Literary Analysis 2

Topics/Events

1. The story is mainly about the struggles of being an illegal immigrant in the United States. The book shows us a first hand account of someone that travels to America to achieve the "American Dream". Its starts out with Francisco as a child in his home and mexico and takes you through all the challenges he endures. I think that this is a book that is truly about being able to overcome obstacles in life with out being stopped.

-the theme of the book is that all obstacles in life can be overcome.

2. The author chose to write about this topic because clearly he felt that his life story would make an impact on other peoples lives. His life was truly a struggle. I think that he probably also wrote to be able to look back at his hardships and show the world that he overcame them and made something out of his life.

3. I chose this book because I had head about it from one of my teachers at my old school but I never got around to reading it. I think it mainly appealed to me right off the bat because the book is based in Santa Maria, Guadalupe and all up and down the central coast. Once i began reading I think that the author was able to appeal to my emotions through his writing. He had a way of putting the reader (me) in his shoes. Once I began to see the story from his point of view I could not stop reading it!

4. I definitely found the story to be realistic. Everything in the book seemed to be told from the heart and it never seemed as though he was bending the truth. Looking back at the book I definitely can relate some of the events of the story to my life and the people around me. My grandparents immigrated here for the "American Dream" and it definitely wasn't all sunshine and butterflies for them. I cant imagine how hard it must be to be an immigrant. I understand that it is not right to sneak in to America illegally but how can we stop someone from trying to live a better life?

People

1. Considering that most of the characters in the  book were his family he very well may have given us an impression that may not be entirely true. I cant imagine that he would purposely paint one of his relatives in a negative way so im sure the personalities were tailored a bit. The authors tone throughout the book is definitely motivational. He never gave up on anything and his style of writing reflects that.

2. Pancho(Francisco)- small and skinny, young child and was very attached to his home and doesn't like having to move all the time. Wishes for the America Dream

3. I chose Pancho because he is the author and his character is the most dynamic character in the story. I chose Roberto because he remained very static throughout the story and he never changed to much.

4. In the story he talks very openly about himself being very angry with the prejudice that would go on, he directly characterized himself as outspoken.At the same times he would give us the impression that he was very emotional person and he never really openly admitted it.

5. I dont think it changes all that much. He did use a lot of dialogue in the story but it never seemed to change that much.

6. The protagonist is definitely round and dynamic. He changes a lot during the book. Not only mentally and emotionally but physically too. He becomes more aware of his situation and began to take it into his own hands.

Style

1. I think he used a journalistic style. He didn't use much foreshadowing or symbolism but he did incorporate it a bit. Most of it was journalistic though. It was mostly just real life events and accounts that were told in a way that didn't make you feel as though you were reading a book.

2. He mostly would use dialogue. I think it helped give the story more body and the dialogues gave us a better sense of who the character were and how they felt. The dialogue also made me understand the situations easier.

3. He would use a lot of his own thoughts to set the tone and he would also use the feelings reflected through dialogue to show what everyone was feeling and what they wete expressing.

4. The author probably wanted us to see that we can do whatever we want if we set our minds to it. He seemed like he wanted to inspire the reader to never give up and to always work through obstacles in life.

5. He used a lot of locations. He would saybwhere they would travel to and what jobs they would get there. I think that it did make an impact on the story because it gave us a sense of all the moving and hardwork they did. They never really had a "home".