Illegal Immigrants and the Movie a Better Life Essays

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A Better Life Response Paper A Better Life is the story of Carlos and his son Luis and Carlos attempt to provide his son a better life than what he has been given through hard work and hopefully some good fortune. This paper will look to summarize the movie through a perspective of the two main characters growth throughout the movie, as well as talk about some of the overriding themes of the movie and American culture relating to illegal aliens. The themes discussed will be stereotypes of “illegals,” the poor quality of life, and the injustice these people live every day. The movie starts with Carlos working and trying to grind out enough money to help him and Carlos, his somewhat troubled but still sensible high school aged son. Luis …show more content…
The first theme of the movie is that it is not okay to stereotype all Mexicans as gangsters or illegals. We see in the movie that Carlos is a man of high integrity and is willing to do hard work to support his family. He doesn’t take the easy road, except with his truck, to get his money. He tells his son, “If you want something in this world, you have to work for it.” That is very true. He was spot on. Carlos was a genuinely good father and there are the majority of people out there, illegal or legal that are good people looking for a better life for their families. It is no one’s right to stereotype someone as inferior because of their skin color, hair color, accent, or language. These people know the risks of living in the United States illegally and are willing to take that risk for the chance to live a life that is more prosperous. The second theme of the movie that will be discussed in the quality of life of these people. They do not have anything, especially to start. They are left begging for jobs and until they find a constant provider live day in and day out not knowing if they are going to make money that day. For these people quality of life is based on income. They
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