Pocho By Jose Antonio Villarreal Analysis

In the text, Pocho, by Jose Antonio Villarreal, education plays an important role of explaining the characteristics of the immigrants during the 1930’s. Education is one way for readers to have an experience of what they have been through. During the investigation between the protagonist Richard and sheriff, Richard speaks out some words that the sheriff does not understand. Villarreal writes, “ You mean homosexual? No, he wasn’t- this was a new word to the man. He was on the force because his sister had married a man who had something to do with the Chief of Police… Goddamn! Where’d you learn the big word?” (Villarreal, 89). This is an example of education because here the sheriff is investigating Richard by asking him for information about Joe Pete Manoel. Richard responds with a big word “homosexual” to the sheriff that he did not understand. This is a highlight of the time period when it does not need any education to be a patrolman in Santa Clara.
Jose Antonio Villarreal directly mention in the texts of Richard’s thoughts about his teacher at school. During the conversation between Richard and Mary, Richard gives out his thought when the teacher does not inform the same answer from what he read on a book. Richard said “Well, the teachers teach us all kinds of things, and sometimes they’re not really honest about it… sometimes I read things in books that show me teachers are wrong sometimes… they cant be all right, and I don’t like them to always tell me that they know everything, that’s all”. (Villarreal, 71). This is an example of education because during that time, teacher feels like their students are not smart enough to learn two sides of the story. Richard feels that sometimes books can teach him more than what he learns at school. It highlight that during that time education is not an important aspect of the immigrant