Roles In The Film The Harvest By Robin Romano

Roles, on page 103 chapter four, are “the behaviors. Obligations, and privileges attached to a status” (Helmsin). In the documentary, The harvest by Robin Romano, Roles in the families shown change constantly. However there were two people in the documentary where their roles changed in major ways. The first would be with Perla Sanchez. With her father’s health failing, and her mother’s health already in a bad enough state that she cannot work. Perla now has to take on an accelerated role of being a caregiver for her family at a very young age. Thus her hopes of finishing high may have been dashed. The second role change is with Zulema Lopez. At the young age of twelve, Zulema did not have any dreams or hopes. After having a horrible experience
in visiting her grandparents down in Florida, she returned to her mother back in Michigan. Because of the experience she had down in florida, Zulema had them come to terms with the role she’s bound to do. Basically being a migrant worker like her mother, and the little hopes she had were destroyed.“The social significance of roles is that they lay out what is expected of people” (Helmsin), and it seems that the roles for these two girls has been set. The roles, in this movie, for these people both took took turns that altered their lives and sadly at a very young age. “Roles are like fences.They allow us certain freedom, but for most of us that freedom doesn’t go very far” (Helmsin). Sadly, this is true for those children. Their freedoms went only so far till other issues with their family, or work, shattered it, and at a young age for these two. This is one of the definitions, within the book, that were altered drastically and have changed the lives of the three people in this documentary.