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Leadership Style In John Sayles Lone Star

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During a scene in John Sayles’ Lone Star, a character named Otis Payne is having a long awaited conversation with his distant son, Colonel Delmar Payne, about Delmar’s current position as Colonel and Otis’ current position as the “Mayor of Darktown.” The “Mayor of Darktown” is a phrase used to show the influence Otis has on the black people of Fontera. After some discussion about Delmar’s return to Fontera, the place Delmar likes to run away from, he said, “The Army hands you a command, you go wherever it is” (1). Delmar is preaching that it is necessary to allow the Army, or in most cases, an authoritative figure, to have a great influence on what one chooses to do with one’s life. It is easier to oblige to any authoritative figure, because when you do not, there will be consequences. Delmar says this to prove that the army was his authoritative figure, due to the fact that Otis was not there for Delmar most of the time. He speaks that commands provide structure to one’s chaotic life. Sayles uses …show more content…

In more than one occasion Mercedes reminds her undocumented employee, Enrique, to “speak English” because they “are in America” (7) it is the most obvious act that can differentiate Mexican and American lifestyle. Mercedes want her Mexican employees to speak English in order to stray away unwanted attention. When removing Spanish communication, it does not allow for one to be seen as a different individual allowing them to blend in with the American community. Some may say that Mercedes chooses to restrict her employees from speaking Spanish in order to make the employees feel more comfortable when talking to her American customers. However, Mercedes’ employees are not speaking the language that they are comfortable speaking in, but instead are speaking one that is not familiar with their native tongue in order to make communications easier between her employees and the

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However, the fact is that most Americans have the impression that Hispanic immigrants are perceived as a threat for not assimilating into the American mainstream, more so into the Anglo-Protestant values. Why is that? Is it for fear that the Spanish Language may overrun the country? Similarly, Neil Foley, author of, Mexicans In The Making of America, asks the same questions, why fear? In his prologue chapter, Foley makes a point by proving the fact that in the past, Mexican immigrants were not a concern but were, “ let in to provide the labor force for the rapidly expanding economy”(2).

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Very few, if any, immigrants have the chance to learn English before traveling to the U.S. Because of this barrier, it is nearly impossible for organizations such as the Border Patrol to warn, aid, and communicate with them as they travel to the U.S. Although there are helpful signs along the border, they are written in English and are therefore indecipherable. Furthermore, the language border hinders an immigrant’s ability to survive in American society once they arrive. English is the written and spoken language in almost every city, thwarting immigrants’ opportunity to find jobs and interact with others. As they struggle to communicate, they become ostracized and do not fit in.

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In Sandra Cisneros “Mericans” she creates a young character named Michelle who faces cultural differences and nonunderstanding, gender roles and culture stereotyping which can be exhibited in the real world. The author introduces Michelle as a foreigner with in her own culture, with this being said throughout the story Michelle seemed to be uninterested in her Grandmothers ideals and the principles of the Mexican heritage. The evidence behind this statement is; throughout the passage Michelle refers to her grandmother as being “awful” (Cisneros 93). I think a big reason for this is the fact that the grandmother has the children wait outside the church doors as she goes and say her daily prayers.

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Richard Rodriguez and Gloria Anzaldúa are two authors who both immigrated to America in the 1950s and received first hand experience of the assimilation process into American society. During this time, Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had struggled adjusting to the school system. Since understanding English was difficult, it made adjusting to the American school system increasingly difficult for Rodriguez. Whereas Anzaldúa, on the other hand, had trouble adjusting to America’s school system due to the fact that she didn’t wish to stop speaking Spanish even though she could speak English. Both Rodriguez and Anzaldúa had points in their growing educational lives where they had to remain silent since the people around them weren’t interested in hearing them speaking any other language than English.

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Richard Rodriguez’s claim about a person's identity is the using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a identity. Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were being “welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture. “ (136-137). Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were welcomed when they were identified by their culture. Richard Rodriguez also says “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and I want to be Chinese.“

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Similarly, in the movie El Norte one of the Chicano waiters who works in the restaurant with Enrique undergoes discrimination from the other Latino works due to what they consider his over-assimilation into U.S. culture (El

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My Rhetorical Analysis Language is a part one’s identity and culture, which allows one to communicate with those of the same group, although when spoken to someone of another group, it can cause a language barrier or miscommunication in many different ways. In Gloria Anzaldua’s article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, which was taken from her book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, she is trying to inform her readers that her language is what defines her. She began to mention how she was being criticized by both English and Spanish Speakers, although they both make up who she is as a person. Then, she gave convincing personal experiences about how it was to be a Chicana and their different types of languages. Moreover, despite the fact that her language was considered illegitimate, Anzaldua made it clear that she cannot get rid of it until the day she dies, or as she states (on page 26) “Wild tongues can’t be, they can only be cut out.”

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She gave examples of white people trying to adapt to hip – hop, and black slangs used in advertising by companies. In another essay, “Leave Your Name At the Border” by Manval Munoz, he explains how the immigrants are trying to blend in with American’s culture and acting something they are not. Munoz also talks about the fear of losing

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“The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named María” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan depict the endeavors people take on in an attempt to integrate into society. Cofer demonstrates how stereotypes of Latina women have led others to misjudge her and explains the difficulty she had disassociating herself from those stereotypes. Tan demonstrates that the “broken” English her mother speaks has led others to think less of her and disregard her. One’s appearance instantaneously causes others to judge them. For some it is easier to blend in and be accepted by their community, but what is it that keeps some people from assimilating, and what effect does their otherness have on them?

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He shows this through his many experiences with bilingual court and education. At the end of his essay, Espada concludes with a basic summary of what he has learned. Espada claims “The repression of Spanish is part of a larger attempt to silence Latinos, and, like the crazy uncle at the family dinner table yelling about independence or socialism, we must refuse to be silenced.” Through the summary the reader understands despite English being the prevalent language the in the U.S. today the Spanish culture is still being preserved through bilingualism. On the other hand Rodriguez argues that in order to gain a public identity, one must be willing to sacrifice some part of their own cultural identity.

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This is heavily implied by lines 16-22, “a handy token/sliding back and forth/between the fringes of both worlds/by smiling/by masking the discomfort/of being pre-judged/bi-laterally.” Being a part of 2 or more cultures causes major differences in the way that person experiences those cultures. This majorly affects the way they feel about people and the world. While the author can speak both Spanish and English, and experience the benefits of being a part of both cultures, they will never really be treated the same as a person who’s solely part of Mexican culture or American culture. Because of this, they feel as though they are constantly being judged, or seen as less than people a part of only one culture.

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Learning the language and having difficulty speaking english, having trouble communicating. In The latin Deli: An Ars Poetica it identifies the issue of speaking a different language. The poem states "all wanting comfort of spoken spanish. " Securing work is another issue either because of illegal immigration, the job only hiring people with experience in the united states or because of the language barrier. Cultural barriers as americans we are more open to do different things but when being from different cultures it might be considered disrespectful.

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A Miami personnel officer understands what a job applicants means when he says, “Quiero un part-time.” Nor do drivers miss a beat reading a billboard alongside a Los Angeles street advertising CERVEZA—SIX PACK! This free-form blend of Spanish and English, known as Spanglish, is common linguistic currency wherever concentrations of Hispanic American are found in the U.S. in Los Angeles, where 55% of the city’s 3 million inhabitants speak Spanish, Spanglish is as much a part of daily life as sunglasses. Unlike the broken-English efforts of earlier immigrants from Europe, Asia and other Regions, Spanglish has become a widely accepted conversational mode used casually—even playfully—by Spanish-speaking immigrants and native-born American

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