Jesse

“I thought of God almost every day, but when Abel and I went to chop cotton I thought of César Chávez.”

Here, Jesse unwittingly makes a connection between God and American labor leader César Chávez. God is an important force in Jesse’s life, but the figure and leadership of Chávez is becoming more prominent. In this quote, Soto replaces the image of God with the image of Chávez, as though they are interchangeable. This helps Soto promote Chávez as a god-like figure whose importance is second only to faith.

“I breathed the thick air. I had always wanted to go to England and stand on a cliff, facing seaward. The wind would be clean and so refreshing that I imagined all you had to do was stand there for a few minutes to get your lungs clear.”

This quote characterizes Jesse’s environment as polluted, both literally and metaphorically. Jesse is aware of this pollution but is mostly helpless to do anything about it. Instead, he dreams of environments in which clean air is literal and metaphorical. He imagines England’s seaside cliffs as a haven in comparison to his home. Despite his longing for other places, Jesse is defensive of his home.

“I felt that you first had to make things look real, and later, if you wanted, you could do strange artwork like twisting coat hangers into odd shapes.”

Jesse is a budding artist, and this quote captures his instincts. In formal art education, students are taught to create realistic depictions so they can experiment with form after mastering the basics. The same is true in writing, in which learning how to structure a classic sentence is an important step to experimenting with syntax and style. The quote highlights the importance of practice before exploration. It is literally about art, but it also provides a metaphorical message about life.

“…the few Mexican strikebreakers who were irrigating the fields. I could see them behind the vines, sitting in the sandy earth, their boots muddy from the water. None of them seemed interested in us no matter how loud we yelled. But I felt proud and sure that if we marched long enough they would see that we were serious.”

American labor leader César Chávez has called for a labor strike, but some people cannot afford to strike. Thus, even within the Chicano Movement, there are different factions with different needs. Jesse hopes that the rally will inspire the Mexican laborers still working in the fields to believe that the movement is in their best interest; Jesse doesn’t rally for himself, but rather an entire community of people. This quote implies that more needs to be done to convince all the workers that the strike is worth the time and risk.

“…I began to recognize the faces I passed, those of old men and women, their skin lined, their hair matted behind bandannas and hats. They were the faces of my grandparents, who had all been field workers at one time and who now peeled potatoes or sorted fruit for a living.”

Jesse sees the faces of his family and ancestors among the crowd at the rally. These are not literally his family members, but the imagery of his family is a way for Jesse to connect to the strangers surrounding him. While they may not all know each other at the rally, they are connected through their shared heritage and life experiences in America. This quote is a powerful depiction of the unity of the Chicano Movement: In highlighting how Mexicans and Mexican Americans are brethren, metaphorically if not literally, the Chicano Movement creates a shared goal and a common enemy. Again, Jesse thinks of others rather than himself. He realizes that he is attending the rally as reparations for the rallies his ancestors couldn’t attend. In making his future better, Jesse can remedy the pains of his family’s past. There is a certain upward mobility explained in this quote, in which Jesse’s family moved on from fieldwork to factory jobs. This implies that Jesse, as the inheritor of this past and the symbol of the family’s future, must aspire for more.

“We talked about it in the dark, and even after Abel fell asleep, I thought about the sea and why God made it first. I fell asleep feeling at peace.”

In this quote, the sea is a symbol of hope for Jesse and Abel, as well as a symbol of peace. The sea is symbolically heightened in importance in Jesse’s mind because God made it first. These symbols are important to the brothers because they have few symbols in their lives on which they can project their dreams and aspirations.

“It made me sad that my brother liked me so much.”

This quote is a poignant reminder of Jesse’s sense of shame and low self-esteem. There is little to question in Jesse’s relationship with his brother Abel. They are friends and siblings; they look out for each other and help each other through life’s challenges. Yet, Jesse is moved by his brother’s kindness. This highlights his lack of self-love, and perhaps a lack of understanding unconditional love.

“Love has a big price, as Abel had said beautifully. In bed I had prayed, and that made me feel good. I promised God that I would return to a deeper faith and that I would try to forgive Ron Dryer, whose name had come back to me while I prayed. I forgave him and forgave his friends for laughing at me.”

This quote emphasizes Jesse’s reliance on faith to help him through dark times. Former schoolmate Ron’s assault of Jesse and his friends’ mockery embarrassed Jesse in front of his crush Minerva and made him feel less than. This event exacerbates Jesse’s low self-esteem. But in relying on religion to forgive Ron and the other boys, Jesse proves that his faith is more powerful than his low self-esteem. Jesse also relies on Abel’s advice about love. This implies that Jesse is aware of how difficult it is to forgive those who have wronged him, but that his love for God is worth the difficulty.

“I was saved from boredom from the landscape, which I recognized from days chopping cotton and picking grapes. It kicked in a dusty memory of the time I worked on my knees nine hours – one hundred seventy-eight trays of grapes – so I could buy my mom an umbrella, one I had spotted hanging from the limp arm of a mannequin in a window.”

This quote highlights two important parts of Jesse’s characterization. The first is his connection to the land, which is more intimate and tumultuous than other people’s because he has toiled in it. The second is his devotion to his mother, for whom he worked relentlessly to give a gift. While simple, the umbrella symbolizes Jesse’s concern for his mother. An umbrella in a sunny place like Fresno is mostly unnecessary, further framing the object as more symbolic of love than practical.

“Everything moves, including the dead, and I knew that God wanted me to return and look at where I had slept on the damp ground, there, where a gopher poked its slick head through the crumbly earth. I promised that I would go to five o’clock mass when I returned.”

In this quote, Jesse sees God as an arbiter of his fate. Jesse believes God was responsible for having him revisit a place marked by consternation and disappointment. In a new context, Jesse sees the sight of one of his most difficult nights as a habitat for animals; there is a certain beauty to even the most challenging places and situations. Coincidences such as this one motivates Jesse’s renewal of his faith.

“Oranges were a winter fruit, but they hung on, bitter in April, for free picking. I tore into the orange with my fingers and began to eat.”

This quote highlights fruit as a symbol of Jesse’s perseverance and hope. Fruit is a natural part of the Earth, which Jesse believes was made by God. Therefore, his reliance on fruit as a source of nourishment is both physical and emotional. Jesse notices that the quote’s oranges survived past the winter, even when their environment was not ideal for survival. The oranges’ survival symbolizes Jesse’s own in an environment incompatible with his survival.

“I was surprised that you could get hit in the ear and the next week have a story written about it. Raul was the bravest person I knew, next to Leslie, who had been in Vietnam and had had to hug himself against gunfire.”

This quote emphasizes how Jesse is influenced by other men in his life whom he perceives as braver than himself. Jesse is impressed by Raul’s passion and resilience, but surprised by him getting media attention for sacrificing himself to la causa. This implies that Jesse doesn’t expect the media or its intended audience to care about people like Raul, even though he himself cares. The quote includes Leslie as one of Jesse’s heroes because he has seen trauma and violence that is foreign to Jesse. The image of Leslie hugging himself against gunfire in Vietnam implies that Jesse is impressed by his ability to endure hardships.

“While he squealed and splashed about, I thought of God shaping us from mud, stuff good in itself but useless when thrown about by a baby with three teeth.”

Jesse is often taken in by Glenda’s baby and his relationship with the world around him. The baby represents innocence but also the depths of pain that people can experience. In this quote, the baby delights in playing in mud, which Jesse connects to God because God created the Earth—which includes mud. He notes how God’s useful mud can be made useless in the hands of a baby. This is not an expression of doubt in God’s power but rather emphasizes the promise of people to find joy in God’s creations.

“He gave me a push and said I should realize by now that it was OK to go places that were non-Catholic. I looked down at my shoes, hurt that my brother would tell me to wise up in front of a girl I didn’t know.”

This quote highlights a gap of understanding between Jesse and Abel based on Jesse’s commitment to his religion. Though Jesse was raised Catholic and maintains his faith, Abel moved past it. Jesse’s Catholicism is one of the things that separates him from others because not everyone is religious. But his commitment to faith is also a commitment to himself. The quote also highlights how much Jesse wants the approval and support of his brother. Jesse has low self-esteem and is easily embarrassed, especially around girls, because he believes he doesn’t know how to talk to them. The quote is a small betrayal between brothers, but it is ultimately born of Jesse’s low self-esteem.

“I looked down at my own hands, a slant of pale hairs on each knuckle, and was grateful that I could lift my mug to my mouth without difficulty.”

This quote emphasizes Jesse’s capacity for gratitude, even for small things that other people may take for granted. Because of the nature of his work, Jesse is deeply connected to his body and worried about its early deterioration due to brutal working conditions. Here, he practices gratitude and physicality—respecting his body as a product of his God.

“…he reported that the carnales were falling, shedding real blood while the white boys were checking it out with binoculars and road maps. It made me sad that Mexican people were doing all the fighting just the way we were doing all the farmwork.”

This quote emphasizes the ways in which racism infiltrates every aspect of society, including war. A friend of Raul’s claims that in Vietnam, white soldiers are spared an extent of violence while Latino soldiers are sent out to fight and die. This implies that the Latino body is worthless to American society, something to take advantage of in order to protect white people. Jesse sees this mirrored in farm labor, in which Mexicans engage in back-breaking work that white people would rather avoid and ignore. The value placed on white bodies over brown bodies is a consequence of racism. The quote also foreshadows future danger for Abel (who is eventually drafted) and Jesse (who might be drafted).

“Instead of going home I walked to Lupe’s house and stood there for a while. I chewed a thumbnail with my nervous teeth and left with the taste of blood in my mouth, my hunger having gone too far.”

Lupe is a girl Jesse once adored in high school. Though he and Lupe aren’t friends, he walks by her house when he feels particularly lonely as a way of imagining a different life for himself—a life in which beautiful, smart girls like Lupe think of him too. This quote’s walk takes place right after Jesse feels inauthentic and uncomfortable at Raul’s house, emphasizing how lonely he is. The hunger mentioned in the quote is both a literal and metaphorical hunger for company.

“It wasn’t stealing, but it seemed wrong to want that aluminum so badly that I would haul more than I could carry at one time. But I begged my body to keep going and cursed everyone who would not understand that you had to do these things.”

This quote emphasizes Jesse’s poverty because the necessity to take aluminum to sell or use makes him feel ashamed, even though he knows it’s part of survival. Jesse relies on his body, his strength, to persevere through challenges because it is the one thing he can rely on. The quote also reveals Jesse’s acknowledgement that other people would judge or pity him for taking the aluminum—which makes his shame deeper.

“I didn’t miss living at home, though I did miss the home cooking and the free use of a washer and dryer. Here, with Abel, with Glenda, and now with Leslie, I felt I was with people I wanted to be with. Maybe that’s why I had dropped out of school.”

This quote expresses Gary Soto’s theme of the importance of community. It is notable that Jesse doesn’t miss any comfort or love from home because he didn’t have either. Instead, he misses the conveniences of home. He is happy to have let go of those conveniences in order to live a more authentically happy, if harder, life. Notably, Jesse is the one who creates this community. He was friendly with his landlord's daughter Glenda, connecting her with his brother; he is also the one who met Leslie at junior college and invited him over. The quote reveals that Jesse knows which communities are not right for him and that despite his fear of being alone, it is him who has the power to create his own community.

“‘I know it’s none of my business, but are you a hippie?’ She was concerned. ‘A good-looking boy like you shouldn’t have long hair.’”

This quote reveals one of the many generational divides that informed the American cultural ethos of the 1960s. Long hair was indicative of a person being a “hippie” to older people, a term they associated with laziness and loose morals.

“He told me that I was really smart and a good guy for helping him fight Ron Dryer. He thanked me, said three times he would remember me forever, and left with a skip in his step.”

Jesse wanted to see former high school friend Luis as someone to befriend, but Luis’s partying and lack of responsibilities make it difficult for the former to relate. However, Luis is impressed by Jesse’s independence. In Luis’s eyes, Jesse sees himself in a new, more positive light. Unbeknownst to Jesse, he has been impressing people and making them happy, a sign that he is doing everything he needs to do to form a community.

“I rolled onto my back and sighed for all those who have to run for their lives. All my life I’d tried not to hurt people in deep ways. You didn’t have to go to Vietnam to find fear. You can find it at school or on the corner.”

Fear marks Jesse’s life. He and Abel are on their own and must fend for themselves in a society that degrades them for having Mexican heritage. Furthermore, the threat of being drafted into the Vietnam War endangers their lives. Jesse knows fear well because he has seen people’s capacity to hurt each other. Notably, he identifies himself as a kind person who tries not to hurt others. Jesse’s kindness doesn’t go unnoticed, but it does make him feel less than, especially compared to people who fight. In this quote, Soto emphasizes that the world is full of different forms of danger.

“I told him I just wanted to be good. If I did everything everyone told me, I thought, I would get a job and live quietly. I said César Chávez is a good man, and he would make things better for all of us.”

In this quote, Jesse is having a private conversation with Raul’s friend Jesus; the name Jesus also evokes Jesse’s religion. Therefore, Soto plays with the name to suggest that Jesse makes this vow of being good and working hard to both Raul’s friend and his God. It takes a certain amount of courage for Jesse to tell Jesus, who is involved in la causa, that he himself prefers to keep his head down (as this is what is safest for him at the time). Jesse ultimately relies on Chávez to make changes that he feels powerless to control. The quote emphasizes Jesse’s quiet nature, the authentic part of himself that he is finally embracing.