The Circuit By Fanciso Jimenez

This story has to be one of the most difficult stories for me to read. It's a sad story of a child who is poor and  family is always moving around. When I open the book, and read the first few sentences, I knew it was about immigrants. It reminded me about a study I did back in high school about immigrants. Some of these people come to America with no papers and become strawberries pickers or cotton pickers, off the book. They usually do this because they have no other options, and people allow them to work because it's cheap labor. They usually get paid between 30 cents and $5 dollars an hour, depends on who you are working for and the way you work. They work by the season, the best season to work is when its hot, like spring and summer. That's when things are blooming and growing, therefore more work to do and money. However, its no way to live. It broke my heart how the children in the book must help their father so they can get more money for the family but must lose out on an education. Education is the key for them to get out of that work cycle, and live under better conditions, instead of always moving around. The most impact was when the little boy was learning to read and was going to start learning the trumpet, but when he arrives home, he saw the boxes packed, he knew that once again, he was leaving. The ending made me wonder what will happened to the child? clearly the child has potential to be successful and I hope he continues his thirst for knowledge. 

"Rules of the game" by Amy Tan

"Rules of the Game" By Amy Tan in Leaving home book is about a little chinese girl named Wavely Place Jones. She was born in America but her parents were born and raised in China. Hence, her parents are very strong minded about the chinese culture. Wavely was taught about China and their culture at home by her parents but she also learned about the American's culture. Therefore, Wavely always felt the differences between from both cultures, as her mother once said, "This American rules, every time people come out of the foreign country, must know rules. You not know, judge say, too bad, go back.(page 43)" Wavely's mother always made it clear that there was the "American way" and the "China way". This reminded me of about the picture we once discussed in class, called "How Mali lost her accent", its a picture about a small girl, conflicted between her heritage and America, She lost her accent by adapting into the American's way. Everyone struggle with identiy issues, always. Especially if your ancestors were foreign or your grandparents are from a foreign country, you will learn about your heritage culture, not the America's culture. For an example, my grandparents were born and raised in Puerto Rico, and growing up at home, I was taught spanish, how to cook spanish food, spanish culture, etc. However, at school and outdoor activities, I was learning about the American's culture. I feel like this issue will always be around, especially since America is so diverse and has all these different cultures in it. It's easy to get lost and conflicted but that is the beauty of America.