After reading the final chapters of The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, there were parts which I assumed would happen and some that would not. Because this book is about the many troubles which immigrants face when chasing their dreams, I assumed that many tragedies would be encompassed in the book. However, because stories tend to have really positive, happy stories in the latter half, I was a little surprised by the number of casualties suffered by the immigrants.
Throughout the book, Urrea depicts the fact about how many immigrants are dehumanized. Mendez only cares about showing what “he was made of” (Urrea 195). Rather than trying to genuinely support any individual, he focuses on his self image, as he does not consider the immigrants to be like himself: a human being. As a result of his condescending nature, many lives suffered immensely, the majority of them essentially thrown into the abyss of hopelessness or death.
Although we may express contempt towards individuals such as Mendez, who seem inherently evil, often times, we obliviously mistreat others. This stems from our preconceived notions towards people whom we choose to judge at a first glance. Although prejudgement is not the same as dehumanizing someone, but they are related by the fact that those individuals are denied of a chance to express who they truly are. Unfortunately, the only times we understand how much we hurt someone is after a tragic event occurs, and by that time, it is often too late to fix the mess we have created.