Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

Passage from Tropic of Orange, by Karen Tei Yamashita, page 197“Once again, Arcangle offered his services to pull the bus.  Slipping the steel cable through the axle and hooking his old skin through the steel talons.  And once again, the people scoffed at his efforts and gawked amazed as the bus inched slowly along the highway, harnessed to an old man’s leathery person, skin pulled taut across his boney chest and empty stomach, minute droplets of blood kissing the earth, dragging everything forward.  It was as the burden of gigantic wings, too heavy to fly.”I believe this passage represents the idea about how the past has shaped the present and how the present will shape the future.  Steel:The steel represent the era during World War I when immigrants from Mexico moved to steel producing areas like Los Angeles in search of work.  Immigrant workers were desperate for work and money.  Since immigrants were unskilled laborers they were given little pay for grueling work.  This has shaped the present and future for laborers immigrating from Mexico because US companies know that unskilled laborers can be exploited for work.Disbelief by on-lookers of Arcangle’s ability to pull the bus:  The disbelief by on-lookers of Arcangle’s ability to move the bus represents the difficulty of crossing the border into the United States.  This is because many illegal immigrants try to cross the border and if caught are sent back.  The increase of illegal immigrants crossing the border has increased the present and future need for improved security and monitoring at the border.     Holes in his chest and the blood dripping from them and kissing the earth:The holes in his chest represent a void in his life, culture, identity, science of belonging, or something else.  The blood dripping from the holes might be a prediction of the future.  It could predict life or death (http://www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/blood.html).  It could predict the outcome of the fight he soon will be in.  Is this fight the void he must fill?  Will it be the end of his life and the beginning of a new (Sol, Rafael, and bobby reuniting).  The blood also can mean purity.  Purity can be a representation of order in society.  “These purity codes provide the society with meaning, orientation, and maps of behavior and belonging” (http://www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/blood.html).  

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