Jessie de la Cruz: A profile of a United Farm Worker

Soto, Gary. 2000. Jessie de la Cruz: A profile of a United Farm Worker. New York: Persea Books. 0-89255-253-0.

Plot Summary

The story of Jessie de la Cruz is a beautiful, rich, life journey of a strong woman. Jessie had the courage and perseverance of a hardworking farm worker who harnessed her strengths in order to bring people together for La Causa. Soto retells Jessie’s life from her youth during the Depression to the present. It is a portrait of a United Farm Worker, an activist who influenced many other workers over the course of her lifetime. It is a harrowing, honest depiction of a Mexican-American woman with the soul of a natural human rights activist.

Critical Analysis
Gary Soto recreates so many aspects of Jessie’s life, family, and work in this flowing narrative. It is vivid in illustrating her life in all of its trials and tribulations, and beautifully shares the voice of Jessie and her strength and optimism throughout. This is a historical look at the development and work of the United Farm Workers organization and its many everyday activists.

The text is a bit raw, and often the sentences lacked solid footing. This may have been in light of making the story readable to a younger audience, but this reader felt it made the book seem poorly edited. It reads like the author is transcribing the interviews and less like a storyteller sharing a tale of a life. For example, "More often than not life was severe for young Jessie. She kept being pulled from school in order to work in different rural places" (p8). The reader remains at a great distance from Jessie as a character by this style of writing.

The photographs give the reader a better understanding of the issues raised in the text. Such as, the conditions in the workcamp (p59), the experiences associated with picketing (p63), and the position of a body planting all day long (p65) . They also give a historical context because of the time period they were taken during, by way of the automobiles, the dress and hairstyles.

Soto does an excellent job at illustrating how Jessie's story is not only similar to other Mexican-American California laborers, but also the similarities and struggles between the undocumented Mexican laborers that were at odds with the strikes. Jessie shows how the fight was about the workers, all of them, regardless of their backgrounds, and against the officials and farm owners that oppressed the workers.

Providing personal expressions and intimate emotional feelings, Soto gives the impression that Jessie exposed all of herself in order to make the story accurate. For example, when driving through Yosemite with Blanche, Jessie joked, "My brother taught me a lot of English words, but I had trouble with the word 'Yosemite'. She used to pronounce it "Yo-so-mite". In the next paragraph, "Only weeks before, she had been sleeping in a fancy hotel...now she was bent over a row of plants...her arms and legs were tired"(p80). Soto continually juxtaposes the various aspects of Jessie's life in this way. Perhaps to illustrate the true nature of an activist, still working in the field against the very situation she was fighting to improve. Perhaps, to show the vast gap between those that had and those that did not. However, her story would not certainly be as fantastic had she "continued to move up the ranks into office jobs" as other activists in the UFW were doing. It is never clear why she continues to live and struggle in this way, or if it is by choice.

Jessie's identity as a Mexican-American is important to understanding every aspect of the story. She identifies with her brothers here in California as much as she identifies with them in Mexico and fellow Filipino workers, but it is never questioned that she is American. This is best exemplified in her congretional testimony at the end of the book. Her use of Spanish to communicate with the workers was vital to bringing people together, understanding the goals, and preserving that sense of unity. Her use of English to communicate with the officials was as essential to bring the message across in conversations with the government. This bilingualism is an extremely valuable asset to the UFW movement and to her role within the work and the fight. Soto, does not address this forthright, however it is a component that the book implies and would be understood by the young adult audience.

Jessie's financial circumstances are a vital component to the story. It is mentioned several times the way she prepares food (and what she prepares: tortillas, beans, etc), clothes, and home every evening for her family even after working all day in the field. She was forced to learn the brutal lessons of death by losing several family members in one year and this becomes a foundation for her continued perseverance and resilence through trials to come. The struggles of farmworkers are likely similar today. Indeed, most of the problems workers were facing during Jessie's life are still current today. The immigration politics today rest on alot of this struggle.


Review Excerpts

"In this clear and moving narrative, enhanced by photographs of the period, Jessie De La Cruz comes to life. Her feelings and experiences are captured against a background of the Depression and the civil rights and labor movements. For those looking for inspiration, who wish to do big things-Jessie is living proof that it can be done." http://www.perseabooks.com/jessiedelacruz.html





"I was so deeply moved by this portrait of a true American heroine." - Studs Terkel http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780892552856&z=y#CRV


"While unapologetically devoted to his subject, the author effectively personalizes the struggle of farmworkers in a manner that will enable students to understand and care about their triumphs."-Mary R. Hofmann http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780892552856&z=y#CRV



Connections

Other Mexican-American migrant worker's experiences:

• Breaking Through, or The Circuit, or Cajas de Carton or La Mariposa all by Francisco Jimenez
• Voices from the Fields by S. Beth Atkins

United Farm Workers tie-ins:

• Harvesting Hope: The story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull
• Cesar Chavez: a hero for everyone also by Gary Soto
• Dolores Huerta juvenile biographies

Other female labor activists to introduce:

• Mary (Mother) Jones (1843-1930) labor unions (1843-1930)
• Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964) American Civil Liberities Union
• Activists involved in the great Arizona mine strike of 1983
• Rose Pesotta (1896-1948), labor organizer and ILGWU board member

Additional Information


Author Gary Soto was once a farm worker himself.

Tomas and the library lady

Mora, Pat. Illustrated by Raul Colon. 1997. Tomas and the library lady. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 0679804013.

Plot Summary
Tomas is a member of a migrant worker's family. He moves to a new town in Iowa and after hearing all of his Papa Grande's tales, he suggests that Tomas go to the local library to learn new stories. The librarian shares new books with Tomas at every visit and Tomas' imagination is inspired by the tales he reads. When it is time to move on, he and the librarian have to say a sad adios.

Critical Analysis
This book shares a unique perspective about a population of children often overlooked in literature. The book left me feeling that the story was incomplete, however. The smattering of Spanish words throughout the text felt forced and out-of-context in each situation. Perhaps my hesitation to embrace this book has a little to do with the stereotypical librarian "look" and the heroic light she is placed in. It seems very rosy and does a surface job addressing the complex emotions that one would think to come with a child in this situation.

At the end of the book, the author notes that Tomas went on to becoming the chancellor of the University of California at Riverside. The story and the facts of Tomas' life insinuate that because of the librarian's influence on the child, because she "introduced" him to fantastic books, he later became a success. It leaves little room to credit the Papa Grande for instilling a love of stories as an important factor in his education. Also, it leaves little credit to Tomas' strength of curiosity, drive to excel or other factors like family support that may be as influential or more so than the library lady. This reads that the child would not have succeeded without this White lady's influence and was destined to be a migrant worker like the other members of his family and this is somehow not a success.

The author did a nice job showing how the books inspired Tomas' imagination as much as the stories Papa Grande told. The illustrations that supported the pages where Tomas was reading a book about dinosaurs are equally as vivid and evocative as those where he is listening to Papa Grande's stories. I liked the way Tomas was being sent to the library to learn stories to share with his family and to read to his Papa who requests "Read to me in English." This encouragement and "mission" is obviously a big reason why Tomas embraces the library lady's stories. It is a plausible situation and beckons the question why the brother or other children do not go with Tomas to the library. Indeed, if they were also "playing" during the day while their parents worked the fields, the other children would surely come along. It is unlikely, however, that the children did not also work in the fields with their parents. Tomas was old enough and often this is the case with migrant families.

The library and the stories read and heard, implies a sort of escape from their daily lives. This is true for all readers, young and old, living in every situation. In this way the story could perhaps be universally inspired to all children whether or not they can relate to Tomas' circumstances. It was also a positive look on a brief exchange of languages with Tomas teaching the librarian some words in Spanish in a sort of cross-cultural exchange.

Colon's images were calming, alluring and the color tones gave a desert, southwestern feeling rather than a midwestern feeling, perhaps more a nod to the roots of Tomas' heritage rather than his temporary home. The pictures have texture and depth. The characters were faintly a part of the landscape and backdrop as were the books in the library alluding to a seamless transition.

The Mexican heritage of Tomas was second to the story's message. The few words that were inputted into the pages were simply replacements for the English words, aside from the pan dulce that Tomas gives the library lady from his mother. They added no depth or greater understanding of the character's identity other than that his family uses Spanish terms to address each other. This is surely not the entire picture. It is plausible that the community speaks Spanish amongst themselves and the story would have been richer with this illustrated in some way. The dress of the characters does not stereotypical "look" like traditional Mexican dress which is most realistic for a family living in the United States doing work all day in the corn fields.

The storytelling tradition of elder regaling family around a circle after a hard day's work can be more illustrative of a Mexican family, or rather, not as commonly seen in the European descents that inhabit America today. The idea of community, and extended family that is implied in the same is also representative. Nuclear families who only read for their entertaining stories would be more typical of a White family's experience.

The time period is also something to note. The authors note at the end gives the life time of Tomas Rivera, whom the story is written about. The fact that his experience took place after the Depression, during the beginning days of farm workers unions is important. The story gives no historical context and does not focus on the conditions at the workcamps or in the fields. This is unfortunate because the medium and method could lend a slight introduction to such a context. All in all, it was a well illustrated, simple tale, that felt incomplete, a bit too rosy and shallow.

Review Excerpts
"What an enjoyable realistic fiction story that certainly encourages students to discover the joy of reading. " - Teri Viken at http://www.cedu.niu.edu/%7Ecarger/culture/tomas.html

"A gentle text and innovative artwork" - Publishers Weekly http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375803499

"Colón's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered." - Kirkus Reviews at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780375803499


Connections
For a series presenting different profiles of librarians and the way they inspire a love of reading, pair this title with two of my favorites:

• Suzanne Williams' Library Lil' (0803716982)
• Sarah Stewart's The Library (0374343888)
• Barbara Joosse's Hot City (0399236406)

For a series focusing on the Mexican American migrant child's experience like Tomas', pair this title with:

• Atkin's Voices from the fields: children of migrant families tell their stories (0316056332). This book includes photographs, poems and interviews and would allow the reader to understand Tomas' story through real people.
• Karen Papagapitos Jose's basket (0963732813). A similar tale as Tomas with a teacher in the role.

For a series focusing on the power of the story and books to inspire the imagination as they did for Tomas, pair Tomas with:

• David McPhail's Edward and the pirates (0316563447)
• Michael Garland's Miss Smith's incredible storybook (0142402826)

Additional Information
The author's note at the end of the story gives a brief biography of the real Tomas Rivera, whom this story is inspired by.