Characters and speaker

Doing characterizations are not always called for in poetry, but in the peom “Immigrants in Our Own Land” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, it makes sense to take a closer look at the characters.

The speaker

Though mostly descriptive, the poem is written in the first person, from the perspective of the speaker. In the poem, we can identify collective characters: the immigrants and the administration. Notice that the narrator or the speaker identifies with the immigrants, suggested by the pronoun we: “We are born with dreams in our hearts” (l.1)

The speaker is probably a male. He is living in miserable conditions, just like the rest of the “prisoners”, and just like prior to moving to another country:

“My cell is crisscrossed with laundry lines,
my T-shirts, boxer shorts, socks and pants are drying.
Just like it used to be in my neighborhood:” (ll. 42-44)

From the way he describes the other immigrants, we can say he is disappointed by his ‘new’ life and lacks any hope for the future:

“our minds deterior...