LIES

Seeing Life through the Eyes of an Undocumented Immigrant
The immigration topic is one of many pressing issues in America. Life here in America in the eyes of one outside looking in is of hope, desire, yearning, and overall dreams of more in their destiny. People have risked and gave up everything to come to this great nation. In “My Life in the Shadows”, Reyna Wences’ expression of the seriousness, the passion, and self testimony of this issue; which she conveys the hardships, the longings, and the strife to endure for such a hope that is not guaranteed. In terms of her rhetoric, Winces uses personal testimony to make her readers experience her life empathetically and sympathetically, and she also appeals to her opposition by understanding her readers concerns of their opinion.
Reyna Wences’ personal testimony is to have her reader look at her situation in her shoes emotionally and passionately. In her introduction she conveys the uncertainty and the sacrifice her family made:
I’ll never forget the day I left Mexico for the last time. I was nine, and my mother, three-year old brother, and I abandoned our apartment in Mexico City…We had paid the coyote (a guide who helps smuggle people into the United States) $6,000, borrowing most of the money from relatives. All we could take with us that morning in July 2000 was a small bag with a change of clothes and water. The sun was hot, and I remember praying we wouldn’t have to travel through the desert, where temperatures can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit and many people die from dehydration. To my surprise, getting across the border and to our final destination proved uneventful. (Wences 504)
In the above quote she states the age of herself and her brother; in order to make known that she had no say at such a young age. She also gives vivid detail of what she went through and words it in a way to have the reader take each step with her. Her description of the weather, her relatives giving her family money, and her praying for the uncertainty has the reader going through the same emotions and fears. She also goes on to another event in her life; this is after her finally getting into America:
I was fortunate to have gone to Walter Payton College Prep school in Chicago, and I got into several top-tier colleges. But without a Social Security number, I was ineligible for the financial aid I needed to be able to go to many of them. I’m likely to be in a similar situation in the working world because without a Social Security number, employers can’t legally hire me. So although I’m now a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago studying sociology, I may never be able to work in my field. Without legal status, I’ll have no better options than my stepfather, who fixes factory machinery, or my mom, a former teacher who works as a cashier in a fast-food restaurant. (Wences 504)
Again, her personal testimony impacts the reader to feel the letdown of trying to accomplish her goal and it’s futile. She also informs us that if she had a Social Security number; she would have been able to get financial aid to get into top-tier schools. She further tells the reader; that not only did she lose out on going to a top-tier school, but her getting a job in her field is highly unlikely as well. This above quote is just a small part of the overall impact of her desire to have the Dream Act legalized. So on her path to accomplish her goals; she is not met with doors half open.
Miss. Wences use of appealing to her opposition is to further drive the emotional side to get readers to see her angle. By using this rhetoric tool; she is able to make a blend of logic with passion. As she stated, “I understand why many people are upset about the 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. Some fear that immigrants will take their jobs or think the U.S. shouldn’t reward those who came here illegally. But I would also ask that people try to understand my situation” (Wences 504). This is just her second quote of appealing to her opposition. This quote is allowing the reader to come to middle ground by seeing the big picture. A big picture that has the reader seeing the many factors, which is in her personal testimony.
In essence, “My Life in the Shadows” overall theme is emotion to further this topic into the hearts of her reader. Her personal testimony is her ethos. By her using both personal testimony and appealing to her opposition is glued with the emotion, the passion, and some of her hardships to have the reader embark on the journey with her. She paints a masterpiece of many colors, not black and white. Furthermore, she brings one out of the box and puts them in the situation to have them also analyze their response through empathy and imagery; in which she in the end she is determined and unafraid to finally step out into the light. Instead of being trapped in the shadows.