The poem “Every day we get more illegal” by Juan Felipe Herrera portrays some elements that my family has experienced. As Juan Felipe Herrera put it “an empty field it is all in-between the light every day this changes a little”, this quote exemplifies the loneliness of new immigrants and the work habits imposed on them. My parents had that feeling of loneliness because they were in a completely new place with few connections and the culture here is exceedingly different from what it is in Pakistan. Also, their children who are growing up here in Canada (me) are being exposed to not only their origin culture but the culture of the country they’re residing in furthering that feeling of alienation and loneliness.
The poem does a great job of describing the issues modern-day immigrants are facing upon entering a new and foreign land. In parents’ experience, that feeling of alienation only lasts a little while. When they started to settle in, they found more and more people to connect with and forged bonds in this new country that they never could’ve over in Pakistan. The number of opportunities given to them, me, and my brother are factors which help push aside that feeling of loneliness. In that quote which was shared before it ended off with “every day this changes a little” and this is true. The feeling of loneliness and alienation new immigrants have when moving to a new place changes day by day just like how it did with my parents.
One of the poems “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood, displays a semblance of vanity and I believe isolation as well. Isolation is that the narrator is a siren (half-fish and half-women) who wants to be saved from her fate of being covered by “feathers”. She cries for help, which entices the sailors to be lured to their deaths. Yet, even though it is implied that she was lying at the end of the poem– I think there was some truth to her wanting to be saved from that isolation. I also wish to be saved from my isolation. I usually spend most of my time in my room doing four things which are exercising, studying, playing games, and sleeping. I want to go out and travel to the city with my friends and go places. At the end of the poem it is revealed that the siren had been lying about being saved as she says, “It is a boring song but it works every time.”
This outlines the internal conflict between myself and since if I wanted to I could go and do everything I mentioned earlier; however, I don’t. Something is stopping me from doing those things I want to, or what I think I want to, and I have no clue what it is. Just like the siren in the poem, she can be free if she so wishes but chooses not to. This might be laziness or I might be scared to leave my comfort zone, in the end, I have no idea.
Central American, and South American immigrants face in America. It incorporates themes such as: prejudice, criminalization, isolation, and even hope/perseverance. Many of Herrera’s pieces come from his personal experiences of being of Mexican descent, and raised in America by his immigrant parents. 
As seen, many of his word choices relate back to the acknowledgement of cultural roots; of which, are being suppressed in order to appeal to the critical and discriminatory mindset of Americans. The poem is almost a cry for change towards the people of America to not allow their biases towards immigrants blind themselves from seeing everyone’s the same. Everyone is worthy of life, and the opportunity to live without prejudice. Many immigrants struggle to succeed and give a better life to themselves and their children; yet, many Americans profit off of their labours, and then wish for them to return to ‘where they came from’.
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