And the Earth Did Not Devour Him - Term Paper Example

John Supervisor And The Earth Did Not Devour Him 11 May Literature: AND THE EARTH DID NOT DEVOUR HIM Introduction This essay offersanalysis of two topics from the book,” And the Earth Did Not Devour Him”. This novel is written by Tomas Rivera. The arguable thesis of this essay is, the main unit of any society is not an individual but family and community. The author of this book offers several short stories and vignettes of the Mexican- American people during 1940s and 1950s in support of these convictions (Moore).

And the Earth Did Not Devour Him…y no se lo tragó la tierra or And the Earth did not Devour him is one the most famous novels all over the world. This book was written during 1970 and won Premio Quinto Sol prize for literature. This book also has been adapted into a movie that is widely known as And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him.” (Moore).  This book tells the story of a young boy whose parents are migrant farm workers. This boy has lost one year of his life and he tries to understand how he has lost a year of his life and tries to reconcile himself regarding this matter.

This character has no name or the author of this book has not given any indication about date, setting or place where the boy and his family live (Novoa). The book has 14 short stories and 13 vignettes of life that are interlinked with each other. The book starts when the male protagonist is trying to remember when the last year started and reached its end. He also tries to remember the events during his life during this time period. The events are not listed in a chronological manner, and the boy continues to occasionally fall asleep in the narrative of the book, so it’s not clear whether he is remembering the past events or just is having some dreams.

As he attempts to reconcile memory and reality of life in his mind, it is difficult for him to decide anything. There are many themes in this novel such as survival, education, family and community (Novoa). Community and the Family ThemeThis book tells the story of a young boy whose background is of Mexican-American migrant workers. The time period of this book is a span of one year that offers a third part narrative as well as perspective regarding the hard life of these workers and their families (Limon).

One of the most common occurrences in the community is death, which is also a great cause of fear. Moreover, most of the land owners depicted are demanding as well as greedy. Most often, they refuse to give most of the basic facilities of life to these migrant workers who work in their land.  At such a time, the main support of these migrant workers is their families as well as communities for basic survival. The main focus throughout this book is on the Mexican migrant workers who lived in Texas and struggled to sustain their lives against the insularity of their situation due to the minority status and Anglo Saxon atrocities (Limon).

ConclusionAnd The Earth Did Not Devour Him is one of the most admired works of author Tom Riviera. With this book, the author has successfully portrayed the life of lower class Mexican-American families who worked as migrant farm labourers during 1940s and 1950s as well as the importance of family and community in the lives of middle class people who are supressed by the elites of the society. ReferencesLimon, J. Dancing with the Devil, Society and Cultural Poetics in Mexican-American South Texas, (New Directions in Anthro Writing), Fifth or Later Edition, University of Wisconsin Press. 1994.Moore, David W.

And The Earth Did Not Devour Him, 1 Edition, National Geographic School Pub. 2006.Novoa, B. Chicago Authors: Inquiry by Interview, Edition, Univeristy of Texas Press. 1980.