Reader: Jennifer Carnes

Respondent: Charley Bevill

Recorder: Naomi Johnston

"La Migra"

By Pat Mora

Unsettling America, pp.367-368

Biographical information: Pat Mora was born in El Paso, Texas and has spent most of her life there. She considers herself "a daughter of the desert." She earned her bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. She has pursued a teaching career and also hosts a public radio show entitled "Voices: The Mexican-American in Perspective." Mora is an accomplished teacher, university administrator, and writer. She writes poems, novels, and children’s books. She has won numerous awards over her career, among them the ever-prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Choices Award, and many others. Through reading Mora’s work, one can see that she is definitely concerned with preserving languages and traditions.

Objectives:

"2c. To practice the "quick check" on minority status: What is the individual’s or group’s relationship to the law or other national institutions? (Is the law seen as helping or making things worse?)"

"3c. Mexican-American narrative: "The Ambivalent Minority" ("Ambivalent" means having mixed feelings or contradictory attitudes. As individuals or families who come to America for economic gain but suffer social dislocation, some Mexican Americans exemplify the immigrant culture. On the other hand, much of Mexico’s historic experience with the USA resembles the experience of the Native Americans: much of the USA, including Texas, was once Mexico. Does a Mexican who moves from Juarez to El Paso truly immigrate?)"

"5a. To discover the power of poetry and fiction to help "others" hear the minority voice and vicariously share the minority experience."

"5c. To regard literacy as the primary code of modern existence and a key or path to empowerment."

"5f. To generalize the "Dominant-Minority" relation to philosophical or syntactic categories of "Subject & Object," in which the "subject" is self-determining and active in terms of "voice and choice," while the "object" is determined or passive, acted upon and spoken for rather that acting and speaking."

"7b. To observe shifting names or identities of the dominant culture in relation to different minority cultures."

Key historical note: We all know, especially us Texans, that much of the Southwestern United States was once a part of Mexico. Among this area include parts of present day Texas, New Mexico, and California.

Interpretation: To me this poem is about dominance and control. This is best illustrated when the author says, "I’ll be the Border Patrol. You be the Mexican maid." Clearly one has authority while the other does not. I think this poem shows the resentment that many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have for the US taking their land, much like the plight of the Native Americans. This poem is also about advantages and disadvantages. This idea seems to shift a bit in favor of the Mexicans in the second half of the poem. Like when she says, "Aqua dulce brota aqui’, aqui’, aqui’," showing that she has the advantage now. This piece is more powerful as a poem and not prose because of its brevity. There is no gray area in this poem. Sometimes the less you say and are given, the more powerful it is. Because of this poem’s brevity it is more conducive to the power of the imagination. There is also a lot of imagery present in this piece. It is also my belief that the title La Migra is Spanish slang.