In the poem, “Oppression”, by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Baca demonstrates many examples of the hope and belief throughout the poem. Baca mentions to the audience that there will always be obstacles which one must prevail before they reach the top. Therefore help the readers recognize that in order for emancipation, one must never stop believing in themselves. An example of hope would be when Baca states,” And always, always, remembering you are human.” Here he indicates that though life may put us through tough times, we must always remember that we are humans and we are capable of overcoming obstacles.
La Migra is a poem written by Pat Mora about the Mexican - American immigration issue. It’s purpose is to acknowledge the emotions and sentiments of the Mexican immigrants who try to come to the United States illegally. The denotation of the poem’s title means immigration and the connotation is referring to the police officers standing at the Mexico-United States border. The poem is divided into two stanzas to acknowledge immigration through the different perspectives of the illegal immigrant and also through the eyes of the border police. The first stanza is through the perspective of the male border cop, who thinks his power and nonessential items make his superior to the immigrants.
In Cesar Vallejo’s poem, “Los Heraldos de Negros”, in English called “The Black Heralds”, themes of God, children, love, and tragic consciousness emerge. My aim here is to examine another important source of his meaning, which is how the speaker sees God’s role in his encounters with life’s struggles. In the poem, a hateful God replaces a merciful God. The nature of this hateful God poses as a savior but instead of being helpful, or being resurrected to save humankind, he poses as a false or fake entity, which confuses and frustrates the speaker. Vallejo depicts God as hateful instead of merciful, because the speaker challenges and questions God’s methods.
There are approximately seven billion human beings in the world, each having their own culture and traditions. Coincidentally enough, “The Tequila Worm” is based on a small town in Texas, with a family who shares the same family traditions as mine. Viola Canales, the author, talks about the main protagonist, Sophia, and how she celebrates her culture. The making of Easter cascarones, celebrating Dia de Los Muertos, and her connection with her father, Sophia’s life is not so different from mine. Therefore, Sophia’s life and experiences are uncanny similarities to mine and that is what this essay will focus on.
Culture: the beliefs, customs, art, etc. of a particular society. Being a part of a culture is amazing, diverse, and interesting until the conflict from being a part of more than one culture becomes involved. This type of conflict can even change the way you see your culture. In the poem, “Legal Alien”, by Pat Mora, Pat Mora depicts her culture colliding with another, causing cultural conflict.
How would you feel if someone could control what you were thinking? In “The Feed” written by M.T Anderson, everyone living in the community had a feed in their brain that was controlled by one large organization. Violet, the main character, suffers through a malfunction in her feed that changes the way she sees her society. Most people’s opinions can be changed when they have experienced the benefits and the disadvantages of something. Since Violet is aware of how life is with and without the feed, she becomes hesitant to believing that her community is being run efficiently.
Julia Alvarez, in her poem “’Poetry Makes Nothing Happen’?”, writes that poems do play a role in people’s lives. She supports her idea by using relateable examples of how poems might change someone’s life. Her first example is simple, poetry can entertain someone on long drives. This does not only aply to long dirves however, Alvarez uses this to show that poetry does not have to have a big influence on someone’s life, instead it can affect a person in the smallest of ways, such as entertainment. The second example describes poetry comforting someone after the loss of a loved one.
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
Language is used to convey a message as well as connect people to a particular culture or ethnicity he or she identifies with. People who share the same language share a bond and pass their history through language. In chapter one of The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom Joanne Kilgour Dowdy speak about growing up in Trinidad and her mother insisting on her speaking in the colonizer's language rather than her native Trinidadian language. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy felt as if her identity was being pushed to the side when she was forced to speak “Colonized English” when she was at school or around the social elite of her community, and felt ridiculed from her peers for speaking proper as if she was white or of the elite social class. Dowdy major concern was how to have the freedom to go back and forth from home, language to the public language without feeling judged from both sides of her
A tongue is one of the most important body parts, if that’s what we shall call it, that a human being has. If it was not for the tongue, it would be a very quiet world. Gloria Anzaldúa, born in 1942, near the large Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, was bound to make a difference in lives before she ever knew it. When Gloria turned eleven she started to work in the fields as a migrant worker and then started on her family’s land after the passing of her father. In Gloria Anzaldúa’s the short story, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, she describes her upbringing and growing up in a dual culture society split in two.
José Martí was a brilliant 19th century writer, poet, political and revolutionary leader, and Cuban intellectual; however, above all else, José Martí was a proud Cuban citizen. Though born to two Spanish parents, Martí never waivered in his identity as a son of Cuba, and he would spend—and eventually give—his life fighting for the cause of Cuban independence. Martí loved his native country, and desired freedom and pride for all Cubans. Never was this more apparent, than in his poem, “Versos Sencillos” (Excerpts from Simple Verses). The resistance from oppression infused with Cuban patriotism prevalent in this piece, is central to Marti’s message and to the Cuban Revolution as a whole.
Immigration during the 20th century led to to differences and cultural changes in the country spreading diversity. Immigrants have came to this country escaping the government from their country, looking for comfort,or chances and hope for their family. The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, demonstrates the struggle of how immigrants wanted comfort the feeling of being accepted even as they speak a different language. The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica captures the struggle of immigrants as they were embedded into a new life a new culture. Take The Tortillas out of your poetry written by Rudolfo Anaya demonstrated how the poets that tried to add their culture into their poetry were rejected for having a different language.
To many people “I am Joaquin” is more than just an epic poem, it is the anthem of the Chicano movement which embodies our peoples struggles and culture. What made the work become the Chicano Movements anthem is the fact that it is a piece that seems to evaluate the Chicanos and their history from the good to the bad. It also seems to emphasize the Chicanos search and struggle for identity starting from the beginning of the Spanish conquest to our modern times. Basically this poem has become such an iconic work because it attempts and succeeds in encompassing as much Chicano history into it and makes no bias choice as it has both positive historical moments and negative, but they all tie back to Chicanos and their history. One of the main aspect that makes “I am Joaquin” an interesting piece of work and an icon for the Chicano movement is how the work seems to
In a poem it is very good to use different types of figurative language in the poem. These ideas are clearly seen in the poem”Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco, talks about how it is good to be unique ,and yourself. Even if people dislike you or treat you with disrespect. In “Identity”Polanco uses the literary devices of simile, alliteration, and repetition. The poem that Polanco wote is about being unique and yourself is a good thing.
Nothing But Death Analysis. Nothing But Death, The poem from Pablo Neruda translated and edited by Robert Bly. The poem presented about the looks of the Death and about how the death appears around the human.
