America Is in the Heart: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

The rainy season arrives and Carlos’s legs swell up, preventing him from going to school. He spends time with Francisca, and sometimes a boy from school reads to him from outside the window. Other times a girl comes to his house to teach him to sing. Missing school saddens Carlos. As the next land payment looms, Father hires himself out to some village farmers and Luciano, having completed his three-year service in the Philippine Scouts, returns home. He has contracted tuberculosis in the army. Although he is only 22 years old, he appears tired. Carlos calls Luciano “a man of wide experience,” as he can use a typewriter and is familiar with machines such as cars and motorcycles.

Luciano teaches Carlos to snare colorful birds by the grassy river without hurting them. Luciano catches Carlos a singing bird and Carlos keeps it at home. But the bird soon becomes ill and refuses to eat. Luciano tells Carlos that the bird “has lost something precious,” and urges Carlos to keep it alive. When the bird finally dies, Carlos is inconsolable. Luciano carries Carlos to the river to watch him set up snares to catch more birds. Although peasants often eat birds, Luciano forbids the family from eating the ones that he and Carlos catch. The birds eventually become tame and roam around the family’s house.

Carlos describes his time catching birds with Luciano as “the most pleasant period of [his] life.” He recounts the things his father and brothers have taught him. Father taught him to be kind to animals because of their usefulness on the farm. Leon taught Carlos “to be few of words and to stick to [his] convictions,” as well as to love the earth. Amado taught Carlos the importance of studying, while Macario taught him about people in faraway lands. Luciano taught Carlos about “the beauty of the world” through the birds the brothers caught together. This education from Luciano proves useful to Carlos in later life, when he is “thrown into the world of men” where everything beautiful becomes “touched with ugliness.”

Among the most beautiful birds Luciano and Carlos catch is a parrot. Luciano builds it a cage, and the brothers use it as a decoy to catch other parrots, which they then sell. The money they make allows them to open a small store in Binalonan, from which they help tourists repair automobiles. Luciano, however, begins worrying about his pension from the United States government. He grows sicker but decides to enter politics. Meanwhile, the moneylender takes the last of Father’s land. When Luciano informs Father that he cannot get the land back, Father falls into despair. Luciano is also getting sicker with tuberculosis, and the money he makes repairing cars is not enough to pay back the moneylender.

Luciano is eventually elected mayor of Binalonan. He continues to discuss life and politics with Carlos, advising him that reading and learning healthy ideas are both “food for the mind.” Luciano suggests to Carlos that he become a journalist. Years later, Carlos remembers the sacrifices his brothers made. “I will be a writer and make all of you live again in my words," he vows.