The two most prominent settings used are the Xuncax's Guatemalan village and home, and Rosa and Enrique's small shack in the United States. Both of these settings are significant politically and socially. The socio-political situation of the peasants in the Guatemalan is very bleak. They are without any political influence and so can in no way change their bottom-rung social status without violence. Arturo explains to Enrique early in the movie that sometimes "you must fight for your land." The predicament of Arturo and his cohorts

"El Norte" portrays well the difficult lives of peasantry in their constant search for some kind of upward mobility and struggle against government oppression. The cynicism of the authors view, however, I do not find agreeable. The final sequence is disturbing in its disheartening statement that poverty is cyclic and inescapable. It seems to me, at least in this particular case, it was more bad luck and Enrique's inability to do what he must to survive that stalled his progress. He was on his way to being a foreman after very little time in the states. If Rosa had not gotten sick or if Enrique could for a short while overcome his heart with his mind, he would have gone to Chicago and begun a very solid, middle-class life for himself. Rosa would still be dead but the author seems to think that Enrique is dead now anyways because he missed his chance. Still, Rosa would not have gotten sick if they had not needed to leave Guatemala so the point can be argued either way. The parallel can be seen in the situations at the start and end of the movie: Arturo says he wants the rich to know that he is a person with a "heart and soul", Enrique is confronted with the choice between leaving his sister and getting more money and staying and being poor. The choice is essentially between his "heart and soul," his sister, and the opportunity of escaping poverty. So in essence to become rich he would have had to abandon his heart and soul. In both governments then, it seems that the poor are still just "arms" and not men. The fact remains, however, that if Enrique had taken his shot in Chicago he would have broken the chains of poverty. But the cost was more than he could bear.

Important symbolic and metaphorical devices are used throughout the film to represent the overlying theme of adversity. The two clearest are the two old sisters that call out to Rosa when she is leaving G

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1280
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)