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Emily Bernsteinsays
This article was particularly interesting to me because it talked greatly about the difficulty of working in the fields during the heat of the day. I may not be able to have knowledge of working as much as they did and for as long, but when I was volunteering at a Wolf Sanctuary in high elevation and 108 degree heat and worse some days, it was almost impossible for me not to need a break. But people like Roberto seemed to work extremely hard because they wanted to get paid and wanted to do a good job. It was even harder on Victor because he had dyslexia and it was hard for him to learn how to read and write in English and he dropped out of high school to provide for himself. It was difficult to hear about how people deliberately told farm workers the wrong directions of where to get work, the whole “they’re going to steal our jobs” thing is still very prominent in the reading. I also always thought that farm labor was extremely hard work, but I didn’t realize that one part, such as melons in this case, would be the hardest section of labor over the other ones. It was back-breaking work and I thought it was very unfortunate that the younger workers continued working and getting paid higher wages but the slow, old workers who probably had been working their entire lives weren’t paid as much money because of their age and they weren’t able to retire because they still needed that money, as social security for the elderly was still underdeveloped at the time.
“Macho” is a very uplifting selection of reading that talks about a very daunting subject. It is surprising to me how Victor’s life is the complete opposite of what is expected. Without reading the selection and only reading the forward that gives insight on Victor Villaseñor’s life you expect to get a short story about how tragic his life is and how unfairly he was treated due to his learning disabilities. Instead you are presented with a short story about how determined and optimistic he is without any knowledge of his incapabilities. If I had not have read the forward I would have been unaware of the fact that Villaseñor had severe dyslexia and that is and important aspect of the story. Instead of stressing what was wrong with Victor, the story highlighted all of his strengths. Another thing I found interesting was how motivated Victor was to do his job. When thinking about field work, there is a negative connotation due to the working conditions, the way the workers are treated, and the little pay they inherit for the big job they do. In this story these were not as prevalent. Victor was portrayed as a very happy, dedicated worker that did not complain about the job. Even as others were putting him down because he was making them look bad he was never phased by their negativity. My biggest takeaway from this short story is how Victor took working as a farm worker and made it seem like a dream job. His optimistic attitude and happiness throughout the story was inspiring.
The story “Macho!” by author Victor Villasenor presents the struggles and ambitions of migrant workers, specifically Roberto as he works in the United States in search of a brighter future for himself and his family. Roberto meets with the usual danger, excitement, discrimination, and exhaustion that comes with this. Through reading this, I was able to experience life as a Mexican immigrant through Roberto’s eyes and see how life as a migrant worker was more difficult than many originally envision. The writing in this selection is very powerful and effective; it doesn’t filter anything and allows me to picture the story going on in my head, it also really emphasized the conditions migrant workers had to go through. What I like about this selection the most is the fact that it is a realistic story that tells the realities of immigrants that come here hoping for a better life and how they have all these dreams and hopes to improve themselves and their families’ economic situation. The story portrays how many have these ideas in their heads but once they get to United States, they see how things really are and they suffer to put up with everything. Villasenor’s writing is entertaining and at some points really enraging. It’s another reminder of how our country allowed migrant workers to be treated this way and viewed them in a negative light, but yet still relied on them to keep the economy running. Moreover, I liked how the author, Victor Villasenor describes Roberto, and how he shows that Roberto is a man with big dreams, putting in work to pursue his desires in life and going against the odds without ever complaining. Roberto has a I am here for a reason attitude which is shown through his actions and perseverance working out in the fields especially when described as “He was truly a good, strong, enduring workman… He was too good”. Furthermore, reading this helped me have a better understanding of what story each migrant worker had that traveled from Mexico to the United States as they thought of America as this sacred land that you can earn a lot of money and become rich but there’s more than meets the eye.
Macho! shows the daily toil the labor workers had to go through to receive a living wage. It also shows a new perspective of farm workers that I haven’t seen, and that is competition. Roberto was hated by many men, especially since he caused a few of them to be fired because of how much faster he was working. It’s unfortunate that there are many older men who work in these conditions yet can’t keep up with the younger men. Especially if these older men have a family to provide for. Yet, it shows that even though Roberto is very young and robust, he is slowly becoming tired of his work. At the end it shows the weariness of the work affecting his mind. The thought of having his own ranch for his family is what keeps him working at such a vigorous pace. It’s hard to say what happens to him at the end. I hope he doesn’t become weary and becomes fired, it’s implied that faces changed quite often in the fields. I’m surprised by how much money the workers could make, Roberto made “$22,500 to $30,000 per day”, of course he split the money with the people “in his cuadrilla” but I thought the pay was notoriously low every year. It still isn’t just how they must work beyond the capability of a normal man to make a simple living, and eventually it’s going to break each man down. Like the older men in the cuadrillas, they collapsed from all the work and all the wine and beer they consumed. I feel as if these workers are just very tired from simply living, and they don’t have any other option other than working at the farms. This testimonial show the common livelihood of an immigrant whom is trying to make a decent living.
“Macho!” really projected the hard work migrant workers put in. The act of jumping off a truck and picking up melons and then having to jump back on is already tiring. Having them doing that all the time for a living is something a person born in the 21st century wouldn’t understand. Victor does, however, portray how they enjoy themselves and still remain happy/content while with others. I can’t imagine how much stress and how much anger I would have if I were to be doing their same job. It is an eye opening testimonial of the type of hard work Latino men had to go through in order to support them and/or their families.
This article was particularly interesting to me because it talked greatly about the difficulty of working in the fields during the heat of the day. I may not be able to have knowledge of working as much as they did and for as long, but when I was volunteering at a Wolf Sanctuary in high elevation and 108 degree heat and worse some days, it was almost impossible for me not to need a break. But people like Roberto seemed to work extremely hard because they wanted to get paid and wanted to do a good job. It was even harder on Victor because he had dyslexia and it was hard for him to learn how to read and write in English and he dropped out of high school to provide for himself. It was difficult to hear about how people deliberately told farm workers the wrong directions of where to get work, the whole “they’re going to steal our jobs” thing is still very prominent in the reading. I also always thought that farm labor was extremely hard work, but I didn’t realize that one part, such as melons in this case, would be the hardest section of labor over the other ones. It was back-breaking work and I thought it was very unfortunate that the younger workers continued working and getting paid higher wages but the slow, old workers who probably had been working their entire lives weren’t paid as much money because of their age and they weren’t able to retire because they still needed that money, as social security for the elderly was still underdeveloped at the time.
“Macho” is a very uplifting selection of reading that talks about a very daunting subject. It is surprising to me how Victor’s life is the complete opposite of what is expected. Without reading the selection and only reading the forward that gives insight on Victor Villaseñor’s life you expect to get a short story about how tragic his life is and how unfairly he was treated due to his learning disabilities. Instead you are presented with a short story about how determined and optimistic he is without any knowledge of his incapabilities. If I had not have read the forward I would have been unaware of the fact that Villaseñor had severe dyslexia and that is and important aspect of the story. Instead of stressing what was wrong with Victor, the story highlighted all of his strengths. Another thing I found interesting was how motivated Victor was to do his job. When thinking about field work, there is a negative connotation due to the working conditions, the way the workers are treated, and the little pay they inherit for the big job they do. In this story these were not as prevalent. Victor was portrayed as a very happy, dedicated worker that did not complain about the job. Even as others were putting him down because he was making them look bad he was never phased by their negativity. My biggest takeaway from this short story is how Victor took working as a farm worker and made it seem like a dream job. His optimistic attitude and happiness throughout the story was inspiring.
The story “Macho!” by author Victor Villasenor presents the struggles and ambitions of migrant workers, specifically Roberto as he works in the United States in search of a brighter future for himself and his family. Roberto meets with the usual danger, excitement, discrimination, and exhaustion that comes with this. Through reading this, I was able to experience life as a Mexican immigrant through Roberto’s eyes and see how life as a migrant worker was more difficult than many originally envision. The writing in this selection is very powerful and effective; it doesn’t filter anything and allows me to picture the story going on in my head, it also really emphasized the conditions migrant workers had to go through. What I like about this selection the most is the fact that it is a realistic story that tells the realities of immigrants that come here hoping for a better life and how they have all these dreams and hopes to improve themselves and their families’ economic situation. The story portrays how many have these ideas in their heads but once they get to United States, they see how things really are and they suffer to put up with everything. Villasenor’s writing is entertaining and at some points really enraging. It’s another reminder of how our country allowed migrant workers to be treated this way and viewed them in a negative light, but yet still relied on them to keep the economy running. Moreover, I liked how the author, Victor Villasenor describes Roberto, and how he shows that Roberto is a man with big dreams, putting in work to pursue his desires in life and going against the odds without ever complaining. Roberto has a I am here for a reason attitude which is shown through his actions and perseverance working out in the fields especially when described as “He was truly a good, strong, enduring workman… He was too good”. Furthermore, reading this helped me have a better understanding of what story each migrant worker had that traveled from Mexico to the United States as they thought of America as this sacred land that you can earn a lot of money and become rich but there’s more than meets the eye.
Macho! shows the daily toil the labor workers had to go through to receive a living wage. It also shows a new perspective of farm workers that I haven’t seen, and that is competition. Roberto was hated by many men, especially since he caused a few of them to be fired because of how much faster he was working. It’s unfortunate that there are many older men who work in these conditions yet can’t keep up with the younger men. Especially if these older men have a family to provide for. Yet, it shows that even though Roberto is very young and robust, he is slowly becoming tired of his work. At the end it shows the weariness of the work affecting his mind. The thought of having his own ranch for his family is what keeps him working at such a vigorous pace. It’s hard to say what happens to him at the end. I hope he doesn’t become weary and becomes fired, it’s implied that faces changed quite often in the fields. I’m surprised by how much money the workers could make, Roberto made “$22,500 to $30,000 per day”, of course he split the money with the people “in his cuadrilla” but I thought the pay was notoriously low every year. It still isn’t just how they must work beyond the capability of a normal man to make a simple living, and eventually it’s going to break each man down. Like the older men in the cuadrillas, they collapsed from all the work and all the wine and beer they consumed. I feel as if these workers are just very tired from simply living, and they don’t have any other option other than working at the farms. This testimonial show the common livelihood of an immigrant whom is trying to make a decent living.
“Macho!” really projected the hard work migrant workers put in. The act of jumping off a truck and picking up melons and then having to jump back on is already tiring. Having them doing that all the time for a living is something a person born in the 21st century wouldn’t understand. Victor does, however, portray how they enjoy themselves and still remain happy/content while with others. I can’t imagine how much stress and how much anger I would have if I were to be doing their same job. It is an eye opening testimonial of the type of hard work Latino men had to go through in order to support them and/or their families.