LITR 5731: Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, spring 2003
Poetry Presentation Summary

Poetry reader / discussion leader: Craig Sprowl
Discussion recorder: Sergio Santos

“Depression Days” by Pat Mora

Background of Poet

            Pat Mora was born January 19, 1942, in El Paso, Texas.  She received her B.A. from Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso in 1963.  She received her M.A. in English from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1967.  She has taught secondary and at the college level.  She was the host of a radio show called “Voices.”  Mora has won numerous literary awards.  She has published children’s books, children’s poetry, and adult poetry.  Her three most popular adult poetry collections are “Chants,” “Communion,” and “Borders.”  “Borders,” a collection of poems, was awarded the “Southwest Book Award.”  She has been an advocate for the establishment of a national day Dia de Los Ninos, Dia de Los Libros (Children’s Day, Book Day), “to celebrate language and bilingual literacy.”  Some of Mora’s books are bilingual, with the text in English on one side of the page and Spanish on the other side.  For more information visit Pat Mora’s website at http://www.patmora.com

Background of terms and phrases in the poem

            Depression Days:  Title of the poem, referring to the time period of the Great Depression in the United States from approximately 1929-1940.

            Fifteen cents:  The common or average price of a movie ticket in the 1930’s.  In the 30’s “85 million Americans attended 17,000 movie theaters each week” (americanhistory.si.edu).  During the depression there was a major increase in movie attendance.

            Red Sails in the Sunset:  A very popular song during the depression.  It came out in 1936.  Written by Jimmy Kennedy and Will Grosz, and was performed by many popular artists.

            CCC:  The Civilian Conservation Corps came from Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policy.  It was enacted on March 31, 1933 to preserve the natural resources of the United States.  It started out with about 250,000 men and ended up employing about 500,000 men by 1936.  The pay was $30.00 per month.  One had to apply and be selected to get the job.  A nickname for the CCC was “Roosevelt’s Tree Army” because one of the primary jobs of the Corp was reforestation. 

            Wooden barracks:  The CCC sites would often have permanent or portable wooden barracks

            Sergeant:  The CCC used military names for people in positions of authority.  The CCC was structured like the military, only it was civilian.

Analysis of poem

            The narrator in the poem is a young male, and is searching for work during the great depression in the United States.  His name is Delgado, a Mexican-American.  Delgado is looking for work, and hopes to get a job with the Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado.  The poem opens with Delgado in a movie theater, having spent his last fifteen cents on a movie ticket.  Like many Americans during the depression, the movies provide an escape from the harsh realities of life.  The third stanza of the poem “my private reel” can be seen as his wish for a job “playing CCC lumberjack.”  Delgado comes from the border of the United States and Mexico.  He refers to himself as a “border kid,” yet he longs to escape, maybe to a place like Colorado where he can earn some money, while at the same time have a sense of adventure “playing lumberjack.”  It appears that Delgado does travel to the CCC camp along with other men.  There is the description of the camp out in the wilderness (the barracks, the cold).  The sergeant of the CCC Camp calls out his name, “spitting,” “his glare at my dumbness,” “The twitch of his lips,” showing the sergeant’s authority, and patronizing attitude. 

            The sixth stanza of the poem recalls the exchange between the sergeant and Delgado.  “See me later,” is a request to Delgado that perhaps the sergeant can do a favor for Delgado.  The sergeant believes that he is giving a compliment to Delgado when he tells him “You don’t look Mexican.”  But, it seems that in order for Delgado to get the job he must change his name, “Just change your name and you’ve got the job,” the sergeant tells Delgado.  Delgado sees his deceased father eyeing him, perhaps as a reminder of the guilt, his identity, or the denial of his heritage if he goes along with the sergeant’s wish to change his name.  Delgado does not want to pass for white, and deny his culture, and his identity.

            The seventh and last stanza starts with the repetition of the very first line in the poem, “I buy the dark with my last fifteen cents.”  Delgado tries to escape through the movies, so he doesn’t have to think of the ice box without food, his mother’s “sad eyes,” and his father, “who never understood this country, of the price of eggs and names and skin.”  Despite the harsh realities of the depression, Delgado pronounces, “I am Delgado,” which seems to be an affirmation of his identity.  Delgado stands up for himself showing he will not sacrifice his identity for a job. 

Sensory Images in the poem

            Senses:  “stomachs screechy as gears” the sense of hunger.  Smell:  “smelling Colorado.” “that cold pine smell.”  Touch:  “skin puckered…from the desert wind.” “cold truck,” “stove’s warm belly” “the wind.” “salt air.”  Sight:  “I buy the dark,” “house dark from my father’s death,” “his glare,” “my father eyeing me,” “mother’s sad eyes.”  Hearing:  Delgado hears his name “Delgado,” “I said Delgado,” and then hears his own voice, “I am Delgado.”  In the first stanza he hears the song “Red Sails in the Sunset.” 

Discussion Questions

            Given the last stanza of the poem, Delgado back in the movie theater, hoping to escape the harsh reality of being Mexican-American in a society that asks him to give up his heritage to fit in and move ahead, can the poem be viewed with any hope?

            What is the significance of Delgado being described as a “border kid?”  What other borders are there in the poem?

Class Discussion

Dr. White:  In response to presenter’s question -- I have a problem with hope in this poem . . . the Sgt tried to be kind and at the same time it’s so wrong.

Sprowl:  There is hope in standing up—in saying “I am Delgado”.  He is at least going to stand up.

Thomasina: Talks about the title “Depression Days”:  There is a double depression—especially towards the end . . . “my” because he had a last name.

Sprowl:  Is understanding a good thing?

Jana: I got the impression that his mother was white.

Toni:  The father has died . . . He isn’t able to give up his name.

White:  Goes to last line – The father stays alive by watching him in his mind.

Sprowl:  The father would have disapproved of his changing last name.

Thomasina:  Talk about significance of darkness.

Sergio:  It’s him submerging himself in blanket of darkness where he kind of disappears and his identity – race or otherwise means nothing.

Dr. White:  The question is does he give up ethnicity?  Let go of old identity?  If he does—there will be food in the icebox, if he doesn’t he denying his father.  He ultimately sides with dad.

Toni:  Asks if the first stanza movie theatre scene could be newsreels of WWII?  Or would this be before that?

Dr. White:  I doubt it.

Sprowl:  I thought of that.

Toni:  Asks for WWI dates?

Thomasina: 1914-1918 . . . [WW2 1939-45]

Dr. White:  Asks what “Delgado” means.

Sergio:  It means thin, skinny. . .

Ashley:  I kept looking for borders in this poem.

Dr. White:  The Spanish name takes us back to Jana’s point (about the mother being white) as we search for geological identity.

Rosalyn:  Water and wind generally cross all borders.  Moving from border to Colorado.  Poor to not poor.

Jana:  I kept thinking of the smell of Colorado.

Sprowl:  Yes, there are a lot of senses at work: smelling, touch, sight, . . . hence dark glare from Sgt.

Dr. White:  Mentions skin puckering – Cold keeps coming back.

Jana:  Ask about joke?

Dr. White:  That to me was the weak point in the poem.

Rosalyn:  I just saw as he’s so cold.

Toni:  Did they give him a physical?  With a stethoscope? 

Dr. White:  It’s one of those poems that works until you delve into it.

Jana:  Asks about the bag.

Rosalyn:  It’s probably just a bag to keep their things in . . . all of their possessions while they sleep.

Toni:  Line:  Further comments on them being in line for a physical with their clothes on their back, freezing and then he can’t get by because of his name.

Dr. White:  Comments on Sgt. line. and the “dumbness” of the situation.

Rosalyn:  The sad thing is the racism of changing your name.

Dr. White:  It’s a nice piece of writing and the line “change your name” is a perfect rendition of how someone in that mind frame would say it.

Martin:  Mentions a situation in Rain of Gold that is similar.

Dr. White:  There is a choice between assimilating into the dominant culture or retaining an identity.