommend it to though is people interested in the subject and overly eager to learn about new things as opposed to my buddies.
During the summer of 1984, Calvin Johnson trudges knee deep through a swamp in the wetlands of South Georgia. As snakes brush past his legs, he marches in line with nine other men, each dressed in an orange jumpsuit, swinging a razor sharp bush axe in collective rhythm. His crew entered the swamp at dawn and they will not leave until dusk. Guards, armed with shotguns, and equally violent tempers, ignore the fact that the temperature has risen well above 100 degrees and push the men even harder. Suddenly, an orange blur falls to the ground and a prisoner from Wayne Correctional Institution lies face down in the swampy floor. As guards bark orders at the unconscious, dying man, Johnson realizes "the truth of the situation, and the force of injustice just incapacitates" him. It is then he decides he does not belong in the swamp.
Within the memoir The Distance Between Us the author, Reyna Grande provides details about her two grandmothers, Abuelita Chinta and Abuela Evila. They both reside in rundown houses in Mexico, while their children , Reyna’s parents try to start life in the United States. They have very little money and struggle to provide for the abundance of people living in their cramped houses. Despite the fact that their situation is similar Reyna prefers living with one over the other.
The mother is a selfish and stubborn woman. Raised a certain way and never falters from it. She neglects help, oppresses education and persuades people to be what she wants or she will cut them out of her life completely. Her own morals out-weight every other family member’s wants and choices. Her influence and discipline brought every member of the family’s future to serious-danger to care to her wants. She is everything a good mother isn’t and is blind with her own morals. Her stubbornness towards change and education caused the families state of desperation. The realization shown through the story is the family would be better off without a mother to anchor them down.
This novel is a story of a Chicano family. Sofi, her husband Domingo together with their four daughters – Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and Loca live in the little town of Tome, New Mexico. The story focuses on the struggles of Sofi, the death of her daughters and the problems of their town. Sofi endures all the hardships and problems that come her way. Her marriage is deteriorating; her daughters are dying one by one. But, she endures it all and comes out stronger and more enlightened than ever. Sofi is a woman that never gives up no matter how poorly life treats her. The author- Ana Castillo mixes religion, super natural occurrences, sex, laughter and heartbreak in this novel. The novel is tragic, with no happy ending but at the same time funny and inspiring. It is full of the victory of the human spirit. The names of Sofi’s first three daughters denote the three major Christian ideals (Hope, Faith and Charity).
Justin Torres Novel We the Animals is a story about three brothers who lived a harassed childhood life. There parents are both young and have no permanent jobs to support their family. The narrator and his brothers are delinquents who are mostly outside, causing trouble, causing and getting involved in a lot of problems and barely attending school, which their parents allowed them to do. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father, leading them to become more violent to one another and others, drinking alcohol and dropping out of school. Physical abuse is an abuse involving one person’s intention to cause feelings of pain, injury and other physical suffering and bodily harm to the victim. Children are more sensitive to physical abuse, they show symptoms of physical abuse in short run and more effects in the long run. Children who sustain physical abuse grow up with severely damaged of sense of self and inability. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father and showed long run symptoms of Antisocial behaviors, drinking problems and most importantly they becoming more violent themselves. Many psychological and sociological studies such as “Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse” and “school factors as moderators of the relationship between physical child abuse and pathways of antisocial behavior can be used to prove the argument that children who sustain physical abuse grow up with criminal and antisocial behaviors.
I don’t think Alma’s decision to return to Mexico was a great one. She should have stayed and applied for another Visa, went and applied for assistance, and talked to an individual who could talk and help her with her current situation. I think the different voices throughout the story affect the main story because all of them have had some kind of negative experience. It poses many questions because you wonder how all Mexicans feel when they come to the United States, what makes them leave their families and come to the United States, do many of them return? I think reading The Book of the Unknown Americans, helps open up one’s eyes and realize that these individuals have faced so many problems coming to the United States that they shouldn’t face more here by being discriminated.
...face. Because of this relatability, I believe black people would enjoy this more than any other race.The conundrums, twists, and turns are relatable to the African American community and keep a constant connection between the reader and the characters. This book is the perfect mix of the literary elements. This book has many conflicts and each one is a little more engaging than the last. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Once I picked this book up I could not put it down. This is one of the most touching and moving pieces of literature I have ever read. It really opens ones eyes to the hardships we don’t have to go through on a day-to-day basis. When I was finished this book all i could say to myself was, “Wow, thank God I don’t have to go through that”. If I had to rate this book on a 5 star scale I would give it 5 out of 5 stars without a doubt.
From a young age Reyita experienced discrimination. Her own mother discriminated against her because of the color of her skin. She was the only black daughter her mother had out of four. Reyita stated “I always felt the difference between us, because she didn’t have as much affection for me as she did for my sisters.” (Reyita, 21). She was kept from attending fiestas and forbidden to take strolls with other girls because she was of dark complexion. Also, Reyita described how blacks would have specific jobs in the white man’s home. They would have their hair cut off because of the texture and what the whites thought it represented. She had to deal with the society of Cuba discriminating against her because her darker skin, but she could not even find freedom in her own home because her own mother discriminated against her.
In the chapter Alicia Who Sees Mice it talks about a girl whose mother has died and she has to take her mother's place. It also speaks about how Alicia studies at a university. I personally have seen movies and read stories about young girls with an absent mother or a mother who has passed away. In these stories it really digs deep and talks about how what the girl's situations are and how they feel. So by me reading these stories and watching these movies it kind of gave me a window into what they were feeling and their situations. Reading about this chapter really made me feel bad for the Alicia. I can't imagine taking over my mother's duties at a young age. In a way I also felt kind of proud of Alicia for still managing to study at a university;