Mexican Is Not A Noun Analysis

Francisco X Alarcon word choice, word order, line breaks, and use of stanzas set the tone for the poem “Mexican is Not a Noun”. During the time that the poem was written there was an uprising against immigration laws. The word choice, word order, line breaks, and the use of stanzas in Alarcon’s poem leads me to believe that Alarcon was a part of the stance against the governments treatment of Hispanic’s and the harsh immigration laws. The tone of Alarcon’s poem is corrective, condemning, bitter, painful and sad. The short stanzas along with the choice of words used to describe what Alarcon feels about the word Mexican are written to evoke emotion within the reader. Alarcon uses the word “it” repeatedly to describe how being oppressed makes