America Is in the Heart

America Is in the Heart

by

Carlos Bulosan

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America Is in the Heart: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
In Pismo Beach, Carlos finds Mariano and two other companions living in a cabin. He lives with them and they spend their nights in the gambling houses. Seeing that Carlos is hungry, a Korean woman takes pity on him and lets him eat in her restaurant. After one of Mariano’s companions dies, he burns down the cabin, leaving Carlos homeless again.
The Korean woman’s empathy for Carlos continues a new trend in which women (with a few exceptions) become primarily nurturing figures in Carlos’s life.
Themes
Beauty in Despair Theme Icon
Carlos goes to Seattle, where he again meets up with Julio in a Japanese gambling house. Julio teaches Carlos “the art of gambling” and shows off his spoils from pickpocketing, which he calls “works of art.” Julio encourages Carlos to work the gambling houses, and soon Carlos becomes adept at earning money through gambling, particularly at the game of Pi-Q. He works the gambling houses in Portland and San Bernardino and earns $500. “This is the life for me in America,” he says.
The reappearance of Julio reunites Carlos with the close friend who saved his life back at the apple orchard. In contrast to Amado, whose attraction to crime disgusts Carlos, Julio appeals to Carlos’s creative inclinations by framing crime as an artistic endeavor. This development shows both how insatiable Carlos’s creative urges are and how starved he is for opportunities to exercise them.
Themes
Beauty in Despair Theme Icon
Education vs. Ignorance Theme Icon
Carlos goes to the small island of Coronado, where he meets up again with Frank in a Filipino clubhouse. At the clubhouse, Carlos plays more Pi-Q, and he successfully cheats several Filipino laborers out of their wages. When Carlos learns that one of the men has a hospitalized wife, however, he buys the men groceries. He briefly considers an affair with Frank’s Mexican girlfriend, but reconsiders and then leaves for Stockton. He plays in the Japanese gambling houses, but becomes dispirited and finds a hotel room in San Luis Obispo. There, Carlos begins writing a letter to Macario and is thrilled that he can now write understandable English. He vows to tell the world about his story of struggle.
Carlos spends time working the gambling houses along the west coast, and the amount of money he makes temporarily blinds him to the reality of what he has become. Where he once lamented over Amado’s descent into a life of crime, the same lust for money and success that tempted Amado has now caused Carlos to become like his brother. Not until he is shaken by the reality of cheating fellow Filipino workers does Carlos reexamine this decision. Moreover, his discovery that he is now proficient in English offers him a positive goal to strive towards. This revelation marks a turning point where Carlos once again begins to see beauty in the world.
Themes
Beauty in Despair Theme Icon
Education vs. Ignorance Theme Icon