Verified Document

Migration The Failed American Dream Term Paper

A particular effective use of point-of-view in the film regarding America is manifest in how America is first seen by the main characters. America is not a place of beauty but the tunnel the brother and sister must crawl through get across the border. The tunnel is crawling with rats and Enrique and Rosa must crawl like rates to escape. They are reduced, rather than elevated by their quest to be in America. They scuttle in fear, just as their migration began with a love for America, but fear after government troops attack, as Rosa her brother are forced to flee north, away from their beloved homeland. When they emerge from the tunnel, Los Angeles looks harsh, foreign, and brilliantly lit, in contrast to the natural tones of their home.

The tunnel to freedom will eventually spell their downfall -- Rosa catches typhus from the rat bites and dies. Enrique is...

Enrique tries to learn English and to better himself but his love for his sister causes him to find himself in a dead end job, working as a day laborer for an exploitative system, just like his father. Enrique's character -- his loyalty, his love for his family, and his sense of personal honor is particularly damning in the film's critique of the American system. Because he refuses to leave his sister and go away to a better job, he loses all ability to advance his life altogether, and not only does he fail to nurse her back to health, but loses his one, final opportunity to escape the fate of his father.
Works Cited

El Norte." Directed by Gregory Nava. 1983.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

El Norte." Directed by Gregory Nava. 1983.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

American Dream Is a Concept
Words: 1604 Length: 5 Document Type: Case Study

The enormous number of questions did not only succeed in bringing people to physical exhaustion, but they also confused people to the level where they could no longer think logically and risked being deported, even though they were not attempting to deceit the American system. Most contemporary people express their liberal opinions regarding immigrants in the U.S.T.C. Boyle's Tortilla Curtain goes at proving how while some have apparently changed their

American Dream the Concept of
Words: 4038 Length: 9 Document Type: Term Paper

Moreover this lends him inimitability, it lends him importance, and it gives him honor. Like each one among us ranging from the first note to the last note in the entire octave of music on the keyboard of God is important since every man is created in the image of God. (A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.) The Declaration of Independence'

Migration to the US
Words: 1251 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Pyong Min's Mass Migration to the United States reviews the vast influx of people from Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Russia and the Caribbean into the United States that has occurred since 1965. The book is a compilation of chapters written by different authors addressing different aspects of this new immigration. These chapters both discuss general issues related to immigration and the concerns of specific ethnicities and cultures that have immigrated.

Silhouette of America's Dream: Negro
Words: 6280 Length: 20 Document Type: Term Paper

") When Johnson defeated Jeffries, however, it unleashed white violence against blacks nationwide. "In Washington, D.C., the Washington Bee reported, 'White ruffians showed their teeth and attacked almost every colored person they saw upon the public streets'." Similar events occurred in New York City and tiny towns in the deep South. By the time Jackie Robinson left the Negro Leagues, the backlash was not nearly so pronounced. Arguably, the Negro Leagues kept

Chinese-American Women and Their Experiences
Words: 12463 Length: 45 Document Type: Term Paper

Figure 1. Demographic composition of the United States (2003 estimate). Source: Based on tabular data in World Factbook, 2007 (no separate listing is maintained for Hispanics). From a strictly percentage perspective, it would seem that Asian-Americans do not represent much of a threat at all to mainstream American society, but these mere numbers do not tell the whole story of course. For one thing, Asian-Americans are one of the most diverse and

Chinatown Is a Vision of
Words: 1936 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

But apparently, he reached it many years before the film depicts him -- at least by Gittes summation. At a pivotal moment in the film, Gittes asks Cross why he did it and says, "How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?" Cross does not hesitate with his answer: "The Future!" (Chinatown, 1974). This exemplifies Gittes misconception regarding the American dream; specifically,

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now