The Circuit

Ashley Esteva

GSR 102

The Circuit

I love this story for so many different reasons. I feel so connected to this story and love every sentence of it. See you may need to know that I love history and throughout college I have taken as many history courses as possible. So last semester I had my History Since 1889 and my very peculiar teacher was very adamant about the class learning about the great depression and the dust bowl which had affected her parents. The story reminded me of the Grapes Of Wrath when the family is migrating from one work camp to another with hopes of finding, but never knowing if there really is any work left by the time they get there. This migrating family of the short story has to migrate to find work and support their family. They are striving to make the generations better. Although the father is unable to send his oldest son to school he is making a great effort to send his second son to school to earn an education. On another level I connect with the second son, Panchito, he went to school late and was not quite ready for his classes because he was starting school so late. Growing up I was always moving to different places and I remember in first grade I ended up attending three different schools that year and I missed picture day in all three schools. I didn’t really fit in anywhere because by the time I had gotten to a school the group dynamics of the class had already been set. For Panchito his best friend was his caring teacher who helped him improve his reading and exposed him to the hopes of learning to play the trumpet. I think it was wonderful how Mr. Lima helped Panchito. He really cared for him and was very sensitive to the young boy’s situation and circumstances. What really stuck with me was after such an amazing school experience and such a zeal for learning he was reminded of just how unstable his home life was when he found that all of his family’s positions were packed up, this has happened to me countless times and the feeling of your hear dropping never fades, it is always there at the worst times. Once I read the last line, I read the line again and again and again, and each time my heart dropped and I knew exactly how Panchito felt at that exact moment.