Illegal Immigrants and the Movie a Better Life Essays

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A Better Life Response Paper A Better Life is the story of Carlos and his son Luis and Carlos attempt to provide his son a better life than what he has been given through hard work and hopefully some good fortune. This paper will look to summarize the movie through a perspective of the two main characters growth throughout the movie, as well as talk about some of the overriding themes of the movie and American culture relating to illegal aliens. The themes discussed will be stereotypes of “illegals,” the poor quality of life, and the injustice these people live every day. The movie starts with Carlos working and trying to grind out enough money to help him and Carlos, his somewhat troubled but still sensible high school aged son. Luis
The first theme of the movie is that it is not okay to stereotype all Mexicans as gangsters or illegals. We see in the movie that Carlos is a man of high integrity and is willing to do hard work to support his family. He doesn’t take the easy road, except with his truck, to get his money. He tells his son, “If you want something in this world, you have to work for it.” That is very true. He was spot on. Carlos was a genuinely good father and there are the majority of people out there, illegal or legal that are good people looking for a better life for their families. It is no one’s right to stereotype someone as inferior because of their skin color, hair color, accent, or language. These people know the risks of living in the United States illegally and are willing to take that risk for the chance to live a life that is more prosperous. The second theme of the movie that will be discussed in the quality of life of these people. They do not have anything, especially to start. They are left begging for jobs and until they find a constant provider live day in and day out not knowing if they are going to make money that day. For these people quality of life is based on income. They

La Misma Luna Essay

In the movie La Misma Luna, the legal issues had me devastated, upset, and angry. I hated that the little boy had to be so far away from his mother because of immigration laws. I believe that immigration laws are stupid in certain cases. I understand that we should have these laws because of the terrorists in the world, but what I don’t understand is that if a woman is working her butt off and proving that she doesn’t not want to hurt anyone why can she not have the privilege to make a better life…

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Essay on Latin American Politics

immigration reform have not changed. One of the more recent immigration reform that caught national headlines for being unjust, is that of which Arizona’s Maricopa County, Sheriff Joe Arpaio enforced. “Early in 2009, Arpaio’s deputies marched some 220 immigrant detainees, shackled and in striped prison uniforms, none convicted of any crime, through the streets of Phoenix on their way to the sheriff’s tent-city detention center.” (NY Times, 81) That is just one example of the many ways Sheriff Joe Arpaio…

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Essays: United States and Border

“Border War” with Mexico. However, Mexico has not declared war on the United States nor has the latter on the former. Why then would the creators of a supposedly factual and accurate depiction of life at the border advertise the situation as a war? Perhaps the extensive use of emotionally-charged images, action-movie-like clips, and fiery narration in the trailer for this new series is used simply to gain viewers. The exact details that constitute a war are debatable, but is it acceptable to advertise this…

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Policy Goals In America

to 9/11 as a tipping point and a catalyst to these changes, and the question now becomes how to better understand and deal with the issue of security without jeopardizing our other interests or losing sight of the ideals America was founded on. Focusing on immigration, a key part of the changes engendered by the shift towards national security, my goal is to link the character of Tarek, from the movie “The Visitor”, into our dichotomy between being a safe nation and a true nation for the people…

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Analysis Of Real Women Have Curves

one another the same way they would with people of the same gender or the same race. This established somewhat of a gap, which differentiated a variety of cultures and ethnicities from one another. Eventually, this lead them to change their ways of life and as well as their approach to pursuing their dreams and goals. Along with the increased rate of immigration in the U.S, the rate of conflicts between different cultures began to grow. All of these factors collectively worked to change the way one…

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United States and Melting Pot Essay

when evaluating America’s historical timeline, issues of diversity in American urban schools emerge when major events impact most aspects of American social life. The period 1880-1900 saw vast numbers of immigrants, mostlyfrom Europe, settling in America’s metropolitan cities. Some of these immigrants hadaspirations of beginning a new life in the United States while others sought to work hard,make a bit of money and return back home with their new found wealth. Those that didsettle brought with…

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Growing towards the light? Essay

discussing his reason for emigrating from Poland to Canada. With this goal in mind many parents from the third world countries make the gruelling decision to leave their friends and family behind to help get their children ahead. As idealistic as these immigrants’ dreams may be, there are often many clouds in the growth cycles of these plants. For parents with legal status or permanent status it is easier for them to access all the resources available to children and their parents. Sadly, for those that…

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A Crashing Connection Essay

the city. It emphasizes alienation amongst the cultural groups where any meaningful connection occurs only if the characters in the film ‘crash’ into each other. There is a surge of immigrant population that struggles with racism, stereotypical behavior, and alienation in addition to the social inequality. The movie focuses on the lives of several characters in urban America. All of the characters exemplify vast differences in demography like age, gender, and class. These include characters of African…

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A Brief Note On Religious And Ethnic Groups

scene, some of the type of movies we watch, also the political scene. By us voting on “catholic principles” we have and can continue to shape our political area of America. By the Catholics being here and showing off their religion and their way of life it has come to influence many of us to do things the way that they do. Any religious group can influence a culture but the Catholics have been in the forefront of shaping the American Culture. In our history there was a deep anti-Catholicism which…

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Asylum Seekers Research Paper

and white, there are definite shades of grey. This knowledge has impacted my way of thinking, as I now know, I can’t just believe everything I hear or read like I have previously. Check the source and the motive of the person telling that story to better understand the true meaning and to see through the popular myths. I think that I have definitely learnt this concept in this class, which I will carry outside these four walls. Journal Entry 2- Babakiueria 13/03/12 Today…

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