Analysis Of Reyna Grande's 'The Distance Between Us'

Superior Essays
Why do thousands of people every year immigrate into our country without proper documentation? In a myriad of these cases, the reason is to escape from hardship and suffering. One of the most common regions people emigrate from is Mexico, and the reasons for this are developed within The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. This book tells the true story of a girl that journeyed to the United States of America with her brother and sister, all as undocumented immigrants, in order to live with their father. The author of this memoir not only explains the privation she dealt with in her home land of Mexico, but she also demonstrates the racial division and other forms of adversity that were present within the United States of America, or El Otro …show more content…
However, the ideas within this image can be developed even further, with there also being a menace of death in Mexico due to disease, starvation, violence, and overall unpleasantness. This is truly the reason why so many refugees escape their country and attempt to flee to the land of the free and home of the brave; they escape their countries to have a better life with more opportunities. Finally, the TED talk labeled “Actions are Illegal; Never People” by Jose Antonio Vargas explained the story of a man from the Philippines who discovered that his grandfather brought him over to the United States illegally. Vargas continued to describe that he is technically not an American, but he still considers himself to be a citizen, since he contributes to society. Everything considered, Reyna Grande mirrors the ideas represented in the cartoon in her memoir by showing the adversity dealt with not only in Mexico but in America as well, and Vargas describes the issues he has experienced with racial profiling, which also shares characteristics with the …show more content…
The cartoon shows that in Mexico, there can be the constant threat of being killed by a drug cartel, meaning that nowhere is safe. Reyna Grande expands on this one idea and introduces several hardships she, and many other Mexicans, have had to experience, including disease, poverty, and poor sanitation. On the other hand, though, America does offer a more pleasant situations, but it is far from utopian. There is still a constant threat of deportation and racial discrimination, represented by the cartoon with racial profiling. Reyna Grande gives a more personal story of direct racism. From this knowledge, on can infer that America has the opportunity to become a better country than Mexico, if we were to become more accepting. This doesn’t mean that Mexico is hopeless, instead it could be a more pleasant country to reside if certain cleanup measures were taken. However, in America, we already have many opportunities, we just need to allow others to experience them as

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