She is also seed as describing the stereotypical American workaholic attitude, ignoring her family, and she is always in a rush to get to her job. The fact that Sara’s sexual desire is triggered by disasters is the idea that people like her and Delaney are both afraid of and drawn to unpredictability. In chapter six, there was a scene where Jack Sardine, Jar. And his friend destroy Reunion’s campsite while terribly injured and helpless Candida watches from the rocks nearby which was probably one of the most shocking scenes in the novel.
The hatred that is shown as they ruin the Reunion’s only possessions just because e is Mexican is Jack Jar. ‘s role in the story. He is clearly racist against Mexicans and is completely convinced that they are dangerous, but his son takes the racism differently. He grew up around anti-immigrant beliefs, which makes his powerful feelings and violent actions more frightening. We meet Jose Invalid, the half-white, half-Mexican drifter who plays a big role in both the Mossbacks’ and the Orinoco’ journeys. People assume that he is another dangerous Mexican immigrant, and don’t trust him because of his appearance.
Invalid can always be seen with a man wearing a traditional Mexican poncho. He flirts AmRica at the labor exchange, and he begins to invade on the Reunion’s sanctuary in the canyon. He will continue to appear in the places that are most important to the different characters. America meets two more characters who provide another release for Bayle to explore the white American population. First is Mary, a large white woman with an alcoholic habit who is at the labor exchange looking for work. America describes her clothing as cheap fabric that you might find in a brothel, and carries a bottle of liquor with her.
Mary has a terrible work ethic and spends cost of the work day complaining. The second character is Jim Shirley, the man who employs America. He is a very obese man who not only cheats America out full pay but also touches her in an inappropriate manner. Mary and Jim are stereotypically American in their obese figures and complaining, lazy natures. They complete Bole’s picture of American culture. In chapter seven, there is another meeting between Candida and Delaney. In some ways Delaney acts the same as he did the first time, and in other ways different.
Similar to the first encounter, Delayer’s thoughts are to feel sorry for he Mexican. He shows how when he first sees the Mexican his feelings of guilt are brought back and he feels sorry for the way he has to live. One thing that is unlike the first meeting is that Delayer’s feelings of guilt do not go away as easy. After the first time when Delaney ran into Candida, Delaney thought that all immigrants were bad and that he should not feel bad. This time after he doesn’t do anything to help, he continues to feel guilty when he goes home. This time was Delaney doesn’t try to help at all.
The first encounter Delaney gave Candida none and offered to help, but the second time he was an observer. I think that the fact that Delaney didn’t try to help and then continues to feel guilty is the most important difference in the second encounter. In chapter eight, AmRica has returned for a second day to work for Jim Shirley, which reveals more about both America and Shirley than before. Her dedication to work through the pain of using cleaning chemicals without gloves not only shows her incredible work ethic but also reveals just how scared she is to approach her white employer.
She is even afraid to use the bathroom because he is afraid of angering him, but when she does, the readers get a better idea of her American dream. She is fascinated with the bathroom, and the fact that something so small and unimportant in the view of people like Shirley fills her with so much longing is just an insight in how much the Orinoco are struggling. We see that Shirley is not apologetic about forgetting to give America gloves, and even seems upset at her for not telling him sooner. His terrible treatment is unsurprisingly sad. She is just a machine to him, there to do his every command and not deserving of any sympathy.
The first part of the book describes the situation of both families very precisely. You discover some differences of the two families about the economic situation as well as the mindset. For example you can notice a change Delayer’s attitude toward the illegal immigrants. He gets more and more angry towards their existence in his close neighborhood and their way of life. I really liked the change of the stories and characters in part one. Every chapter treats just one of the two stories and the change of the chapters often hints an unknown meeting of the two men.
