"The Hammon and the Beans." Americo Paredes.

One-minute review: Growing up Mexican in the culture of America. Point of view of a young Mexican. The Mexicans were aliens in American society. Ambivalent feelings toward America. Conditions of the impoverished Mexican Americans living in Texas. The story of Chonita. The only English she knew was, “Give me the hammon and the beans” that she had learned from listening to the American soldiers while they ate. She represents the impoverished Mexican Americans and she dies, according to Dr. Zepata, of "…pneumonia, flu, malnutrition, worms, the evil eye…. What the hell difference does it make?”

Comment: Some relationship, perhaps, to the illegal immigrants of 2009. RayS.

Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989.