Analysis Of Reyna Grande's 'The Distance Between Us'

Pentecost (2014) compares The Distance Between Us: A memoir with Rudolfo Anaya and Tomas Rivera’s major work as an attempt to capture the cultural identity of Mexican Americans concluding that the main protagonist of these works had to set outside their cultural boundaries to find their cultural identity. Ruf (2009) unlike Pentecost (2014) emphases the uniqueness of Grande’s work as she highlights that even though Across a Hundred Mountains is a fiction work it is based on Grade’s real experiences and fears. Unlike most immigration novels that are usually narrated from a male perspective, Grande’s narrative of a young girl denounces attention to gender inequalities and intersectionalities among immigrants (Bürkner, 2012) (Ruf, 2009). In addition, critics see Reyna Grande as an honest writer that uses her personal experiences for the development of an immigrant narrative and whose novel is underscored with personal truths (Olivas, 2006) (Coca, 2009). While this literature explore Grande’s work they do not pay attention to the representation of her personal and/or her fictional character Juana’s identity formation, when it is a fundamental characteristic of her

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

“My Spanish Standoff” by Gabriella Kuntz explains how the fear of prejudice against Latin America in the United States led her and her husband to avoid speaking and teaching their children Spanish. One reason that she decides not to teach her native language to her children is because she saw how the Anglo-Saxons in the community treated her because of her dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. Another reason, she mentions involves the fact that her children developed accents and were unable to understand either language completely. Because of this, Kuntz decides only to speak to them in English to prevent others from criticizing her children for speaking with broken grammar and thick accents. She believes

            In addition, having a language barrier does not suit her case. The idea of “not knowing how to speak a language of my home countries is the biggest problem that I have encountered, as have many Latinos” (Raya 121-122). “Pocha” (Raya 122) is used in Mexico to describe those “who were raised on the other side of the border”. More so, “it expresses a deep-rooted antagonism and dislike…to ridicule Mexican Americans” (Raya 122).  Evidently, the failure to speak proper Mexican Spanish fall under the dislike category. Even if a Latino speaks Spanish well, “it can never be good enough” (Raya 122). Consequently, Latinos who “speak Spanish in the U.S.” (Raya 122) have a tendency “of being called “spic” or “wetback”” (Raya 122). Hence, in order to be considered “fully Latina in college, however, I must know Spanish…I must satisfy the equation: Latina [equals] Spanish-speaking” (Raya 122).

Ludacris does a remarkable job of portraying his message about the struggles that some adolescents are faced with. “Runaway Love”, by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige (2007), represents the theme of struggle through hip-hop and rap music. It is about little girls who are “stuck up in the world on their own.” They have to take care of themselves because the people they are around do not care about them. They range from nine to eleven years in age, and their goal in life, at such a young age, is to run away from home. Ludacris is trying to get the listener to realize the struggles that even children have to face because adults are not the only ones who have problems, like most people believe. He is very successful in

There are many things in life that can influence the way one acts and decision making to become who one is today. Like the people one surrounds oneself with, the area one lives in, the parents, and last but not least the culture one is from. Although the cultural experience of poverty might have an important influence on the opportunities one gets, our surroundings while growing up also form a stereotypical part of our identity, but the influence from our parents or good role model also teach us valuable experiences. Like in the novel The Distance Between us by Reyna Grande and, the film A Better Life directed by Chris Weitz shows how people can be influenced by their cultural experiences, their surroundings, and their parents actions.

In "The Distance Between Us," by Reyna Grande, writes about her life in Mexico and her relationship with her mother. The selection opens up after Mago's party, where Grande describes their relationship with their mother as improving. Because Grande and her siblings do not live with their mother, every Sunday their mother visits them. Grande depicts her outings with her mother to el zocalo, where she gets treated to churros and other food as well as play day time. During Grande's outing, she writes about jealousy of wanting to hide her mother when they went out because men tend to stop to ask her for the time or would glance at her.

Each year, thousands of Central American immigrants embark on a dangerous journey from Mexico to the United States. Many of these migrants include young children searching for their mothers who abandoned them. In Enrique’s Journey, former Los Angeles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario, recounts the compelling story of Enrique, a young Honduran boy desperate to reunite with his mother. Thanks to her thorough reporting, Nazario gives readers a vivid and detailed account of the hardships faced by these migrant children.

The Distance Between Us a memoir written by Reyna Grande, she tells a coming-of-age story and experiences on her hometown, Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico to relocate to Los Angeles, California in order to have a life with full of opportunities. Grande was part of the serial immigration, so she was following her parents coming to the United States, “El Otro Lado, the other side”(4). Grande uses Spanish diction, rhetorical questions, and visual rhetoric to provide ideas about her experience as an immigrant trying to adapt into Mexican and American societies, in order to draw the reader into her world. Through literary devices, Grande makes the reader to identify with her immigration story even if they are not Mexicans or immigrants. The Story is

The book The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna Grande provides an account of Reyna Grande’s life in Mexico and later in the United States. When she is two, her father leaves the family for the United States hoping to earn money for building a house in Mexico. Later, he sends for their mother, Juana, leaving behind three children – Reyna, Mago, and Carlos. The children experience abject poverty and others hardships under the unforgiving care of their paternal grandmother, Abuela Evila (Tobar). Her mother returns with another child, Elizabeth, and establishes an on-again and off-again relationship. Later, their father, for whom they have almost forgotten, returns and takes them on a terrifying journey to the United States ' border (Grande 317). Overall, the book narrates a child’s journey to overcome poverty and deal with the absence of parents through forgiveness and love.

For this assignment we were asked to write a memoir about a significant event in our life. We were graded on our ability to create an engaging opening, write a powerful storyline with a complex self-awareness, and create a piece with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It was expected that we followed MLA format and at least two pages long. For my memoir I wrote about a time I injured myself. I think the main purpose of the assignment was to get us to think about how events in our life impacted who we are today. It was also meant to encourage us to analyze how we reacted to a certain situation and why we reacted in the way we did. Overall it was meant to help us analyze who we are as a person and better understand how we came to be that

When given this assignment to describe what kind of writer I am, I panicked. I spent hours staring at a blank page, trying to decide whether to fabricate a story, describe my feelings of inadequacy in the area of writing or simply drop this class. The truth is my past is very blurry, I may have been an excellent writer at one time in my life, but the chances of me remembering that are very slim. So this is not so much a story from my life, it is more of the story of why I can’t remember my life.

That was a very traumatic and a very hard time for him because throughout his lifetime, his mother would always be there to help guide him throughout all of the challenges that he has conquered through his life. His father was not really around to be in his life as much as he needed to be as a father. His father was mostly working and out and about with his own friends.One of his worst fears was being afraid of losing someone he loves.

Her father played a huge role in her life when she was just a small toddler. Her cared for her immensely as if she was an expensive, polished diamond that he had just bought to propose to his wife with. Lilianna remembered specifically that her father was apart of the national Fiji military that was sent to fight off arriving pirates. She remembered with great recollection all the memorable times she spent with her father as a toddler, playing in the mud and running around the house. They used to have so much fun together until he went away. Lilianna had never met her mother, so here father was the only person she ever knew. Her dad didn't want to leave her in order to go into the military, but that was his only way of income. Her father left her behind, but he knew that she was going to be able to survive on her own. All of a sudden, she made direct eye contact with the butterfly. In a split second, the butterfly rested upon the young girl's shoulder. It was her father.

This story is about my seven grade English teacher who inspired me. Her name is Mrs. Marie Williams. Mrs. Williams, had no children of her own. She used to tell us that we all were her children. Mrs. William took me under her arms like I was her own child. She use to tell us about her life and how she got to be where she was. One day in class she told us that she didn 't go straight to college after she finish school. She thought that college wasn’t for her. She wanted to do something else. She said that when she graduated, she wanted to do something different. It was later in life that she decided to go to college. That story has stayed with me till now.