Barrio Boy

What are the historical factors that inform Ernesto’s family’s migration from Mexico to America?

What are the psychological consequences of immigration? Compare and contrast Ernesto’s experience to another character in the book.

What point of view is Barrio Boy told from? Identify the stylistic devices that Galarza uses to develop this perspective.

In the Introduction, the author describes the book as a series of thumbnail sketches. What parts of his life does Galarza emphasize? What things that you might expect to read about in a memoir about childhood and teenage years are missing? What does this tell us about Ernesto’s experiences growing up?

Making specific reference to the cultural connotations of the barrio, analyze the significance of the title Barrio Boy.

How does the author use language to highlight the differences between Mexico and the United States?

Identify three moments in which labor and/or workers’ rights are discussed in Barrio Boy. What do these moments tell us about the motivations for migration and/or the immigrant experience?

Galarza describes how at his school, Lincoln, they were taught to be good Americans, but that “making us into Americans did not mean scrubbing away what made us originally foreign” (286). How does Galarza provide evidence for this statement?