Texaners Summary

Mexican Americans in Texas have a long and detailed history spanning from the arrival of Cortez all the way to the present day. Through historical events, the culture and identity of Mexican Americans have shifted, diverted, and adapted into what people chose to identify as. The rise of the Chicano identity during the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was an adaptation as a culture to oppressive and unjust treatment from white, Anglos that had almost all political and social power over all minorities. To stop the oppressive voices from silencing and oppressing the Mexican Americans, they had to stand up to fight for their rights as American citizens that also had Mexican or Spanish heritage to be proud of. In Oscar Zeta Acosta’s novel, The Revolt of the Cockroach People, he dives into the Chicano Movement as a witness and an active participant. His larger than life character is on the front lines of the movement and examines the shift in identity among the group. It was particularly rising of their Chicano identity that gave the people cause to organize politically and socially in order to fight for a worthy cause.

The story begins with the author telling us what The Alamo meant to him and also naming the heroes of the Texas Revolution. He explains that there was a deep segregation in his hometown of Henrietta as he was growing up he never talked to an African American kid until he was attending college. Since he was just a child he didn’t really understand why people of color were treated differently or looked down upon. Sadly discrimination also happened within his family as he states that “Not taking blacks seriously as individuals—and at the same time reacting to their incongruous presence with hysteria (either comedic or tragic)—was a major part of our “way of life.” (p.16).

Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso 1880-1920 analyzes and discusses the Mexican immigrants to El Paso, Texas. The most western city of the vast state of Texas, a city in the edge of the Chihuahuan desert; a place too far away from many regions of the United States, but as Mario García explains a very important city during the development of the western United States. He begins explaining how El Paso’s proximity to different railroads coming from México and the United States converged there, which allowed El Paso to become an “instant city”, as mining, smelting, and ranching came to region. (García 2)

After being forced to succumb to the destiny of life absent the ranch, John Grady is faced with making a decision that will decide his fate, a decision greatly affected by the Post World War II Texas culture in which he was being raised. John Grady could seize the opportunity that presented itself after the loss of the ranch to start a new life somewhere in Texas. He could try to fight his mother’s decision. However, the stark realization, to John Grady as well as McCarthy’s readers, is that John Grady was “already gone” the minute the ranch was taken away from him (McCarthy 27). The separation of John Grady from his familiar ranch-life was a painful idea, especially during the late 1940’s, when little other but ranching was available to native West Texans. John Grady’s life revolved around the land of “painted ponies” and “wild horses”; a land of “red wind” and “coppering” sun (McCarthy 5). Yet he found himself as a boy in

The idea or lifestyle of a cowboy can be perceived in different ways. Focusing on the book “All The Pretty Horses” a young man, John Grady leaves his home to live the life as a migrant cowboy, with his companion Rawlins. In the movie “The Searchers”, a man John Wayne goes on a journey to find his living relatives and is seen as a “cowboy”. The typical American cowboy can be stereotyped in numerous variations and romanticized. It is seen in “All The Pretty Horses” and “The Searchers” common themes and opposing ideas of the “cowboy” that can be found.

The foundation for Texas came after the Spanish settlements in the Rio Grande were established. The thesis gives a clear overview of how low the economy and the social life struggled before the development of Rio Grande. However, it seems that she does not think highly of the ‘founding fathers’ since they were not necessarily heroes in the Revolution and the developments therein but rather Mestizo and Criollo who helped in establishing ranches in the Rio Grande during the 18th century. She says that the two groups were “Fiery-spirited man, wild if you please, over whom the master had no control” (76). It is also obvious that her narration on the Mexicans reveals that they lived in a deplorable state and were almost invisible. As a result, they focused on creating positive changes and destroying “any attempt to create racial prejudice” (106) against their people. Fundamentally, the author presents in her thesis is an account of Texas history as well as a negative representation of the Mexican culture as people who were perceived to be inferior, despised, and were treated lower in society. Although Eugene C. Barker, who is a historian alleged that Mireles’ work “lacked sufficient “historical references” (17), it is alarming how she managed to have a detailed account of the Mexican border and the social life thereof of the women living along the borders and their day to day life. It is evidently clear that although Mireles fails to give specific details on the major constraints during this period and has focused a lot on the ordeals of the Mexicans in a white-dominated city, it is an model classic that can be recommended to people of all different ethnic

Throughout literature many pieces of work can be compared and contrasted to each other. In “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie discusses the challenges he faced as a young Indian adult, who found his passion of reading at an early age, living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He challenged the stereotype of the young Indian students who were thought to be uneducated while living on a reservation. Likewise, in the excerpt from The Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez shares his similar experience of being a minority and trying to break stereotypes of appearing uneducated. He shares the details of his life growing up learning a different culture and the struggles he faced becoming assimilated into American culture. In these two specific pieces of literature discuss the importance of breaking stereotypes of social and educational American standards and have similar occupational goals; on the other hand the two authors share their different family relationships.

Through the use of pathos, schemes, and tropes, Rodriquez offers his conflicting feelings about California and Mexico. By contrasting Mexico and California with these styles of writing, he sets up

Gloria Anzaldúa writes of a Utopic frame of mind, the borderlands created in and lived in by the new mestiza. She describes the preexisting natures of the Anglos, Mexicanos, and Chicanos as seen around the southwest U.S. / Mexican border, indicative of the nations at large. She also probes the borders of language, sexuality, psychology and spirituality. Anzaldúa presents this information in various identifiable ways including the autobiography, historical/informative essay, and poetry. What is unique to Anzaldúa is her ability to weave a ‘perfect’ kind of compromised state of mind that melds together the preexisting cultures while simultaneously formulating a fusion of genres that stretches previously

Writing in the 20th century was great deal harder for a Chicano then it was for a typical American at this time. Although that did not stop this author, Sandra Cisneros. One of her famous novels, Woman Hollering Creek was a prime example of how a combined culture: Mexican-Americans, could show their pride and identity in this century. In conjunction, gave the opportunity for women to speak their voice and forever change the culture of Latino/a markets. Not only did it express identity/gender roles of women and relationships, but using these relationships to combine the cultures of Mexican and American into a hybrid breed. This novel, should have been a view-point for the future to show that there is more to life than just gender and race.

Some Americans remember where they came from; others don’t. That’s the case in Daniel Chacon’s story “The Biggest City in the World”. It is a story about Harvey Gomez who is a Mexican American young man whose grandparents migrated to the Unites States from Mexico. Harvey has only been to Mexico once in his entire life and neither of his parents has ever been there before. Therefore he doesn’t know anything about his native culture or language. In this story Harvey travels deep inside of Mexico for the first time with his Mexican history Professor David P. Rogstart and gets exposed to its culture and language. On the contrary, Carolina

Cisneros’ family bounced back and forth between Mexico and the United States for most of her youth, which led to firsthand experience in the difficulties of growing up as a multicultural person (Doyle. 54-55). As an adult, she settled in San Antonio, Texas, but that feeling of not belonging to either culture never left her. She drew on this feeling as inspiration for many works, including “Woman Hollering Creek,” a short story about a Mexican woman, named Cleofilas, brought to live in the United States by her new husband. She is excited to leave her lazy brothers and old-fashioned father behind, and dreams of the endless possibilities that

In the opening scene of Jane Martin’s “Rodeo,” there are many stereotypical props used to portray the beer-drinking, hard-working, cowboy image with the characteristic country music playing as an added touch. Most people are familiar with this type of scene in their minds, with a man as the character, but not this time – we find a tough, smart, opinionated woman with a distinctively country name of Lurlene, and the typical cowboy kind of nickname, Big Eight. The reader will dive deeper into the true character of this unusual woman and realize that she is no different from the average woman in today’s workforce. She is feeling the frustration of discrimination and the push out of the only lifestyle that she knows, by “Them” (1667).

I liked almost all of the storys that are from RAY BradburyRay bradbury is my favorite author so far.My favorite book is however is THE FOG HORN. It was mysterious .

I have read many stories that are aesthetically pleasing throughout this class. “Emergency” was a good