Valenzuela 1
Abuse of Power in “La Migra”
The poem “La Migra” by Pat Mora carries the main idea of how power can drive to abuse. Mora shows how abuse is reflected with a border patrol agent and a Mexican woman in her poem, and within that picture how mankind treats animals. With the bilingual addition to Mora’s poem, when the Mexican woman says “Agua dulce, brota aqui, aqui, aqui” (lines 33-34) she is rising the conflict of a language barrier, just like the one with animals and humans. Not being able to understand what is needed and what is unfair. Mora uses the power of language to bring her characters to life. When something is taken to the point of abuse the actions are identical, like when the border patrol agent says “ I can touch you whenever I want but don’t complain too much because I’ve got boots and kick” (lines 12-14). It does not matter of how the abuse started, the end it always the same, someone taking control over someone else. Abuse of power is demonstrated through “La Migra” through the usage of symbolism and tone.
“La Migra” starts off with symbolism when the border patrol agent threatens the Mexican woman, by telling her what he has “I get the badge and sunglasses. You can hide and run, but you can’t get away because I have a jeep” (lines 4-7). The border patrol agent clearly wants to intimidate the Mexican woman, just like a hunt brings fear to an animal. Through the beginning of the poem it is already acknowledged that the border patrol agent is the one in charge and that the Mexican woman has nowhere to run, being trapped like an animal in the hunters land. Mora allows the readers to figure out who are protagonist and antagonist in the poem. As mentioned before with the sunglasses, badge, and jeep the border patrol is and authority figure. The symbolism represented with his jeep can have a conclusion that the Mexican woman can never completely hide from him. At the end of the of the first stanza the border patrol agent challenges the Mexican woman to make the first move “Oh, and a gun. Get ready, get set, run” (lines 17-18). Testing out how weak she really is and for how long he has to keep playing this game with her. ………
Mora presents her poem with a tone of power from the beginning to the end. The border patrol agent takes the lead in the beginning of the poem by stating who he is and who the other character of the poem is “I’ll be the Border Patrol. You be the Mexican maid” (lines 2-3). The border patrol agent already referring to that he is the hunter and that the Mexican woman is the animal. He is already setting the tone of the environment as anxious and bitter. Toward the end of the poem in stanza tow the Mexican woman takes the lead of power declaring that “I know this dessert, where to rest, where to drink” (lines 27-29) she it not afraid, and that she also has advantages. The sunglass, badge, and jeep do not frighten her because she is not alone “Oh
The setting in the second stanza makes it clear that the Mexican women can be presented as a wild animal having her benefits of how to survive, being from a different environment. Comparing stanza one to stanza two, Pat Mora creates a sense of repetition with the theme, in the beginning the border patrol officer is one abusing of the Mexican maid, “I can take you wherever I want, but don’t ask questions because I don’t speak Spanish” (lines 8-11). On the second stanza the Mexican women responses with no fear, wanting to be the one to threaten the border patrol officer by stating that she is not alone “ Oh, I am not alone. You hear us singing and laughing with the wind” (lines 30-32) but that he should be the one afraid. The Mexican woman switches the setting in the by making herself the hunter and the border patrol agent the animal.
Through the analysis of “La Migra” we can carefully see how Pat Mora wants to relate that abuse between humans to animals. In the real world animals do fight back like humans, when something doesn’t seem right. Just like the case of the Mexican woman there was a tossing of power and abuse through out the poem, at the end they both did not argue with change of who takes power. Overall, the poem shows that power and abuse can’t be balanced one is always more likely to be the victim. (no quotes!)