Every semester we read Jack London's "Love of Life" or rather, this being quite a low-level ESL class, an ESL adaptation of it.In this story, a gold prospector in the Klondike becomes injured, separated from his sidekick, and lost. He comes very near death--in his exhaustion and confusion, losing all his possessions, his gold, and his tools. He and an old, sick wolf stalk each other for days, each hoping the other will die first. Finally, summoning his last strength, he kills the wolf with his bare hands and sucks the blood to stay alive. Eventually he is rescued by a scientific expedition and cared for on their ship, where he is a bit of a nut case, hoards food and cannot believe he is safe.
For a writing assignment, I always ask the students to imagine this man a year later--where will he be, what will happen to him ("what will have happened to him" being too advanced a verb structure for this class.)
Well, most of the Asian immigrants like to see him safe at home with his family, his health regained and his trauma left behind. But the Mexicans and Central Americans, the male students anyway, say he goes right back to the Klondike to find his lost gold, or to prospect for more.
Maybe gives you a clue what the U.S. Border Patrol is up against ...
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