39 pages • 1 hour read
Francisco JiménezReaching Out
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Green Uniform
“Ever since I was four years old, I felt fear whenever I saw anyone wearing a green uniform,” the author declares. This refers to the time when Frank and his family were in the U.S. illegally and had to hide from la migra, the border patrol guards who wore green uniforms. Eventually la migra caught and deported the family. Even after they entered legally, Frank’s fear of green uniforms remains.
The green uniform symbolizes Frank’s apprehensiveness about his family’s illegal past. This fear is not fully exorcized until he confesses it to Laura and Father Shanks and obtains U.S. citizenship. But before then, Frank finds himself having to wear a green uniform as part of ROTC duties at college. This helps him get over his fear of green uniforms. Frank’s father goes so far as to praise him when seeing a picture of him wearing the uniform. Thus, the uniform also symbolizes the idea that our fears can be exorcized and transformed.
Ill-Fitting Suit
During their meeting, Mrs. Hancock gifts Frank with a fine pinstriped suit of her husband’s. When Frank brings the suit home, he realizes to his dismay that it is too big for him. The chapter title, “It Didn’t Fit,” suggests that the suit has symbolic meaning. It could signify that the new life Frank is pursuing outside the migrant community doesn’t suit him yet; it is something he needs to grow into. As a symbolic device, the suit indicates that there are still obstacles Frank has to overcome and problems in his life that he has to remedy.
Later Father O’Neill takes Frank to Macy’s, ostensibly to buy socks for himself. Instead, he buys Frank a new, perfectly fitting suit to wear to his graduate school interview. Here the new suit could symbolize the idea that Frank’s mentors and the other members of his community are helping to mold him into a new, more mature person. The well-fitting suit signals the resolution of Frank’s problems and hope for the future.
Fresco of St. Francis
The fresco mural painting of St. Francis of Assisi in the Mission Church at Santa Clara College is one of the main symbols of Frank’s religious faith. He visits the church and views the painting repeatedly during the course of the book—after receiving his first good English grade, after his family’s home burns down, and before graduation. The painting is a source of consolation both during times of distress and joy.
It depicts St. Francis with his foot on the globe and touching the crucified body of Christ. Contemplating the picture of his patron saint, Frank finds meaning in it for his own life. He identifies with Jesus’ sufferings on the cross, and feels that St. Francis is acting as a mediator of these sacrifices for Frank and the whole world. Thus, by contemplating the painting, its message comes alive for him. The use of pictures, statues, and other devotional objects is integral to Catholicism as a means in which the believer experiences God’s grace. Later in the book, when Frank is depressed about his impending graduation, he goes to the church and enjoys “the silence and the scent of incense and burning candles” (184).
St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226) is revered for having renounced wealth and embraced a life of poverty and charity. This connects with the theme of Frank and his family’s poverty, and the charity that he gives and experiences through his community. St. Francis is an apt symbol for Frank’s life.
Barrack
For many years, a humble army barrack serves as a home for the Jiménez family at the Bonetti Ranch. Despite the barrack’s poor living conditions, Frank’s mother keeps it nicely, adorning it with Mexican knickknacks to remind the family of their native country. The barrack is loaded with a number of meanings. It suggests the still relatively recent world war, when it was used as an active military compound. Although in disrepair and without running water, it symbolizes home and normalcy for Frank and his family. At the same time, it is also a symbol of the misery they hope to leave behind. The barrack’s destruction by fire (Chapter 21) is tragic, yet also suggests the hope that the Jiménez family will rise above their deprivations and enjoy a better life in the future. In a poem, Trampita elegizes their former home as a source of shame but celebrates the fact that he has overcome that sense of shame. The family’s new, rented home offers more comfortable living and is within walking distance of school, again suggesting hope and optimism for the Jiménez family.
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By Francisco Jiménez
