The poem “Legal Alien” is about a adult female of Mexican parents. who is born and raised in America. An American citizen established by jurisprudence. but at the same clip this individual feels like an illegal foreigner because of how some people treat her. She is fluid in both. English and in Spanish. Feels American because she is. but at the same clip she doesn’t. She is looked at by Americans ( Anglos ) as inferior. and looked at by Mexicans like she doesn’t belong.
They make her feel like she is non one of them. like she doesn’t tantrum anyplace. “An American to Mexicans a Mexican to Americans a ready to hand item skiding back and Forth between the peripheries of both worlds” ( 14-18 ) . Wha Rosa PantojaPeriod 110/9/12Ms. HamptonAmerican literatureLegal Alien EssayThe beliefs of the modern-day clip period is that the voices of all civilizations. ethnicgroups. gender. and nationalities should be heard and poesy is cosmopolitan and speaks to allpeople irrespective of their background. In the poem Legal Alien by Pat Mora. the literary devicesthat Pat Mora utilizations are metaphor and personification.
These literary devices help uncover the author’s message to the audience which are the Mexican-Americans. The metaphor show thatbeing Mexican-American has its advantages and the personification shows the disadvantages of how people view Mexican-American. Pat Mora uses metaphor to uncover the message that being Mexican-Americans has anadvantage to the audience.
In line 16 “a ready to hand item skiding back and forth betwee. n the peripheries of both worlds…” this is a metaphor because she is comparing herself to a item. She comparesherself to a item because items normally have two sides to it. and she is connoting that she alsohas two sides because she is Mexican and American. P at Mora uses “handy token” because she says that it is an advantage because she can travel between the boundary lines of being Mexican andbeing American.
Pat uses the word “fringes” alternatively of utilizing the word boundary line because the periphery is conveying both sides of the universe together and a boundary line separates the two universes of Americans and Mexicans. and by her being Mexican- American she is conveying both of thoseworlds togethe.
