Poetry Juan Flores and Pietri

Humanities

In a fully formed essay, first briefly summarize (about one page is fine) the argument Juan Flores’s makes in his “The Structuring of Puerto Rican Identity” essay that we read in the first week of class about the “four moments” immigrants/migrants to the city go through and the model he suggests as an alternative to the melting pot. You don’t need to do any analysis (your own commentary on the ideas) in this part; just accurately summarize the key points. Next, apply Flores’s model to two different poems from Pietri’s Puerto Rican Obituary book. Your goal in this part of the paper is to show how Pietri’s characters either do or do not match Flores’s model for how immigrants adapt to city life. Use specific examples from the poems to support your arguments. Finally, describe how Pietri presents city life for the characters in the poems you chose from him in your conclusion.