Critical Response to Takaki's Chapter 12
Added on 2019-09-16
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Critical response to “Takaki – Chapter 12 summary”About the writingThe chapter talks about the condition of Mexicans post the Mexican Revolution and post thetreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexicans have been referred to as Chicanos and they were livingin the poor conditions with lower wages ("Takaki: Chapter 12 summary", 2016). They were treatedas slaves by the Anglos and they did not let them come out of their miseries. So, the chapter talksabout the struggles, sufferings and the condition of Mexicans in which they were living. The situationAfter reading the chapter, I realized that I did not know about the extent to which the people ofMexico were pushed to poverty after the revolution and the extent to which they faced thehorrors of the war. Mexicans did not have houses to live, nor did they have any way to earnwages. So, they got encouraged to cross the border and reach US as they found that the labor wasrequired there. They not only found jobs there, but they also observed that wages were slightlybetter in US than what they were getting earlier. Then, the Mexicans were very hard workingbut they were exploited by the American and they were given tough jobs to do which no one elsewas willing to do. They sent the Mexicans to “traque” and they were confined to routine andbackbreaking jobs. This made their condition very bad. Not only this, the situation that concerned me in this chapter was the attacks on the Mexicans bythe Anglos. As the Anglos felt a pressure on the entry of the Mexican migrants, they put1
immigration quotas on the entry of Mexicans; they started to train the Mexican children tobecome obedient workers so that when they grow up, they can take the place of their parents. Understanding the situationOn reading about the situation, it has been understood that Chicanos were living in miserableconditions. They were underpaid as per the amount of work they were doing, their condition wasvery bad in relation to other like the Americans and the Anglos. They were the victims of theattacks by Anglos on them and their children. According to me, this does not make any sensethat the Anglos were trying to train the children of Mexicans to become slaves when they growup. This is because these people were doing the hard work because they did not have the optionof doing something else, they were less educated too. But, their children had the right to geteducated, enroll themselves in schools and develop their skills and knowledge, rather than growup and become slaves. So, according to me, it is not a right thing to do.Relevance of the situation in contemporary societyThe hardships that the Mexicans faced in the past are still felt in many parts of the world bythem. There have been many demographic changes in the population of Mexicans due to theabove situation and due to the miseries that they faced. It has been observed that one-third ofthem descent under the age of fifteen which is very poor. The children do not enjoy thechildhood, they are not healthy, they stay deprived of the educational facilities etc. and they startfalling down from a very young age (Valles, 2013). Also, the children are not well taken care of2
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