Miguel is 15 and he is preparing to make the dangerous trek from Mexico to California to reunite with his parents. However, his family will still not be complete because there is only enough money to pay for him to make the journey. His 13 year old sister, Elena, will remain behind with their abuelita, grandmother, and wait her turn to also make the trip north. While excited about crossing, Miguel does have mixed feelings about the separation. He is very protective of his younger sister, pulling her T-shirt down and scolding her to pick up her jeans so that her revealed skin doesn't attract unwanted attention. He realizes that it may be years before she can come to the United States too, and while he believes that she is capable of taking care of the family ranch, he wonders if she will be able to succeed in their dying, deserted town.
Miguel begins his journey and to his horror, discovers that Elena has followed him. Her presence brings about complications that bring them to south to Guatemala. A silver lining that emerges from this negative situation is that they befriend Javier, an older gentleman who takes them under his wing.
Javier provides a distraction that enables them to escape from the officials who detoured them to Guatemala. Javier meets up with the siblings and he schools them in what they need to do in order to make it to the border town where they will meet the coyote, or person to bring them over the border.
There is a lot of focus on relationships in La Linea. There is the obvious relationship between Miguel and Elena. While initially furious with Elena for sneaking along, after they outwit muggers in Guatemala, Miguel reveals, "Whatever we did, we had to do it as brother and sister. We'd been through too much to separate now. If Elena went to San Jacinto, I'd go too. If I went north, I'd take her with me" (Jaramillo, pg. 59). Miguel's attachment and commitment to bringing Elena north is further revealed later in the story. He would prefer to sneak aboard again the mata gente, "people killer" freight train, while Elena and Javier want to pay a driver to bring them north. Miguel tells Elena that he is separating from them and will continue on solo. He spends a restless night alone, reflecting on what he has told her and begins to question his decision. "What was our best chance of making it? Our best chance, I said to myself again and again. I realized I no longer thought about it as my trip north. I couldn't stand the thought of Elena going north alone. I couldn't stand the thought of me going alone, either" (Jaramillo, pg. 83). Miguel chooses not to hop the mata gente and travel with Javier and Elena, a decision that proves to be fruitful since the freight train later derails, killing hundreds of people.
Another important relationship that exists is the one between the siblings and Javier. When Javier was introduced, I wasn't sure if I trusted his character. I kept waiting for him to swindle the teenagers or cause them harm. However, Javier acts heroically for them time and again, and in a sense, he fills the role of the father they have never really known. Javier makes a point of telling Miguel and Elena that they remind him of his son and daughter that he left behind with his wife in El Salvador. There were times in the novel when I wondered if that was a fabricated story he told them because the truth was too painful to face. Ann Jaramillo leaves clues in the book that made me doubt his story. He seems too old to want to make a start in the United States. She describes him as having "silver hair and deep wrinkles around his mouth and the corner of his eyes" (Jaramillo, pg. 36). He becomes emotional when Elena transforms her appearance to look more like a boy. "You look like m'ija Magdalena with your hair like that," (Jaramillo, pg. 65). Then when they are in the desert, they come across the bodies of a mother and her young child. Javier speaks to the bodies as though they were his own children. Since Javier acknowledges that this trip will be his second attempt north, I wondered if his children and wife died during the first attempt north. Perhaps that is why he was so protective of the siblings, because he wasn't able to save his own. I found one of the most chilling parts was when he was telling them why they had to disguise Elena from the malicious train gangs. "They rob, steal, beat people up, and they rape many women," (Jaramillo, pg. 65). Then he instructs Miguel to take a black marker and write on Elena's chest. "Write 'Tengo SIDA' in big letters across her chest. The threat of AIDS might stop some men," (Jaramillo, pg. 66). Later, as they cross the desert, he tells Elena that Miguel is in charge. He abandons them in the night, but leaves his water for them to help them survive.
La Linea would be an interesting book to introduce to my students. There was a part of the chapter 3 text that I used in my response to From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun that would also apply here. Barbara Samuels contends, "...literature also helps free us from the stereotypes that we have about those whose backgrounds are different from our own" (Samuels, pg. 48). I use Francisco Jimenez's memoir, The Circuit, to discuss setting with my 7th graders. Those who are less mature and worldly tend to make stereotypical comments about Latin American immigrants taking away hard labor jobs, like landscaping, fruit/vegetable picking, or masonry. Miguel and Elena's story could open their eyes, because they don't know what people go through to come to the United States. Samuels also states that "Teens need to recognize that there are differences as well as similarities among the people who have a Latino/Latina background" (Samules, pg. 54). Although most of my students come from a privileged background, I believe they could appreciate the idea of reassembling a family. All Miguel and Elena wanted was to be reunited with their parents and meet their younger twin sisters.
Dr. Ries, I just watched the PBS video this morning. My feeling is that with any large organization, there will be those who choose to abuse their power. It doesn't necessarily mean that the entire organization is to blame. I think that border patrol agents have stressful and dangerous jobs. They are there to ensure that people do not enter the country illegally, and upon discovery, they do not know if they are coming across potential drug smugglers, terrorists, or innocent people who want a better life. That being said, it is deplorable to think that they would abuse and mistreat the people they take into custody. Perhaps better policing of the employees to ensure who is doing the job properly or more field supervision, would help to avoid these despicable episodes in the future.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned the other day at our meeting, I chose this particular story because I felt that it gives our students an opportunity to read about and, possibly, experience the pain that people will endure in order to get to the United States.............where they believe that life will be better. In addition, I believe that this story gives students an opportunity to think about the importance of family and what steps people will take to be reunited with their loved ones. I believe that our young people tend to make fun of or paint a negative picture of the South American immigrant who comes to this country for economic opportunity. They know very little about the economic and political climate that exists in the countries from which these people come. Nor do our young people know the backgrounds of the people who cross the border. I believe, as do you, that this particular story gives our rather privileged young people an opportunity to learn about the hardships that exist for many of these people as they sincerely attempt to unite with their families here in the U.S. You have done a wonderful job pointing out the strengths of this particular novel.
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