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The impact of realism in literature
The impact of realism in literature
Essays on realism in literature
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Los Angeles, California is often seen as the city of dreams. Hollywood paints the picture of Los Angeles as a place of endless possibilities. Los Angeles is also thought as the city where dreamers can come with nothing in their pocket and become an over night success story. Many Americans and immigrants come to Los Angeles with the same dream of success. In The Tattooed Soldier Tobar describes how this fictionalized “American dream” version of the Los Angeles affects immigrants. In the novel Tobar followed two Guatemalan immigrants Antonio and Longeria who live very different lifestyles in their home country and in America. Los Angeles seemed to be the land of dreams and promise to both characters, however; Los Angeles becomes a place of harsh reality for Antonio and Longeria. In the novel we watch how Antonio and Longeria adjust to the struggles of being immigrants in Los Angeles, , and what makes man a man. In the first section of The Tattooed Soldier are introduced Antonio. Antonio is coming to Los Angeles to escape the Guatemalan government, and views Los Angeles as a place where...
In Hector Tobar´s The Tattooed Soldier, we are introduced to the main antagonist, Longoria. He is an ex-Guatemalan soldier who works for an international shipping company. Throughout the story, we come to learn that he served under the military unit Jaguar, a special ops unit that is known to strike fear into the hearts of the native Guatemalan guerrillas. Longoria sees himself as a honorable soldier who feels “pride in his work” (246), while in contrast, Antonio, a man whose family was killed by Longoria, views him as the man who kills in cold blood. He is quite ruthless at times as seen when “he swung his arm in a broad arc and slapper her across the face”, her being an old woman who happened to find out about his Jaguar past.(165). His actions such as this one are due to his intense military experience that transformed him from a farm bumpkin to a hardened soldier.
In Richard Rodriguez’s “Proofs,” Mexican immigrant’s destination is described, as well as their perceptions and expectations of America. Rodriguez describes the passage to the United States as difficult, yet worthy. He states: “The city will win. The city will give the children all the village could not- VCR’s, hairstyles, drum beat. The city sings mean songs, dirty songs. But the city will sing the children a great Protestant hymn.You can be anything you want to be.” He also states: “Mexico is poor. But mama says there
Downtown Los Angeles is one of the busiest commercial centers in the United States. However, the city holds two groups of people in different economic level-the homeless and the working class. Hector Tobar frequently includes the landscape of the setting in downtown Los Angeles in The Tattooed Soldier. The novel is about two immigrants from Guatemala who have moved to Los Angeles. The protagonist, Antonio, takes a revenge on the antagonist, Longoria because he murdered Antonio's wife and son when he was a Guatemalan soldier. Tobar applies a number of metaphors to connect the buildings and freeways in downtown to Antonio's position in the city. Buildings, freeways, and shadows are metaphors for Antonio's economic and social status.
In both the movie, La Misma Luna, and the newspaper series, Enrique’s Journey, migrants are faced with many issues. The most deadly and scarring issues all relate back to bandits, judicial police, and la migra or Mexican immigration officers. The problems that arise are serious to the point of rape, robbing, and beating. It is not easy crossing the border illegally and secretly, but the successful ones have an interesting or even traumatic story about how it worked for them.
The futuristic film Sleep Dealer directed by Alex Rivera, released on January 19, 2008, presents modern-day issues with scenarios of the near future. Technology, labor, migration and exploitation are all showcase themes that are applicable and existing to the lives of many immigrants. Many immigrants as displayed in the film Sleep Dealer, initiate with life in small ranchos, where conditions of life are not the best. These immigrants, from Mexico and South America, come from families that were mostly field workers and in a week’s time, they find themselves in Los Angeles which is one of the most metropolises on earth or in Chicago. An immigrant’s life denotes the differences between the south and the north of the planet. We can see how extremely divided the world is and how the life of
Evil is omnipresent, but it cannot be clearly perceived without an unbiased understanding of its intent and motivation. In “The Tattooed Soldier”, this sense of evil is depicted in the two main characters, Antonio Bernal and Guillermo Longoria. The book is set in the late 20th century era of Los Angeles, where the city is in a state of riot and utter chaos. The story focuses on Antonio, a political refugee from a dictated Guatemala, and Longoria, a former member of the Guatemalan death squad. They came to Los Angeles from the same country, but their beliefs and actions differ severely. When their paths cross, Antonio is struck with fear, because he recognizes Longoria as the tattooed soldier who killed his family. The encounter triggers a flashback
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...
Central America has seen tragic events happen to their people, but none as the stories in …after… and The Tattooed Soldier have to share. The main characters in the two books share many themes as they both struggle to survive during the war. This is one of the worst times for Guatemala people because they are left in poverty and the individuals are in the middle of everything trying to survive. They share stories looking back at the war and show how they got to where they are now, while others are telling a story as they live through the war. People died because of some form of mark or symbol that they carried with them during the war or because of someone they were, and this led them to their death. During that time two things are connected
The setting of the essay is Los Angeles in the 1800’s during the Wild West era, and the protagonist of the story is the brave Don Antonio. One example of LA’s Wild West portrayal is that LA has “soft, rolling, treeless hills and valleys, between which the Los Angeles River now takes its shilly-shallying course seaward, were forest slopes and meadows, with lakes great and small. This abundance of trees, with shining waters playing among them, added to the limitless bloom of the plains and the splendor of the snow-topped mountains, must have made the whole region indeed a paradise” (Jackson 2). In the 1800’s, LA is not the same developed city as today. LA is an undeveloped land with impressive scenery that provides Wild West imagery. One characteristic of the Wild West is the sheer commotion and imagery of this is provided on “the first breaking out of hostilities between California and the United States, Don Antonio took command of a company of Los Angeles volunteers to repel the intruders” (15). This sheer commotion is one of methods of Wild West imagery Jackson
From the beginning of the story, a dreary gray New York is painted in one's mind with a depressing saddened tone of the bustling metropolis. It is a city flooded with immigrant workers hoping to better their lives and their c...
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”
The struggle to find a place inside an un-welcoming America has forced the Latino to recreate one. The Latino feels out of place, torn from the womb inside of America's reality because she would rather use it than know it (Paz 226-227). In response, the Mexican women planted the seeds of home inside the corral*. These tended and potted plants became her burrow of solace and place of acceptance. In the comfort of the suns slices and underneath the orange scents, the women were free. Still the questions pounded in the rhythm of street side whispers. The outside stare thundered in pulses, you are different it said. Instead of listening she tried to instill within her children the pride of language, song, and culture. Her roots weave soul into the stubborn soil and strength grew with each blossom of the fig tree (Goldsmith).
Enrique represents the assimilated Mexican Americans of the 1940s, who accepted being segregated in the barrios (Spanish-speaking neighborhoods) and who held low-paying, low-status jobs. They were tolerated by the Anglo society as long as they limited their aspirations and kept to themselves. Enrique is perfectly content to keep his nose clean and deal with the circumstances the Anglo community confines him and other Mexican Americans to. Enrique and the rest of Henry’s family influence the part of Henry that strives to become a model citizen and join the
From Santa Clara University students, technology startups, or fame and notoriety-seeking actors and musicians, pursuers of the California dream approach an intangible dream through a concrete action. Trade in a sawdust-filled, finicky Jalopy for a 747, Greyhound bus, or Amtrak—the journey nonetheless acts as one of the most important qualities of the California dream. The physicality of moving from one location to another is symbolically significant, as a change in location represents a change of mind and heart. The Joads physically and emotionally leave the past behind them. The pain of eviction from their land by the banks, seeing their hometown fall prey to environmental devastation, and Tom Joad’s criminal past are left behind. The ability to give up your past exists as a blessing and a curse in terms of the California dream—the loss of uprooting yourself from your home and the joy of releasing yourself from the painful elements of your former life. Despite the exhaustion, turmoil, and tragedy of the Jalopy’s trip down Route 66, the physical journey allowed the chance for a mental and emotional adjustment. The culture of California is like no other, and the culture shock between Dustbowl and Depression-stricken Oklahoma and the lush and mountainous California is extreme. Their often negatively depicted migration did provide some positive aspects—the ability to
It’s hard to imagine a city with secrets, especially one as candid as Los Angeles. Founded by Mexican and Spanish settlers, and along with the rest of the United States, once occupied by Native Americans, the history of Los Angeles seems like a clean cut history of cultivating a heap of land into a bustling city. What is failed to be mentioned is the treatment of those who did the labor, including their conditions and constant struggle with inequality in an era thought to of ended slavery.