Chapter 6

This chapter opens with Antonio waking on his first day of school. This will be the first time that Antonio will be away from his mother and he is both excited and sad.

Maria, Antonio's mother, ask Ultima to bless the children before they go off to school. When Ultima places her hand on Antonio's head, he feels as if he is caught up in a whirlwind. Once, Antonio had indeed been caught in a dust devil, which Antonio believed holds an evil spirit of a devil. He wonders, "how could the blessing of Ultima be like a whirlwind? Was the power of good and evil the same?"

Maria then begs Ultima to tell her what Antonio will become. Ultima sadly answers that "he will be a man of learning."

As Antonio is leaving the house he looks "at the three of them standing there, and I felt that I was seeing them for the last time: Ultima in her wisdom, my mother in her dream, and my father in his rebellion."

When Antonio gets to school he is lost and afraid; his sisters were suppose to take him to his teacher, Miss Maestas, but they are no where to be seen. An older boy, noticing Antonio's distress, leads him to the first grade classroom.

Antonio's friend has told him that letters have magic and when he meets Miss Maestas he want to immediately ask about this magic. but instead he quietly watches her as she writes his name on a piece of paper. Antonio spends the morning practicing and by noon is able to write his name.

The joy Antonio feels at this achievement is short lived however because when Miss Maestas introduces him to the class, the other children point and laugh at him. At lunch time the children again laugh at him when he takes out his lunch of beans, chilies and tortillas. Embarrassed, Antonio leaves the classroom and hides at the back of the school. He tries to eat, "but a huge lump seemed to form in my throat and tears came to my eyes. I yearned for my mother, and at the same time I understood that she had sent me to this place where I was an outcast. I had tried to learn and they laughed at me; I had opened my lunch and again they had laughed and pointed at me."

"The pain and sadness seemed to spread to my soul and I felt for the first time what the grown-ups call, la tritesa de la vida" [the sadness of life.]

Antonio then notices that two other boys, George and Willy, have also left the classroom. "We banded together and in our union found strength. We found a few others who were like us, different in language and custom, and a part of out loneliness was gone. When winter set in we moved into the auditoriou and there, although many a meal was eaten in complete silence, we felt we belonged. We struggled against the feeling of loneliness that gnawed at our soul and we overcame it."


Discussion questions:
1) Why is Ultima sad that Antonio will be a "man of learning?"
2) What do you think Antonio means when he says of his parents and Ultima, "I felt like I was seeing them for the last time?"