Chapter 7 Summary

Juan visits the home of his friend Cirilo, who lives in a swamp. Cirilo tells Juan that he is soon going to move to a nearby plot of land that he has bought. Juan volunteers to help Cirilo build a house there, and they talk about how nice it will be for him to farm and live on what he grows. He is looking forward to isolating his wife from the influence of the various nationalities living around them in America. Cirilo suggests that Juan also buy some land and do the same thing with his family, but he disagrees. He says that if he buys land and starts a farm, he will know that he is never going back to Mexico. Instead he plans to buy a nice house in town, which they can sell when they move back to Mexico.

They...