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Riley Strathmann
Cooper
AP Language P. 4
8/16/16

The Devils Highway SOAPSTONE

S. Your muscles, lacking water, feed on themselves. They break down and start to rot.

Once rotting in you, they dump rafts of dying cells into your already sludgy bloodstream.

Proteins are peeling off your dying muscles. Chunks of cooked meat are falling out of

your organs, to clog your other organs. The system closes down in a series. Your

kidneys, your bladder, your heart. They jam shut. Stop. Your brain sparks. Out. Youre

gone.(128-129)(Urrea)

The speaker of this quote is the author Luis Alberto Urrea. He was born in Tijuana

Mexico, 1955 and grew up near the border, thus giving him biases towards the mexican

immigrants and border patrol (Luis Alberto Urrea and About Luis). In this particular part

he is thoroughly explaining the process of the mexican immigrants heatstrokes. Urreas

description obviously shows that he has done a lot of research in order to be precise

and give the reader a full understanding of the biological process and how it was

unpleasant. By doing this, Urreas credentials are that of an investigative journalist. Not

only does he describe in great detail the exact process the entire body goes through,

but he does it for an entire chapter. Urrea also depicts the process like a writer rather

than just stating the facts. For example, a doctor would never describe a heatstroke as

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your muscles dumping rafts of dying cells into your already sludgy bloodstream(128)

(Urrea). Urrea combines the facts of how a heatstroke works with a more gruesome

description, using metaphors and personification to help the reader feel what the

characters do.

O. Of course, you can save some money, if youre man enough to walk in the desert,

instead of catching a ride or sneaking into a city.

Man enough! Im nothing but man, Don Moi! How much will you take off the top if we

walk?

I can get you there for thirteen thousand if you walk.

Well walk.

Don Moi happily started reeling them in. (50)(Urrea)

In this scene the author is creating the occasion through dramatic irony. At this point the

audience already knows that the immigrants are sick of their poor life in Mexico and

want to go to the U.S. so they are meeting with the coyote leader. Urrea has also

already told them that virtually all the men die in the desert. He did this so that the

audience is intrigued knowing that the men just chose to die. This also supports Urreas

argument that these people living in Mexico are desperate, want to appear tough, and

are willing to risk their lives to save some money for their families.

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A. I will never forget the sadness in my nephews eyes when he looked at me,

shedding tears, and I was unable to do anything except to tell him not to die.(143)

(Urrea)

This quote is directed at any audience member who feels compassion for other human

beings. Urrea wants people to stop dehumanizing these illegal immigrants by showing

them that they are people just like us. He does this by connecting the audience and

characters through family [something to which everybody can relate], because nobody

would enjoy having to say that to their dying nephew. Urrea was able to utilize pathos

and his skill as an author to make the audience feel sympathy towards these people.

P. The mexican consul in Tucson said, The media only cares about the Yuma 14

because of the large numbers. But this tragedy goes on every day. It never stops. If only

one person dies out there, it is exactly the same horror story.(207)(Urrea)

This quote highlights Urreas overall purpose beautifully. Ureas purpose for writing this

book was to show people that illegal immigrants from Mexico are dehumanized or

ignored altogether by the media, but are in fact humans just like us. However, people

are blind to that because they dont know what the immigrants go through, they only

care about when the numbers are big. Yet, in this quote a credible mexican consul in

Tucson said, If only one person dies out there, it is exactly the same horror

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story(207)(Urrea). That is why Urrea capitalizes on the fact that these numbers do get

peoples attention so he can explain what they went through and emphasize on how a

small groups horror trip is the same as an individuals.

S. They didnt know that Mendez was in uncharted territory. He probably knew it, but

seemed to think he could work out the puzzle of the landscape. Maybe he thought he

was fooling everybody. They didnt know where they were supposed to walk - theyd go

where he told them to go. For all they could tell, they were about to drop into Dairy

Queen for a milkshake. So he marched ahead, striding with great purpose. Later the

signcutters read his tracks and called him Asshole. (112)(Urrea)

While the book focuses on the overall experience of these mexican immigrants, this

particular passage focuses on the coyote Mendez. The author presents him as ignorant

and arrogant and emphasizes these attributes and how they contributed to costing the

group their lives. In this quote Urrea details how Mendezs ignorance destroyed their

chances of making it to the U.S.. For example, he says, For all they could tell, they

were about to drop into Dairy Queen for a milkshake in order to show how unaware,

optimistic, and lost they were (112)(Urrea). Urrea also flashes forward and uses ethos

from the professional trackers to show that Mendez obviously had no idea where he

was going and was the reason for their deaths.

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T. Dog's bark. Old buses gulp and grind through the gears. Beat pickups with loose

tailpipes roar. Kids yell. Even roosters crow down among the tattered banana trees of

that blue-and-white house where the blacktop ends. Pop! Pop! Pop! Some pendejo is

already lighting off firecrackers. Either that, or some drunk is shooting his wife. (99)

(Urrea)

Urrea uses many techniques in order to set a very strong critical or disparaging tone. In

this passage Urrea depicts Mendezs home. His diction and syntax make it look like a

place of danger, poverty, and criminals. For example, he describes a scene where

some pendejo is already lighting off firecrackers. Either that, or some drunk is shooting

his wife(99)(Urrea). Urrea describes a person as a pendejo, which is rude spanish

slang for a stupid person, and uses a nonchalant syntax to transfer to the other more

abrupt and abnormal case of a shooting. This tone he creates here is very important to

the story because it highlights the place where these coyotes are from and gives insight

to the fact that these people are not professionals and are from bad, desperate, and

uneducated upbringings. They are similar to the mexican immigrants in that they are

desperate for money so they end up involving themselves in illegal actions.

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Works Cited

1. Urrea, Luis Alberto. The Devil's Highway: A True Story. Little, Brown and Company,
 2004.

2. Luis Alberto Urrea. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. n.d. Wikimedia

Foundation, Inc. 10 Aug. 18. 2016

3. About Luis. Luisalbertourrea.com. N.d. Luis Alberto Urrea. Aug 18. 2016