Maribel and Her Family's Journey
Maribel and her parents travel from Patzcuaro, Mexico, to Delaware, United States, in search of a special school, according to Cristina Henriquez's novel The Book of Unknown American. Maribel's brain injury prompted the family to relocate to the United States in search of special education. They arrived in the United States knowing no English. Maribel's father, Arturo, worked on a mushroom farm in Mexico, while Maribel's mother, Alma, was a stay-at-home mom. They stayed with a group of Spanish-speaking people in the same building after arriving in the United States, and one of the Toro family's neighbors became best friends with Maribel's family. Mayor boy who later fell in love with Maribel was the only person who understood her; because of their relationship, his schoolmates occasionally bullied him; though he ignored them. One-day Maribel was getting off the bus and Garret Miller started assaulting her sexually. However, Alma came on time to stop him from mugging her. One day a neighbor went to Rivera's home to disclose the hidden love between the two. As a result, Rivera's family stop Mayor and Maribel from seeing each other because they felt they were still young. However, Mayor's love for the girl did not vanish and therefore, one day he took his dad's car to pick Maribel after school, which caused worry to her parents who started looking for her everywhere. After an extended period of search with no results, Alma decided to speak to Arturo about the disappearance of Maribel which made him upset. Arturo declared to look for his daughter, which made him confront Garret Miller about the issue and he ends up being shot by Garret's father.
The Author's Message
The author's message about the novel is that people leave their country for several reasons; it could be because of war in their country or seeking for job opportunities. However, the story talks explicitly about how people come through hard times in understanding others.
Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Stereotype - Is a thinking perspective about people in a certain way based on the group they belong to. For instance, Pakistan and Indian people do not like each other because of their religion, but when they meet each in foreign countries, they do not show the hatred, but they have that negative view towards Muslims. My experience with stereotypic perceptions is that people have called me terrorist on several occasions when I put on my customary attires.
Prejudice is negative attitude or feeling based on a person's membership. Some of the examples are when I go to a place with my traditional clothes they seem not to like me because the way they talk to and look at me. Discrimination is defined as treating someone as inferior based on their race, sex, national age or other characters. I have experienced discrimination based on the prices of goods. For instance, when I go to the shop the shopkeeper increases the cost of the item because of my race, color, and religion. People go through these challenges in everyday life principally if you are brown or black because the way media express them. Additionally, discrimination has increased in many parts of the world because of what they are taught or job procedures in the workplace.
Discrimination Based on Race
Mayor and Maribel were diving back home after their disappearance. On their way back home, they meet Celia who asks him why he was driving fast and Rafael replied saying that the police did not stop them on the road because they were Hispanic. "In the US if you are white or maybe Oriental, they let you drive at an abnormal speed without regulating the pace. However, if you are from another race they will stop you whenever you drive at extremely high speed." (Henriquez pg.165). The family became upset regarding the issue because they had lived in this country for many years and people were discriminated based on the color of their skin. The discrimination based on the complexion of the skin makes a living in the US a problematic undertaking especially for the Mayor and Maribel's family. Police stop them on the road because they are not purely whites.
Law Enforcement and Discrimination
Most law enforcers stop people from different race because they have a perception that they could be in possession of drugs in the car or drive a stolen car. However, sometimes they stop them because they fail to uphold the traffic rules and regulation concerning speeding; for example, operating at 100 miles per house in the city remains illegal. Consequently, the police will stop and take necessary action when someone breaks the laws governing the use of the road.
Alma's Struggle for Justice
After the assault of Maribel and Garret Miller, Alma gets scared that Garret would sexually assault her again and decides to report the matter to the police. However, the law enforcers did not take any legal action against him because he was white while Rivera's family were of Hispanic origin. One of the significant problems encountered by Alma is her inability to communicate in English, which significantly hampered her efforts to report the issue to the police agency efficiently.
"Senora he said through the glass this police station we don't deal with teenage relationships here." She felt discriminated because the way she spoke to them and did not communicate fluent English besides differentiated based on her skin color. Additionally, she feared that the police might consider her one of the careless moms who just let their kids move around without proper parental supervision. These incidents and actions of the law agency personnel demonstrate the rift that has existed between Rivera's family and the US society that is built on discrimination established on the color of the skin. Consequently, Alma decides to move back to Mexico because she feels in the US getting help is defined by the race.
The Importance of Addressing Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination
In conclusion, The Book of Unknown American is an excellent book to read because it gives learners some good life instances of social problems faced by foreigners in the US. For example, the police officers discriminate Alma because he was of Hispanic origin while Celia and Rafael feel that their neighbors have prejudiced thoughts about them being brown skin. Immigrants go through this in their everyday life. For the community to live in peace and harmony there is need to stop stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination in the world by avoiding misconceptions portrayed by the social media. Most of these incidents explained in the book happen to people real life situation. For instance, an immigrant calls the police concerning a robbery in their house on arriving they arrest him because he was in possession of a gun illegally. The incident shows a bad image of the law enforcement agency because he called the police to investigate who had robbed his house. An individual's history can be the basis of discrimination in the US or other developed countries citizens. Prejudice also plays a significant role in the perception of blacks and other immigrants. For instance, police officers believe that brown skinned or black people have criminal records or they might have a gun illegally or involved in terrorist activities.
Work Cited
Henriquez, Cristina. The Book of Unknown American. 2014. Vintage Book, New York.
