Immigrants

Poetry undoubtedly should reflect the variety of perspectives and challenge the status quo in some sense. The poem “Immigrants” by Pat Mora tries to convey the perspective of the immigrant people who want to find their future in the USA. The author is quite successful in showing the conflicting emotions of people who move to a strange country. Because of that this piece of poetry is a valuable alternative thread in the American literature.

I decided to focus specifically on “Immigrants” because the idea behind it is very significant as well as emotionally moving. Being an immigrant myself it is easier to relate to the poem. On the personal level, reading these simple lines makes me remember the experience my family had with immigration. It is of utmost importance that the writers make such themes visible to the general public, especially in a multicultural country like the USA. On more general level, though, the poem may touch a great number of people because of the universal values it contains and the eternal struggle of the person to feel accepted. The poet asks “Will they like our boy, our girl…” and one can imagine the worries of the concerned parents. This is something that any parent can relate to because of the innate protectiveness towards children. Also, it is interesting to notice how Pat Mora conveys the feeling of being torn between two cultures. She describes how during the daytime immigrants try being all-American while they whisper in their native languages, in the evening.

All these examples show the difficult situation, both cultural and emotional that the immigrants often experience. That is why such poetry and stories should be heard more often to raise awareness of the existing problems. Finally, on a deeply personal level and the broader societal one I believe that the poem “Immigrants” provokes interesting thoughts and encourages asking more questions.