America Is In The Heart Essay Research

America Is In The Heart Essay, Research Paper

America is in The Heart Journal

Part One:

Allos was a young boy from a little province of Binalonan located on the central part of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. He lived with his dad, who farms on their own land, which is the primary source of their living. His mom, living in the town, selling goods in the market. They were among the peasants who worked very hard for the rich landlords just to feed their family. When his brother Leon came back form a war in Europe, he met a girl from another town who he liked. They got engaged and married. There was a tradition during those days that if the girl wasn t a virgin, the man would have to return her to their village. And when the people found out that the girl deceived Leon, they tied them on a tree and started beating them. Allos dad stopped them and when it was over, Leon left the town with his bride and started a new life. Amado, the youngest of his four brothers, who was attending grade school in town living with his mother and their baby sister. His father brought him to the village to help them on their farming. His other brother, Luciano was on camp serving the United States. They all worked so hard for his brother Macario, who was attending high school at the province capital. They needed money for Macario s education so his father sold a hectare of their four-hectare land. When they needed more, they sold more land. They gave up almost everything they owned just to make their son Macario go to school. One day when his father and his brother Amado were farming, Amado started beating up the carabao. His father stopped him and Amado told his father that he couldn t live like this anymore. So he ran away from home, leaving Allos as his father s only helper on the farm. When his brother Macario went home to visit, Allos was speechless. He s not used to see an educated man. He dressed formal, talked and acted like a real gentleman. When they all gathered on house, Macario said that he needed more money to finish three more months of school. But the money wasn t enough for three months. So their father decided that they will sell the remaining hectare of their land telling his son not to worry at all. His father, now jobless, started asking his fellow farmers to hire him, but the farmers only have enough for themselves, so he asked the church if he could borrow their unused land and told them that farming is his only way of living. And the church let him plow the fields and asked for a little part of his harvest. The land was taken away after several months, it didn t even allow them to harvest what they planted. Several years later, Allos went to Manila to get him enough money to go to America. There, he discovered that there were a lot of people from the provinces that are looking for jobs in Manila, but some of them can t find a good one so they have no choice but to sell their bodies.

I knew that I was going away from everything I had loved and known. I knew that if I ever returned the first sight of that horizon would be the most beautiful sight in the world. Allos thought of this quote when he was leaving his country. It means that he will leave everything he had known, he loved and he grew up with, his family, friends, and all his memories. And when he comes back, that will be the happiest day of his life and the moment that he will be waiting for the rest of his life in America.

Part Two:

He boarded the boat with the other Filipinos from all over the Philippines. Before they reached Hawaii, an epidemic spread throughout the bottom level of the ship. The bottom level was for the peasants and the top level was for the whites and rich people. During the epidemic, they were locked in a small dark room at the bottom. Food was not delivered for days and the sun couldn t shine that part of the boat. Doctors came and took the weak and dying people. Allos was left and they were free again to go anywhere in the boat. When he was walking in the deck, a white lady with his husband came and told him, Why don t they ship those monkeys back where they came from . He didn t say anything but those words made him knew what it s going to be like when he reach America.

He reached Seattle one June day. He felt a great relief from a long voyage and glad that felt he was home, but yet, he doesn t have a home on this new, big and strange land. Allos and a few other men rented a room in a hotel in Chinatown. One of the men, Marcelo, promised that he would telegraph his brother on California for money to pay for the rent. But when they found out that his brother got killed in an accident, they lost hope and had no money to pay the rent. As a result, the hotel owner sold them for five dollars each to a fat Filipino worker from Alaska and they were brought there to work on fish canneries. This cannery isn t an ordinary one; they exploited young immigrants from everywhere. When he came back to Seattle, he had enough money to buy himself food that will last for few days. Being a Filipino was hard those days when you could only rent a room on Chinatown or places where prostitutes, criminals and gamblers live. Treated like an animal, like a criminal that you can just kill them for no reason. Allos was hired for a job on a place called Moxee City as an apple picker. Few days after, they were attacked by white men, shooting, burned their employer s