Place To Stand By Jimmy Santiago Baca Analysis

In Jimmy Santiago Baca’s memoir “ A place to Stand” Jimmy from a young age is constantly battling internal demons and is faced time and time again with situations that are beyond difficult to control, through it all all, all he ever wants like everyone on this planet is a family, a family that is their for him in the good time and the bad and some to love him and stand by his side unconditionally.

In a crucial scene in the beginning of the memoir Jimmy talks about his mother leaving him and his siblings with his grandparents and eventually being placed in a group home because his grandfather died and his grandmother was too old to take care of him and his older brother Mieyo. Jimmy never lost hope that one day him and his siblings would reunite with his parents and they would be a family again. “ At seven years old, I could never accept that my parents had abandoned us. What a shock! Thinking we were going to join them, Mieyo and I were driven instead to an orphanage and dropped off nuns escorted us up a flight of stairs into the dark, …show more content…
As Jimmy got older he looked for love in other people and places to substitute the love he didn’t have as a child. Theresa a black haired Chicana he met while fighting one day became the fixation of his love and he wanted her to love him no matter what. Even though Theresa never loved Jimmy he would do stupid things to get her attention and make her notice him “ To gain Theresa’s affection, I was willing to oblige them, even though it undermined myself respect. But when the dust settled and Theresa and I were left alone, We didn’t grow any closer. I didn’t know how to nurture a friendship let alone love. Jimmy obviously has issues when it comes to showing other people in a positive way that he loves them that stems back to his strained relationship with his mother and