Beauty in Despair
America is in the Heart is a semi-autobiographical novel by Filipino-American novelist Carlos Bulosan. It tells the story of his early life in the Philippines and his immigration to America, where he becomes a writer after a lifetime of struggle. During Carlos’s life, he endures constant despair, but he is able to overcome this despair by appreciating the beauty in the world. Born into the peasantry in a small Filipino village, Carlos immigrates…
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Race and American Identity
In America is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan struggles to reconcile America’s supposed commitment to liberty and equality with the harsh reality of a racist society that is prejudiced against Filipinos. In Bolosan’s book, American identity is inextricably connected with race, and the country’s majority-white population dehumanizes Filipinos as racial “others.” This allows white people in power to assault Filipinos and deny them basic legal rights, all while still upholding the façade of…
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Education vs. Ignorance
Carlos Bulosan’s book is about pursuing a better life, first in the Philippines and then in America. He finds that education is the key to escaping the deprivations of want and ignorance. Education promises a reprieve from manual labor via less physically demanding jobs, but it also allows Carlos to develop an awareness of how systematic injustice relies on ignorance to keep Filipinos and other minorities in a state of perpetual servitude. Carlos is…
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Poverty
America is in the Heart contains many antagonists, particularly the numerous white people who cheat and abuse Carlos throughout his life in America. However, poverty—the state of being too poor to afford the necessities to live a thriving life—is the greatest overall antagonist in Bulosan’s story. From the time he is born, poverty defines Carlos’s life, and he is never able to completely escape poverty’s psychological influence. Poverty is the book’s ultimate antagonist because…
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