Carlos Bulosan's America is in the Heart

A foreigner's dream is to immigrate to America. America is said to be a place where dreams come true. Immigrants come for freedom, equality, social justice, and, most importantly, opportunities to work and live a good life. Though immigrants dream of a better life, they do not realize the true face of America until reality hits them. An excerpt from Carlos Bulosan's semi-autobiographical novel America is in the Heart, follows a Filipino immigrant holding high hopes of America as he works alongside different groups of immigrant workers. In displaying the plentiful memories of the other immigrants' loss of hope, Carlos uses transitioning tones to illustrate a vision of his hope in America.

From the beginning of America is in the Heart, Bulosan arrives in America with already an "exhilarating experience" from his first sight. The author's hopeful tone in this promising land is like any other immigrant that arrives in America, where he appears to be confident and calm in his new home and ready to work. Though he is excited for the prospects of the future, what happens next destroys his comforting mood. Bulosan's hopeful tone expresses how an immigrant begins their peaceful and unrealistic illusion of life but soon finds out that America is not all that it is advertised to be. Though Bulosan's image of coming to America is different from a reality "work[ing] in fish canneries," he continues to hold high hopes for opportunities. Throughout the narrator's labor, the usage of first-person view allows the reader understand the thoughts a newcomer may possibly feel.

After paying off the "debt" he is issued, the tone switches to an optimistic yet dissatisfied attitude towards America. He soon visits the "Manila Dance Hall," where immigrants hang out, where a violent and panic-filling atmosphere presents the audience a chaotic and disorientated feeling. He realizes that it is a trap of despair, associated with violence, gambling, alcohol, and prostitutes. Bulosan's terrified tone through the violence emerges as he witnesses other immigrants' loss of faith in America. He utilizes tone here to show his personal aspect on how some immigrants plainly do not care about the change in their lives. This disillusionment that the immigrants suffer from do not affect Bulosan as he continues his optimism towards the United States. From his determination to compromise with this reality, he is set within, he goes to find a job in the West Coast.

As Bulosan continues to seek a job in the West Coast, his encounter with a close person, his brother, causes him a great amount of pain. Not knowing anything in his surroundings, he finds his brother after a long period of separation. His affectionate tone with his brother demonstrates a part of his life he holds dear to himself. Bulosan uses this warm tone to emphasize his family's importance. The short joyful moment leads into a state of epiphany as he learns that his brother has also changed, and the narrator's tone ends up regretful and somber from his brother's lackluster desire of faith in America. His brother was no longer the "gentle, hard-working janitor" he views him to be, but this creature that walks on land that does not care for anything but money to survive. This gives an insight for the audience of the behavior of the narrator's brother that gears a life Bulosan cannot live through as his remorse tone aids in the realizations of the imperfections of the world.

Bulosan never loses faith in America, despite all of his hardships. By expanding on a variety of tones, he lets the audience understand his point of view. His usage of past tense also ends up contributing to the overall tone and allows the unfolding of unexpected events. His range from a hopeful and calm tone to a regretful tone ends up delivers the story in a personal perspective. Bulosan's tones make it understandable to how immigrants everywhere in the world feel when arriving to America. A part of life only a few can receive today.