American Me †Poem Essay

The poem American Me, indite by Ninfa Miranda-Maloney, tells the story of a Mexican immigrant who comes to the United States to live the American aspiration. The generator incorporates ethnic aspects with her use of Spanish words sprinkled in amongst the poem. With his disgorge shine shoes (Miranda-Maloney, n. d, line 10) and brillantina-slick grit hair (Miranda-Maloney, n. d. , line 11), a picture is painted of a childly valets hook in himself as he begins the journey of a lifetime. This is a young man ready for his new life in America. The tone chop-chop changes, however, as he probably soon realizes that the dream is not what he had in mind.In San Eli, w here(predicate) he lived on thank yous and maybes (Miranda-Maloney, n. d. , line 23), the referee gets the sense that the man was taken advantage of and worked hard for little compensation. The just about powerful lines in the poem ar kissed your white land, broke my back, swither a simply a(prenominal) tears for a piece of the dream (Miranda-Maloney, n. d. , lines 27, 28, 29). The author has incorporated a racial aspect in the poem by showing referring to the white land. This is not his land, this is the white land. He is doing back breaking labor for whites, probably not what he expected as the young man full of hope chasing the American dream.The author excessively includes social kind aspects in this poem. The poem ends with the man, now here in the United States for fifty days, still smelling the onions on his fingertips. (Miranda-Maloney, n. d. ) This leads me to believe the man is still working in the onion fields fifty years after arriving in the United States. A generalization can be make that a person from a lower social class would need to continue to work past retirement age to founder ends meet. I grew up in a poor neighborhood in California. My community included many immigrants here in the United States both illegally and legally.The immigrants I have known throughout my lif e are generally proud Americans, though there are the few that modernize bitter because their American ideals and dreams have not been met. They work hard doing tall(prenominal) work for little money and not much appreciation. While I dont personally identify with the poem, I am sufficient to sympathize with the character as he could represent a identification number of people I know. My grandmother emigrated to California before my mother was born. She came to the States with the dream of giving her children a better life than the one theyd believably have in El Salvador.Throughout my life, shes told me the stories of moving here and settling the family in the area. It was gruelling for her, working many hours as a maid, but she did it for the benefit of her children. Many times throughout her first few years in the states, she considering going back home. The dream she envisioned was hardly her reality at first. I cant imagine how difficult it would be to go to a different c ountry where you dont speak the language or know the culture but it happens on a regular basis in this country. At the end of the day, the United States is a country made up of immigrants, most of which are just chasing the dream as well.