Nastaeen Tajin

Honors 1000
Dr. Hudson
Essay #1
When is a Door Not a Door?
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote 8 words that would represent mankinds existence in a
nutshell.
These are the times that try mens souls1.
Most men would be lucky if they had their souls tried once. But the discrimination that
many faced in cities had made sure that any form of luck, ray of sunshine, or hope would be
destroyed.
This is a true story of a young boy by the name of Manolo Vera. How his dreams and
ambitions had become a reality. But one day the sun set, and it never rose again. He was
punished for a crime that he couldnt be held responsible for, nor could he fix. A crime which
damned him at birth. The evidence of his punishment were the deeply etched scars that ran his
back and the green callouses that formed on his palms over time.
What was his crime?
His name held the answer. Manolo Vera he was a mexican.

Born in grief and raised in hate all his life, Manolo Vera turned 25 in March in the year
1910. His family owned a modest restaurant, Los Amarillos, in the outskirts of Guanajuato,
Mexico. Despite their regular traffic, the Veras did not make much in profits, and thus found it
hard to make ends meet.

1 Paine, Thomas. "Thomas Paine's The American Crisis." Schiller Institute and Fidelio Online Home
Page. N.p., 1776. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/eiw_this_week/dec19_1776.html>.

Nastaeen Tajin
Honors 1000
Dr. Hudson
Essay #1
Manolo had it the worse. Fated as the youngest in 7, he was often the casualty in the
crossfires between his other family members temper. With the waning success of the restaurant,
and the burgeoning tensions at home, Manolo felt like a bird in a highly dangerous, volatile cage.
What seemed to make matters worse was his definite arrangement with the undesirable ugly
daughter of one of the richest men in Guanajuato, Sr. Cerrenas. This marriage was a business
contract of sort. The pairing of Manolo Vera and Melodia Cerrenas for Sr. Cerrenas investment
in Los Amarillos, which would bring it stability. Melodia was only 18, and although it was not
uncommon to see an 18 year old girl be married off to a 25 year old man2, neither Manolo nor
Melodia were thrilled.
Even though no one ever asked him, Manolo knew exactly what he wanted in life. To be
free of his family and responsibility was the obvious answer everyone could see that, including
his family, and he made no effort to hide it either. No, what he really wanted more than anything
else, was to be in the United States. The land of the free, and the home of the brave, they would
call it. That line made promises of opportunity that he could only dream of, and every word rang
with sincerity.
Timing was everything. He would escape to the United States if it was the last thing hed
do. Is it better to live as a slave or die as a freeman, he would ask himself. The word on the street
was the certain railways were being built around the border, and railway construction workers
would simply cross the border in an effort to have better pay on the U.S. side without being
detected. Certain commodity trains would cross the border on these tracks, and immigrants

2 University of Michigan. "Demography." Demographic and Bodily Changes in

Descendants of Mexican Immigrants. By Marcus Solomon Goldstein. Austin: Institute
of Latin-American Studies, the U of Texas, 1943. 15-25. Print.

Nastaeen Tajin
Honors 1000
Dr. Hudson
Essay #1
3
would hitch a ride by hiding in the storage compartments . Manolo had made the decision that he
would take the train to cross the border, and ideally he would do it alone. Except he knew that if
he ran away before his wedding, Sr. Cerrenas wouldnt invest in his family business, and thus his
family would be left to beg on the streets. He would have to marry Melodia before he crossed the
border.
By 1913, nearly three years after Manolos and Melodias wedding, and their escape to
the States, Manolo had secured a job in the Ford Factory in Detroit, and better yet, his union with
Melodia qualified him for the Ford Profit Sharing Plan, which ensured that he not only receive
wages, but also his share of the profits everyday4. This was better than the 72 cents per hour that
he made during his time in Chicago for simply lugging beef.5 It was specifically on October 3rd,
1913 that Manolo experienced his first taste of brutality in the land that he had previously
labelled as free.
Because Manolo was now making more money through the Ford Profit Sharing Plan, he
decided to buy this elegant handgun that he would stare through the pristine glass-casing every
time hed pass the gun store on his way to the factory. It didnt cost him as much, and it seemed
like a good idea since he and Melodia lived in a barrio6 and gang violence was not uncommon.
3 Schmal, John P. "Mexican Immigration in the Early Years: Helping to Build
Americas Railroads." HispanicVista. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
<http://www.hispanicvista.com/hvc/Columnist/jschmal/020705jschmal.htm>.
4 Ford Motor Company. Helpful Hints and Advice to Employees. Helpful Hints and Advice to Employees:
Ford Manual. Detroit, MI: n.p., 1915. N. pag. Print.

5 "Packing House Worker." Interview by Betty Burke. Jesse Perez. N.p., 06 July 1939.
Web. <http://www.loc.gov/resource/wpalh0.07051105/?sp=2>.
6 A poor mexican neighborhood

Nastaeen Tajin
Honors 1000
Dr. Hudson
Essay #1
The store owner was hesitant to allow Manolo to purchase the handgun, but agreed to it after
Manolo offered to pay a third more than the given price. This elegant handgun, which Manolo
had been looking at for months now, was now finally his. Unthinkingly, and dazed by his
fortune, he decided to walk to work with the gun in hand, so he could brag to his co-workers
about his winnings.
Almost as if on que, the watchman in front of the ford factory had seen Manolo walking
with the handgun, and approached him with caution. Out of fear that Manolo might be an
assassin, or that he wanted to start workers strike, the watchman disarmed Manolo and beat him
until every thread of Manolos zoot suit had be covered in blood. This prejudice was not the first
to be displayed, nor the last, and a local New York newspaper made sure that the general U.S.
public was aware of these injustices7. Ford had promised to pay reparations for the injury after
Manolo had cleared up his true intentions with the handgun.
By mid 1920s, mexican immigrants were scattered all over the United States. Granted
more mexicans settled in Arizona and Texas over all the other states8 (which explained the
constant plea in for more mexican labor in local Arizonian newspapers)9, but many travelled as

7 Loc.gov. Regeneracion: This Is You Cause, That Of Each One of You. Digital image.
N.p., 1913. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
<http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbpe/rbpe17/rbpe176/17601900/001dr.jpg>.
8 Durand, Jorge. "Social Science Quarterly." The Changing Geography of Mexican
Immigration to the United States: 1910-1996. 1st ed. Vol. 81. Austin, TX: n.p., 2000.
13-14. Print.
9 Lib. of Congress. Mohave County Miner and Our Mineral Wealth. 1920. Arizona
State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ, Kingman, AZ. Library of
Congress. Web. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn96060547/1920-07-31/ed1/seq-6/#>.

Nastaeen Tajin
Honors 1000
Dr. Hudson
Essay #1
10
up north as Detroit Manolo and Melodia being exhibit A. For this reason, neither of them
found it hard to make friends with fellow mexicans nearby who had similar tales to tell of their
own. It was one particular friend, Maria Vasquez, who had brought her Tortilladora11 with her
from Mexico, and offered to give it Melodia as a gift. Melodia, who grew up with the privileged,
never cooked a day in her life so she had no interest with this unique machine. Infact, all she ever
did to beat the time was sew and play the piano12. Manolo, however, though it had been years
since he had made tortillas with the tortilladora that was in Los Amarillos, was particularly
fascinated by it. Soon, word spread that Manolo Vera could make the best tortillas in the area,
and friends of friends were asking Manolo for his tortillas.
By 1929, Manolo was thriving in his own business of tortillas, and going to the Ford
Factory almost seemed like a side hobby. With his extra income, Manolo invested into 10
different stocks in the stock market to further expand his wealth. On October 29th, 1929, the
stock market had crashed, causing the entire nation to fall into depression. Manolo, along with
many other mexican friends who had invested in the stock market had lost most of their earnings
and were forced to turn to migrant work camps established by the U.S. Farm Security

10 : Library of Congress. "Mexican - Moving to the Cities - Immigration." Mexican - Moving to the Cities Immigration...- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 25
Oct. 2015.
<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/m
exican7.html>.

11 National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. Tortilladora,

Tortilla Press. 1920. Smithsonian Institution, United States: California, Fillmore.
Digital Public Library of America. Web.
12 Bright, Lynn. "Page Two." The Biography of Guadalupe Lupita Gallegos. Las Vegas:
Library of Congress, 1938. 2. Web.

Nastaeen Tajin
Honors 1000
Dr. Hudson
Essay #1
13
Administration to obtain temporary stability . He worked harder than ever to make sure that he
and Melodia would survive their even worse living conditions.
Manolos soul had been tried many times, but none more devastating than this.
Essentially, Manolo ended up where he began - in troubled times. The city had temporarily
changed his fortune. But by being blindsided by this change of luck, Manolo lost sight of what
was truly important- preservation of his fortune with humility. Manolo had learned to adapt to
the city, but perhaps the city never learned to adapt to him, which is why the story ends in
tragedy.

13 Library of Congress. "Mexican - Depression and the Struggle for Survival Immigration." Mexican - Depression and the Struggle for Survival - Immigration...Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web.
25 Oct. 2015.