Lauran Burnham > Recent Status Updates

“Life”• This is such a bleak outlook for life in comparison to Romantic poetry about life. I like how it is two three-lined stanzas, which gives the message that life is brief.

“The Young Warrior”• structured with what a son wishes for his mother to do and not do as he goes to fight for a cause. This with be beautiful framed for a little boy’s room.

“Mother Night”• Extended Metaphor of night and day and life and death.

“We to America”—So far this poem is my favorite. It is brief, and I love the duality in it.

“Moving Still” starts off hopeful. You are led to believe that Panchito and his family will be able to settle down and build a normal, stable life. However, as he learns about the equality of man and their inalienable rights to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, it is stripped away, and you must infer that they had to begin again.

“To Have and To Hold” explores the idea that having something does not equate a tangible holding of that object. Two of Panchito’s favorite things—his penny collection and his librito—were lost. One to his little sister’s acquisition of gumballs and the other to a house fire. His mother taught him that in the end he had family and the contents of his notebook in his mind and heart.

In “Learning the Game,” Francisco juxtaposes a recurring game of kick-the-can with a bully named Carlos with work in a field with Gabriel who is bullied by a contratista. He is not learning a literal game, but he is learning how to be a man in reality–standing up for those who are weaker and mistreated.

“The Circuit” is not only a story about the circuit of arriving and leaving for the work in the fields, but it is a circuit of gained and lost opportunities for Francisco in his education. He dreads the leaving but makes the most of it when he arrives at his new location. However, this particular trip on the circuit is a little heartbreaking for the young boy who had hoped to learn the trumpet.

In “Cotton Sack,” Francisco wants to prove that he is old enough and capable enough to have his own cotton sack. However, his dad tells him no, so when they are trying to find more cotton fields to pick in between the first harvest and la bola, he goes to pick cotton with his father and Roberto in a field one cold day. Thinking this is his chance, he goes before his father and learns that he isn’t ready.

While I do not think Henry’s depth of thought matches his age, I can suspend my disbelief because I believe he is meant to be somewhat of a genius: isolated and analytical. It is in chapter six that I am relieved to see the principal is not a typical stupid authority figure. It appears he is actually a source of encouragement and confidence for Henry.