The Second Artifact Find

So, this one is a little different than what the directions told us what to do. Articles, podcasts, news, that's the simplest way to just find and read, but what about other things? After reading the book, a lot of things started standing out to me. One of the things that stood out to me most were quinceañera dresses. The beautiful type of dresses used for the fifteenth birthday of a hispanic girl, making her a woman, was brought up a lot in the book, mostly of how badly Reyna wanted one, to feel special, pretty.

Now, how does a dress connect to immigration? Well, throughout the book, Reyna was poor, at points only having beans and stale bread for meals. She knew she was never going to be able to get her dream party, a dance with her father, the beautiful dress that she sees other girls wear.

When she made it to America, however, things change, and it feels lie they aren't as poor anymore. She grows older, and when she turns fifteen, she realizes that even in America, she can't have a quinceañera. Her father tells her they're too poor, barely able to keep the apartment. That she was crazy to ever think that she could have a quinceañera. Which brings the point that immigration doesn't solve all problems. When children and families leave their countries to go to America, they hope for better lives. Not always does that work. People still end up homeless, poor. There aren't always jobs for people who come into the country desperate. Immigration takes a toll on immigrants. The book showed that perfectly; They all had to pay a price in the end before they could ever try and get back on their feet again.

Here's a picture of a quinceñera dress. The store I saw the quinceañera dresses is in Orem (Sophia's Special Occasions), and has so many different kinds of dresses, but all are colorful.

Courtesy of Sophia's Special Occasions

Tune in for the next article!