The poem “Legal Alien” is taken from the book Songs written by Pat Mora, American writer and poet. It uses metaphors, images, paradoxes, two languages, symbols, etc. in his poem. It is written in free verse, but it highlights people's fixed and rigid mindsets and how humans constrain others through their poor judgments, preconceptions, stereotypes, and prejudices. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Literary Devices That Bring Readers Closer to the Subject Although the dominant language of the poem is English, a single phrase from Spanish is also featured. This could be representative of the idea that among the majority of white natives, the Mexican narrator is almost insignificant, ignored and considered useless. For example, a reader may skip, ignore, or not pay much attention to a sentence written in another language. Deconstruction aims to find the "cracks and discontinuities" in a text, so the poem is apt for deconstruction because it deals with the theme of fragmentation on several levels. The poem instills the experiences and emotions of immigrants, especially legal immigrants, whose lives and personalities are distorted/fragmented because they are in two places but do not belong in one or are not cherished as they should being. A “legal immigrant” can be a “signifier” for many of the ideas signified in this poem. For example, it may represent the idea of ​​self-alienation of immigrants due to psychological disorders due to their multiple identities (Mexican-American). These people still remain protean beings because their idea of ​​home remains fluid and it becomes almost impossible to have a single, unified identity. An immigrant must face both inter- and intracultural problems and thus develops a split personality, or sub-individuality. This binary can also be compared to WEB Du Bois's idea of ​​"inner duality". The poet uses hyphens to show the divisions of an immigrant's psyche and life. The hyphenated words “bilingual, bicultural” represent people who belong to different places and are representative of both, but they are treated as “native outsiders”. So the hyphen not only connects but also separates. These hyphenated words can also be considered stereotypes or prejudices associated with immigrants, as they are often misjudged or prejudiced due to these two attributes. This severed identity divides the person into two parts. No matter how hard the immigrant tries to integrate into the crowd of natives, he cannot bridge the gap. Being multilingual is an ability that should be valued, but it poses a barrier for an immigrant. Pat Mora uses the technique of “linguistic appropriation” to show the rapid shift from English to Spanish and to show how deeply ingrained both languages ​​are in the immigrant. When the narrator of the poem is asked “How is life?” » she immediately switches to Spanish, saying "Me 'stan volviendo loca", which means "I'm going crazy". This linguistic “binary” also signifies her internal and external battle that only she can fight. Another widely observed phenomenon is the exoticization of the Orient. Usually, things or people labeled as exotic are considered somewhat inferior due to their appearance, culture, and the underdeveloped conditions of their country. The poet does not know if the Americans qualify.