Arellano 1

Dalia Arellano

Professor Holly

English 101

30 May 2018

Double Cross Mirage: Looks can be Deceiving

In the United States there are about 11.7 million immigrants who are here trying to make

a better life for themselves. Rodrigo is part of that number. In the novel Still Water Saints by

Alex Espinoza we learn about different character who are all going through turning points in

their life. Through the novel we can see the way that all of the characters seem to find the help

they need by going to the Botánica where Perla the owner of the place works. Rodrigo is a young

boy who is immigrating to the United States seeking a better life. Through his life he is forced to

earn a living the hard way. He is forced to dance for men, and even gets sexually abused.

Although some may argue that immigrants are the problem, the ones we should watch out for.

Immigrants are the victims, as Rodrigo illustrates immigrants don’t give up even when being

faced with verbally abused, physically abused, and sexual abused.

In the novel we can see the life of Rodrigo who at the age of 15 years old left his home

town of Michoacán Mexico. He came to the United States to work, looking for a better life just

like his older brother did when he came to this country. As he starts his journey of coming to the

United States, he’s taken advantage of. Rodrigo’s journey continues with him getting beat and

robbed to later having to dance at a bar for men and doing whatever they ask him to do. Lastly,

he ends up being bought by someone who abuses him., even after all this he never gives up.

Rodrigo like many other immigrates must struggle a lot to get to where they are today yet that’s

not always looked at. We don’t acknowledge that immigrates are being victims of abuse.
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Although some argue that immigrants are the problems, and they are the ones hurting this

country, and are dangerous. That’s not the case in the article “The Facts on Immigration Today”,

they talk about all the facts of immigration. They mention the way the number of immigrants

who have been to jail compared to native board, “A 2007 study by the Immigration Policy Center

found that the incarceration rate for immigrant men ages 18 to 39 in 2000 was 0.7 percent, while

the incarceration rate for native-born men of the same age group was 3.5 percent.” (Team). This

quote demonstrates how immigrants are not the problem, but rather the people who are born here

have more criminal records. This shows how immigrants are not the people we should be

worrying about when it comes to crime.

Immigrants are hardworking people who come here looking for better jobs better future.

They work hard every day yet they aren’t treated the same in the article “Immigrant Workers in

the U.S. Labor Force” by Audrey Singer she writes about immigrants who are currently working

in the United States. On her research she shows the way that the number of immigrants working

is growing yearly, “in 2010 there were 23.1 million foreign-born persons in the civilian labor

force, making up 16.4 percent of the total” (Audrey). What is being shown here is the amount of

immigrant’s people who are working hard to have a better life. What this is all showing is that

immigrants are not the problem they are hardworking people. Immigrants are the victims that

ones that are being taken advantage as they try to come here to looking for a better future.

Throughout Rodrigo journey I was able to see the way he is being verbally abused by

Dwight. According to the dictionary verbal abuse is “harsh and insulting language directed at a

person” (Verbal). During the time Rodrigo was in the Unites States there were moments when he

was being verbally abused. Alex Espinoza uses imagery to set the tone of the scene where

Dwight is insulting Rodrigo. This is illustrated when Dwight screams at Rodrigo, “[h]e yelled,
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waving his arm around and screaming” (Espinoza 169). What we are able to see here is the

verbal abuse coming from Dwight towards Rodrigo. The abuse is shown here with Rodrigo being

the victim of Dwight a white male. Although Dwight is being verbally abusive towards Rodrigo

he doesn’t give up, he continues to keep trying. The New York Times posted a article where they

quoted some the verbal abusive comments the president of the United States has. He ones said in

one of his speeches’ “[t]hey’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,”

(Finnegan). Immigrants are being verbally abused everyday with things that people like the

president of the United Sates says about them. Immigrants have to go through so much from

being forced to work in horrible conditions to being abused verbally everyday just because they

are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Through the novel we are able to see the way the Rodrigo is being physically abused by

Dwight. According to the dictionary physical abuse is “any act resulting in a non accidental

physical injury, including not only intentional assault but also the results of unreasonable

punishment”(Physical). In Rodrigo's chapter we are able to witness the physical abuse from

Dwight. A good example for this is shown when Rodrigo goes to Botánica and starts telling

Perla all of the things that Dwight does to him, “she saw the greenish bruises below his eye, the

purple and red swirls around the back if his neck. Fingers… Rodrigo’s lip was split

open”(Espinoza 170). What is illustrated here is how badly Rodrigo was being treated. He was

being physically abused so much that doing something as simple as smiling was hard, bevause if

he smiled his lips would start bleeding. Even though he was going through a lot of pain he would

still go to Perla, because he was just trying to learn English to better himself. Physical abuse

towards immigrants is also shown with hate crimes. In the article “Hate Crimes Against Latinos

Rising Nationwide” talks about the growing hate crimes against the Latino communities most
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being physically abused. The narrator says, “According to hate crime statistics published

annually by the FBI, anti-Latino hate crimes rose by almost 35%... more egregious examples of

physical and psychological violence”(Mock). This is showing how the hate crimes have grown

more, and more Latino immigrants are being abused physically just because of hate. This all

shows the way that many immigrants are being abused just like Rodrigo, many are victims of

this abuse. Still they are working hard trying to better themselves and better the people around

them.

As Rodrigo continues to live with Dwight, his everyday life starts to be filled with sexual

abuse. According to he Marriam Webster dictionary sexual abuse is the ”infliction of sexual

contact upon a person by forcible compulsion”(sexual abuse). This definition connects to what

Rodrigo is going through with Dwight. In Rodrigo’s chapter the author uses a lot of imagery to

show all the sexual abuse Rodrigo is going through. This is shown in the book when Dwight

come back to see Rodrigo, but this time he takes it too far, “He ripped the boy’s pants off and

pushed him down onto the mattress. He bent him over…Dwight raped him”(Espinoza 170).

Readying this part of the chapter was very hard because the imagery that was given felt so real. It

was sad to see the way that Rodrigo had it be a victim of this abuse as many immigrants are

facing as they are trying to make a better life for themselves. While I read this chapter, I was able

to connect to it at the age of 8 I too came to the United States seeking a better life. During one of

those time of me trying to cross the border I was raped. Like Rodrigo I was able part of those

immigrants who are here trying to make a better, but in the prosses we become the victims.

Immigrants are the victims of the physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Immigrants like

Rodrigo come to the United States looking for a better life form them, and their family. Sadly,

for many immigrants trying to come here is hard and there is a price they need to pay
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unwillingly. I believe that we need to change the way that people think. People need to recognize

that immigrants have to go through a lot of struggles in order to get somewhere in life, and it’s

not essay for them. We need to change the stereotype that we have that all immigrants are hateful

and are full of crime and acknowledge that they suffer and at time they are the one who need

help the ones who are being taken advantage of. By acknowledging the facts, the coming to the

United States bring along many challenges. Like Rodrigo who never gave up and was always

pushing forward to try and learn English, and make a better life for himself and family, we need

to see the amount of suffering this immigrants people have to face.

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Works Cited

Capatides, Christina. “30 Of Donald Trump's Wildest Quotes.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 21

Mar. 2016, www.cbsnews.com/pictures/wild-donald-trump-quotes/9/.

Espinoza, Alex. Still Water Saints. Random House, 2007.

Estévez, Ariadna. “Sexual and Domestic Violence: the Hidden Reasons Why Mexican Women

Flee Their Homes.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 7 May 2018,

theconversation.com/sexual-and-domestic-violence-the-hidden-reasons-why-

mexicanwomen-flee-their-homes-65352.

Finnegan, Michael, and Mark Z. Barabak. “'Shithole' and Other Racist Things Trump Has Said -

so Far.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2018,

www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trump-racism-remarks-20180111-htmlstory.html.

Mock, Brentin. “Hate Crimes Against Latinos Rising Nationwide.” Southern Poverty Law

Center, 27 Nov. 2007, www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-

report/2007/hatecrimes-against-latinos-rising-nationwide.

“Physical Abuse.” The Free Dictionary, Farlex,

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“Sexual Abuse Legal Definition.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-

webster.com/legal/sexual%20abuse.

Singer, Audrey. “Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Labor Force.” Brookings, Brookings, 2 Aug.

2016, www.brookings.edu/research/immigrant-workers-in-the-u-s-labor-force/.

Team, the CAP Immigration. “The Facts on Immigration Today.” Center for American Progress,

24 Oct. 2014,

www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2014/10/23/59040/the-facts-

onimmigration-today-3/.

“Verbal Abuse.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/verbal%20abuse.