Marcelo's character time line by GERSON ALEMAN RAMOS

page 1-50 immigrant displacement

galemanr0001 — 2024-11-08 22:22:01 UTC

Marcelo Hernandez Castillo at the beginning shows us the theme of the experience of immigrants and their displacement, it shows how immigrants live their lives with the fear of deportation, uneasy about ICE visits and with the danger of BEING deported, as the author suggests in ( 3)"That happened sometimes they would get the wrong address but they will pick up whoever was at the house they happened to storm anyways"

It is an important event because it shows how hard events such as the separation of loved ones are experienced and not being sure of not losing another family member or parent, how an immigrant lives with that fear and mental conflict due to anxiety,

(7) "We were separated as a children, and even though I was much younger that first time, even though I was beyond dispair, I feared deportation more than I feared ending my life"

The author suggests by this the them of inmigrant experiences.

intergenerational fear and trauma

2024-12-04 19:58:50 UTC

Intergenerational Fear and Trauma (separation)

separation

At this point in the novel, we see a somewhat difficult experience for the Author, he has reunited with his father after a long time, despite how exciting it may be, he didn't know how his father were going to be with him at that point, he were excited, but also nervous, he had memories that were not good at all from his father, but when things start to get better and his father is showing him about the thing that he made in all the time from his deportation, he is getting surprised for all the things that he is knowing from his father, things were new for him and it was hard to process how his father's personality had changed with time, or just the situation to have to process the great change in his father (60) it fascinates me that he could keep a garden, that he take care for a plant and water it¨ this is important, this made a change in the image that the author has about his father, he were nervous because of thinking in the way his father was in the past , but by watching his father now, he is changing the way in that he thought, and realized that he should keep trying to be with his father, and forgive him. It made a change in the author, to give a new opportunity to his father.

The Immigrant Experience & Displacement

2024-12-06 07:04:09 UTC

Marcelo Hernandez Castillo at the middle of the book shows us the theme of immigrant experiences, at this moment in the novel, the author is in a hard and scary situation in his life, they are trying to get a green card to his father, when the day of Apa´s interview arrived, The protagonist's nerves, insecurities and anxiety are through the roof, this event is significant because it shows us with imagery, describing the feelings he felt at that moment, how his mind was filled with many thoughts, both good and the worst scenarios. , without a doubt it shows in great detail what feelings the immigrants were going through, as the Author says in ¨Not many walked out smiling, In truth, the majority of those who walked out through the doors looked somber, some stricken with grief, a sadness about them that looked inconsolable, I could see tears running down their faces that they didn´t bother to hide ¨ (168) this is important because show the feelings and experience for many immigrants, another sentence in that the author uses to show another experience is when he was in the airport in El Paso, a TSA official stopped him, and asked him for his green card, although he didn´t wanted to did it, he had to, because again the fear of made an mistake that could ruin all what he had and his green card, because he wasn´t an U.S citizen yet, ¨I wanted throw it in his face.Or better yet, I wanted to throw it on the floor and makehim pick it up-to lean down and have to look for it. Nothing said that was against the law, nowhere did it say I needed to be courteous, but I knew I had no choice. I wasn´t yet a citizen, so I didn´t want to risk anything, I took out my green card and handed out to him¨ (197)

the event is important because show us the theme of the experience of immigrants, the frustration and thoughts that run in their minds and how the fears, and disappointments and impediments of being an immigrant and not having the same rights as a citizen.

The function of borders

2024-12-06 07:36:31 UTC

At this point in the novel, the author talk about how his father tried to convince his mom to came back to Mexico with him, but she always said no, for a better future for his family she stayed at U.S, whn Apa´s realized that he couldn´t made Ama´s came back, he tried to ask to Marcelo to help to convince Ama´s, to go with him, ¨Hijo try to convince your Mother to come back, I´m dying her, I don´t eat, I can´t do this alone, I´m getting old, Do you want me living like this?¨ (209)this conversation is significant because show us an example of what happened to people who were deported and separated from his families, we can see the Apa´s desperation to have Ama´s with him, this connects to real life immigrants that were separated from his families by an border, and how the idea of be far from your people can be agonic.

he also talk about the process of getting legal papers to his mother, and how he had been talking with a lot of lawyers, but even looking in every place he wanted, the answers were always the same, nothing, It really seemed as the great wall of that border will be never down to his mother, ¨ I had to repeat my mother´s history´s so often that it started to sound absurd¨ (218) is important because show the how hard is shows how difficult it is to break down the border barriers.

Intergenerational fear and trauma

2024-12-06 08:47:09 UTC

The author suggests about the relationship between his father and him, how even with all that time alone he were the same person as he was in the Author´s childhood, how they are constantly still in troubles and fights, but an interesting detail from this, is the development from the Author, knowing that his father were still the same person that made so many mistakes in the past, but even knowing this he decide to ignore this fact and just pretend that he does´t see it, to not cause more problems, ¨Deep down, I knew that he was still the same person I knew growing up, But I managed to pretend I didn´t notice it¨ (262) this is significant because show us how Marcelo is trying to ignore his father behavior to keep an good relationship, to not have more unfortunates, even if he doesn´t felt comfortable at all for some traumas from his childhood for his father, maybe it wasn´t the best,

also the author shows us an trauma from the immigrant experience and fear, ¨ Everyone was a possible border agent, everyone was out to get you with their night-vision goggles ¨ the fear and paranoia is extreme, and the instinct to be always alert is already active for immigrants by cause of all the traumas and hard process they had to pass