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Mr. Diaz
Gabriel is a bracero from Mexico who works on the strawberry farm with Francisco and his family one spring. Gabriel is young and hardworking, and Francisco comes to like him a lot. Gabriel’s labor contractor, Mr. Diaz, charges him too much for his room and board and also treats him poorly. One day, Diaz insists that Gabriel must tie a plow around his waist to till a field. Gabriel refuses to do this, saying that only farm animals do this kind of work in Mexico. Diaz is furious when Gabriel doesn’t obey him and pushes him to the ground and begins to kick him. Gabriel jumps up and charges at Diaz, but he doesn’t hit him—he says that Diaz can’t take away his dignity. Diaz looks frightened and drives away, and later, Francisco hears that Diaz fired Gabriel and sent him back to Mexico. Gabriel is poor, but he refuses to be pushed around, and Francisco finds this inspiring. He finds the courage to stand up against Carlos, an older boy who bullies him, after he witnesses Gabriel’s bravery. Gabriel’s character also shows readers that braceros in the United States had to deal with many problems like difficult working conditions and unfair employers.
Gabriel Quotes in The Circuit
The The Circuit quotes below are all either spoken by Gabriel or refer to Gabriel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Learning the Game
Quotes
The contratista walked up to Gabriel and yelled in his face, “Well this isn’t your country, idiot! You either do what I say or I’ll have you fired!”
“Don’t do that, please,” Gabriel said. “I have a family to feed.”
“I don’t give a damn about your family!” the contratista replied, grabbing Gabriel by the shirt collar and pushing him. […] As he hit the ground, the contratista kicked him in the side with the tip of his boot. Gabriel sprung up and, with both hands clenched, lunged at the contratista. White as a ghost, Diaz quickly jumped back. [...]
I felt scared. I had not seen men fight before. My mouth felt dry and my hands and legs began to shake.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Circuit LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gabriel Quotes in The Circuit
The The Circuit quotes below are all either spoken by Gabriel or refer to Gabriel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Learning the Game
Quotes
The contratista walked up to Gabriel and yelled in his face, “Well this isn’t your country, idiot! You either do what I say or I’ll have you fired!”
“Don’t do that, please,” Gabriel said. “I have a family to feed.”
“I don’t give a damn about your family!” the contratista replied, grabbing Gabriel by the shirt collar and pushing him. […] As he hit the ground, the contratista kicked him in the side with the tip of his boot. Gabriel sprung up and, with both hands clenched, lunged at the contratista. White as a ghost, Diaz quickly jumped back. [...]
I felt scared. I had not seen men fight before. My mouth felt dry and my hands and legs began to shake.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
