Tortilla Curtain :: Tortilla Curtain Immigration Literature Essays

Tortilla Curtain The chapter starts with Delaney hitting an unidentified man on the highway while going through Topanga Canyon. Delaney hits Candido, one of the other main characters in the play. After Delaney hits him with his car, he then immediately asks himself if his car is all right. He gets over that, and realizes that he just hit a human being. The next paragraph is Delaney searching for the body and yelling "hello." He finally can hear some grimacing that comes from some nearby bushes. He finds Candido there, with blood coming from the Mexican's mouth and his face covered by raw flesh. His upper arm had dirt and pieces of leaves sticking to the blood. He was carrying a bag of tortillas, a grocery bag that was torn with small slivers of plastic through the glass. Delaney tried to speak to him in French and Candido couldn't understand. Finally the conversation ends and Delaney gives him $20 and leaves. He drives to the Acura dealership and tells the dealer that he ran over a dog or a coyote. D elaney then calls his wife from the dealership and his wife tells him to call Jack, a friend, lawyer, and adviser, to ask him what could happen to him if the Mexican filed suit. The chapter ends with Delaney saying he gave Candido $20 and then Kyra his wife asks why only $20. Delaney replies he was only Mexican. Chapter 2: The chapter begins with the introduction of Candido a new immigrant to the U.S. waking up at his "bed" near the river of a canyon. He is hurt from a "gabacho" or a white man that hit him the day before. He threw up instantly and tried to walk down to the creek to where he fell twice. Then America is introduce, she is Candido's wife. She is on the way back from a job interview that never materialized. Then she sees a man lying on the middle of the path to which leads to her camp. The man turns out to be Candido he is sleeping in the middle of the path. She walks him back to camp and she realizes all the scrapes, bumps, bruises, and cuts on his body. The narration skips to Candido where he is in bed back at camp. His pain is progressively getting worse. America offers him a drink he declines then America says he needs a doctor.

Kiswana Browne Essay

â€Å"She stared at the woman she had been and was to become.† — Kiswana Browne Mother-daughter relationships are complex and diverse. Some mothers and daughters are best friends, and others talk once a week. Some see each other weekly while others live in different cities or states. Kiswana Browne and her mother have a relationship like other mothers and daughters. She only wants the best for her daughter. They may fuss and they may argue, but they are more alike than they realize. Kiswana Browne, whose real name is Melanie, was born and raised in an affluent black suburb called Linden Hills. Like most people that graduate from high school, Kiswana went on to college to further her education. While in college, Kiswana was discovering her blackness and protesting for equality amongst black people. She changed her name and tried to wear an Afro, but her hair was so thin and fine-textured. She had to use lacquer so it would not lay flat. But before she had the chance to graduate from college, she dropped out and decided to move to Brewster Place to live with her p eople. Kiswana’s mother unexpectedly came to visit her at her new place. Kiswana is still afraid of her mother despite the fact that she has left her house and rejected her parents’ way of life. This is shown when she says, â€Å"Oh, God, it’s Mama!† She still feels the guilt that all the kids have when they do something against their parents will. Kiswana and he mother was not seeing eye-to-eye. Her mother did not want her to live in the poor community, but Kiswana has her mind set on being there with her people. She picks to live in a poor area of town, because she is trying to retaliate from the oppressions of the government and her families’ standards. In the beginning of the story, she sees her mother as distant and different. She believes that her mother is a sell out to her African heritage. Her mother assures her that she and Kiswana’s father are as concerned about the poor as much as she is. She also explains that they do not have t o live in Brewster Place to prove themselves to anyone. She cautions Kiswana that the long-awaited revolution will not materialize because society has moved to another phase. Instead, she suggests Kiswana to work within the system by becoming an assemblywoman or a civil liberties lawyer or by opening a freedom school in the neighborhood. She provides Kiswana with various ways of using her talents instead of allowing them to waste away in dead-end jobs. As Kiswana and her mother continue to argue about her new life in the poor area of town, it confirms all of Kiswana’s expectations of her mother’s disapproval. When her mother tells her she lives in a world of fantasy, Kiswana says that she is proud of her heritage and accuses her mother of being â€Å"a white man’s nigger who’s ashamed of being black†. Her mother then became angry with Kiswana and started to tell her about her family history. Yet after her mother explains her beliefs and concerns about her family, Kiswana begins to see the similarities between herself and her mother. After Mrs. Browne gave Kiswana a lesson about her family, she took off her shoe because they were hurting her feet. Bright red nail polish glared at Kiswana through the stockings. Her mother never really wore nail polish, but her husband talked her into. In the beginning of the story, Kiswana talked about how her friend was a foot man and how often she changed the color of her polish. Kiswana then thought, â€Å"I’ll be damned the young woman thought, feeling her whole face tingle. Daddy’s into feet! And she looked at the blushing woman on her couch and suddenly realized that her mother had trod through the same universe that she herself was now traveling. Kiswana was breaking no new trails and would eventually end up just two feet away on that couch. She stared at the woman she had been and was to become.† She learns that she is more like her mother than she ever imagined. Mothers and daughters go through situations similar to this a lot. The child thinks that they know everything, and things are to be done their way. They are not always right. Some individuals think that their parents are always against them and that they do not care about what they are doing in their life, but most of the time they are wrong. Some individuals also think that their parents have not gone through the things that they are going through, but some parents do. There is a saying â€Å"The apple does not fall far from the tree† and â€Å"L ike Mother, Like Daughter.† More than likely, you will act somewhat like your mother or father; you may also go through things that they went through. You never know.

Police Officers And The Police Officer - 2607 Words

Blake Burton Comp II 11/16/2014 In 2002 alone, large state and local law enforcement agencies, those with 100 or more officers, received more than 26,000 citizen complaints about officers’ use of force. Among those complaints only eight percent had sufficient evidence of the allegation to justify disciplinary action against the subject officer (U.S. Department of Justice). These incidents occur frequently but what truly happens is never very clear. Witness reports don’t hold up with evidence, the victim has their recollection of what happened and the police officer has another. There is no concrete way to hold police accountable for their actions unless there is hard evidence to prove them guilty. This allows officers to use excessive force and not face any penalization from their department or in court. On Saturday, August 9, 2014 an unarmed 18-year-old male, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a Ferguson police officer. There were a handful of witnesses but no concrete evidence on what happened. The police officer, Darren Wilson, claims Brown pinned him in his vehicle and was in fear for his life as they struggled over his gun. Wilson has told authorities that during the scuffle, Brown reached for the gun. He goes on to say the gun went off twice in the car, one hitting Brown while the other missed. Multiple forensics test show that Brown’s blood was on the gun, on Officer Wilson’s uniform as well as the interior door panel which supports Officer Wilson’sShow MoreRelatedPolice Officers And The Police Officer1381 Words   |  6 Pageswhite, and blue in America represents freedom. When a police officer approaches a civilian in today’s times, those colors mean the absolute worst. With recent police mischief including shootings, red, white, and blue could mean absolute panic. Americans today feel as if there is a war with police officers. The most common question civilians have, why are innocent people being killed by police officers? The civic responsibility of a police officer is to serve and protect citizens while upholding theRead MorePolice Officers And The Police Officer2134 Words   |  9 Pagesmind when we think of â€Å"Police Officers.† In elementary school, the most common question students would be asked was â€Å"what do you want to be when you grow up,† and the most common response would be in return, â€Å"a police officer.† Sadly now, most are rethinking this occupational choice. The authority that most cops these days believe they have is over the top; they think that they can take advantage of everything and everybody simply by the power of their badge. Police officers need to have more disciplineRead MorePolice Officers And Police Officer1904 Words   |  8 Pagesthat police officers are using an excess of force, and in some occasions, lethal force in their daily routine. 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