Andrea Garibay
Writing 100 / Van Bebber
3 March, 2009
Summary Pg. 399 Classifying
From Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture, and Identity in Chicago Los Angeles, 1900-1945
George Sanchez gives his readers an explicit example of the how Mexico and the United States,
“facilitated the transmission of cultural values and practices between the two countries” (Sanchez, 400)
because of the railroad links. He reveals the reasons the Mexicans left their homeland to come to the
United States, He expresses this message through a story of a man named Carlos who was born and
raised in Zamora, Michoacán, but proceeded to better his life by moving to the United States. Sanchez
gives a clear example of how a Mexican from Mexico crosses over to the United States to search for a
better life financially. Sanchez states that the Mexicans came to the United States because there was
more labor in the United States. The United States had mining, railroad, agriculture and irrigation jobs
that paid very low wages, which benefited both the U.S employers and the Mexicans. He continues to
illustrate how the Mexicans gained a lot more opportunities with work in the United States through the
Mexican government Porfirio Diaz. Diaz helped the immigrants come to the United States to work.
Sanchez concludes that the United States and Mexico share a bond that no other countries have.