Running head: MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 1

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT”

LESLEY BUSH

WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 2

Abstract

The children of immigrants are directly and indirectly affected by the communities they

are a part of. The Circuit, by Francisco Jimenez, tells the story of a child of immigrants and his

experience with his family in the United States; coming of age and working within the farming

community. The building and maintenance of a community will be looked at based on the Bergen

Model of Collaboration, as well as, other aspects of the theory of community development, such

as human capital.

Key words: Immigrations, Mexico, Community, Human Capital.

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 3

Francisco Jimenez, otherwise known as Panchito, is a young boy who moves from the

State of Jalisco in Mexico to Santa Maria, California in the United States of America. The time

period of this story takes place in the late 1940’s. Francisco’s father, known as Papa, has a goal

of making a better life for his family. The family originally lived in El Rancho Blanco, which

was the farm community in Mexico where Papa milked cows and brought the milk into town via

a series of rudimental labors. Every day the five cows were milked by hand. Then Papa carried

the milk by horse for several miles to a truck, which then transported the milk into town to be

sold. The family slept on dirt floors with no running water or electricity and they bathed in a

river close to the house (Jimenez, 1997).

Papa was inspired to go to America to improve the living conditions for his family. He

visited his brother in Guadalajara, Mexico. His brother worked in a tequila factory and was able

to live in an apartment with electricity and running water. Papa wanted this same type of living

conditions for his family of Mama, Roberto, and Panchito. Stories were often told of life in

California was easier, full of streets of gold, and plenty of work for everyone. Papa saved money

and organized a three day journey for his family to move to Santa Maria, California.

Papa was a brave and optimistic man that that had the foresight to take the chance and

transport his family to America in hopes of improving the living conditions of his family.

Through his community network, he arranged for the safe travel of his family to a country he

really knew very little about. His actions can be explained through the Bergen Model of

Collaboration (Hope et al, 2014, p. 2). His financial resource was the money he was able to save

through the collective work of his family. His mission was to improve the living conditions of his

family. Then, through networking in his local community, he was able to plan and organize a

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 4

move to another country. This was before the modern technology of the internet and cell phones.

So, he made connections with people he met at the train station, and at the labor camp. He also

pre-arranged a plan to get under the barbed wire fence that separated Mexico from California,

and arranged for a ride to rural area of California to a place to work. Papa did this by tapping

into the support network of his community. The antagonistic problems; 1) the work was not

available for two weeks and 2) he was not aware of legal immigration process or the requirement

to obtain a green card. The first night in California, Papa, his wife and two young children slept

on the dirt under a Eucalyptus tree.

Illegal immigration from Mexico to California has been an issue from the late 1800’s to

the present day. General Profirio Diaz, ruler of Mexico from 1890 to 1910, needed a strong labor

force to support the Capitalists of his country. The people of Mexico were self-sufficient through

communal living established by the Aztecs (Chavez, 1989). General Profirio Diaz took away the

peoples’ right to land ownership and sold their property to other investors. Displacing the self-

sufficiency of the farmers, he successfully increased the labor force dependent on working for

someone else. The state of Jalisco in Mexico was one of the many regions that were affected by

Porfirio’s political action against the people (Chavez, 1989). In the United States of America, the

20th century was the beginning of an expansion in the agricultural industry. This led to displaced

land owners looking to California and the United States to find work, laboring in the fields.

The governments of Mexico and the United States worked out an agreement called the

Bracero Program, which lasted from 1942 to 1964. This agreement was established to ensure that

a labor force would exist to harvest the crops in California during World War II: then the

agreement was extended by the Korean War, and finally ended in 1964. Due to the end of the

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 5

Korean War, Public Law 78 (also known as the Bracero Program) was not longer extended by

the vote of the U.S. Congress in May of 1963 (Williamson, 1965).

The word “Bracero” means “manual labor.” The Jimenez family did just that; a lot of

hard manual labor. Papa, Mama, Roberto , and Panchito would work from 6 am to 6 pm in the

cotton fields and on average picked 600 lbs. of cotton. Their combined work efforts would bring

in one day’s income of $18.00 (Jimenez, 1997, p. 69). According to the Bracero Program, the

land-owner/farmers were to provide reasonable housing and wages for the manual labor. The

reality was that the farmers paid a very low wage to the workers in the fields, charged rent for

housing, as well as, a fee for transportation to the field to be harvested each day. After work

related expenses were paid, the immigrants were only able to save $1 to $2 dollars a month. This

money was needed to send back to families in Mexico or used to live off during the winter

months of no harvesting.

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 6

Gabriel, a fellow worker in the fields, shared his frustration with Panchito on the unfair

working conditions forced upon them. He was very discontent with the long hard hours he

worked in the fields because the pay he received only allowed him to save a few dollars to send

home to his wife and three young children, ages two, three and five. He misses his family greatly

and tells Panchito how lucky he is to have his family with him (Jimenez, 1997, p. 89). Gabriel

also had a heated disagreement with the contratista, or field supervisor, when he is told to tie a

plow to his waist and plow the fields. Gabriel is furious, he says that is work for animals and he

is a man. This was the first time Panchito sees a fellow worker complain about the work

conditions and pay (Jimenez, 1997, p. 91).

Garbriel's attitude of mistrust is a common outcome when social capital is misused and

people feel oppressed and helpless. Social capital is one element of a community that is

important to develop because it builds healthy communities, but when misused it can lead to

slavery. A healthy social capital is done by building a network of connections through

relationships that add to the common pool of personal development and sustainability within a

community. Panchito develops his social capital with his family, friends and neighbors, and

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 7

school. The relationships that he develops help to bring together the connection, information and

action that is needed to maintain and change a community. Gabriel is limited in his social capital

by his employer controlling the income Gabriel earns by whittling away his net income in

significant employment fees. The employer is also limiting the full potential of Gabriel’s work by

not supporting his fundamental value of providing for his immediate family (Homan, 2011, p.

42)

The act of self-respect, demonstrated by Gabriel when he refused to be treated like an

animal, gave Panchito the courage to stand up against Carlos. Carlos, who is an older kid at the

labor camp, refused to allow Manuelito to play a game. Panchito spoke up and refused to play

with Carlos unless Manuelito was allowed to play. Panchito's four brothers and one sister walked

away from the game, as well. This left Carlos by himself. Carlos quickly conceded and agreed to

allow Manuelito to play (Jimenez, 1997, p. 94). Panchito was building social capital by building

relationships with other children at the camp and had the courage to speak up when an injustice

was done to an individual who was not a part of his family and that adds to the awareness of

community consciousness (Homan, 2011, p.41-43).

Spiritual Capital is another aspect of the community which is often is not tapped into; and

that is not limited to organized religion. This also encompasses a deeper belief in something

bigger than life itself. It is an inner strength for a person to give their best effort in a situation and

it can often include or be reinforced by spiritual experiences through meditation, prayer, and

sweat lodges (Homan, 2011, p.41) It is this deep faith that can move a person beyond just doing

the right thing to be a part of a community to support each other through a deep sense of unity.

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 8

Panchito's Mama gave birth to another son in a tent located at the labor camp. His name

was Juan Manuel. His nick name was “Torito” which meant little bull. He was a healthy baby

and weighed 10 pounds when he was born. Torito became very sick at two months of age. His

symptoms included purple lips, locked jaw, fever, and blood in his stool (Jimenez, 1997, p. 32-

35). The older brothers were involved in washing out his soiled diapers. And Mama gave Torito's

cold baths to bring down his fever. The whole family prayed together to the Virgen de

Guadalupe, which was a faded picture of the Virgin Mary tied on a string in the tent of the

family.

Dona Maria was the camp's la curandera, or spiritual healer (Jimenez, 1997, p.36-44).

She rubbed baby Torito's belly with three raw eggs and pulled the skin on his back. She said

prayers over him the whole time. The baby did not get any better. But the whole family

continued to pray. Papa finally took Torito to the local hospital. The Doctor told Mama and Papa

they had waited too long and there was nothing they could do so after three days at the hospital

they brought their baby back to their tent. The only thing left for the family was the spiritual

capital that made the family a part of the community; the family hoped that together with the

community spirit the baby would heal. Torito did heal. It took some time, but the love and faith

from the community seemed to be the only thing that held the family together while they

believed, earnestly that Torito would heal.

In closing, systems theory brings to light how communities within communities affect

each other. The political community of General Porfirio Diaz built a family community that was

dependent on; because he took away ownership of land by the common people. This left the

common people very poor and vulnerable. The agriculture community in the United States of

America was in need of workers in 1942 to 1964 due to a large mass amount of men and women

MEMOIR ANALYSIS FOR “THE CIRCUIT” 9

serving out of the country in World War II and the Korean War. Mexico and The United States of

America collaborated and agreed to The Bracero Program. The type of work available became a

central theme in building social capital. One of the aspects in social capital is to build networks

and relationships of individuals to support each other or to control each other. Another type of

social capital is spiritual capital. Spiritual capital is the deep seated belief of the community in

something bigger than themselves. This type of capital is needed to sustain community

development and strength. Community development can be studied and analyzed to support and

troubleshoot problems; or to destroy the network of relationships (Homan, 2011)..

References

Jimenez, F. (1997). The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Albuquerque: University of

New Mexico Press.

Chavez, L. (1989). Review Essays: Recent Research on Mexican Immigration. Mexican

Studies, 5(1), 113-125. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from Jstor.

Williamson, J. (1965, April 1). The Bracero Program and its Aftermath An Historical Summary.

Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://americanhistory.si.edu/bracero/introduction

Homan, M. (2011). Theoretical Frameworks for Community Change. In Promoting Community

Change. Belmont: Brooks/Cole.

Hope, J., Fernandez, M., & Mullen, P. (2014). Evaluation of a Community- Academic

Partnership:Lessons From Latinos in a Network for Cancer Control. Health Promotion

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149).

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Marcelli, E., & Cornelius, W. (2001). The Changing Profile of Mexican Migrants to the United States:

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131.

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Implications for Mexican and Central American Manual Labor in the United States. Latin

American Perspectives, 40(192), 78-92. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from History.

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Taylor, J., & Martin, P. (1997). The Immigrant Subsidy in US Agriculture: Farm Employment, Poverty,

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