In three memoirs,” Exile: El Paso, Texas”, “Profile of an Arab Daughter” and “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”, are focused on the stereotypes. Once read, I was able to find the culture, analysis and writers; structure.
Saenz use the description in “Exile: El Paso, Texas”. In the introduction of his memoir, He describes his feelings by using colors, “… I looked out my window and stared at the Juarez Mountains. Mexican purples – burning (Saenz 20).” He chose that color purple to describe his emotions toward the town El Paso as good. He also describes the nature of his neighborhood by “… a perfect place Sunset Heights was: turn of the century houses intact; remodeled houses painted pink and turquoise; old homes tastefully gentrified by the aspiring young; the rundown Sunset Grocery store decorated with the protest art of graffiti on one end and plastic-ended “Circle K” on the other (Saenz 20).” He paid attention to the details to El Paso. He recognized the beauty of that town. He felt like he is at home.
The structure of the memoir Saenz wrote is mainly including dialogues, time shifts between paragraphs and choice of words that reflect him. The dialogues between Saenz and border patrol when he is stopped in his neighborhood demonstrate his tone. At first, he was satisfied with El Paso and its beauty but with several encounters with border patrols, he became bitterer about the town itself.
In Saenz’s essay, “Exile: El Paso, Texas”, he explains his personal experience of how he was being discriminated due to his skin. Saenz is a Mexican-American citizen that lives in El Paso. However, El Paso has the border to keep the immigrants in Mexico. Even though he looks like an illegal immigrant, Saenz is stopped on his own neighborhood and questioned by border patrol. Saenz was trying to emphasize the issues of racial profiling and impact of racial profiling on the individual. He uses color to effectively portray his feelings.
Staples use the imagery in...