The Circui- post #2

Quote 1: "Then, for a long time, I thought about my librito and what Mamá said. I could see in my mind every word, every number, every rule, I had written in my note pad. I knew everything in it by heart. Mamá was right. It was not all lost." ~Francisco Jimenez in narration on page 93

Response 1: I thought this was really funny and cute of Francisco to say. He was so devastated that his beloved note book had been lost in the small house fire, but now he completely turns around and realizes that it's not a big deal at all, and I think this is totally childish and funny, but at the same time a good lesson. I think Francisco learned that it's not as much the material objects that make up a person, more so it's the feelings and things that we have and do that make us, us. I think Francisco learned a valuable lesson.

Question 1: I think I might have taken this quote differently than other people, what did you get from this quote?

Quote 2: "The instant I saw the green uniform, I panicked. I wanted to run, but my legs would not move. I began to tremble and could feel my heart pounding against my chest as though it wanted to escape too. Miss Ehlis and the immigration officer walked up to me. Putting her right hand on my shoulder, and looking up and the officer, she said sadly, "This is him." My eyes clouded. I stood up and followed the immigration officer out of the classroom and into his car marked 'Border Patrol.' I sat in the front seat as the officer drove down Broadway to Santa Maria High School to pick up Roberto." ~Francisco Jimenez in narration on page 111

Response 2: This quote almost brought tears to my eyes. Judging from the lead-up in the writing style, I could tell something really big was going to happen right at the end of the book. Even guessing that previously, this caught me by surprise! You know that the whole time, the family is trying to stay in California, even though they were illegal aliens, but this is really intense. I think the whole novel leads up to this in a way, and I think the author did a really good job of portraying the emotions of the little boy experiencing the whole affair. I think Francisco knew what was goin to happen to him in the next few hours, and so do you, that's why the author ended the novel there, and not continuing to explain how the rest of that day went (also, there's a second book that we're reading).

Question 2: Do you think that the author should have ended the book a little bit after this (maybe explaining more about the issue at hand), or did what he did and stopped there?