ipl-logo

Summary Of Seth Holmes Fresh Fruit Broken Bodies

1022 Words5 Pages

Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies truly encompasses the lives of migrant farm workers. Rather than simply interviewing and trying to get second hand information Seth Holmes immerses himself in the everyday tasks of migrant works, from crossing the border to doing the backbreaking work alongside his new friends. He wants to experience it from their perspective and not from the view of his culture and truly understand the effects it has on them. Being aware of the oppressions they face make the journey successful. He wants people to understand the inhumane conditions, migrant workers face, that without them our government wouldn’t survive, and we should be treating them as people. Although he is continually reminded of the dangers of crossing the border …show more content…

He recognizes his luxury as he goes to a local hot tub to try to help cope with this pain. Holmes refers to this as “the structural violence of social hierarchies becoming embodied in the form of suffering and sickness” (89). The Triqui farmers are the lowest in pecking order and therefore don’t receive any sympathy or special treatment, they are there simply to work hard or be fired. Holmes asked two women how they deal with the pain and they said that they are numb now there or that they hurt all the time. Holmes refers to what the workers are experiencing as suffering is the best way to describe it. Not only are they experiencing physical pain, they are suffering mental and emotional pain as well. Triqui farmers receive unfair treatment at work, which leads to them feeling less when they are doing other things as well. Holmes was invited to Burger King with one of the families when they get their order it’s wrong Holmes, who had lived a relatively privileged life (being white), suggests taking it back up and telling them. The family is taken back by this suggestion, knowing how they would be treated in such a situation. This is yet another example of suffering the migrant workers face, they are made to think that they …show more content…

Although, they are making the determinants of heath better for those back home to whom they are sending money. They money they send is allowing the children to survive until they are inevitably considered only enough to make the journey for themselves. There are many things the workers experience that are stressors, a man named Crescencio talked about the extreme headaches he experience after being called names and being made fun of by his supervisors. He said that the only thing that would make it feel better was alcohol. This is an example of that has been imposed on migrant workers being called drunks, yet the reason some drink is to cope with the tragedies of the verbal and mental abuse forced upon them by the jobs they are forced to do. Holmes refers it as “a complicated cycle of linkages between suffering and the social and symbolic forces” (99). The ethnocentrism of the people higher in the social ladder on the farms is the reason no migrant workers are never more successful than being only berry

Show More
Related
316 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout United States history, success has been achieved through the exploitation of the lower class by the more dominant higher class. The lower class is used as cheap labor force, working terrible conditions which can comprise of dangerous substance exposure and the potential to lose limbs or even ones’ life. Immigrants are usually thrown in this situation due to lack of money and a language barrier. Commonly, like in Federico’s ghost, immigrants are put to work doing farm work, which is comprised of back breaking work and long hours in the beating sun. The author of Federico’s Ghost is Martin Espada, a Latino man born in New York.

Read More
1559 Words | 7 Pages

that they

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

This person goes and applies for another job, this time better built and ready to face the world. This relatable moment is similar to The House on Mango Street, due to the fact that, in “The Monkey Garden”, Sandra Cisneros conveys symbolism with the garden, for people must face hard times, but it is those hard times that build people up and prepare them for the future. To begin, Sandra Cisneros’ “The Monkey Garden”, actively uses symbolism within the garden, for people

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

In Annie Dillard’s, The Deer at Providencia, two clear examples of suffering are illustrated while four people take a journey through the Ecuadorian Jungle. The reader is able to see a deer tied to a tree and a man who is in critical condition after being burnt for the second time. The author makes it clear to the reader the suffering is not the fault of the one suffering but merely a result of accident and other people’s actions. While hiking through the jungle, four North Americans come across a village that is going about their day to day lives; however, at the forefront of the village is a deer roped to a tree waiting to die for the village to be able to eat. The explorers are taken back by this sight because in America, people are not costumed to

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

Some people don’t have the same luxury as others. Some people have to live without one parent or live in poverty. “In terror” by Junot Diáz, describes the terror of being an immigrant in America. In this story, he shows and tells us the events leading up to his getting jumped by two brothers that go to his school. Diáz uses the description to show us how trying it can be to be an immigrant.

Read More
1194 Words | 5 Pages

They hired immigrants who didn’t have the skill to work with machines that are foreign to them. The work environment was filthy, the floors were covered by body parts of the pig and blood everywhere (“Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle…”). The materials like sledgehammers and knives that are used to cut the pig were also spread out on the floor, creating safety hazards for the workers. Some of the workers were children over fourteen years old. The workers were paid pennies per hour, working long hours, and the workers who are skilled are paid fifty cents per hour (“Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle…”).

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story “ The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez, the lifestyle of a migrant worker is portrayed as discouraging. Migrant workers have to move often. After a long day of picking strawberries, Panchito returns home to find that “Everything [he] owned was neatly packed in cardboard boxes.” he “suddenly felt even more the weight of hours, days, weeks, and months of work.” (1) Moving often is discouraging because everything that you have built at your current location is taken away.

Read More
1200 Words | 5 Pages

The novel, The Farming of Bones, is a commentary on the disparities between classes in the Dominican Republic during the Haitian Parsley Massacre. The people of the Dominican Republic and Haiti are separated by language, race, and most dramatically, wealth. The author, Edwidge Danticat, uses the motif of food to emphasize how discrimination of class inhibits people’s agency over their lives. Foremost, the story establishes food as an integral part of social connections.

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

The documentary “Invisible Indians” argues that the Mixtec indigenous people of Oaxaca are both misunderstood and mistreated, when they are fighting to be seen and heard. Throughout the film, examples are given of how the Mixtecs are exploited for cheap labor forces, getting little to no benefits all for the hope of not only achieving a better life for themselves, but also to provided for those who they left behind in Oaxaca, as they travel north. The documentary starts off by describing some of the push factors that have driven the Mixtecs out of Oaxaca, so that the viewer can have a more indebt understanding to why the Mixtecs are here and what they are working towards. As stated in the beginning of the film, the Mixtecs have for years been

Read More
611 Words | 3 Pages

Feel two bodies crash to the floor, and hear a woman's voice wail in pain. And even though it’s so quiet, even twenty feet away, I know the sound of air moving aside as a fist comes down, again and again. ”(45) This description of Free Lunch shows that violence can get out of hand and really hurt someone, mentally and

Read More
899 Words | 4 Pages

There are countless families with impoverished, single mothers with many children of a minority race that are discriminated against. Especially around the 50s and 60s when the novel is set, immigrant women did not have high chances of being hired for a stable enough job to support their family. This then causes the mother to grow tired and weary, too drained to take care of their children like they should. After a while, the neighbors stop caring and ignore them rather than help them, and the children run about without any care for the consequences of their actions. Some of these consequences aren’t that bad; however, in cases like the Vargases’, the lack of proper supervision, guidance, and care can lead to horrible occurrences like the death of a

Read More
345 Words | 2 Pages

After reading chapters 1,2 and 3 of Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes I will say that fieldwork is one of the most important things about cultural anthropology. Learning someone's daily routine is just the beginning but living , learning and eating amongst others. Having to think like them also . So far this book has a strong messages in how we Americans use other people for our personal need and dispose them after where done. If we allow them to work for us in these Farms that means we need them.

Read More
603 Words | 3 Pages

The life people live in right now has far more freedom and equality than it used to a couple decades ago. It would seem as if discrimination had taken over the society; whether it was between being black or white, rich or poor, in one race or another. In the short story, “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker, a maid’s daughter named Rosaura was treated differently than her ‘comrades’ because of her mother’s status. Similarly, in the short story, “Borders” by Denice Frohman, a Mexican girl named Ana Maria, has been excluded from the regular crowd because of her race. By examining “The Stolen Party” and “Borders”, it is evident that both develop the thematic topic of inequality.

Read More
954 Words | 4 Pages

“The ones coming in through the Tortilla Curtain down there, those are the one that are killing us. They’re peasants, my friend. No education, no resources, no skills – all they’ve got to offer is a strong back, and the irony is we need fewer and fewer strong backs every day because we’ve got robotics and computers and farm machinery that can do the labor of a hundred men at a

Read More
1326 Words | 6 Pages

Albeit, it is important for people to have first-hand experience witnessing and learning from events, people should be verbally taught and lectured. Esperanza’s dismissed race leaves her in a heavily disconnected neighborhood. Such circumstances result in a lack of interest in education and work. Without much else of anything to do, families are left primarily to themselves. These social boundaries create a sort of isolation limiting interaction between the classes.

Read More

More about Summary Of Seth Holmes Fresh Fruit Broken Bodies

Related Topics

Open Document