TER 6 PLAN WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS
This text is looks like a regular article from Newsweek, the American magazine.
It is fairly recent and tackles quite a topical subject as we might see in a moment.
But its most striking feature in my view is its title. Indeed why on earth should a bird trapped into a cage, sing and thus be happy?
After perusing the text we find out that the bird is indeed a woman and more precisely an illegal immigrant from Mexico who decided to cross the Rio Grande to come and live in the States.
So first of all we might try to explain why she decided on that move.
The we might go on by listing the different consequences this decision had both on her family and on herself.
Finally we will devote a third part to answering our previous question: why does a caged bird sing?
So let’s proceed with this plan.

1)WHY DID SHE COME TO THE USA ?
a)What did she do to get there? (crossing the rio grande, being brave and courageous/ quote different examples of what some people do to sneak into the USA)

b)Why did she want to migrate ?cf lesson (do not forget to talk about the American dream)

But what consequences did this decision have on her life and that of her family?

2) THE CONSEQUENCES
a)for her family

b) for herself (cf lesson)

Therefore we might start to catch a glimpse of what makes Ana sing in her gilded cage.

3)WHY AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MIGHT STILL SING
This is still surprising considering the seemingly negative impact her migration had on her family.
And yet we might underline that Ana regards this migration has a positive one despite the difficulties it entailed.
She managed to climb the social ladder despite her lack of a green card .She has now so many satisfied clients that she is earning enough money to send a nice share of it to her family.
Moreover thanks to these earnings , she is able to satisfy her needs and her whims. As mentioned line 55 she has had “a taste of the good life”.
Besides she seems to fully fit in her new environment and she has taken the American values as her own.
We might be inclined to think that she has been away for so long that she regards Mexico as a foreign land now.(line 57)
So we do grasp why she might be singing in her cage. But why did the journalist compare America to a prison?
Because she is unable to go back to Mexico and thus her movements are restricted. She knows that if she should ever leave the United States , she might be unable to come back and fool the Border patrol once more. So she might be a prisoner indeed but quite a lucky one indeed.
So as that stage we might wonder why the author chose such a title in the first place and thus what was his purpose in doing so?

4)PURPOSE OF THE AUTHOR
He might have wanted to show us a less gloomy side of immigration that we do usually have. Indeed most stories concentrate on the horrendous crossings the wetbacks experience most of the time. They might narrate for example the coyotes and their dreadful practices which often result in death. Some also focus on the exploitation the illegal are often victim to and the sweatshops where they have to work. All these articles insist on the illusion that the American dream has become turning it into more of a nightmare than a dream.
Therefore we might view this article as an attempt to balance such negative reports. Indeed the journalist here wants to put forward a living example of the permanence of the American dream.
Are his motives all honourable or does he want to stir a reaction from the law-abiding citizens? I couldn’t say but his tone is in no way provocative so we might say that he does seem fair.
What I do know is that I would be ready to do the same /I would NOT be ready to do the same (choose your side) and I plan on telling you why now.

5)OPINION
would you be ready to migrate to another country?

So this text is definitely a positive one as the author has decided to give us some kind of fairy tale story while stating the facts at the same time .Still we must not forget those who have lost their lives in these migrations lured by the prospect of having a better life. We might even go as far as to say that these victims might have been tempted by stories such as Ana’s. But I’m inclined to believe that those who were brave enough to cross did not need any incentive other than their need to survive.