The Experience with the Children in Nogales - Literature review Example

28th February Introduction The space in between is a literature book written by Kimi Eisele fromthe city of Tucson. She wrote the book based on the masters degree on geography and art. She has also written other books based on the experience with the children in Nogales, Sonara. Which include the other side of a wire which was published by Orion Magazines in springs in 2000. The space between discuss the livelihood between the north which is the United States and the south, Mexico. Writing from the borderlands is a book written by Beth Alvarado. Writing from the borderlands is a book comparing the poor living standards of people in Mexico and the healthy living conditions of people in the United States. The author’s point of view According to Beth Alvarado, borders are ment to divide people according to their families, tribe and their culture. She refers them as open wounds (Alvarado 23). She says that borders are setups that define the unsafe and safe places. She also states that this is where the first world is grilled by the third one. According to Alvarado, borders are not just about geographical. She believes there is much more than border lines.” How far do the borderlands extend?” She claims that the American way of teaching has influenced the way people think about the borders. American professor, Annette Kolodny, a lecturer at University of Arizona once said “frontier is not a boundary or a line but it is a territory or zone of interpenetration between previously distinct societies”. According to Kimi Eisele north is more privileged in many aspects compared to South. In her comparison over the roads in the north, he describe the United States road as pleasant comparing with the one in Mexico which he says are full of potholes. “Potholes in the road compressed my spine”. In Mexico he says he could smell sewage and Adour of rotten fruits. Kimi Eisele also tries to illustrate how the country’s economy was below average when he put across that since the government of Mexico introduced assembly plants, people left the countryside to the borders to search for better job opportunities. He also proved his point by stating that most of the homes in Mexico do not have water running in their taps but instead depends on trucks which deliver water to tanks. And also the poor conditions of the garbage sites which its refuge flows to the river when it rains. He says that he read on papers and heard stories of desperate people in the south who would do anything in order to get to the north until when he went there and witnessed it himself. “There were eight migrants who drowned in the drainage ditch”. Social context for the writing Beth Alvarado in this essay tries to illustrate how it is dry and hot in the north part of America. The temperatures are high in summer”My skin can tell the minute the thermometer climbs over one hundred”. She says that you can smell rain long before it rains or even seeing the clouds in summer this is used to explain how hot it is. She is trying to illustrate how the temperature is high in the season of summer but at the same time portraying how advanced the technology in the North America is. She states that she moves from air conditioned car, houses, and buildings. She praises the technology in the North America where she quotes electric pumps which pumps water into their houses during summer while other parts of the desert people die due to lack of the basic commodity. Beth Alvarado also explains further on how they cannot survive without their resources to harsh conditions of heat and lack of water which would eventually kills them. Kimi Eisele in Mexico with kids of between 8 - 12 years of age tries to gather information from them about their city and of the stories he heard or read about them. Unfortunately the stories they gave was out of topic based on the information he wanted. All the tales they told were based on devils and curses as they were narrated by their mothers in order to be attentive in live and follow orders and regulations. This clearly indicates their level of illiteracy, as it was later confirmed by the Antonio Aran, the director Solidaridad’s school who said that children in Mexico are mostly taught their history and not much about the international borders. They literary know few issues concerning the United States much as people in the states know less about Mexico. Senses of place and time Beth Alvarado has used the phrase sense of time and place in this essay, she clearly indicates that during the time of autumn, Alfonso who was her brother in law went on a hunting mission with his son in desert south of Arivaca. They closed the border without their knowledge and found themselves in Mexico. She has also in the essay indicated the location where her husband was born that is in the United States. The author also includes in the script the duration she has been in the United States “even though having lived here for three decades” and explains the climatic conditions of the place. Kimi Eisele mentions his frequent visits to a certain community in the outskirts of the Mexico border city of Nogales. She also explain how the government of Mexico introduced foreign- owned plants in the 1960s to the northern border which attracted most of its citizen to locate their with the purpose of getting greener pastures. “Since 1964, when the Mexican government lured foreign- owned assembly plants known as maquiladoras to its northern border through tax – incentives”. Nature of main characters The main character portrayed by Beth Alvarado is Annette Kolodny who is a learned person. She is a professor of American literature in the University of Arizona. Beth Alvarado describes her as an imaginative character since she is trying to figure out what the reader of the script thinks over the issue concerning the border and the borderlands, she also feature her as historian. Annette Kolodny explain how the indigenous languages and culture come together in times trade and even during conflicts where through exchanging knowledge and tales they got to know about each other. She also featured as educative since she is trying to educate the reader of the script on how the colonialism and conquest had taken over the place. She is also featured as focused the reason being that she can see the cultures that depend on oral methods to pass their stories to the other generation with no written information are likely to lose them. Beth Alvarado also features Mary Loise Pratt, who is as a professor of Spanish and comparative literature at Stanford University as a main character. She is also termed as a learned person. She is featured as an informed person in respect to what mentioned in her statements, For example she mention Yaqui deer dances in Tucson where the she claims that one can see the similarities of the Burger kings crown in their traditional ware. Kimi Eisele in her essay features Suzi, one of children she met in Mexico, as tall with rounded eyes, with long shiny hair. Suzi is can be termed as sharp and talkative since when Kimi Eisele was trying to gather information from them concerning the history of Mexico, she was the first to give her story (Eisele 12). She also features Yesenia who is seen as bold since she was courageous enough to face Kimi Eisele and said to her “ I thought American were bad until I met you”. Use of metaphors or colorful/figurative language Kimi Eisele has used a metaphor in her script “bank of rivers” She says that women wonder the banks of rivers everywhere looking for her children, wailing. Writer’s tone toward subject matter Beth Alvarado Is worried about the borders she sees them as lines that separate people and cultures. Kimi Eisele believes that there should be not gap between the North and the south. He describes how life is smooth the united State and rough in Mexico. He also explain how the children in Mexico would be exited being in United States. Conclusion Literature writers use different tactics to attract the attention of the readers. Based on the believes and culture of the readers, writers can use them to reveal more about the people. For example, Alvarado indicates that borders are open wounds that tend to divide people according to their families. On his part, Eisele indicates that north is more privileged in many aspects compared to South. One key thing that we should learn from the above analysis is that we should not divide people or the society based on their believes, culture, religion, race or color for us to achieve peace locally and globally. Works Cited Alvarado, B. “Writing from the Borderlands,” Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2011. Print. Eisele, K. “The Space In Between.” Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2011. Print. Read More