The Newcomer

While watching the first portion of the movie Sugar, a theme stood out to me: The American Dream. This is exactly the same theme that I saw in Rocky, however it takes on a different form in this movie. Sugar is about a baseball player, named Miguel "Sugar" Santos, who dreams of playing Major League Baseball in the United States. He had aspirations of owning a Cadillac, as he told his girlfriend, as well as sending money over to his family living in his impoverished home country, the Dominican Republic. Fortunately, he was invited to a baseball program in Arizona, where he could begin to live the American Dream.

So what exactly is the American Dream? It's the belief that, through hard work, anyone could become successful in the United States. Sugar is a classic example of someone living out the American Dream, coming from a poor country in hopes of becoming a successful baseball player in the United States. However, he has several obstacles standing in his way. This adversity is a crucial part of the American Dream: being successful is quite a challenge. It's one that requires a lot of effort and persistence regardless of what stands in your way. 

First of all, Sugar does not know much English yet, and neither do some of the other baseball players from the Dominican Republic. When they all went to a diner, the one person who did know some English ordered french toast. When the waitress asked everyone else what they wanted, they also said "french toast" since that was all they knew how to say. The next morning, Sugar went to the diner by himself to order breakfast. He requested eggs, but had no idea that there were different ways that eggs could be served, such as scrambled, sunny side up, and over easy. Kindly, the waitress had all three dishes made up for him to sample, and said that they were "on the house". She even helped him pronounce each of these dishes.

When I watch movies like this, it always strikes me how hard it is to move from one country to another, especially when you've lived in your home country for so long. The language barrier is an extremely challenging one, and it's evident in the movie that Sugar felt uncomfortable at first in America, since it was so different from the Dominican Republic.

Unfortunately, there are always people who you meet that don't respect you simply for the fact that you don't know much English. Sugar was recruited in Iowa to play baseball, and he was given a host family, who would take care of him during baseball season. When giving them a rundown of the rules, they made fun of the fact that he mainly spoke Spanish, with a horrendous pronunciation of "No chicas in the cuarto". It did make me laugh though, and it is perhaps one of the most memorable lines from this movie. But fortunately for Sugar, the daughter in the family isn't ignorant like her parents are, so she will help him out when he needs it. At the same time, there is an indication that she's attracted to him, which could become an issue since he already has a girlfriend.

In the fast-paced, bustling world that is the United States, will Sugar be successful? Or will he have wasted his time? I'm looking forward to finding out in the next couple of classes.