Theme of Barrio Boy

The book Barrio Boy has several underlying themes. One of the main themes is how ordinary people must learn to adapt to socio-cultural tensions. In the book, there are various instances of these struggles. Some are related to the author’s family’s efforts to escape from the escalating revolution between the Mexican government and its working class. Others include their long travels into California and the subsequent difficulties of assimilating into Anglo-American society. Woven across Galarza’s story is also the broader idea that impoverished people constantly grapple to overcome economic and bureaucratic systems, both in Mexico and the United States.
500 word (double spaced, Times New Roman 12 font) essay

Answer Snippet

Ernesto Galarza’s family has adapted to various socio-cultural challenges within his novel autobiography Barrio Boy, which chronicles his childhood experience from small mountain villages to California as well as the backdrop of revolutionary events in Mexico. The entire family was in an enviable position in their mountain community of Jelco. They were content and everyone else did too However, the prospect of a civil war, as well as the possibility of a draft, forced certain members of the family to relocate…