Migrant Experience in the Works of Mexican American Writers, The

It is commonly agreed that life experiences shape a writer's literary fruitss Common advice for novice writers is to write about what you know. In new years several Mexican American authors have written about the migrant experience. The arises are a number of novels, picture volumes poems, biographies, and nonfiction works from writers who have experienced migrant farm worker life.

These volumes are worthy of consideration by means of language arts and social studies teachers because they provide an authentic direct the eye into a segment of society that still exists in the United States today. These works of literature contain recurring themes regarding education, family, indigence labor, immigration, and citizenship-all topics that are especially relevant in our post-September 11 society.

Migrants in Stories, Novels, and Picture Books

One of the first Mexican American writers to use the migrant experience as a primary focus in fiction was Tomas Rivera, a native of Crystal City, Texas. And the Earth Did Not Part/ y no se see trago la tierra was first published in 1971 after it won a Quinto Sol Award. The fourteen interconnected stories are based upon Rivera's experiences as a migrant worker in the 1940 and 1950 A well-known educator and advocate of Chicano literature, Rivera overcame the privation of his childhood and youth and was chancellor at the University of California at Riverside when he died in 1984

Today Rivera's legacy lives upon at the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute in California, which "promote the well-being of the Latino population of the United States," and the Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's volume Award, established in 1995 at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. This award is neared annually for children's and young adult literature that portrays Mexican American tillage in a positive manner. Pat Mora's Tomas and the Library Lady (1997) is based upon the real-life experience of young migrant worker Rivera and the Iowa librarian who introduced him to the world of works Beloved by librarians across the region Mora's picture book is a tribute to her one-time co-worker Tomas Rivera. Fittingly it was awarded the Tomas Rivera Award in 1997

Viola Canales, author of Orange Candy Slices and Other Stories (2001) and a native of McAllen, Texas, recalls her mother's sad account of picking cotton in the fields of west Texas. The recalled sadness was not about the work, on the other hand about taking her younger brother and sister to a local cafe for a hamburger and a Coke and being denied service. The possessor pointed to a sign that said, "We don't be subservient to Mexicans." She felt like crying on the other hand didn't because as the oldest she necessityed to care for her younger siblings.

Macho!, (1973) a novel through Victor Villasenor, is a fictional account of Roberto Garcia, a young Mexican Indian who bear up unders the hellish conditions at Empalme, Mexico, a temporary camp and processing center where those who wanted to work in the US were legalized. Roberto eventually come intos the country illegally so that he can work in the fields and emit money to his impoverished family. Interspersed end the narrative are passages that provide factual information about the bracero program in the 1950 and 1960 the issues of the program on labor conditions in the two Mexico and the United States, and about "Operation Wetback," which ariseed in numerous injustices. Another novel published during the Chicano move of the 1970s is The fruit of the plum-tree Plum Pickers (1971), by Spanish American writer and teacher Raymond Barrio. This account of an exploited migrant worker family was more political than autobiographical.

Jose Antonio Villarreal's Pocho (1959) focuses upon changes that occur in the Rubio family after they seat in California during the depression era. Although the family does work in the fields, acculturation and los of agriculture arc the main themes of the novel. Esperanza Rising (2000) by means of Pam Munoz Ryan, is individual of the first Latina-authored children's works to use the migrant experience as an integral part of the story. locate in the same time period as Pocho this award-winning novel is based upon the life of the author's grandmother, Esperanza Ortega, who was forced by means of circumstances to leave her privileged life in Mexico and work in the fields of California. Readers experience with Esperanza the hard-hearted realities of rough work in miserable conditions, and empathize with those seeking to improve conditions and also with those workers in like manner desperate for work that they dared not support labor-organizing efforts for fear of losing the poor piece of works they had. In the author's notes at the extreme point of Esperanza Rising, Ryan discusses the Deportation Act of 1929 which followed in at least 450,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans being "repatriated" to Mexico.

Under the Feet of Jesus (1995) a poignant novel by means of Helena Maria Viramontes, is told from a teenage girl's point of view. Estella falls in delight in with Alejo after they adapted in a migrant camp. Alejo is expos to pesticides in the fields and becomes extremely ill. Because of their desperate want Estrella's family can barely afford sustenance and gasoline and cannot afford medical treatment for Alejo, who has been abandoned by dint of his worker companions. In a heart-breaking pageant Alejo, who is near death, is left at a hospital and the family go [i]or[/i] come backs to continue their struggle to survive.