America is a place that still intrigues people today. Some might argue that America has a meaning that not everybody understands. In “America is in the Heart” by Carlos Bulosan, Bulosan describes his experience in the Philippines and his years of hardship in America. In his book he uses the word “America,” which represents different meanings. America can mean hope. It can mean a promise of freedom and success, but that promise in unfulfilled right now due to the ways Americans treat each other. However, this promise has led the Filipinos of the younger generation to believe that it is easier to live in America than in their own country. In their own country, they could work hard by farming and not have any results, while America practically promised success from hard work. This was a main cause for his immigration to the United States. America was hope and promise for Bulosan.

Life was too difficult in the Philippines, and life in America was more promising. He wrote, “A poor boy became a president of the United States! Deep down in me something was touched, was springing out, demanding to be born, to be given a name. I was fascinated by the story of this boy who was born in a log cabin and became a president of the United States.” (pg. 69) This was when he had learned about President Lincoln who grew up in a log cabin and rose to become president of the United States. Through this example, he believed that almost anything was possible in America as long as you are willing to work hard. This, he would later find out, was not necessarily true.

There was also a false sense of security involved with the promise. He said, “I was already in America, and I felt good and safe. I did not understand why.” (pg. 104) This shows that he completely trusts his new home and is certain he was better off in America than in the Philippines. When he said, “I did not understand why,” he may have meant that he doubted himself internally. Later in the story, he would find out that life was harder than he thought.

Bulosan’s village in the Philippines was similar to America. In both places he had to work so hard to survive; in the Philippines he had to farm, and in America he had to find a job. In addition to that, he also had to make sure he had enough money to pay rent and buy food. If he and his friends and brothers run out of money, they must be forced to live outside and starve.

Wealthier people who were unfair towards people of lower class controlled both America and the Philippines. For example, his father had to pay the moneylender an enormous amount of money, and one day the moneylender took the land he was farming. He wrote, “‘There is something wrong in our country when a man can take away something that belongs to you and your family,’ he said, looking at his hands again and standing silently for a long time.” (pg. 55) This shows that both the laws were unfair, and America might have laws against taking away someone’s land. Unfortunately, in California there were powerful Chinese gamblers who demanded so much rent from people living in apartments, much like the wealthy in the Philippines. These similarities are what made Bulosan experience so many hardships in America.

American life is better than the Philippines in ways that do not relate to social life. For example, is more advanced in technology than in the Philippines. Luciano was dying of tuberculosis, but there was nothing he could do except to rely on a doctor who remedied his patients with incantations more than actual medicine. Contrary to this, there were modern hospitals in the United States who could perform surgery on patients to treat the disease. Although there may be racial oppression in jobs, it is easier to deal with it than to farm, harvest, and sell food. When the “primitive” way of life of the Philippines is compared to the more modern way of life of America, America would appear to be easier to live in, except for social part of life.

With so many hardships to overcome, he must still continue his life in America. Before he left for the United States his brother Luciano said, “‘don’t come back to Binalonan, Allos! Even if you have to steal and kill, don’t come back to this damned town. Don’t ever come back, please, little brother!” (pg. 89) His brother was urging him to have courage in America and never come back to his village. His brother had to marry and have children every year for the next ten years. By then, Luciano would have so much work to do to survive; it would be harder than to attempt to live in the United States.

Racial oppression was a negative side of America, and was a major problem that could not be easily avoided. “Years of degradation came into the Filipino’s face. All the fears of his life were here—in the white hand against his face.” (pg. 145) Murders of Filipinos were common. Whites had also hurt Filipinos for entertainment. Bulosan has experienced this once, when he wrote, “Another man, the one called Jake, tied me to a tree. Then he started beating me with his fists. Why were these men so brutal, so sadistic?” (pg. 208) He had been arrested and men took him and his friends to a remote location where they were beaten. With these events so common, it was dangerous just to live.
“I came to know afterward that in many ways it was a crime to be a Filipino in California. I came to know that the public streets were not free to my people: we stopped each time these vigilant patrolmen saw us driving a car. We were suspect each time we were seen with a white woman. And perhaps it was this narrowing of our life into an island, into a filthy segment of hating everyone and despising all positive urgencies toward freedom.” (pg. 121)

This quote shows that Filipinos were discriminated in California. This is disappointing because all people should be treated with equality, and Filipinos should not be the only people being harassed. If the whites would accept that Filipinos are different, neither Whites nor Filipinos would be so violent in Bulosan’s story. This racial oppression was the main reason why America’s promise for success was unfulfilled; this promise turned into hope for a better life in America, which was almost impossible to see through the way Americans dealt with some foreigners. This hope was not enough, and Bulosan wanted to attempt to tell how unfairly they were treated. He later expresses this brutality towards Filipinos and agricultural workers in a newspaper he and his companions publish.

“‘That’s it, Carl,’ Pascual would shout, storming around the room. ‘Write you guts out! Write with thunder and blood!’” (pg. 183) This shows how even in such a discouraging life, you can still have the freedom to express these issues because of your right to free speech. In other countries, one can get arrested for freely expressing their ideas, especially if those ideas are considered vulgar in society. With this freedom, Bulosan wrote about the violence in California and the agricultural workers. Although this did not immediately change anything, it did alert the people who read the newspaper. Those who read this newspaper could not do anything either, but a much stronger cause that led people to believe in Americas promise was hope.

This hope was from the whites that were polite and respectful of immigrants in the United States. “I almost cried. What was the matter with this land? Just a moment ago I was being beaten by white men. But here was another white person, a woman, giving me food and a place to rest. And her warmth! I sat on the on the couch and started talking. I wanted to explain what happened to me.” (pg. 210) Someone would have a difficult time trying to imagine such a contradicting society today. Today most people accept that others are different and do not resort to violence immediately. However, back in Bulosan’s time, good people right next to bad people must have been common. I would also have been puzzled at the behavior of whites if I were he. Why would one want to care for me while another tried to hurt me? Nevertheless, Bulosan has encountered this kind of situation, which gave him a sense that some people are still respectable. This was exactly what gave him faith in America.

In conclusion, America stands for hope and a promise for success. Although that is a dream that may not be fulfilled any time soon, it is still something that Americans can hope for in their hearts. One day all violence in America will cease, and all people will understand and accept each other. That would be an ideal life, which was what Bulosan was seeking for when he first moved to America. “I knew that no man could destroy my faith in America that had sprung from all our hopes and aspirations, ever.” (pg. 327) For the time being, people can only hope for that promise to come true.