Prejudice in Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan :: essays research papers

Esperanza RisingEsperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan is a novel about preconceived opinion. Prejudice is when a banner being looks down on colored, sex, lower classes or different races of people. There were many obstacles in this novel that dealt with racism and mistreatment with Mexicans. Mexican immigrants in the 1930s suffered greatly because of the prejudice in the hearts and minds of the farm owners, lawmakers, and the American people.Business owners were prejudice against Mexican migrant workers. Miguel was very capable of working as a mechanic at the train stations, but ?they will only hire Mexicans to lay tracks and dig ditches, not as mechanics.?(120) Prejudice was also shown when the farm owners said, ?The Mexicans can only blow on Friday afternoons, before they clean the pool on Saturday mornings.?(218) Business owners were very unfair and prejudice to the Mexicans, they treated them like lower class citizens.The laws and government didn?t treat the Mexicans as Amer icans. Some of the Mexicans that were citizens were protesting for better pay, but immigration officials came to the fields to send them back to Mexico. ? Americana Americana? ?yelled one woman and she began to unfold some papers.?(206) The concur ripped the papers up, he didn?t even give her a chance because she was causing problems for the government. Prejudice was shown in the laws in Mexico against women. ?As you know, it is not customary to start out land to women and since Luis was the banker on the loan, Sixto left the land to him.?(30) It was very prejudice that women couldn?t own land and it was sexist.Americans were not their cover page, free and equal, they treated Mexicans as plaguy lower class citizens. Isabel?s teacher didn?t choose Queen of the May by the best grades, she chose a pretty blonde American with saturnine eyes. ?I did not win Queen of May?(226) Isabel had the best grades, but her teacher was prejudice against Mexicans. Mexicans went out of their w ay to go to Mr. Yakota?s store because, ?At this market, no one stares at us or treats us like outsiders or calls us ?dirty greasers?.?(187-188) Americans didn?t treat Mexicans like people, they were unfair.I think prejudice is still going on today in America and all over the world. Some women are owned by men and engender to cover all over their skin completely.