Rhetorical Analysis: "The Circuit" by Francisco Jimenez

In his piece of writing, “The Circuit” writer Francisco Jimenez was successful with his reflective story about how living as a migrant worker, working in the vineyards, and not being able to attend school all the time when he was young affected the way he spoke. He was very descriptive and detailed when it came to reflecting to a specific time in his life that impacted him greatly and it was very eye luring for his readers. Since he experienced the difficulties of transitioning languages from Spanish to English and mentions it throughout his story, he is able to appeal to children of migrant workers through emotions. I would say that one of his purposes is to inform people of the disadvantage that children that come from migrant parent workers have when it comes to adjusting to a different language, that is not their native spoken language.


Paragraphs 1-3- Jimenez introduces to his readers a reflective story. He reflects back to a specific time in his life, which in this case it was the end of the strawberry season. He states that his family was from Mexico enabling us to see that he comes from a Mexican family who migrated to the United States.

Paragraphs 4-6- He gives us a sense of sadness, and he allows the reader to assume that moving from one place to another was something he did constantly. It was something that he dreaded and hated.

Paragraph 7-11- Jimenez goes into detail about his father’s “Carcanchita” or ’38 old black Plymouth and his mother’s pot. Even though the two objects are old and worn out they are portrayed as something important to each one of his parents. Each of his parents are proud of having acquired such nice and sturdy objects, that come along as well when they’re moving from one place to another.

Paragraph 12-17- Jimenez and his family arrived in Fresno, where they quickly got a job picking crops from a vineyard for the whole season. Their new home was not in the best conditions, but as long as it was shelter for his family, it was good enough for them especially if they had nowhere else to settle down for the whole season.

Paragraph 18-23- He describes his first day of work in the new vineyard as very exhausting and thirst quenching under the hot sun. He also lets his readers know that him and his brother are not enrolled in school because they help their parents out by working in the fields alongside their father. They have a fear of being caught by an authority and have them question them because they are not currently enrolled in school.

Paragraph 24-26- Once the grape season was over, Jimenez was finally able to start the sixth grade. He was relieved since he no longer would be going to work in the vineyard.

Paragraph 27-35- Since Jimenez worked in the vineyards with his father and older brother, he was not exposed to the English language for months therefore he struggled to speak it when he enrolled for the sixth grade. He struggled with the pronunciation of new words, but with the help of Mr. Lema he was able to overcome his struggles.