Blog Assignment #4 - "Inherit the Earth: The Things They Carried"

In Demetria Martínez’, “Inherit the Earth: The Things They Carried,”  Martínez challenges the reader to think about the dangers that immigrants faced when crossing into the United States. Unlike others who like to reduce the horror of an immigrant experience to a sentimental story of poor but noble hardworking people who are questing after a better life. Martínez talks about the harsh reality of people risking their lives to cross the border. The way that  Martínez describes the various items that were lost in the desert gives the reader a sense of the struggle people faced while traveling across the border to get to the U.S.  Most items that were found were “Empty plastic water jugs, a backpack, a baby bottle, soap, Colgate toothpaste, a hairbrush, a sardine can, a sock, and used AeroMexico tickets.” Which for the most part are common household items. These people who are traveling the Arizona desert are no different from us. Most of them have children and the goal at hand is to get to the U.S to start a better life. Much similar to how we strive for success so we do whatever it takes. These people that are traveling though the desert are doing whatever it takes. However, it just unfortunate that most people never make it across the desert; only leaving their belonging  behind as an indicator of their identity.  

Desperation was said to be the logic behind immigrants fleeing to America for a better chance at life.  Immigrants longed after jobs and new start for their families. The amount of courage that many immigrants possessed spoke volumes for them to even attempt to travel across the Arizona desert. Hundreds, possibly thousands attempt to travel through two thousand miles of border.  Martínez says, “I can’t help but see out border, la frontera: a militarized zone, a killing field.”  Many immigrants have died trying to make it across the Arizona desert from extreme heat conditions, lack of resources, and no sense of direction. Yolanda Gonzalez is on of the many people who unfortunately did not make it across the border to the U.S. Yolanda Gonzalez scarified her own life, while traveling though the Arizona desert. Yolanda gave her last few drops of water to her daughter Elizama, to ensure her survival. There is more than just desperation at hand when immigrants make the decision to travel to the U.S. Yolanda gave up her own life so that her daughter could live and hopefully have a better life.