The Struggle In Zulema's The Harvest

The Harvest follows three of the 400,000 plus children that work in the American fields. Each one of these children were introduced to the migrant lifestyle at a very young age. Some do not even remember how young they were when they started in the fields, like 12 year old Zulema. It was passed down to these children like their parents had it passed down to them and so on. It’s a perpetual cycle of generations, partly because it is all they know and also due to the values instilled in them. Family, helping each other and hard work are all important to the children because that is what they were shown. They fear what would happen to their family if they didn’t help. The children take on the responsibilities willingly in most cases. In all cases …show more content…
All they can see is the short term goals in front of them, their basic needs to survive. Thus, the cycle keeps continuing and other options become further out of reach. They have to work to help bring in money. Therefore their education suffers, they do not have a steady home or address. They do not make relationships outside of the family and other migrants. Their short term goals of making money to help their families consumes their lives. This pushes the possibility of breaking the chain further out of reach. Zulema said she doesn’t even think she will make it out of high school. Perla said she is constantly changing schools due to the constant traveling. The film showed a peek into a class of Victor’s with other migrant children where they described migrants as simple, ordinary, and small. The migrant lifestyle is like a circle that is perpetuated by hard working people being exploited. The lack of resources, finances and means to escape fuels the vicious …show more content…
Some responsibilities include working in the fields, providing childcare, caring for their parents, and domestic chores. Zulema, Perla, and Victor all shared the same values. Work, family, education, and religion are all central to their families. These values build a common identity and brought the families closer. What stood out to me was a strong sense of family. In some cases family was all they had. Constantly moving didn’t give them a chance to form many relationships outside of family. Everyone in the family valued the same things. They worked towards a common goal together and motivated each other. All of the children had close relationships with their family. Three or four generations lived together in tight quarters. Sometimes, ten people shared a one room shack. Each generation had the same standards as the next. The strong tie was apparent between all of the members. Victor spoke about his sister finally coming to join the family and that was going to make everything okay. Also, Perla said that her worst fear was that something would happen to her parents. Zulema gave voice to not suffering because she is not the only one out in the fields. The strong bond and common values is what keeps them going. It helps encourage each other. All of the members of the families were strongly united with a shared work ethic and a strong relationship with each other. They also valued religion. A father of one of the children