America Is In The Heart Free Essays

I. Authors Biography Carlos Bulosan is said to be one of the earliest and most influential of Asian American writers. 1 He was a Filipino born on November 2, 1911 in Pangasinan to a rural and peasant family in the village of Mangusmana located near the town of Binalonan. We will write a custom essay sample on America Is In The Heart or any similar topic only for you Order Now His family strived to make both ends meet to make a living and send their children to school like many other Filipinos at that time of economic turmoil; brought by the increasing wealth and power possessed by the elite. Carlos, committed to help support his family, went searching for a better life for himself, continued his education, and made the choice to travel to America with high hopes to reach his ambitions. II. Summary American is in the Heart is the autobiography of Carlos Bulosan, who begins his story by narrating his childhood life in his town Mangusmana. He lives alongside his father in a farm where they both work in. On the other hand, his mother lives in the city with one of his brothers and younger sister. Because of this living arrangement, Carlos has never met some of his older siblings. One of the sons Macario is said to be â€Å"the hope of the family†. They hope that when he graduates he will return home and find a teaching job to help support their family and pay their debts. He attends high school in another village, and because of this their family pawns their land one hectare at a time in order to compensate for his expenses. Unfortunately, things don’t go as the family hopes for and Macario loses the teaching job. Due to the harsh economic conditions at that time, children like Carlos were working and doing what they could to help support their families. Carlos, at five years of age eventually moved to Binalonan to work in the fields. His salary goes to his mother for paying the moneylender, and to Macario’s schooling. When he isn’t working the fields, he is with his mother, assisting her with her barter business that allowed him to travel to  neighboring villages with her. In these villages, Carlos observed the middle class and their way of life, and later on he grows a loathing towards them. Whilst in the Philippines, Amando, Macario, and Carlos were made to believe that America stood for equality and justice, and ultimately they all separately make their journey to America. Upon their arrival in America, they are faced with the brutal reality of the great exploitation that the Filipinos are subjected to by the Whites. Carlos is amazed by ruthlessness and inhuman treatment that the Whites have shown toward Filipinos, and is forced to move place to place due to one misfortunate event after another. Carlos struggles to sustain a job with a close to nothing salary and with unsanitary living conditions, but his job and stay is always immediately cut short when conflict stirs between Filipinos and Whites forcing him to flee to another town. To add to his pitiful state, many times he is beaten and assaulted because of the discrimination the Americans have toward the Filipinos. Ultimately Carlos and his companions develop a sense of activism, and fought for the Filipinos and their rights in Filipino labor and rights movements. Their effort to assemble the workers brought them right into the conflict involving agricultural interests. Their labor movement ultimately became associated with revolutionary units. In the succeeding events of his life, Carlos is diagnosed with tuberculosis, and was said to been confined in the hospital for a period of two years. Once he was released, he and his friends grew to be greatly involved in the movement for Filipino civil rights. They then assembled a group of Filipinos with the ambition of achieving American citizenship for Filipinos in America. Unfortunately their efforts were not enough and they loose the fight. When the time came that World War II erupted, Carlos and his fellow Filipinos were prohibited from enlisting in the army. Even to the point where the Philippines was being occupied and seized, they were still disallowed to enlist. Due to this, the Filipinos where forced to start a movement fighting for their desire to join the armed forces, which eventually resulted with the United States president giving a special proclamation that would allow Filipinos to do so. III. Analysis America Is In the Heart being an autobiography novel, it didn’t have that much symbolism. It was a straightforward novel and the author Bulosan, narrated the events of his life clearly and vividly. Throughout the story, you can’t help but feel sorry for him (Buloson) and all the tragedies and struggles he encountered. To rate this novel, I would say that I have nothing too criticizing to comment about it. The plot is very similar to other stories involving the struggles of Filipinos whilst under the power of oppressors. Overall, the novel was a good reminder and eye opener on the reality of discrimination showed toward Filipinos, which is still very much relevant today. Also, it reminds us of the strong fighting spirits that Filipinos possess. This novel is certainly a good piece of literature that is purely and truly Filipino. IV. Insights The life story of Carlos Bulosan in â€Å"America In The Heart† is something I can greatly empathize with. I like himself, went to America at a very young age of nine, with a hopeful heart that America was a land of opportunity. In school I was thought that America fought for equality and everyone was given the same opportunities. I thought, I could go see all the places that I saw in movies, and I generally thought my family and I would have a better life. My naà ¯ve nine-year-old heart was shattered after a few months, when I learned that America isn’t all that beautiful, as it seemed, especially for Filipino Migrants. Finding work was hard even with an undergraduate diploma. Filipinos were looked down on because of how â€Å"uncivilized† the Philippines was. And based on observation, some Americans really do tend to show a bias toward Filipinos. At that point, I then missed our comfortable home and lifestyle back in the Philippines. We had time to go out with the family and enjoy the good things in life; while in the States my parents rarely were home at the same time due to work, and the main agenda was paying the bills. Sometimes we Filipinos complain a whole lot about our country. We aspire for  the western life, and what it can give to us. I think a big reason why this is so, is because throughout history we have always been so oppressed by these western nations. We were made to believe that these nations will always be better, but if there’s one thing that I’ve learned it’s that: we Filipinos are hardworking, loyal, and God fearing people, and possessing these attributes bring us far and past the hardships given to us. How to cite America Is In The Heart, Papers America Is in the Heart Free Essays America Is In the Heart Summary The plot of America is in the Heart parallels its author’s personal experiences. The protagonist, who is also named Carols (though he goes by the nickname ‘Also’ when In the Philippines and tells others to call him ‘Carl’ while in the united States) Is a young boy working with his father on their farm in the Philippines at the book’s opening. After a period of working throughout the island of Luzon Carols immigrates to the united States, where he continues to work as a migrant laborer until he realizes he is capable of writing in English and pledges to bring his family members jack to life through the written word. We will write a custom essay sample on America Is in the Heart or any similar topic only for you Order Now He also often uses literature to connect with the united States Itself; Carols reads classic American authors like Whitman and Melville in an attempt to discover and understand a side of the united States far removed from the prejudice and pain of the American society he found himself in. On one occasion Carols and some acquaintances were attacked by a group of white men for no reason other than their race, only to be greatly aided by the white men and women working in a hospital. Walking down the marble stairway of the hospital, I began to wonder at the paradox of America. Joss ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s tragedy was brought about by railroad detectives, yet he had done no harm of any consequence to the company. On the highway, again, motorists had refused to take a dying man. And yet in this hospital, among white people– Americans like those who had denied us– we had found refuge and tolerance. Why was America so kind and yet so cruel? Was there no way to simplifying things in this continent so that suffering would be minimized? Was there no common denominator on which we could all meet? I was angry and confused, and wondered if I would ever understand this paradox. (Bulbous 147) The rod â€Å"paradox† perfectly summarizes Carols’ experiences in the United States. Like Carols searched for America through the works of great American authors, the reader can look through Bullion’s work and glimpse at an early 20th century America in conflict with itself. The 1 united States, which had Just entered the long years of the Great Depression when Carols arrives In Seattle, is revealed In the novel as consisting of two very different halves, and Carols is constantly vexed by the inconsistent nature of the United States. In America Carols experiences both great kindnesses and great realties, often within the same moment, and this strange combination often drives Carols to tears. He experiences no shortage of prejudice in the united States, and the results of these prejudices range from verbal slights to severe physical and sexual abuse. Yet despite the many hardships and prejudices Carols faces, he comes to think of America in a very positive light?the kindnesses he benefits from in the United States combine with a more intangible sense of hope in the potential of America. Within Bullion’s work the reader finds tropes that should sound familiar to anyone who has taken elementary school American history classes; there is assurance and a faint tint of pride in the possibilities of America; by the end of the novel Carols has faith that this is a nation where great things can and do happen, and he ends the novel by stating that nothing will ever take this faith from him again. By recognizing the two halves of this paradox and forgiving the united States for its comes to with his various inconsistent childhood and adult perceptions of America. His ability to not only make these understandings but allow them to evolve throughout his time in the United States makes Bulbous a credible and fascinating source of information on the America that he lived within and further complicates the already tangled and wide-ranging opinions of what the word â€Å"American† should mean at all. By allowing his audience to peek into his experiences through his protagonist and namesake, Carols Bulbous shows how America both defines and is defined by the masses who venture onto its shore in an attempt to find the lives they were meant to live. The Small Key Summary â€Å"The Small Key† is a beautiful account of the feeling of a man, whose first wife died, ND his second wife. As the story opens Lateran describes in a few lines the rural setting of the story. The man and his wife live far from any neighbors. Their house is surrounded by wild bamboo. Her husband is a very hard working prosperous farmer. They are having lunch and the man cannot linger as the fields need plowing. His wife is not feeling well so as he leaves he tells her he will ask Tia Maria, an aunt or a neighbor, to stop by. Once the husband is gone the wife begins to fold his coat. A small key falls to the floor and the woman, in her late twenties, looks almost old. She tries to throw herself into her work on the laundry but her eyes keep going too small trunk in the corner of the room. She knows in that trunk are the clothes of her husband’s late first wife. She tries to tell her self what does it matter if her husband keeps the clothes of his first wife, after all she is dead. She begins to wonder why her husband feels he has to carry to key to the chest with him in his coat when he leaves the house. When the husband arrives home happy that the plowing is completed, Tia Maria meets him at the gate and tells him his wife is sick. The Small Key† is a short story by Philippine author Pas Lateran. It is about a woman named Solaced who is married to a man named Pedro Bubby. They live on a farm. One morning Solaced finds herself knowing that the farm will produce plenty but that she still had some inner feeling of discontent. She planned to mend some of her husband’s shirts, which were in a locked trunk. Pedro took out from his pocket a string which held two keys, one large and shiny and one small and rusty. He gave Solaced the large key to his trunk and put the small key back in his Jacket pocket. Since it was hot that morning, he removed his coat before leaving to work in the field. When he was gone, Solaced began to fold the Jacket and the small key fell to the floor. It is obvious that Pedro values the small key while Solaced fears it. Solaced knows that the small key is a key to a different trunk. She tries to busy herself so that she will not think about what the smaller trunk contains, but she cannot stop thinking about it and reveals that the small trunk contains clothing that belonged to Padre’s first wife. She wonders why it is that he keeps her old clothing and why he seems to eave a special feeling about them. She obviously fears that Pedro still loves his first wife even though she has been dead for many years by now. She reveals that she hates the things in the small trunk and worries that they will destroy the relationship of the small trunk, Solaced opens it. At this point, Pedro returns home to find Solaced in bed supposedly with a fever. It turns out she does not. The next morning Pedro discovers a pile of ashes and half burnt clothing in the backyard. He realizes what Solaced has done and rushes to look in the trunk to confirm it. Solaced has indeed, earned his first wife’s clothing. Pedro is angry and bitter that this has happened and he expects that Soloed will explain things later. He thinks to himself that he will forgive her because he loves her but that even if she did it out of love for him, it will always remain a matter of some resentment toward her for doing it. The Summer Solstice Summary â€Å"Summer Solstice† is a short story that has received recognition both critical and praising. Written by Nick Joaquin, the story takes place in sass Philippines during the festival days of SST. John. There is a pro-woman feel to the story, which has rendered a lot of debate and attention considering the setting is in a time where women must be submissive. In this analysis, learn about the setting, the themes and symbolism that this short and interesting story incarnates. The Train, or otherwise known as the Tartaric, was a three day festival that celebrated a ritual of fertility. This was done only by women. Many men frowned upon the extravagant dances and plays surrounding the ritual. â€Å"Summer Solstice† is set during the three days of the SST. John’s festival. Lupine, a Filipino woman who feels closed to her womanhood, is aired to Paean, who is no doubt loyal to her. They have three small boys and live a somewhat wealthy life as they have a Cambridge driver named Entry and a maid and cook named Mad. Guide is a cousin of Paeans who comes back to the Philippines after studying in Europe. The story starts when the family is enjoying the days of the SST. John’s festival until Guide makes suggestive comments to Lupine, and even bending down to kiss her feet. This makes her leave abruptly and have a discussion with her husband the coming night. Lupine secretly found herself intrigued by the attention of Guide; she felt that he was correct in saying that women should be ravished and men should adore them. This causes her to participate in the last night of the festival, which is the Train ritual. Paean goes with her and tries to drag her back once the dancing begun, but she runs from him to the women. He tries to take her back but the women in the crowds beat him out, leaving him helpless. As the two return home, Paean says he must whip his wife because he loves her and feels that she needs to be put in her place. To this, she shouts and says she wants to be adored, not respected and orders him to kiss her feet. How to cite America Is in the Heart, Papers