Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in America Is in the Heart, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Beauty in Despair
Race and American Identity
Education vs. Ignorance
Poverty
Summary
Analysis
Nick attempts to help Carlos bear the “black frustration” that defines his life by sharing a large bottle of wine. Fearing he will soon confront death, Carlos decides to “squeeze every minute to the last drop of activity.” After a month, Carlos recovers from his illness. He boards a bus for California and meets a teenage girl named Mary who is headed for Los Angeles. She follows Carlos to his apartment, where Ganzo, Victor, and Amado are sleeping on the floor.
Carlos’s reinvigorated to desire to make the absolute most of the time he has left brings him back to the circle of friends and associates who first gave his life meaning through the labor movement. He even meets another American woman, Mary, who becomes another in the long line of kind female characters who nurture Carlos through hard times.
Themes
Nick’s enemies in the union fire him from his role as secretary-treasurer. He goes to Alaska, but the union there is also weak. During this period, reactionaries gain control of the CPFR and the UCAPAWA locals. Carlos confides his sorrows to Mary, and she becomes “a symbol of goodness” in Carlos’s world. Conrado Torres also moves into the apartment, where he spends his days drinking with José.
The reactionaries’ claiming of the local unions demonstrates the precariousness of the unions’ very existence. But even as Carlos worries that his life’s work will once again fall to pieces, he finds solace in the beauty that Mary represents.
Themes
Several poor Mexican children live in Carlos’s neighborhood, and one small boy sneaks into Carlos’s kitchen and gets drunk on wine. José continues to give the boy wine every day, and the boy becomes a drunk. Carlos pities the child, but he recognizes that the boy is starving, and that “the wine gave him release, and soothed his hunger.” Carlos wonders what will become of the boy, and whether he will revolt against his circumstances or succumb to them.
Much like the schoolchildren Carlos previously encountered having promiscuous sex in the restaurant, the starving Mexican child demonstrates how the ravages of poverty introduce adult vices into children’s lives. Carlos cannot help but recognize himself in the boy.
Themes
During these “dark days,” Amado associates with shady characters, while Mary spends more time away from the apartment and eventually disappears. Macario finds a job, but continues to grow sicker. One night. Carlos breaks up a fight between Amado and Macario over Amado’s shady contacts. He strikes Amado with a pan, and shortly after the fight, Amado leaves. Carlos laments that he has “struck down one of the gods of [his] childhood.”
Here is yet another demonstration of the complicated relationship Carlos has with Amado. Placed in the impossible situation of taking sides between his brothers, Carlos makes the choice that prevents physical harm but nonetheless leaves psychological wounds. Like so many other aspects of Carlos’s life, the brothers’ family bonds are sources of both strength and heartache.
Themes
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