Ellos no son suficientes
The Demystification of the Self-Made Man myth in Dani Fernandez’s “No es suficiente” (2019)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20873/26lautheResumen
The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America (2019) is a book composed of different authors’ essays regarding their own experiences as first- or second-generation immigrants in the United States of America. Given the fact that it was published during Donald Trump’s administration, a period in which immigrants’ rights were being threatened, this work poses a raw testimony of their lives. Dani Fernandez’s short-autobiographical text “No es Suficiente” is one of these testimonies, and the main object of this essay’s analysis. Considering the North-American mindset that establishes the country as a place of opportunities for all, and the promise of a leveled playing field for any individual, irrespective of their background, Fernandez’s account is a counternarrative to this (inter)national belief. It mainly raises questions regarding the viability and veracity of myths such as the self-made man. As such, this paper aims to shed a light on these questions through the exploration of the topics of Education, Stereotypes and Language for the deconstruction of said myth as perceived by immigrants.
Citas
ABRAMS, A.; ABRAMSON, A. Trump’s Immigration Plan Won’t Pass Congress. But It Could Be the Future of the GOP. Time, 16 maio 2019. Disponível em https://time.com/5590730/trump-immigration-plan-congress/. Acesso em: 7 jan. 2024.
AMANPOUR: Freed Israeli Hostage Speaks Out. [Anfitriã]: Cristiane Amanpour. CNN, 05 jan. 2024. Podcast. Disponível em: https://edition.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/amanpour/episodes/8aa00328-8e21-11ee-b7ec-9f72e3e9d83b. Acesso em: 09 jan. 2024.
ANDERSON, B. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Londres: Verso, 1991.
ANDERSON, K. L. Immigration in American History. Londres: Routledge, 2021.
BENSHOFF, H. M.; GRIFFIN, S. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. 3ª edição. Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2021.
CAMPBELL, N.; KEAN, A. American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture. 4ª edição. Londres: Routledge, 2016.
CHRISTENSEN, D L. The Hollywood Dream: A Nightmare in American Literature. 2014. Dissertação (Programa de Mestrado em Artes em Inglês) – California State University, Chico, 2014. Disponível em: https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/hx11xf73g. Acesso em: 10 de jan. 2024.
FERNANDEZ, D. No es suficiente. In: SHUKLA, N.; SULEYMAN, C. (Eds.). The good immigrant: 26 writers reflect on America. Nova-Iorque: Little, Brown and Company, 2019.
FREY, W. H. What the 2020 census will reveal about America: Stagnating growth, and aging population, and youthful diversity. Brookings, 11 jan. 2021. Disponível em: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-the-2020-census-will-reveal-about-america-stagnating-growth-an-aging-population-and-youthful-diversity/. Acesso em: 10 jan. 2024.
FRIEDMAN, J. N. School is for social mobility. The New York Times, 01 set. 2022, Disponível em: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/opinion/us-school-social-mobility.html. Acesso em: 10 jan. 2024.
GARNER, S. Whiteness: an introduction. Londres: Routledge, 2007.
HALL, S.; EVANS, J.; NIXON, S. (Eds.). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (Culture, Media and Identities Series). 2ª edição. The Open University & Sage, 2013.
HAO, L.; PONG, S. L. The Role of School in the Upward Mobility of Disadvantaged Immigrants' Children. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 620, p. 62-89, 2008. Disponível em: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4239705/. Acesso em: 10 jan. 2024.
HISPANIC AMERICANS. In: Encyclopedia Britannica, 01 abr. 2024. Disponível em: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hispanic-American. Acesso em: 01 abr. 2024.
HOOKS, b. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Londres: Routledge, 1994.
LUKES, S. M. Individualism. In: Encyclopedia Britannica, 01 mar. 2024. Disponível em: https://www.britannica.com/topic/individualism. Acesso em: 10 Janaury 2024.
MÉNDEZ, L. A Brief Explainer on Latine and Latinx. Hispanic Executive, 05 jun. 2023. Disponível em: https://hispanicexecutive.com/latinx-latine-explainer/. Acesso em: 05 jan. 2024.
NAYAR, P. K. The Postcolonial Studies Dictionary. Hoboken: Willey-Blackwell, 2015.
PAUL, H. The Myths That Made America: An Introduction to American Studies. Bielefeld: Verlag, 2014.
PEREIRA, T. (Un)Making It in Rapture: The Critique of the Myth of the Self-Made Man, of Ayn Rand, and of Objectivism in BioShock (2007) and in BioShock: Rapture (2011). Via Panoramica: Revista De Estudos Anglo-Americanos / A Journal of Anglo-American Studies. Vol. 12, N. 1, p. 138-158, 2023. Disponível em: https://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/VP/article/view/13310. Acesso em: 01 dez. 2023.
PORTES, A.; MACLEOD, D. What shall I call myself? Hispanic identity formation in the second generation. Ethnic and Racial Studies. Vol. 19, N. 3, p. 523–547, 1996. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.1996.9993923. Acesso em: 05 de jan. 2024.
PROTESTANT ETHIC. In: Encyclopedia Britannica, [20--]. Disponível em: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestant-ethic. Acesso em: 01 abr. 2024.
SAUCEDO, L. M. The Impact of 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act on the Evolution of Temporary Guest Worker Programs, or How the 1965 Act Punted on Creating a Rightful Place for Mexican Worker Migration. In: CHIN, G. J.; Villazor, R. C. (Eds.). The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: Legislating a New America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
SECOND-GENERATION MIGRANT. Migration and Home Affairs. [20--]. Disponível em: home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/european-migration-network-emn/emn-asylum-and-migration-glossary/glossary/second-generation-migrant_en. Acesso em: 04 jan. 2024.
SHUKLA, N.; SULEYMAN, C. Editor’s Note. In: SHUKLA, N.; SULEYMAN, C. (Eds.). The good immigrant: 26 writers reflect on America. Nova-Iorque: Little, Brown and Company, 2019.
THE DONALD TRUMP administration. In: Encyclopedia Britannica, [20--]. Disponível em: https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States/The-Donald-Trump-administration. Acesso em: 01 abr. 2024.
THE TRAVEL BAN. In: Encyclopedia Britannica, [20--] Disponível em: https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States/The-travel-ban. Acesso em: 01 abr. 2024.
Descargas
Publicado
Cómo citar
Número
Sección
Licencia
Derechos de autor 2026 Porto das Letras
Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución 4.0.
Os autores concordam com os termos da Declaração de Direito Autoral, que se aplicará a esta submissão caso seja publicada nesta revista (comentários ao editor podem ser incluídos a seguir).
