Just a Pair of Arms?

              

Last week we watched a movie called El Norte in Spanish, about a pair of Guatemalans who cross into the U.S. illegally, and attempt to make a life in the U.S. The movie mentions a lot of the mythology we have discussed. Multiple times characters talk about how hard work is needed to do well in America, and the role that workers have in both the U.S. and in Guatemala is explored. One pair of scenes in particular really struck me. At the beginning of the film, in Guatemala, the main character, Enrique, is told by his father that (translated) "to the rich, the worker is just a pair of arms." Later, at the end of the movie, after Enrique has moved to the U.S. and faced a range of challenges, including the death of his sister, a man approaches a group of illegal immigrants and asks for "strong arms to work." The main character, desperate for a job, hesitates only momentarily before yelling "pick me, I've got strong arms!" (clip above, 1:53-2:25). The message of the movie seems to be that it is an inescapable fate for the poor to do bad jobs, serving as a "pair of arms" for the rich. Despite his best efforts to escape poverty in Guatemala, the main character ends up doing almost the same thing, just in a different country.
       I recalled this scene after reading the Kentucky Cycle play today about the coal miners. The mine chief accepts hires Abe without knowing anything about him. He demands that "you load your ten a day, six day a week, keep your head down and your nose clean," but other than that he couldn't care less about who the new worker is. The only thing the mine boss cares about is that Abe does his work.
       That same sort of attitude to workers plays out in these two very different times and places conveys a depressing message about the place in society of the men doing the "necessary" jobs. It seems almost unavoidable that the worker is important only for his work, that a low wage laborer is "just a pair of arms."