The Influences of Ones Surrounding in The Distance...

There are many things in life that can influence the way one acts and decision making to become who one is today. Like the people one surrounds oneself with, the area one lives in, the parents, and last but not least the culture one is from. Although the cultural experience of poverty might have an important influence on the opportunities one gets, our surroundings while growing up also form a stereotypical part of our identity, but the influence from our parents or good role model also teach us valuable experiences. Like in the novel The Distance Between us by Reyna Grande and, the film A Better Life directed by Chris Weitz shows how people can be influenced by their cultural experiences, their surroundings, and their parents actions. One’s cultural experience of poverty can make one take full advantage of the opportunities one gets. Just like Reyna in the novel The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande, Reyna and her family luckily got their green card by an act of government amnesty which gave all the illegal immigrants that were currently in the country a green card. For one instance, after she went back to Mexico to visit her grandmother with her mom and after seeing her cousin, Reyna said â€Å"Now I realized that we owed it to them, our cousins, our friends, to do something with our lives, If not for us, then for them, because they would never be able to. I understood so clearly now why papi said there were so many people would die to have the opportunities we had, who