W10 Part B Reading: Bulosan

Reading notes are from America Is In the Heart by Carlos Bulosan, pgs.604-610

• Tomato season, must be spring-summer time.
• Grapes harvested, and apricots too, more likely it’s late summer actually. 
• Stealing wine grapes, not the tastiest snack, but if it’s the only thing I guess..
• The train is slow, Stockton to San Jose and he got the sleep the whole time, not too far of a trip.
• Salinas, not too much further south, but it sounds like he has money to go around if he can buy restaurant coffee. 
• Avoiding gambling houses from a tragedy in Stockton, someone got a big loss. 
• Express train took him down south a lot faster, but a cold outside train trip sounds miserable. 
• The brothel pit stop, that’s a bit awkward as a car trip passenger I would say. And he was “saved” from one by the driver going to use her...
• Racial profiling goes way back, and many Asians were targeted especially in the height of immigration exclusions. 
• The cafe sounds more like a dive bar. Girls dancing raunchy, guys flaunting money, and gambling, that’s not really the thought I have when I think of a cafe. 
• Oh, they knocked him hard, they’re going to rob him probably. But is it his brother by blood or a friend brother?
• Oh, definitely real brother, and lots of memories shared, and reunited. 
• Yeah I don’t think it’s a funny joke to laugh about almost killing someone!
• Does his brother sound like he regrets coming to America?
• Bootleggers, they’re going to get Carlos in quite some trouble. Especially with bootleg liquor.
• Oh he turned it down, interesting, I thought money would be tempting. 
• It’s inferesting how he begs not to change himself in America, I’m not sure what to comment on that, the fear of Americanization?