Bread and Roses depicts two different reactions by illegal immigrants, when faced with similar situations.

On one hand, there is Maya, the sister who has little to lose and fewer people to harm than just herself. She does not have a family of her own depending on her and thus she makes very risky decisions. At the cost of losing her job, she stands up for herself when men at the bar that employed her made sexual advances towards her. She then continues to put the subsequent job, that her sister obtained for her, in jeopardy by organizing meetings between the janitorial staff and union organizers. Now, one can argue that these were ultimately causes for the greater good given the living situations of the workers depicted, but what I found most interesting was that Maya was willing to risk her job, the sole reason that was mentioned for her crossing the border, to help not only herself but others in need.

In contrast, Rosa, whose name translates to “Rose” in English, stood out to me as a symbol of someone who understood that she could not have her pie and eat it too. She was burdened with the responsibility of not only feeding her mother and sister back home in Mexico, but taking care of her two kids and ill husband. She basically worked at a brothel since she was a child in order to provide for her family and keep them from starving most of her life and was even willing to compromise her own moral standards to obtain a job for her sister. Out of fear of not being able to provide for her family, she refused to partake in any movement to unionize the janitorial staff in the building or call attention to herself in other ways. After all, she had everything she had migrated to the United States to get, a job and means of feeding her family. I don’t really think anyone would dispute her actions on account of her reasons. How many of us would give up the security of having a next meal for self respect?

The reality for most illegal immigrants is that they don’t really have any type of security in this country. They could lose their jobs for any reason at any time and there is no foundation for disputing mistreatment due to their undocumented status and the illegality of their employment to begin with. Yet that reality is something many people are willing to take in exchange for being able to provide food for their families. For illegal immigrants like Rosa, the “roses” she was fighting for were the mere means of supporting her loved ones. While Maya wanted to fight for more, none of it would have been possible without Rosa’s help in the first place.

The great American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, might say that due to her need for “bread” being taken care of by Rosa, Maya was able to be concerned about other needs and have the yearning for different “roses.”