Post America Is in the Heart & Enrique's Journey Think Paper

There were several concepts that arose from our discussion of American migration and immigration in and out of the texts America is in the Heart and Enrique’s Journey. The motif of traveling and its attendant associated concepts, particularly criminalization, displacement, and longing, provoked a new perspective on the overall immigrant experience.

The first concept that helped provoke a new perspective on the immigrant experience for me was the concept of criminalization. The primary reason why criminalization had this effect on me is because it affects my own race and community. In America is in the Heart, the main character is forced to steal in order to survive. Although stealing is technically a crime, the “crime” was committed as a means of survival, and the “criminal,” had committed it with this sole intention in mind. People who must commit crimes are often criminalized; this affects the person’s entire community because that community will be viewed as criminalistic despite the understandable nature of the action. Many Blacks are forced to turn to crime as a means of survival. Many blacks do not do this because they are materialistic, selfish , or lazy, but simply out of options. Because blacks are forced to do this, they are criminalized. People ignore their intentions for these crimes and proceed to judge them however they see fit, which negatively impacts the light in which Blacks are seen.

The second concept that helped provoke a new perspective on the immigrant experience for me was the concept of longing. In both texts analyzed, the main character is longing for something better, whether it be the American dream or something else. This helped me understand the immigrant experience better because despite the relatively comfortable nature of my life, I have longed for things that have never came. I have also gotten many things that I thought I longed for, only to find that they were not worth longing for. This makes me especially