Takaki Chapter 12

In chapter 12, Takaki begins to discuss the views and hope the Mexicans had of America. Word spread fast that America was a nice place and more and more people wanted to come. Many Mexicans left Mexico to escape starvation and to receive wealth and prosperity. Mexicans could easily enter and leave the United States without passports whenever they wanted (312). Frustration and anger lead to the Mexican Revolution. The civil war spread across Mexico and lead to hundreds and thousands of deaths. Mexicans fled Mexico and planned to return once the conditions were better. However, conditions did no get better. Migrants were pulled “El Norte” and worked a wide rage of manual jobs that were usually the worst jobs. Transportation accelerated the movement of Mexicans into the United States (315). Mexicans were sad to leave their home land. Mexicans soon saw the discrimination within their work force and realized that working in “El Norte” was different than it used to be in Mexico. White farmers believe that “no one drives him (the Mexican), he can stop any time and his pay is by the weight at the scales. There’s…no oppression” (321). Mexicans worked for extremely low wages and this caused many of them to go into debt so they were not able to leave their employers. Mexicans often moved jobs. The location of their jobs changed where they would be living. “Mexicans are ‘here today and elsewhere tomorrow’” (324). This shows that the growers did not care where they were and simply used them for their labor. Mexicans wanted their children to be well educated to they “won’t have to kill themselves working” (329). However, Mexicans attending American schools was seen as a threat to “Anglo racial and cultural homogeneity” (329). Overall, while Mexicans were able to establish their own lifestyles in America and carry their traditions over the border, they never actually felt at home in America.

After reading this chapter, I felt bad that the Mexicans had such high hopes for the United States and did not get what they were expecting out of it. They ended up disliking it and wishing they could go back to their home land but they needed the employment in the United States. One question I would pose for this chapter is did the Americans want the Mexicans to return to their homeland aside from their work benefits in the United States?