Frustration

By -

 La Linea by Ann Jaramillo highlights themes of desperation, poverty, and hope. While reading the novel, I noticed that I consistently felt the theme of frustration as well. I felt frustrated not only from the characters, but I personally felt frustrated while reading the novel. Miguel and his sister Elena were frustrated with waiting for their parents to send them to America, Elena was frustrated with having to wait for her parent's permission to travel north, and we see them frustrated with each other multiple times in the story. 

The feelings of frustration create suspense throughout the novel that increases our empathy towards the characters. In the scene where Miguel discovers his sister Elena has run away to try to reach la linea, we see pain and anger from both characters. "My plan-Don Clemente's carefully laid plan-was in ruins. And Elena was to blame." (Jaramillo 41). At this moment, I felt Miguel's anger that he was forced to change his entire plan because, from his perspective, his sister ruined everything. These feelings transfer over to his decisions on how to move forward in their journey up north. 

As the reader, I felt frustrated that this is what it takes for people to live a better life. Immigrants looking to cross the border have to survive potential kidnappings, robberies, rape, and murder. Once making it across the border, immigrants now have to live "in the shadows" to prevent being deported and sent back to their home country. 

With the theme of frustration, I understand the importance of this novel. It not only increases understanding of the topic but also promotes empathy. Despite the majority of us not being able to personally relate to this phenomenon, we still can be proactive in educating ourselves before making judgments on immigrants. 

Comments

  1. Candace BeebeNovember 18, 2020 at 10:18 AM

    A’Keriah, I also felt frustrated while reading this novel, mostly because every time Miguel and Elena seemed to make a step forward, they were knocked five steps backwards. Nothing came easily to them, every step was an uphill battle. And the battle does not end once they cross the boarder, like you said they will now have to live in the shadows or they will have to fight to earn their citizenship. However, I do think it’s beneficial for students to read because they need to understand the importance of hard work and determination. Anything worth having won’t be easy but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try anyway.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm
Read more

Speak and the Symbolism of Nature

By Anonymous -
   Laurie Halse Anderson's,  Speak , dives into the murky, muddy waters of adolescent rape culture. When the book was published in 1999, rape was not a comfortable topic to discuss with adults, let alone teenagers. Anderson writes about Melinda Sordino and her freshman high school experience which is turning out to be rather negative. Soriano stands as a thriving young role model for struggling teenage girls all over the world. Although she isn't an outstanding student or have plenty of friends to juggle, through Melinda, other young women can see that it's completely normal and okay to struggle in high school not only academically, but socially and emotionally. One of my favorite parts of the novel isn't a super obvious quality. Throughout the novel, Melinda's attitude changes and grows with the coming of spring and through nature and art, she learns to move past her troubling end of summer experience and once again find the importance of her voice.    Melinda st
Read more