Chapter 4
What mainstream event did Jose allude to as a major example of the racial divide in his school environment?
What is the O.J. Simpson verdict.
What was the name of Lolo's younger sister who helped move Lolo and Lola to the U.S?
What is Florie.
What was the name of Jose's school?
What is Crittenden Middle School.
What rhetorical device did Vargas consistently use to summarize the immigration experience from the Philippines to the U.S?
What are anecdotes.
What did Jose's classmate (Jose no.2) ask Jose about in the beginning of Chapter 6?
What is his green card.
What was the author's main argument in this chapter on racial identity?
In America, there is a gatekeeping of racial identity where everyone is expected to fall under either the black community or the white community.
These extremes leave people confused on how they identify themselves (i.e Jose's Filipino identity crisis).
What was the author's main argument in Ch.5 about the position of Filipinos in America?
Responses may vary...
- Centuries of control from other countries created fogginess and confusion as to how Filipinos were categorized.
- Had to spend a good portion of recent history adapting to other cultures instead of expressing their own.
What juxtaposition is created when Jose writes about the Proposition 187 advertisement in Chapter 6?
- Jose, at the time, does not believe he is an "illegal immigrant child".
- The juxtaposition between Jose's situation and the advertisement demonstrate the major similarities between Jose's immigration and "illegal immigration".
- Clarifies that Jose is essentially an illegal immigrant.
What was Jose's "stock answer" to why he was Filipino, but had a hispanic name?
What is Spanish colonialism?
What metaphor does Vargas create when discussing the country's primary racial groups? Explain its significance.
What is America is a wobbly three-legged stool.
(explanations will vary... division creates imbalance)
Name one of the main arguments the author is trying to make in Chapter 6.
- People have a prejudice where they are inclined to only think of the hispanic community when considering illegal immigration.
- Young Jose didn't realize he was technically and illegal immigrant.