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Children Of Sanchez

The Children of Sanchez

I have never traveled to Mexico City, nor had I ever studied in any depth the culture of its poorest citizens, yet this account of the Sanchez family during the mid-1900’s opened my eyes to the human struggle and deprivation within the walls of its slum tenements. I was reluctant to read this 500-page book, afraid that it would be a great waste of my time, yet I quickly became absorbed in the autobiographies of the four Sanchez children in the book. Their conflicts and joys became my reflections, as I compared the many differences and small similarities to my own three siblings and our generation and environment.

Jesus Sanchez and his four children dwell in the Casa Grande, a ‘grander’ tenement than its neighboring apartments, the Panaderos. Occupants in Casa Grande more often cook with gas instead of charcoal, regularly eat three meals a day and use utensils when they eat, and drink beer instead of the cheaper, fermented agave drink called pulque. They tend to celebrate their religion by attending church rather than burning incense and candles at the altars within their apartments, and when one of them becomes ill, they will seek out doctors who can prescribe medicine, rather than the herbal remedies used in the poorer tenements. Yet the tenants are still poorly educated, many of them not achieving skills past the third or fourth grade. Wages are miserable, even for fifty years ago. Purchasing adequate housing and food is always a financial burden. Also, many of the vendors and their shops are within the tenements, so living standards are stymied and controlled. Yet, Sanchez has provided more than most for his children.

Sadly, the adult children of Sanchez become a great disappointment to him. He tells the author how he has worked hard for his home, despite a lack of education and decent surroundings. He says that his children want to be millionaires without the hard work, and he regrets that they do not have honorable...