The Hardships In Francisco Jimenez's Short Story 'The Circuit'
Rances 1
Skye Rances
Professor Vasconcellos
English 100
27 October 2014
The Hardships Panchito and His Family Encountered
In the short story “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez, he told the story of Panchito 's experiences as being a part of a migrant family. According to Louis Levine, the author of
“The Migratory Farm Worker,” he acknowledged, “Migrants are persons who come and go, do not have roots in the community in which they work, and have no organized way of making themselves heard.” Panchito and his family, which included his Papa, Mama, older brother Roberto, and his little brothers and sisters, were originally from a state in West
Central Mexico called Jalisco. They moved from place to place hoping to find work as
laborers …show more content…
to support themselves.
Panchito and his family faced many hardships.
One of the hardships that Panchito and Roberto faced was the lack of education.
Knowing that both Panchito and his brother Roberto could not attend school, brought sadness to them. While working in the vineyards, they saw the school bus arrive everyday.
But they hid in fear of being seen by an authority on why they were not in school. They wished they were boarding the bus instead of having to work in the vineyards. But soon enough Panchito was able to enroll in the sixth grade since the grape season was finally over. The day Panchito was going to attend school, he could not look Roberto in the eyes.
As Panchito is sitting at the table across his brother Roberto, he said, “I did not want to look up and face him. I knew he was sad. He was not going to school today. He was not
Rances 2 going tomorrow, next week, or next month. He would not go until the cotton season
was over, and that was some time in February” (261). In other words, Panchito was lucky but at the same time he felt sympathy for Roberto because he knew how much he wanted to attend school too. When Panchito arrived at school, he felt intimidated by all the other children that had books under their arms and wore nice clothes. Hearing english for the first time in a long time, he was at a stutter for words. Panchito had trouble with english because he has not been exposed to the language in a while since all he had been doing was working along side his Papa and brother in the vineyards. He never made friends with any of the other children, but he had one best friend, his teacher Mr. Lema. Mr. Lema helped him with his schooling and brought happiness to Panchito. The fact that Panchito got to attend school brought joy to him, but in the end, finding all his belongings packed up on boxes to leave brought sadness back to him.
Panchito and his family had to constantly migrate from one place to another. They are a family from a western part of Mexico, that migrated to the United States hoping to find work. They had jobs working on labor camps, which did not make much. The reason why they had to migrate so much was because their jobs were seasonal. In the beginning of the story, their family had to migrate out of a strawberry farm because strawberry season was over. Soon enough they ended up on a labor farm of Mr. Sullivan, who had vineyards of grapes that they worked on. While Panchito waited to leave the strawberry farm, Jimenez wrote, “The thought of having to move to Fresno and knowing what was in store for me there brought tears to my eyes” (257). Panchito did not like having to migrate constantly.
He hated the sight of walking into the front door of their shack, and seeing everything
Rances 3 packed up into cardboard boxes. Since they had to migrate so often, they never had a nice place to live in with good living conditions.
Since they had to migrate so often, and they did not make a lot of money, it caused them to live in poor living conditions. They could not afford to live in big fancy houses. For them, anything that provided a roof over their heads would suffice. When they moved to
Fresno to work on Mr. Sullivan 's farm, they lived in an old garage. Jimenez described the garage as, “…worn out by the years. It had no windows. The walls, eaten by termites, strained to support the roof full of holes. The dirt floor, populated by earthworms, looked like a gray road map” (259). It was not the nicest place to live, but they were happy in spite that they found work. They also did not normally eat three meals a day. In fact, normally they would only eat as a family at dinner time. Panchito 's Mama would make cooked beans in her favorite pot. Her pot was a prized possession to her:
It was an old large galvanized pot she had picked up at an army surplus store in Santa Maria the year I was born. The pot had many dents and nicks, and the more dents and nicks it acquired the more Mama liked it. “Mi olla,” she used to say proudly. I held the front door open as Mama Carefully carried out her pot by both handles, making sure not to spill the cooked beans. (Jimenez
258)
Mama loved this pot no matter how many dents it may have acquired over the years. This pot symbolized family unity. It was the only time that they got to eat as a family, which was dinner time. They had to endure poor living conditions, and were also required to do hard labor work.
Rances 4
Being laborers, they had to do labor work that was exhausting and tiring. They worked out in the fields for about twelve hours in the blazing hot sun. Panchito said he could not wait to hear the words “Ya, esora”, which Jimenez asserted, “Those were the words I waited for twelve hours a day, everyday seven days a week, week after week. And the thought of not hearing them again saddened me” (257). Panchito did not enjoy working on the fields and could not wait for the day to be over. The conditions that they worked in drained all of their energy:
Around nine o’clock the temperature had risen to almost one hundred degrees. I was completely soaked in sweat and my mouth felt as if I had been chewing on a handkerchief. I walked over to the end of the row, picked up the jug of water we had brought, and began drinking. “Don 't drink too much; you 'll get sick,” Roberto shouted. No sooner had he said that I felt sick to my stomach. (Jimenez 260)
They worked hard in the sun, in high temperatures, and drank water that made them sick.
And considering that he is only in the sixth grade and having to that type of labor work, it wore him out. For Panchito, his Papa, and Roberto, working was not enjoyable for them.
Not only were those jobs hard, they were also unstable.
The main hardship that their family had to face was having unstable employment. If they had stable employment, they would not need to constantly migrate in order to find a job. They would make more money than what they would make as laborers. They would have a nicer place to live in and not have to live in poverty. All of the children would be able to attend school and earn an education instead of having to work in the fields with their
Rances 5 parents. If they had stable employment than they would not have to go through all these hardships and their family would be much happier.
Having unstable employment and being migrants, Panchito and his family faced hardships that brought nothing but sadness to his family. Having to constantly pack up cardboard boxes full of their belongings became a sad vision for Panchito to see.
Especially for Panchito and his older brother Roberto since they were not able to attend school regularly like normal children. Instead they had to work in the broiling sun, and live in a dirty old garage in the back of a labor camp. If Panchitos Mama and Papa had stable employment, they would not have to face these hardships everyday and would live much happier lives.
Rances 6 Works Cited
Jimenez, Francisco. “The Circuit.” Points of View An Anthropology of Short Stories.
James Moffett and Kenneth R. McElheny. New York: New American Library, 1995.
257262. Print.
Levine, Louis. “The Migratory Farm Worker.” Washington, 1956. Calisphere. Web. 29
Oct. 2014.
Skye Rances
Professor Vasconcellos
English 100
27 October 2014
The Hardships Panchito and His Family Encountered
In the short story “The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez, he told the story of Panchito 's experiences as being a part of a migrant family. According to Louis Levine, the author of
“The Migratory Farm Worker,” he acknowledged, “Migrants are persons who come and go, do not have roots in the community in which they work, and have no organized way of making themselves heard.” Panchito and his family, which included his Papa, Mama, older brother Roberto, and his little brothers and sisters, were originally from a state in West
Central Mexico called Jalisco. They moved from place to place hoping to find work as
laborers …show more content…
to support themselves.
Panchito and his family faced many hardships.
One of the hardships that Panchito and Roberto faced was the lack of education.
Knowing that both Panchito and his brother Roberto could not attend school, brought sadness to them. While working in the vineyards, they saw the school bus arrive everyday.
But they hid in fear of being seen by an authority on why they were not in school. They wished they were boarding the bus instead of having to work in the vineyards. But soon enough Panchito was able to enroll in the sixth grade since the grape season was finally over. The day Panchito was going to attend school, he could not look Roberto in the eyes.
As Panchito is sitting at the table across his brother Roberto, he said, “I did not want to look up and face him. I knew he was sad. He was not going to school today. He was not
Rances 2 going tomorrow, next week, or next month. He would not go until the cotton season
was over, and that was some time in February” (261). In other words, Panchito was lucky but at the same time he felt sympathy for Roberto because he knew how much he wanted to attend school too. When Panchito arrived at school, he felt intimidated by all the other children that had books under their arms and wore nice clothes. Hearing english for the first time in a long time, he was at a stutter for words. Panchito had trouble with english because he has not been exposed to the language in a while since all he had been doing was working along side his Papa and brother in the vineyards. He never made friends with any of the other children, but he had one best friend, his teacher Mr. Lema. Mr. Lema helped him with his schooling and brought happiness to Panchito. The fact that Panchito got to attend school brought joy to him, but in the end, finding all his belongings packed up on boxes to leave brought sadness back to him.
Panchito and his family had to constantly migrate from one place to another. They are a family from a western part of Mexico, that migrated to the United States hoping to find work. They had jobs working on labor camps, which did not make much. The reason why they had to migrate so much was because their jobs were seasonal. In the beginning of the story, their family had to migrate out of a strawberry farm because strawberry season was over. Soon enough they ended up on a labor farm of Mr. Sullivan, who had vineyards of grapes that they worked on. While Panchito waited to leave the strawberry farm, Jimenez wrote, “The thought of having to move to Fresno and knowing what was in store for me there brought tears to my eyes” (257). Panchito did not like having to migrate constantly.
He hated the sight of walking into the front door of their shack, and seeing everything
Rances 3 packed up into cardboard boxes. Since they had to migrate so often, they never had a nice place to live in with good living conditions.
Since they had to migrate so often, and they did not make a lot of money, it caused them to live in poor living conditions. They could not afford to live in big fancy houses. For them, anything that provided a roof over their heads would suffice. When they moved to
Fresno to work on Mr. Sullivan 's farm, they lived in an old garage. Jimenez described the garage as, “…worn out by the years. It had no windows. The walls, eaten by termites, strained to support the roof full of holes. The dirt floor, populated by earthworms, looked like a gray road map” (259). It was not the nicest place to live, but they were happy in spite that they found work. They also did not normally eat three meals a day. In fact, normally they would only eat as a family at dinner time. Panchito 's Mama would make cooked beans in her favorite pot. Her pot was a prized possession to her:
It was an old large galvanized pot she had picked up at an army surplus store in Santa Maria the year I was born. The pot had many dents and nicks, and the more dents and nicks it acquired the more Mama liked it. “Mi olla,” she used to say proudly. I held the front door open as Mama Carefully carried out her pot by both handles, making sure not to spill the cooked beans. (Jimenez
258)
Mama loved this pot no matter how many dents it may have acquired over the years. This pot symbolized family unity. It was the only time that they got to eat as a family, which was dinner time. They had to endure poor living conditions, and were also required to do hard labor work.
Rances 4
Being laborers, they had to do labor work that was exhausting and tiring. They worked out in the fields for about twelve hours in the blazing hot sun. Panchito said he could not wait to hear the words “Ya, esora”, which Jimenez asserted, “Those were the words I waited for twelve hours a day, everyday seven days a week, week after week. And the thought of not hearing them again saddened me” (257). Panchito did not enjoy working on the fields and could not wait for the day to be over. The conditions that they worked in drained all of their energy:
Around nine o’clock the temperature had risen to almost one hundred degrees. I was completely soaked in sweat and my mouth felt as if I had been chewing on a handkerchief. I walked over to the end of the row, picked up the jug of water we had brought, and began drinking. “Don 't drink too much; you 'll get sick,” Roberto shouted. No sooner had he said that I felt sick to my stomach. (Jimenez 260)
They worked hard in the sun, in high temperatures, and drank water that made them sick.
And considering that he is only in the sixth grade and having to that type of labor work, it wore him out. For Panchito, his Papa, and Roberto, working was not enjoyable for them.
Not only were those jobs hard, they were also unstable.
The main hardship that their family had to face was having unstable employment. If they had stable employment, they would not need to constantly migrate in order to find a job. They would make more money than what they would make as laborers. They would have a nicer place to live in and not have to live in poverty. All of the children would be able to attend school and earn an education instead of having to work in the fields with their
Rances 5 parents. If they had stable employment than they would not have to go through all these hardships and their family would be much happier.
Having unstable employment and being migrants, Panchito and his family faced hardships that brought nothing but sadness to his family. Having to constantly pack up cardboard boxes full of their belongings became a sad vision for Panchito to see.
Especially for Panchito and his older brother Roberto since they were not able to attend school regularly like normal children. Instead they had to work in the broiling sun, and live in a dirty old garage in the back of a labor camp. If Panchitos Mama and Papa had stable employment, they would not have to face these hardships everyday and would live much happier lives.
Rances 6 Works Cited
Jimenez, Francisco. “The Circuit.” Points of View An Anthropology of Short Stories.
James Moffett and Kenneth R. McElheny. New York: New American Library, 1995.
257262. Print.
Levine, Louis. “The Migratory Farm Worker.” Washington, 1956. Calisphere. Web. 29
Oct. 2014.