Notion espaces et échanges anglais renforcé

Spaces and exchanges

Introduction:

I’m talking about the notion “spaces and exchanges”. To make thing clear, I will explain what mean spaces and exchanges. An exchange is an act of giving one thing and receiving another in return. As we can talk about when people leave their native country to settle in a host country. A space is a place where is exchange. We will try to answer the following question connected with the topic: « To which extent has immigration helped to shape the American nation? ». In order to illustrate this notion, I have chosen to talk about immigration in the USA. Firstly, we’ll see the place of immigrants in the USA and then we will see how authorities react in front of immigration.

I- Immigrant’s place in America:

The first document is the map entitled The Browning of America published by the US Census in 2010 which shows the rocketing proportion of Caucasian in the US. The reason for going there was to start afresh or staying alive to be able to get right richer. As you can see there has always been push factors such as religious and political persecution, extreme poverty or famine, taking the French leave of criminals as well as pull factors such as the American Dream, the chance to have a better life, being free make your dreams come true.

Another one document is a snapshot showing the Statue of Liberty and the city of New York in the background. But between the dream embodied by the "mother of immigrants" and the reality in New York stands an obstacle: Ellis Island. There is a contradiction; the Statue of Liberty give the welcoming message for immigrants, it is holding a torch to guide followers and stands before the entrance of the city but not all immigrants are welcome since there's a selection. No wonder why the place was called "The Golden Gate" as well as "The isle of tears".

The third piece of material is a caricature drawn by Joe Heller, in 2010 which shows a series of pictures of illegal Mexican immigrants who accept to work in terrible working conditions: in the cold, at night, in the heat. As a result, Mexican immigrants move places to earn a decent living and therefore keep salaries down for low-skilled workers in the sunbelt but at the same time illegal workforce keeps prices down in the entire US.

The new American Gothic is the last caricature which is a mimicking the famous oil on canvas entitled « American Gothic » which shows a couple of stern WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon puritans). From what is written on theirs tops, the reader clearly understands that the two characters embody the Americans consumers and the Mexican immigrants. If she kicks him out of her home, prices will rocket up because she will never be able to find somebody else who will be willing to work for peanuts. Which means that, in a way, she is stocked with him forever. As you can see, this caricature clearly shows immigration even if it has changed.

II- How authorities’ reaction:

The first caricature drawn by Joe Heller and published in 2010 shows the statue of Liberty at the wheel of a convertible in the middle of Arizona desert. A fat policeman wearing sunglasses has ordered her to pullover and is asking, I quote: "I can tell by the colour of your skin you're not from around here, are you?". What is shocking is that he uses the colour of the skin to discriminate immigrants from US citizens. Which means he has still not understood that around half of the US nation has got Latino origins.

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