Born in San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico, the second of nine children, Francisco and his family illegally emigrated to California when Francisco was four. (There the family became migrant workers in the fields of Central California, including Francisco, who began to work when he was only six.)
The family moved every several months, following the crops. This was difficult for the children, who craved stability. Most of the moves were sad for Francisco. “The thought of having to move… brought tears to my eyes… I could not sleep. I lay in bed thinking about how much I hated this move.”
Being continuously uprooted is very hard on children and their education and Francisco keenly felt this loss. “As we drove away, I felt a lump in my throat. I … looked at our little shack for the last time,” (Heide 181). The children often missed months of school while they were working digging carrots or doing other work in the fields. They looked, sometimes longingly, sometimes not, at the other children getting on the school bus. They also had to fear the authorities that would cause trouble for the family if it were discovered that the Jiménez children were truant. Francisco recounts, “We did not want to get into trouble for not going to school,” (Heide 182). Francisco’s father warns him and his brother, “Tienen que tener cuidado,” (“You must be careful.”) (Heide 182).
Both Francisco and his older brother Roberto feel badly about missing school. When Francisco goes off to sixth grade in November and leaves Roberto in the fields to work until the crop is finished, in February, he can barely look at his older brother. “I sat… across from Roberto… I did not want to look up and face him. He was not going to school today. He was not going tomorrow, or next week, or next month” (Heide 182).
During the time that Francisco was out of school while working in the fields, he would forget the English that he had learned and have to relearn it. When he first goes to school and the secretary in the principal’s office asks him a question, Francisco is startled. “I had not heard English for months. For a few seconds I remained speechless,” (Heide 183).
Ties to friends and teachers were disrupted each time there was a move. When he is in sixth grade, his teacher, Mr. Lema, a caring man, finds out that Francisco likes music and particularly the trumpet, as played in Mexican corridos (popular narrative ballads). Mr. Lema offers to teach Francisco to play the trumpet and even lend him one. Francisco is so excited; he rushes home to tell his family. Once he reaches home, he is stunned to discover, “… when I opened the door of our shack, I saw that everything we owned was neatly packed in cardboard boxes” (Heide 184).
Despite the disruption to his education caused by missing months of school, changing schools, having to make new friends and adjust to new teachers and curricula, Francisco Jiménez managed to finish elementary school and high school and go on to graduate from university, eventually achieving a doctorate in Latin American literature from Columbia University. He now teaches at Santa Clara University (Santa Clara University). Though he didn’t write about it in “The Circuit,” it would be instructive to find out how Jimenez managed to overcome his disrupted education to be so successful.
Like many other Mexican immigrants, Jiménez overcame the obstacles that he faced in his life. This shows that he had the drive and persistence to work hard, face each obstacle and overcome it.
This book is highly recommended for intermediate level ESL students and above.
Works Cited
Heide, Rick, Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California,Heydey Books, 1st ed. Berkeley, CA, 2002. Print.
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