Synthesis of the chapter : Myth and heroes

...

their origins.

This song is a tribute to the have-nots, to the blue-collars, to the people who came in America to have a better life and that contributed to make America what it’s today. He is realistic at the end because the American dream hasn’t been achieved by everyone. They didn’t fulfill their dreams. Some felt into oblivion and some are still struggling and dying today (Mexico). Springsteen may want to reproached that America let them down.

3- Land of milk and honey ?

The wall hinders immigration

The wall along the borders from America and Mexico to manage to hinders immigration. Lots of people are dying, trying to cross the border. The construction of these wall make the journey extremely dangerous and also because immigrants cross deserts in a extreme heath. But no matter how high is the wall, people will always try to cross it. Smugglers help them to cross the border against money (3000$).

p.118 : Cartoon

The man that we can observe is really selfish because he only feels concerned by minorities problems when he discover that he’s about to become one. The girl seems puzzled by the worry of the man, he never been used to be empathetic toward minorities. But by 2040 all the minorities together will surpass the number of American of Europeans origins because their birth ratio is higher than with people’s one. It concerned this guy because he knows that minorities will have more power.

4- The actual immigration and the American dream

The slow death of white America, from the Daily Mail

It talks about the second election of Barack Obama. He has been elected because minorities that usually don’t vote (they felt like it was useless), felt concerned for once, they felt like Obama would change things for them and hear them. As the minorities react the whites have less power, that’s why the journalist is talking about ’’the slow death of white America’’. The liberals in America think that this multi-ethnic future is a great opportunity to reinvigorate the US, whereas the conservatives think that it’s the end of their cultures and values. The rank-and-file Americans understands that America needs new blood but are worried of the ’’browning’’ of the USA.

p. 124 : Cartoon by Combs

This cartoon is talking about the work after immigration. It is a parody of Grant Wood’s American Gothic. We can see an American consumer and a farmer coming from immigration. He explain that the woman (who represents America) can’t live without him. It’s about the work of the immigrants, they have a really low wage, they are less payed than American workers for the same job. That’s what make them really competitive, they are essential to American economy. That’s why the farmer says that America can’t live without him, because he’s essential to a competitive America. This is interdependence, that’s what a globalized world looks like. It is also a paradox because American don’t want immigrants but they need them.

...