The Devils Highway Novel - Essay Example

Running Head: The Devil’s…. Topic: The Devils highway Order#: 324486 Topic: The Devils highway Part I: Provide a brief (no more than 1 page) summary/overview of the novel. On the one hand, from every important platform be it politics, economics, sociology or spiritualism, one often hears the glorification of the concept of ‘the world is one family.’ The UNO is seized of the issue and pursues the policy through international seminars and meetings. But the law-makers, administrators and the implementing authorities seems to blissfully unaware of the ground level realities, or they are ignoring it deliberately. The common man, the poor individual who is in search of greener pastures for the sake of bread and butter, is the most harassed one. The problem between the Mexican and US borders needs to be viewed from the humanitarian angle. But unfortunately it is (mis)managed and treated as if it is a war-zone. The book by Luis Alberto Urrea, “The Devil’s Highway: A True Story,” highlights a grave incident. More must have happened in the past. This highway is managed by insensitive personnel, with devilish tendencies. In May 2001, twenty-six Mexican men smuggled themselves through the border and reached an area of the deadly Arizona desert known as the Devil’s Highway. The dangers ahead were well-known to them. Yet for the sake of a bright career, they mortgaged their lives. Through the arduous journey, 14 died and 12 reached their destination. The author describes the disposal of the dead bodies thus: “The dead bodies, dense and dark, were zipped into bags and delivered to the loading docks.” (Urrea, p.191)The hurdles before them were obvious-- La Migra-the US Border patrol, the Mexican Federals, gung-ho gringo vigilantes, who invariably took law into their own hands, the burning 110 degree sun that spared none, the rattlesnakes, and what not! The coyotes were the group’s smugglers, who specialized in such adventurous clandestine immigration activity. While narrating the grim tragedy that struck this group of 26, the author analyzes the economic factors and the harsh immigration policy, which creates the artificial barrier between the peoples. The conditions at both the borders are no helpful; they are exploitative. Part II: What is the author’s main claim? Do you support it? Why? Use material from the course to substantiate your support. The saga of the twenty-six men contains the important message for the right-thinking people of both the countries, Mexico and USA. The pages of human history are daubed in bloodshed in the name religion, race, color and territorial aggrandizement and they raise several crying questions for humanity. Industrialization, internet revolution, material civilization and globalization have added one more acute problem to the existing woes of the humanity—that of unemployment. The author’s main claim is, the poor section from have-not countries is always on the look out to reach the shores of the rich countries. The immigration laws are unhelpful to the poor and uneducated and they are compelled to take the help of unscrupulous agents who promise them safe heavens and the gullible ones are trapped. I entirely agree with the views of the author. In desperate situations, human beings resort to desperate options, with the hope of securing a bright future for them and for the members of the family. One doesn’t think about the propriety of the course of actions one is following and whether the options one is resorting to are right or wrong. One’s thinking faculties come to a stand still, when tomorrow’s bread is not assured from today’s labor. 26 Mexicans, who were trying to cross the borders to sneak into US, were simple human beings, not smugglers or terrorists. Every individual has the right to earn one’s livelihood. Even the birds migrate as per the demands of the season, in search of food and shelter. The illegal immigrants need to be pitied rather than condemned. Moreover, all laws, just because they are the laws of the land, are not faultless aphorisms. A difficult law implemented in a worst manner is the ultimate calamity for the common man. Such a law if no amended or scrapped quickly, can ruin the delicate social structure based on human relationships. Embroiled in such unfriendly system of jurisprudence governing immigration, the poor class gets physically, emotionally and economically crushed, devoid of all options of making both the ends meet. One finds it extremely difficult to sustain the normal balance. Success stories of some of the former immigrants become the source of inspiration and one hopes for the best. To find a permanent solution for poverty, one ventures on such adventures that are full of uncertainties. The economic conditions of those who sought to illegally immigrate were so bad; anyhow they had to die of hunger at their home country. They took the option of this most dangerous trek. Luis bemoans, “Perhaps as much as it dislikes confronting the catastrophic political malfeasance that forced the walkers to flee their homes and bake to death in the Western desert. Human rights activists claimed them, too: our fourteen murdered brothers!”(p.33) Thus one legal hurdle, leads to the mushroom growth of illegal activities and the economic force of demand supply begins to show its worst face. Coyotes organized themselves into regular business establishments to provide supply of labor due to incessant demand, and the ever wiling poor people did their bidding on the hope of crossing the border to USA. They were only aware of their final goal, and the details were ignored or left to destiny. Group rivalries amongst the coyotes contributed to their hardships. Heat of the desert was a known factor, but the extent to which it would burn down the energies was not taken into account. With the increase in the illegal immigration, patrolling at the borders had been intensified. The regular paths were thoroughly checked and coyotes took them through the most dangerous paths. The story of twenty-six Mexicans, (double the number of the unlucky 13) relates to their effort to reach the borders of USA through the Devil’s Highway, the deadly desert of Arizona, which has the record of claiming many victims all through the years. III: The 26 men who traveled with the coyotes had to make sacrifices and in the end, some of them sacrificed their lives. My views on the sacrifices they made. An oriental philosopher said, “So far as a single human being is hungry in my country, my whole religion is to feed him.”(Anonymous) As for the sacrifice made by some among the 26 persons (14 to be specific), it is necessary to examine what does sacrifice mean. Their sacrifice may not be loftier in the profound sense of the term. But they made the ultimate commitment—their life itself! Every sacrifice has a price. Firstly, there should be a cause for the sacrifice; secondly there must be the heart for the sacrifice; thirdly there needs to be the will, the grit and the stamina for the sacrifice. And finally, to receive the rewards or punishments of the sacrifice, with a balanced mental attitude! Unfortunately, for the fourteen the reward (!) or punishment for the sacrifices they made was death and presumably intense suffering for their family. Just because they are illegal immigrants, the work they do for bettering the strength of US economy does not become illegal. It is the fault of the rules and the rulers that the poor human beings are made to suffer indignities and the stamp of ‘illegal’ is affixed on their personality. American rules and regulations might not welcome them; but the American plantation owners, who needed their services for their farms took them into their workforce and rather encouraged such a process. These are not the enlightened rich and they have no soft corner to the poor in the real sense and aggrandizement of wealth is their sole motto. Schumacher writes about the rich people, “And the message to the rich is that they must be intelligent enough from time to time to help the poor, because this is the way by which they will become richer still.”(Schumacher, p, 19.) The labor thus obtained was cheap. This was the double tragedy associated with illegal immigration—poor wages, against which the workers had no legal remedy. The employer, who welcomed them in their plantations, may land any individual in legal trouble! The poor persons were driven out of Mexico due to economic compulsions. The price changes in the international markets affected the Mexican economy badly, and the overpopulation of the unemployed became a serious problem. When the early immigrants to USA made a comfortable living, others were attracted. By then the rules were too stringent, and as such crossing the border turned out to be a complicated process. The hardships of the men who traveled with coyotes were unbelievable even by the fictional standards. They stagger the wildest imagination! The author makes a beginning about their suffering that would devastate the feelings of any reader. He writes, “Five men stumbled out of the mountain pass so sun struck they did not know their own names, had forgotten how long they’d been lost….They were burned nearly black, their lips huge and cracking….Their eyes were cloudy with dust, almost too dry to blink up a tear….and they were dizzy from drinking their own urine, the poisons clogging their systems.”(p.3) Those 26 men definitely knew that they were on a difficult voyage. Devil’s Highway was quite notorious. But the career-seekers had no other option. The varied causes of death were stunning. Heat, heat stress and heat stroke! The barren desert showed its worst form to crush the spirits of this group. The intriguing part is the promoters and their escorts, the coyotes, are not willing to learn from experience and yet trap fresh batches of people from México. The present tragedy got the press coverage, drew the attention of the respective governments. “The big kill itself is known not only as the case of the Yuma 14. It is officially called “Operation Broken Promise” of all the catchphrases of the event, this is perhaps the most accurate…” (p.35) Conclusion: The illegal immigration is closely linked to the scale of wages in USA. The vested interests would be happy with the status-quo. But a mini-war-like situation in the border areas still continues. But this is the war against poor, unarmed, hungry people on the one side, and on the other side well-equipped security personnel chasing them and indulging in shootouts. They are right, they have to enforce the laws of the land, but the illegal immigrants are not wrong considered from the humanitarian viewpoint. “For a poor man the chance to work is the greatest of all needs, and even poorly paid and relatively unproductive work is better than idleness.”(Schumacher, p,161). When a poor individual is blocked from all ends, more tragedies will happen like the ones that happen in The Devil’s highway. ============ References: Schumacher, E.F. Small is Beautiful; Radha Krishna, Delhi 110002 Urrea, Luis Alberto: The Devils Highway: A True Story; Little Brown and Company; 2004. Read More