FAMOUS ALL OVER TOWN
Immigrant experience in the United States has not been very positive.Assimilation was a major issue with the minorities when they moved to theUS in search of better economic conditions. The whites normally did notaccept or embrace the newcomers who were mostly colored and spoke adifferent language. To the immigrants, this was indeed a very harshsituation since on the one hand they needed to assimilate with the localsand on the other; they were shunned by Americans for various reasons.Immigrants have thus faced more than their fair share of troubles uponcoming to the land of opportunities yet some managed to overcome them andgave us those enviable rags to riches stories but there were still a largemajority that remained stuck in its poverty ridden neighborhoods and turnedto the world of crime and drugs to gain some sort of control in the strangeBesides the general public, immigrants found the entire political,economic, social and judicial system oppressive. They were not treated withrespect anywhere and mostly people used them for their own purposes. Forexample, politicians spoke for the rights of minorities only to win morevoters and the moment they came to power, they abandoned the poor
This was the gist of immigrant experiencein the United States and this is what Famous All over Town (1983) is allabout. The authorhimself (whose real name is Daniel James) is not a Chicano, in fact hedoesn't resemble the young boy Chato in any manner except the fact thatlike the boy, he too possessed an intellectual capacity to view the worlddispassionately and realistically. In such conditions, it is only natural and obvious how and why theimmigrant youth turns to violence so often. Chato comes across some truly uglyexperiences and grows up among boys whose only interest in life is tosteal, rob and create trouble. Chato defies authorities and resistsassimilation because he views both as oppressive forces. John Kenneth Galbraith said whilepresenting the Rosenthal Award, "Famous All Over Town adds luster to theenlarging literary genre of immigrant experience, of social, cultural andpsychological threshold-crossing. Such indirectobservations give us a rare insight into the immigrant's views on Americaninstitutions. This isnot a new phenomenon since social and political elements have played acrucial role in subjugation of the poor minorities. "CHICANO POWER" and "BROWN IS BEAUTIFUL" are some interesting and thoughtprovoking messages that this book conveys to illustrate the frustration anddisillusionment of the immigrants with American authorities. The boy with a very high IQ is a good example of how casual yet sensitiveobservation of life can lead to an inner freedom of mind and spirit thatallows one to rise above his circumstances. Similarly the judiciary was usually biased, favoring white and Americanover colored and foreigner. Chato lives in Los Angeles but that's not the glamorous LA ofHollywood movies, instead it is a poverty stricken shanty town whereimmigrants were forced to live since they had no better place to go to. For immigrants, it was a lose-lose situationand their skin colors; lack of skills and education, language barriers allplayed an important role in giving rise to such circumstances. Since he lacks the whiteAmerican power, he makes use of his brains and humor to defy the oppressiveauthorities.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
