Barrio Boy Essay

1. Author InformationThe author of Barrio son, is Ernesto Galarza. Ernesto was born in Jalcocotan, Nayarit (which is in Mexico) on August 15, 1905 and died in 1984. During Galarzas beforehand(p crimsonicate) childhood, he awake(p)d in a sm each(prenominal) liquidation of Jalcocotan, all spot he learned respect for the affaires he had. Ernesto came to the United States at a newborn age, during the Mexian Revolution which happened in the early 1900s.While Ernesto was ripening up, he helped appear his family in harvesting their crops. He worked in the harvest crops of Sacra workforceto, atomic number 20. Working in these conditions inspired his views on the way Mexicans were treated as farmworkers. He currently became concerned active the way that the Mexican agri grow workers were treated poorly, and lived in problematical condtions all while being a school boy. During these gravely times, a baby died, from drinking the polluted water they were given. When the Mexican hea p entrap surface ab bulge this, they decided to ask Ernesto to lead the settlement in a protest, because Ernesto had been taught English in school.Galarza showed his student acquitivism towards Mexian-American in the early 1929s, which was when he vocalized his views on the way that the Mexian-Americans were being treated. He faultless up high school, and after graduation he continued on with his culture. He went to Stanford University, where he was the first Mexican-American to ever be admitted. Mr. Galarza earned his Ph. D. in taradiddle and political science at Columbia University.After demesne War II, Dr. Ernesto Galarza short became a labor organizer because of his endorsement of the AFL-CIO, he was also named the National Farm Labor Unions decision maker secretary. Galarza was deeply committed to the education of young mountain, and the thought that every whiz should keep moxie an opportunity to  reward a intimately education. Which might be the reason that he started to write literature for children.Ernesto Galarza was the author of numerous bears which included topics on companionable and economic values, expecially toward the Mexican-American society. Galarzas wife was Mae, who go baded a bilingual education program, which is now a model for other programs. Along with all of Galarzas accomplishments, he translatted the Mother Goose stories into Spanish, and with that oblige, he also wrote Barrio Boy, which originated from stories that he told his daughters. And in 1976, Ernesto Galarza became the very first Mexican American to be nominated for the Nobel measure for Literature.II. SettingThe begining of the throw took place in a quaint village in Mexico, called Jalcocotan or Jalco for short. Jalco was al around the mountains of the Sierra Madre de Nayarit. The undecomposedest city from Jalco was Tepic, from Tepic it was near impossible to attain to Jalco. You would have to go protrude mule tracks, on either a mule or on a b urro, and the full-length time just hold on the exceed that you could. The indians that founded Jalco valued it to be difficult to beat pole into this village, which is why they choose the small rocky places and the gullies adjoin Jalco. They thought of Jalco as some natural storm cellar, so that they wouldnt be hit with the hard hurricanes that sometimes occured.Jalco is where Ernesto Galarza grew up, and he con fontred himself and any integrity growing up in the puebl jalcocotecanos. In the adjudge he talked about how broad Jalco was because it gave protection from outsiders, and it only had one street. This street was an open stretch of a mule track, just it had been widened through out the years, to be able to pose six automobiles hub to hub. In Jalco, there was a line of houses, or cottages on each side. Roofs, were made only of thatched palm, and there was no windows, while the back downs of the houses were called corrales, because they were fix alleys that led up hill to the edge of the forest on the upper side of the village.Ernesto had to bear on to Tepic. They thought that bolas were forming, which the book gave deffinition to as any assembly of persons who got to foilher to overthrow the establishment or to inglicht upon it anguish or cast down when armed and operating in the mountains, they were much accurately called guerillas. . and they thought that they would soon be coming to Jalco the revolution was going to move to Jalco. Gustavo had been chosen to go to Tepic, and see what was going on over there. The night that he left, there was a major comet that Don Cleofas say foretold that something very clashinging was soon to happen, alone specially he said this comet meant that La Revolucion was coming our way. Gustavo came back to Jalco a few days after the comet. What he saw there was guards, and men being taken to regiments, which made Ernestos family decided to move into Tepic where they would all get jobs and find a place to live.The revolution scared Ernestos family, and everytime they thought that the revoultion was gettin close, they packed up their stuff, with a lot of thought involved, and locomote to the next city. The book says that the city was peaceful while we lived there moreover in the vecindad there was the talk and the feeling of trouble. My contract lived in reverence that Jose would be picked up and taken out-of-door as a conscript to fight for Don Porfirio. After they found out that no one could enter or leave Tepic without being stopped bu the patrols, and how regiments were getting quartered around the village in Tepic, they decided to go to Acaponeta. In Acaponeta Ernesto said that the most important place was the railway station, which he stood far away from the tracks and watched the people get on and by of the rail off, and watch the train go off into the distance. The train stain was also the center of the revolution, because there were soliders in the boxcars, and Ernes to and his mother could see how the revolution was evolving.A letter came in from Gustavo that said for Ernesto and his mum to go to Urias, from Acaponeta. Gustavo said that he would orchestrate a funds ordinate to them both to help transport them from Acaponeta to Urias. Gustavos letter also said that Esther would also go to Urias to meet up with them, because they were also displace him money. A few days later they left on a train from Acaponeta, to go to Urais, where they meet up with Gustavo and Jose.They stayed in Urais for a while, yet when Dona Florencia found a room for rent, they were off to Mazatlan. Mazatlan was the next city over to Urais, so it in truth wasnt too big of a move for Ernesto, and in the book it said, The down payment on teh rent was made and Jose went back to Casa Redonda for out things.. The place that they lived in was only one room, and had a red tile roof, and brick floors.Then three more letters came from Gustavo, where he essentialed to get all the family together, only this time in America. Gustavo and Jose indirect requested to have all the family together in Sacramento, California because thats where Jose had to work on the railroad line. Ernesto and his mom had to wait in Tucson, before they could continue their journey, so they could get another pass and so money could be obtained. While they were in Tucson Ernesto had a great time with the hotel and the toilet, it says in the book, That night I got up many times to go to the toilet, until i was ordered to go to bed..When they got back on the train for the last time, they finally entered their destination of Sacramento. The book describes them get into Sacramento as, A brake man opened the door at the front of the coach and called, Sach-men-ah, by which we knew he meant Sa-cra-men-to, for we had passed a large scar with the name in black and white at teh entrance to the smoke yard. From there, the book setting is in Sacramento, and describes the antithetical things that Ernesto Galarza learns while in school, and while hes out on the farm.III. CharactersThe main character of the book was Ernesto Galarza (big surprise). In this book, Ernesto Galarza is not very physically certain in the beginning, scarcely towards the end of the book he was on his way to manhood.Emotionally, Ernesto Galarza is strung everywhere, depending on the time of the book. Police and firemen swarmed around for a while. We never called the police, they just came. is one excerpt from the book where he had to be very emotionally strong, because he had to realize the bad neighborhood that he was in, and how his family was taking it. They were doing the best that they could perchance do, and he knew how bad that made them fell.Another time that Ernesto showed how emotionally impact he was, was when he had to move out of his home town of Jalco, and into contrastive places with his family. Moving is hard on anyone, expecially if you have lived there youre all i n all life, the hardship of having to move from city to city in Mexico was really bad for Ernesto Galarza, because this family had to ask other family members if they could stay in their houses, and they had to start from scratch. Which really shows how emotionally strong he was.Ernesto Galarza had to be mentally strong, to see how bad things really could be. To see your neighbor thats a child dying, you have to get mentally stronger than the average person. Ernesto Galarza also had to take a place in watching the rituals for those who are really sick, and then had to participate because his family thought that that the more people involved in the ritual, the better the outcome.Ernesto Galarza was also shaped into a better mentally strong person through this story because he experienced many rascist situation in reverse. In the book, Ernesto Galarza wanted to send a letter to his mother, but he had to make it a conducting wire because it had to be in english. At the bottom of the t elegram, Ernesto Galarza signed it Little Ernie but the clerk made him change it to Ernesto. This made Ernesto Galarza think about everything, and develop himself better and become more strong mentally.Other than Ernesto, there were a few other main characters which include Gustavo, and his mother. Gustavo wrote his family letters, and money. Gustavo was very physically developed because he had to work very hard labor, such as the railroad tracks. While his mom wasnt too physically developed because she was a woman, but she always did what she could to help out.Emotionally Gustavo was very strong, and expressed a lot of concern. Gustave never really expresses a lot of his feelings because hes pretty quiet. Ernestos mom was always wanting to do the best thing for her kids, no matter what. She was willing to take all of her things and move them just for the sake of her children.Gustavo mentally wanted to get all of his family in one spot, because family was very important to him. Through-out the who book Ernesto keeps getting these letters from Gustavo and Jose explaining what he had to do to find, or reunite with his family, and Gustavo and Jose took care of their family by giving them money to help them out on their journey. Galarzas mom was very mentally strong to be able to go from place to place, with all the worries that she had on her mind, the likes of the time she stayed up all night before they left.IV. patchBarrio Boy, had a lot of Man Vs. Self, and Man Vs. Society.Man Vs. Self in that location were so many times that there was a man vs. himself, but one time specifically was when Ernesto had to learn English. Ernesto just had to concentrate, and believe in himself that he could learn how to read and write English before he actually could. Ernestos mom helped him in his work, by his mom art out the combinations she had written him on tope of the slate.Man Vs. Society standardised man vs. self, there were a lot of man vs. society too, but one t ime in particular was when Ernesto ventured out of the alley and down the street, and was chased home by three American boys. This shows how difference societys act towards different people, Ernesto didnt even understand what the boys were yelling at him, he just understood that it wasnt very nice.The book was mainly about how Ernesto had to move from Jalco and to city to city, to try and be with his family. The reason that his family was split up was because of the Mexican Revolution. During the book, Ernestos family wanted to be as far away from the revolution that they could be, no matter how many times they had to move.Gustavo and Jose kept sending Ernesto and his mother money to get from to place in this book, because they wanted to get all of their family in one place. They tried a lot of villages and cities in Mexico, until they finally decided to go to the United States. They choose to migrate to Sacramento, California because Jose was working on the railroad there. The rising action in this book was all the traving Ernesto did. On each train, he was exposed to different experiences and different people.The main action of this book was when they finally arrived in Sacramento and was reunited with their family, because thats what the story was talking about through-out. There, was also where the falling action occured, which would be that when he got there, he had to work and help support his family, and watch his lower-ranking sisters. The resolution would be that he went to school, and made something of himself.V. ThemeThe life lesson that was taught in this book would be that dont take anything forgranted. In Ernestos book, he goes through a lot of conflicts with himself and with the circumstances that he has to live in. The biggest conflict was having to move from place to place trying not to get caught up in the Mexican Revolution. Although Ernesto was in a horrible situation, he always seemed to turn it around for the better, and look towards the more incontrovertible out look.Everyone has a choice on whether or not they want to be in a good mood or not, they decide whether they want something to bother them or not. In this book, it teaches you how to take a more lordly approach to everything you do which also reflects how you shouldnt take anything forgranted. Ernesto never loses his positive approach, and keeps his head up high, which is what everyone should do.VI. EvaluationThis book, along with everyother book has its ups and its downs. Barrio Boy was a very capturing story about immigration and coming to the United States. The book itself gives you the feeling that youre hearing the stories told time and time again by your grandparents. Ernesto uses a lot of detail in this book which gives you a sort picture of what hes talking about. As an autobiography, Ernesto Galarza did a good job. If the reader has a sense of history and knowlege of Mexican-American culture, then theyll read with ease.The Barrio Boy book h ad very interesting subject matter, however the writing itself sometimes is a bore. Ernesto Galarza dwells on facts very insignificant to the purpose of the story and therefor the reader must wade through all of that to pull out the important history hes retelling. The first 70 pages was keen talk of Ernestos family, and how they lived in Jalco. It included some interesting lucubrate on what they did, but it was all pretty irrelevant to the story at hand. This alone turns the reader off, and makes them want to put the book down. Another thing that turns the reader off is that you never learn about the rich history of the Mexican-American Herritage in this country. Ernesto could have also used more English equipment casualty in this book. Readers dont like to have to flip to the back of the book, to understand what they are reading exspecially if its already drawn out.If you like to read about culture, especially Mexican-American culture you might find this book to be enjoyable. I f you have problems reading books for anything other than pleasure you might want to pick up another book about the Mexican culture in the United States, you might want to try Rain of Gold, by Victor Villasenor.