Project 1

Rhetorical Analysis of Terra Firma- A Journey from

Migrant Farm Labor to Neurosurgery

“Terra Firma – A Journey from Migrant Farm Labor to Neurosurgery” tells the personal story of Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa’s immigration from Mexico to the United States. It is his path from having only ‘$65 in my pocket’ to a director of a brain-tumor program at Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. The purpose of this analysis is to show that while Alfredo-Quinones-Hinojosa’s, or Dr. Q as he is called, story is not typical of most migrant workers in America but is effective in persuading the reader that anything is possible even if you’re told otherwise. Dr. Q is effective because he is honest about his past and relates many instances where his life was not easy. Many people living in America at present can relate to these hardships or have followed similar paths to get to where they are today. Immigrants face discrimination, poverty and lack of access to services most of us take for granted. His story can be a beacon of hope to others facing similar adversity.

To perform this analysis, the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos will be employed. Ethos is an appeal to the author’s credibility and authority on the subject at hand. Personal experience and credentials can be used to strengthen the argument and convince the reader to believe what is being said. Admission of limitations and identifying with the reader can also be ways of using ethos. You can identify with a reader by showing how reader and author are alike and admitting limitations that the reader may also share as well. Pathos is a very effective tool that generally evokes emotional response to a text. There are many emotions in the human character and so appealing to any range of them is simple and effective. We’re just wired to be that way. A specific emotion like sadness or anger does not have to be explicitly stated, but can be illustrated via an emotional story or strong vocabulary usage. A final appeal is that of logos. This uses the readers own beliefs and ability to reason to support an argument. Facts, figures, and data can largely be used to show evidence of something. Also, cost analysis and cause and effect relationships can also be used. All three appeals do not always have to be employed, but generally some form of each of them are used to support an argument. In the case of Dr. Q’s story, he uses all three.

Dr. Q wrote this story for the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. At that time, as well as to the present day, the immigration debate is ongoing. It is a divisive issue that divides political parties and most Americans seem to have an opinion on. In this text, Dr. Q is speaking to illegal Mexican immigrants as well as the general American public. Immigrants can contribute to society. Immigrants can be successful. There are about 40 million immigrants living in the United States, about 11 million of which are here illegally. They’re generally from Mexico and they’re here to stay. (Resnick 1) These sheer numbers are motivation enough for Dr. Q to share his story with them and the rest of us.

Dr. Q came to the United States in the mid-1980s. He was told “You will spend the rest of your life working in the fields” by his cousin upon arrival. He was 19 years old with no formal education and spoke no English. He left Mexico “desperate for a livable income”. Growing up his family had been poor. He relates one of his earliest memories of his baby sister passing away from diarrhea. They had enough to get by but due to an economic crisis that happened in Mexico in the 70s their ability to support the family disappeared. The economic crisis Dr. Q talks about is began with the oil crisis in 1973. The economic policies of the President Luis Echeverría Álvarez also left the Mexican economy in a state of unbalance with rapidly rising inflation. (Merrill, Miró). This environment along with a desire for a better life led Dr. Q to America. He became a farm worker. His desire to prove his cousin wrong also led him to take up a job as a janitor at night to attend a community college to learn English. Through a near-death experience he learned the importance of medical doctors and nurses and became interested in that field. He attended University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Medical School. He originally wanted to return to Mexico after completing his schooling, however he fell in love with the United States and wanted to stay and contribute to the community and society.

Dr. Q finally introduces us to his grandmother saying that she was a medicine woman and a healer in the town he came from. He understands now the “crucial role she played not only in instilling in me the value of healing but also in determining the fate and future of others.” (Quinones-Hinojosa, 117) She was a role model and Dr. Quinones-Hinojosa has tried to become like her.

Ethos is used throughout the text. Dr. Q’s story is effective because he has experienced both worlds; the world of being poverty stricken and homeless to a world-renowned brain surgeon. He is honest about the legal side of where he started and shows his good moral character by stating “I am not condoning illegal immigration”. He vividly expresses the living conditions of where he started, “sleeping under leaky camper shells, eating anything I could get” (Quinones-Hinojosa, 117).

Pathos is also used. When he describes his original living conditions he is colorful in his description. He truly wants to show how rough it can be. He wants you to know that he understands what it can feel like to be at the bottom and then pull yourself up to achieve your goals. “With hands bloodied from pulling weeds-the very same hands that today perform brain surgery” (Quinones-Hinojosa, 117). Both ends of the spectrum are represented here. Hope is a strong human emotion. He is saying, there is hope! Later in the essay he describes his first experience of seeing an exposed human brain. The “feeling of absolute awe and humility” (Quinones-Hinojosa, 118) he relates pulls you in. Recognizing the connection between doctor and patient, this can be part of his contribution to society. That connection is intimate.

As for logos, like most doctors and scientists, Dr. Q knows the power of numbers and data. To show how affected minority populations are by things like drop-out rates, he presents a paragraph of data that shows this. He wants to reinforce the idea that it isn’t as easy for someone like him to just decide to go to university. The system is not “primed” in the same way it is for the average American. The population of the U.S. was about 18% minority groups whilst the percentage of faculty in universities did not reflect this at a low 3.7%. (Quinones-Hinojosa, 118)

Ultimately, Dr. Q achieved a great and hard thing. Pulling himself up from a meager beginning to putting himself in a position to give back and help the community that he came from. Using appeals such as logos, pathos and ethos he effectively relates to the reader with his stories, facts and colorful words. He is a healer and he is helping society as a whole, giving back in ways many wouldn’t think a migrant farm worker could.

Resnick, Brian. "There Are 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants. So Who Are They?." National Journal. (2013): n. page. Web. 19 Sep. 2013. <http://www.nationaljournal.com/domesticpolicy/there-are-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-so-who-are-they-20130128>.

United States of America. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. Tim L. Merrill and Ramón Miró. Mexico : a country study. Washington, D.C.: , 1996. Print. <http://lccn.loc.gov/97013481>.