Signs Preceeding The World

Signs Preceding the End of the World is an insider’s look at the mind and journey of an illegal immigrant. A Mexican young woman crossing the border story is what challenges the ethics of readers. The main character in Signs Preceding the End of the World is Makina. “Makina is in charge of a small Mexican town’s telephone. A reliable, messenger, she knows how to keep a secret and when to keep her mouth shut. She is dangerous when threatened, quick to defend herself against lecherous fools, and unafraid of speaking truth to power” (Long). Makina is just like an ordinary person. She is no different from an average American. Makina has a job and harmless when not threatened. Americans act as if immigrants are so beneath them. Immigrants are hard workers, just like Americans. Immigrants want better lives for themselves and their families, just like Americans. Americans and immigrants are not the only ones who want these things. People all around the world want what is best for everyone they know. Most people will do whatever it takes to get to what they need; even if it is in life threatening conditions. Signs Preceding the End of the World challenges our ethics by placing the reader in the mind of an illegal immigrant, allowing the reader to know the true feelings and experience of the immigrant.

“…seems to be the glue that holds this family together” (Hams 1). Through the journey to California, there are many struggles faced along the way but she retained her composure and remained calm just to appear strong for the family. “She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken” (100). The position Ma is in is not effortless. She puts in a great deal of effort to remain the rock of the family, even though she has lost her many possessions. Without her, there wouldn’t be a Joad family.

This is due to Makina speaking three different languages, which is not very common for someone in a first world country, let alone someone who lives in a rural village in Mexico. Due to these skills, she is the town switchboard operator with her multi-lingual capabilities making her an invaluable asset to her community. The absence of Makina in the community would result in the people of her village to have no way of communicating with the outside world. When someone brings a cellular device to the village, Makina scoffs at the idea. He rounded up everyone in the village and attempted to prove how the cell phone works and how Makina will be out of a job shortly due to this great new invention. When the cellphones fail to work, Makina responds “Maybe you should have bought a few cell towers too?” (Herrera 45). This is a big moment in the novel as it shows how Makina has the intelligence to stand up for herself with just a simple statement. In his critique Long mentions a specific quote from the text which is, “You are the door, not the one who walks through it” (Herrera 18). To this quote he states: “Makina’s search for her brother obliges her to violate this rule, but it is only when she dares to walk through a number of doors, literal and figurative, that she reaches a definitive and enigmatic encounter with herself.” (Long). I agree with this statement, as Makina’s journey is more about discovering herself than saving her brother. Throughout the novel a change is noticed in Makina as she breaks her rules. She becomes more independent and her intelligence is shown through the breaking of these rules. By breaking these rules, it justifies every battle she has fought to become who she is. In conclusion, by making the protagonist an intelligent immigrant female, Herrera proves that the female can be the

When Santiago has to decide if he should return to Andalusia or go into the Sahara desert he experiences confusion over what choice he should make. Similarly, when the

(Mam, 190) Instead she got up on her feet and pushed through all of the pain and suffering she had going back to those brothels and stood up for what she thought was right. She had many threats against her and her family but she never stepped down from what she believed what was the right thing to do. There were even many times the police would not help her and would give a heads up to the brothels Mam wanted to

In Yuri Herrera’s novel ‘’Signs Preceding the end of the world’’ present a girl, Makina, who go through a series of obstacles to find her brother and her own identity. In each chapter Makina went through these series of obstacle while exploring transformation in a journey across the border. As Makina go through these series of events, she encounters an abrupt event that wasn’t what she expected. Yuri Herrera does not just focus on the journey through the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the identity and change through people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there’s no going back. Makina’s story develops within a novel centered on an equally

In Tangerine, a sinkhole occurs from pages 81 to 83. Although the actual event of the sinkhole itself is very short, the effects of it last throughout the rest of the book.

Do you believe in end-of-the-world prophecies? End-of-the-world prophecies are assumptions of when and how our world would end.

Ma is a very determined and loving woman. She is recognized as the center of strength of the family. It does not matter if the reward is small or big, Ma will meet every obstacle unflinchingly. Throughout the book, Ma always had a way of staying strong when times got rough and keeping the family together. Ma found it hard to stay strong though with the loss of her mother, but pulled through for the sake of the family. Ma consistently proved to be the book’s strongest supporter of family. The two tendencies are not in conflict but assembles a philosophy of selfless sacrifice. Ma demonstrates this best when she tells her daughter to feed the starving man in chapter thirty. With her strong nature, Ma Joad suggests that even the most horrible circumstances can be battled with grace and

The religious element it when the angle is flying away at the end of the story it also show signifies faith. The narrator attitude toward the people of the town and their reception of the angle fuse beautiful details with sad undertones. For example, "The world had been sad since Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray thing and the sands of the beach, which on March nights glimmered like powdered light, had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish"(Marquez 201). The narrator remember how wonderful things could be if we take the time to admired it.

Our topic is sinkholes. Sinkholes are holes that are formed in the ground from the underlay of rocks collapsing. The majority of sinkholes in the U.S. occur in Florida because the state is on top of carbonate rocks which are weak

In this poem, “Under the Feet of Jesus” the development of Estrella’s character consisted of many conditions. She went through several stages as in anger, curiosity, realization, and happiness. Estrella is going through all these different mood changes because she notices different events in her life. Her character’s literary element is tone. Here are some reasoning’s on why this theory is said.

Ordinarily, in this time period, women weren’t considered valuable when it came to contributing to anything other than household chores and caring for children. However, Ma showed that she was an important member of the group when she saved them from possible harm by the Sioux Indians. Because she grew up with the Sioux tribe, she spoke their language and understood their ways. As a result, she was able to convince the Sioux leader not to harm her traveling companions. When she is accused of being a spy for the Native Americans, she responds by saying: “Mr. Burt, for your own information, I grew up alongside the Sioux. I played with them a child, and I learned their language” (page 750). This shows that Ma is keen enough to know how to treat a potential “enemy” to the group and relate to them on their own terms. Ma’s ability to show her knowledge keeps the group

The astrology signs go in this order: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. You've probably heard about fire signs, earth signs, air signs, and water signs. These are the four elements. Twelve signs divided by four elements equals 3 signs per element. If you start with Aries as the first fire sign, then just skip to every 4th sign, you'll see that the fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagitarrius. Taurus is the first earth sign, then Virgo and Capricorn. Gemini is the first air sign, then Libra and Aquarius. Cancer is the first water sign, then Scorpio and Pisces.

It is not possible to tell whether the life of a person will be successful or not. For this reason, people live in anxiety and the fear of the unknown. The speaker says that this walk is personal and everything else does not matter. Besides, he describes that the direction where the road is leading has hardships. He uses the poetry style of symbolism to metaphorize the concept of destiny.