Summary Of Mexican Whiteboy By Matt De La Pena

For a 12-year-old Cuban boy living in the Bronx, baseball is his family's only way out and means a better tomorrow. In the novel, Heat by Mike Lupica, baseball represents a way out and a better tomorrow. He loves baseball and idolizes the Yankees pitcher El Grande, who was also Cuban-born. Michael Arroyo is a young boy who has reasons to distrust the representatives of the state must figure out how to continue life on his own terms while navigating the adult world and avoiding both the well-meaning and the badly-intentioned interference of grown-ups. Michael is also the best baseball pitcher on his South Bronx all-star team. Michael's arm is so good, that a rival Little League coach begins requesting proof that he's only 12 and eligible to play. They ask for his father but, recently, his father took a trip to Florida and had a heart attack, killing him. Michael and his 17-year-old brother Carlos, are trying to avoid Child Protective Services until Carlos turns 18.

Mexican Whiteboy is a contemporary story that takes place in National City, California, part of the San Diego metropolitan area. The main characters in the story are sixteen-year-old Danny and Uno, who are both biracial; Danny’s mother is white and his father is Mexican, and Uno’s mother is Mexican and his father is African American. Over the summer, Danny and Uno find that they have a lot in common and even though they both go through similar hardships in life, each reveals contrasting ways of meeting a problem. Uno tries to overcome his obstacles with courage and boldness, whereas Danny habitually digs into his wrist until it bleeds. Danny is also an incredibly talented pitcher who could be signed by a college recruiter. However, he always shuts down and loses concentration when he is on the mound. His uneven pitching is a metaphor for his internal struggles. Over time, Danny’s summer experiences help him to believe in himself and “find” his pitch: his focus.

#1 In the chapter The Shot Heard Round then Cul-De-Sac, Danny finally gets his time to shine. Baseball is his sport and he is up to bat. He has hit 3 homeruns over the Rodriguez house and Uno is getting mad. He throws Danny a wild pitch and he swings. He hits the ball but loses control of the bat and the bat hits Manny in the face. Uno sees what happened and he goes off, “‘Talk, bitch! Why you throw the bat at my little bro?’... Uno’s already stepping forward with all his weight, delivering an overhand right that smashes flush into Danny's face. Snaps his head back. Buckles his knees” (de la Peña ch.3). Danny has already had a hard time without his dad and his mom's new boyfriend so he moves in with Sofia for a while. He tries

He throws the ball at the fake catcher and then stumbles. " Danny is at the local fair playing a pitching game to see who can throw the fastest." 81. The. Danny ends up throwing 86, 76 with a curve, then 92, which is the best by far, while being drunk.

Danny finally meets another boy who is half black half Mexican. Danny watches the neighbor kids play baseball. Danny hits the tennis ball with the bat hits Uno, he goes to the hospital to get stitches and reports happened to the police. Danny is depressed and just sits around he really misses baseball though he goes to baseball try outs at the school says he needs practice his pitching because he do have good control of the ball so Danny the good players to try to get better Danny is half Mexican his father is Mexican and he really likes that side of the family but he feels different than that side of the family they are always in trouble and dropping out of school Danny is really smart and wants to become a doctor or lawyer he feels like an outsider around his dads

     The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly

Aristotle, a great Greek philosopher, once said "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." This quote represents how the confidence you find yourself gives you can be the beginning of many good things to come. In Mexican White Boy, written by Matt de la Pena, Danny struggles with finding his identity as a mixed Mexican and white teenager. After he was able to figure out who he was and stopped worrying about fitting in with others, he was also able to excel in other things such as finding new friendships, baseball, and just being more social in general. At the beginning of the novel, Danny is spending his summer in National City along with his dad's side of the family.

"The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz portraits the life of Oscar de L茅on. By blending elements of reality with fantasy and science-fiction, the author paints this "cursed" journey of Oscar, doomed to act the role of the "contemporary geek". The story follows Oscar in his search to find a girl that will return his love, although he doesn't meet the society's masculinity standards. Latino masculinity is a dominant concept in the novel, for that is the main catalyst for all the actions depicted throughout the narration.

Living in a different country that is limited with choices and freedom will make people want to leave. Immigrants want to have better lives, having more opportunities for the future. In the poem “Running to America”, Luis J. Rodriguez describes the imagery when immigrants are leaving and displays why immigrates have the courage to do it. Having hope and the strength to have no matter what the cost is, they will try to achieve to be in America. Having the image of “fingers curled through chain-link fences” (line 3) showing how imperfect the country is and how immigrates are trying to do something about it. Luis J. Rodriguez’s poem, “Running to America” repetition is the key factor to show the symbolism, irony, and imagery to immigrates struggles and

For better or for worse, what race we are makes up a significant part of our identity and influences our everyday lives. Racial identity is a theme in Mexican Whiteboy, a novel by Matt De La Peña, where he follows Danny, a teen baseball player who is from Latino and white descent as he struggles to fit in with both races he’s a part of. Danny adores his Latino father, who fled the family to live in Mexico, and while his Mexican side of the family accepts him, he still feels like an outsider. Race is also explored, a poem written by Rudolpho Gonzales. The main person of the poem, Joaquin, is a mix of Spanish and Indian, giving him ancestors of both sides of the history talked about in the novel.

It is very common in the world to be judged by cultural traits and be associated to these traits in daily situations. Similarly, Drew Hayden Taylor discusses, in his article, “Pretty Like a White Boy” how he got questioned about being an Aboriginal based on his looks. He uses his personal experiences, in arguing the difficulties others gave him based on Aboriginal stereotypes about how one should act and behave. Taylor effectively persuades the reader by discussing these personal experiences that indulge the reader to understand that an individual may look different from the majority of the cultural background, but they still have the cultural upbringing within them. These significant personal experiences intrigues that he has actually faced

It is a known fact that every human being communicates through language, but perhaps a little known fact that we communicate even through the food we eat. We communicate through food all the meanings that we assign and attribute to our culture, and consequently to our identity as well. Food is not only nourishment for our bodies, but a symbol of where we come from. In order to understand the basic function of food as a necessity not only for our survival, we must look to politics, power, identity, and culture.

“A widely held fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing,” is the definition of a stereotype. More than often people use stereotypes to describe or make fun of other cultures without fully knowing the effects they may have on the other. Jaswinder Bolina an American poet from Chicago,Illinois, whom received many degrees in creative writing had the liberty of not living the difficult life that his parents, who are from Bolina Doaba, Punjab, went through. Expressing what it was like to be an outcast when they came to America to start a new life together, Bolina’s father tries to give him the American dream by putting him in many white schools helping him further his education so he can fit in where they were seen as outcast. Throughout Bolinas article, “Writing Like a White Guy” he expresses his experiences and educates his readers of his many struggles in what is considered a white-based society that is filled with stereotypes telling you what you should look and talk like in order to be a successful American. This often leaves people to reject their native culture, constantly having to prove themselves and give white people an upper hand in many situations.

Richard Rodriguez's essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reinforces the idea that race does not identify a person, culture is what defines a person and should be used to identify someone. Richard Rodriguez was in church listening when “[These people] were being welcomed into a new community for a reason of culture” (Rodriguez 90). Culture is being welcomed in church and other people are being nice enough to welcome a person just by their culture and traditions. Rodriguez’s considers himself Chinese because of that fact that he answered a survey with the following “I answered that I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and because I want to be Chinese. ”(Rodriguez 91).

“Wow, you are so rich”, these words have been repeated many times by close friends and relatives. I am perceived as a rich and spoiled girl who sleeps on top of a pile of money and lives in a mansion in the United States. As much as I would like to live up to that assumption, in reality, I am just a middle class citizen that lives in a small town. Yes, we have cars and a big house, but we are not loaded with money. In the country of Mexico I have had numerous occurrences where its citizens have seen me differently, not a Mexican, but as an American.