Dear America

Dear America

by

Jose Antonio Vargas

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Dear America makes teaching easy.

Driver’s License Symbol Analysis

Driver’s License Symbol Icon

Jose Antonio Vargas’s Oregon driver’s license, long his “only piece of government-issued identification,” represents the power of documentation in modern society and the practical hurdles that undocumented immigrants face in order to live dignified lives in the United States. While legal papers are often the only thing separating undocumented immigrants from U.S. citizens and permanent residents, they have far-reaching consequences. Vargas couldn’t get a job or internship without lying about his citizenship status, and once he did, he still needed a driver’s license. After researching all 50 states’ laws, he learned that his only chance was to pretend to live in Oregon, then actually go to Portland for his driver’s test. He managed to do it, but it would have been impossible without the help of his “white family,” including Pat Hyland, Rich Fischer, and Mary Moore. But years later, when Vargas’s license was about to expire, he started wondering if he would even be able to continue working as a journalist without his documents. Thus, while his license granted him a temporary, precarious kind of acceptance in the U.S., it could never substitute for citizenship.

Get the entire Dear America LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dear America PDF

Driver’s License Symbol Timeline in Dear America

The timeline below shows where the symbol Driver’s License appears in Dear America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 7: Fake
Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity Theme Icon
Family, Love, and Intimacy Theme Icon
Immigration Politics and Policy Theme Icon
At age 16, Vargas went to get his driver’s license , but he didn’t tell Lola or Lolo. He brought his green card and school... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 6: Ambition
Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity Theme Icon
Journalism, Storytelling, and the Power of Truth Theme Icon
...laws. As a summer intern for the Philadelphia Daily News, he pretended to have a driver’s license and then secretly traveled by taxi and subway. The next summer, in 2002, he got... (full context)
Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity Theme Icon
Family, Love, and Intimacy Theme Icon
Immigration Politics and Policy Theme Icon
...summer, he landed an internship at the Washington Post. But he needed to get a driver’s license for the job. (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 7: White People
Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity Theme Icon
Family, Love, and Intimacy Theme Icon
Immigration Politics and Policy Theme Icon
Vargas needed a driver’s license , and Oregon was the only state that would give him one without a passport... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 13: Thirty
Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity Theme Icon
Immigration Politics and Policy Theme Icon
Journalism, Storytelling, and the Power of Truth Theme Icon
...and he was frightened and depressed—but he couldn’t tell anyone why. It was because his driver’s license was about to expire. (full context)