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América and Candido Rincón crossed the
border to try their luck in America. But similar to Mexico, poverty
exists also in the US, it is only situated on a completely different
level. Refusing to face this fact América and Candido could only
see the advantages of their new life. Before leaving Mexico they did
not consider that America is a society with ‘social mobility’
and not only offering the possibility to improve individual wealth.
At the beginning they are both hopeful,
thinking that everything will work out if only they had earned
enough money to afford an apartment (cf. p.127). Therefore they
desperately cling to their dream of an American society where
“everyone, even the poorest [has] a car, a house and a TV”( c.f.
p.26). For this reason América is upset when she meets Mary at the
labour exchange. She cannot understand that an American woman has to
beg for the same work she does. This fact is inconsistent with
everything she has heard about America. Thus América is confronted
with the American poverty ( cf. p.57 ).There is another couple: Kyra and Delaney
Mossbacher living the life América and Candido are dreaming of.
In comparison to América,
Kyra Mossbacher is dreaming of possessing one particular estate: The
Da Ros place, a huge villa “in the style of an English manor house
comprising eleven thousand square of living space”(cf. p.222/
74).
Although these two dreams
are completely different with regard to their value they have
nevertheless one thing in common: They are both illusions. Illusions
as Kyra and América both are not able to afford them because of
their social status. And the social status is what the achievement
of every individual dream depends on. People always have a tendency
to reach for illusions.
And this is what América
and Candido have to learn. When they were under the illusion of
improving their social situation at first, they are struggling for
survival later.
Contrary to Kyra Mossbacher
they are not able to maintain their false belief. Whereas Kyra is
able to replace her dream by another one after the Da Ros place has
been destroyed by the fire disaster (cf. p. 339), América and
Candido eventually have to recognize that everything has been an
illusion (cf. p.233).
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