The total length of the border between the United States and Mexico is little less than two thousand miles. This is a vast piece of territory subjected to constant troubles because of the endless efforts of immigrants to pierce into the United States and the whopping criminal activity that is being practiced by illegal elements here. The theme of the bloodcurdling events that take place on the border between the United States and Mexico is often addressed by the masters of written and visual art. In the following paper, the nature of the Mexican-United States border and the way it affects human identities will be discussed on the basis of Tommy Lee Jones’ film “The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada” and the two stories by Ray Gonzalez named “Invisible country” and “Spanish”.
Addressing the theme of the nature of the Mexican-United States borders in Tommy Lee Jones’ film “The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada”, it should be stated that this eccentric master of art has shown his vision of the subject as gloomy and depressing. From the very beginning of the film, the viewers may see that the border is the source of constant grief as people’s lives are cankered by it on an unimaginable scale. During the first fifteen minutes of this film, the audience may count as many as two cases of death and one case of cruel treatment of a big group of people that take place on the Mexican-United States border (The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada). All these terrible events are connected to the efforts of Mexican immigrates to appear on the territory of the United States. The reaction of American people inhabiting Texas, both common people and the people endowed with federal authority, to the actions of Mexican people is very negative. They are cruel and implacable which is explained by the fact that American people have always been zealous for their property and wellbeing protection, and by the fact that in the period of past few decades illegal Mexican immigrants have brought many problems to the inhabitants of Texas and the other southern states. As a result, the protagonists of this film demonstrate that they are not going to suffer from the actions of Mexican people, and thus, they are ready to commit terrible things in order to protect themselves. All in all, in his film, Tommy Lee Jones shows that the Mexican – United States border brings death, cruelty and suffering to people around it.
In Gonzalez’s stories, the border between the United States and Mexico is also shown in a negative light as something terrible and even cabbalistic (Augenbraum 134). Adding to being the source of cruelty and death, according to Gonzalez, the border is also the place where the ghosts of oppressed and afflicted people and evil spirits abide (Gonzalez 163). The writer explains that it is so because from the very beginning of the period of colonization, the territory of the Rio Grande has been subjected to constant conflicts between Indians and cowboys, and Chicanos and Anglos. In these conflicts, oppressors have shown their limitless rage. Their victims are only able to suffer from hopelessness and desperation. In many of his stories from the book “The Ghost of John Wayne and Other Stories”, Gonzalez explains how the ghosts of victims of cruelty revenge their offenders (Augenbraum 134). Below, the two stories from the above-mentioned book will be addressed in detail with the purpose of identifying the way the theme of the nature of border and its effects on human identities is revealed in them.
In “Invisible country”, Gonzalez relates the story of a mysterious murder connected with drug smuggling. Both crimes take place on the Mexican – United States border near the Rio Grande. Again, the border is shown as the source of evil. An interesting detail is a fact that similar to Tommy Lee Jones, Ray Gonzalez shows policemen working on the border as the source of wickedness, and he even suggests that there exists a mysterious connection between them and the evil spirits that abide near the border. The plot design of this story is constructed around the idea that the border is the place where all the bad things taking place in the Rio Grande originate. As soon as the author starts mentioning the border, a measure of tension becomes evident. Very soon the audience may see the way this tension is realized when the murder and the manipulations with drugs occur.
In “Spanish”, Ray Gonzalez shows the American – Mexican border as the place where Spanish culture with its religious and mystical peculiarities and Spanish language hold sway (Gonzalez 168). This piece of literature sets a very important role for consideration of place and setting because all the important events in the story take place near the Mexican-American border located in Texas. It is also remarkable for the many tropes that the author uses to describe the unique spirit of the near-border atmosphere in the Rio Grande. This story shows the writer’s own experience of communicating with Mexican people, who live in Texas by ways of illegal or legal immigrants, like the one full of mystique and super natural occurrences (Gonzalez 168). In addition, in this story, the author reveals that the border is also the place where numerous awkward superstitions are present. The overall picture of the border is also unenthusiastic, depressing, and is full of the pain of people who try to settle into the United States to improve their lives economically.
In conclusion, it should be stated that the negative vision of the border between the United States and Mexico is present in all the three works addressed in this paper. In “The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada”, Tommy Lee Jones shows the border as a place with an extremely negative and gloomy atmosphere where afflicted people have to suffer from violence and cruelty. He shows that at times violence comes even from those who are about to fight it, from policemen. Similar ideas are present in “Invisible country” by Gonzalez. In this short story, a mysterious murder takes place on the Mexican – American border. The poignancy of the story plot is in the wicked actions of policemen. In addition, the story shows the border as the place of the other terrible crimes such as drug smuggling and gangs’ organization. Finally, the short story “Spanish” is yet another case of showing the lands near the United States-Mexican border as the lands where something terrible and mystical exists. Again, in the gloomy atmosphere of this piece of literature, the audience may see the negative nature of the Mexican-United States border and its effect on people’s lives.
References
Augenbraum, Harold. “The Ghost Of John Wayne And The Other Stories.” Library Journal 126.18 (2001): 134-138. Print.
Gonzalez, Ray. The Ghost of John Wayne and the Other Stories, The United States: University of Arizona Press, 2001. Print.
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada. Ex. Prod. Luc Besson, Michael Fitzgerald, and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam. The United States: Javelina Film Company. 2005. DVD.