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Essay on a book review for the book "I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala" by Rigoberta Menchu. Summarizes key points in her book about her life and experiences as she grew up in Guatemala....

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CHS FINAL BOOK REVIEW

Menchu, Rigoberta.“I, RigobertaMenchu” an Indian Woman in Guatemala. Edited and Introduced by Elisabeth BurgosDebray.Editions Gallimard and Elisabeth Burgos 1983, Translated by Ann Wright 1984. Second Edition 2009. 294 pp. Contents, Translator’s Notes, Acknowledgments, Glossary, Bibliography, and Further Reading.

In her book, “I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala,” author, Rigoberta Menchu gives the audience a glimpse into her life and what it was like growing up in her native home of Guatemala. The book came about by Rigoberta meeting with a Venenzuelan anthropologist by the name of Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, and sharing with her the story of her life and the difficulties and experiences she has gone through in Guatemala. Elisabeth then translated and edited the story and turned it into the book we know today, which has also been a winner of the Nobel Prize. Rigoberta Menchu organized her book in a chronological order of her life, in 34 chapters, starting from life in the finca, the death of her brother, attacks by the army to her village, all leading to later events in her life like the death of her mother, and her renouncing motherhood. Throughout her book, Menchu speaks about the cultural discrimination she faced, the genocide she witnessed, and the suffering she went through. The author supports her arguments and statements by recalling events and experiences that she went through, which a lot of other Indian people could relate to, because they as well have experienced similar events. I will synthesize this book by speaking about Rigoberta’s life and experiences first, then branch into her ideas and those of the people, and lastly why their struggle was important. Rigoberta begins her testimony with the story of her life, and her upbringing as a child from a poor Guatemalan family. What Rigoberta stresses at the beginning of her story and what makes her story so meaningful, is that she is not only speaking about her life, but she is also representative of the life of other Guatemalans. In the quotes “My story is the story of all poor Guatemalans. My personal experience is the reality of a whole people”(pg 4) and “The voice of Rigoberta Menchu allows the defeated to speak. She is a privileged witness: she has survived the genocide that destroyed her family and community and is stubbornly determined to break the silence” (1) are both examples of Rigoberta Menchu wanting to be the voice for the many other oppressed Indians that never had the chance to speak out about their injustices. Rigoberta begins her story speaking on where she was born, which was in a village named Chimel, in Guatemala to parents Juana and Vicente Menchu. Her father’s life also tells the story of many other Guatemalans in the aspect of family and work life. Her father was sold away and became an orphan because his mother did not make enough money to feed all of her children. He began working at a young age and got paid very little, like many others in Guatemala. Her mother also came from an underprivileged life, as she came from a very poor family as well. Together, they established their home in the mountains, where no one else had really settled before and began cultivating their crops. Rigoberta’s parents then began expanding their family and had six children although two of Menchu’s older brothers passed away from a lack of food. Working in the fincas was all these Indian people knew. As soon as you hit the age where you could help out in the fincas, your parents would drag you with them to work as well. The circumstances when working in the fincas was horrible, as Rigoberta reflects in this quote “I saw the faces of my brothers and sisters covered with mosquitos. I touched my own face, and I was covered too. They were everywhere, in people’s mouths ad everywhere” (16). Lack of food was also a very evident issue in Guatemala. Not only did Rigoberta outlive two of her older brothers because they died from lack of food, she also stated “Most indian families suffer from malnutrition. Most of them don’t even reach fifteen years old. When children are growing and don’t get enough to eat, they’re often ill” (17). The rate of deaths in the children in Guatemala and the amount of food that was available to them was directly correlated. This is the reality for a lot of families in Guatemala, there is not enough food for your family, and even when there is, they take a cut out of your paycheck to compensate for the food you ate. Rigoberta talks about how the young children would always beg their parents for food as they worked, and although the kids would get the food they needed from the shop, it was all summed up at the end of their stay and then deducted from their parent’s pay. The author also speaks on the treatment of her family by the overseers, and how the ladinos would steal from them, the ones that are killing themselves trying to make a living for their families. She also goes into detail on how she felt useless at times because as a young child, she was not able to help her mother out as much as she would have liked to. Her parents not only slaved themselves working in the fincas, but also in their own homes trying to keep their family together. Her mother had to provide meals for all her hild dh b d d l h b h l id d i f ili h d d h L di d

the lives of Indians more difficult that they already were, by not paying them enough, or at all if they failed to complete their jobs for the day, and also giving them very little rations to share amongst each other. Apart from stealing from the Indians, the ladinos mainly took advantage and mistreated them because their lack of understanding the Spanish language. This was one of the main reasons that triggered Rigoberta’s drive to learn the Spanish language. She wanted to learn their language so that she could stand up for her family and her people against their oppressors. The worst of what Rigoberta went through was yet to come. The feeling of superiority that the Ladinos felt entitled to, proved to be detrimental to the communities in Guatemala. Rigoberta was not the only one that wanted to stand up to her oppressors because her father had come up with an idea, his second time coming out of jail. Rigoberta’s father came up with the plan to create an organization by the name of CUC, and it began as secretive, and not wellknown. The organization is what sparked the Indians to fight back against the Ladinos for the suffering and injustices that they so long had endured. Not only was there tension between the ladinos and the native Indians, but there also began to be tension between the guerrilla and army. This tension then lead to some bone-chilling, horrendous events in Guatemala. In an attempt to strike fear in the Indian people, the army gathered up a group of men, including one of Menchu’s brothers, and proceeded to torture and abuse them in front of the whole community to send out a message. Not only did the army torture this group of men, they also killed them in front of all the sobbing mothers and children so they could witness how bad it could really get for them. Her father’s organization had plans to escape from Guatemala so they could try to get help and attract attention to the conflicts that were occurring in Guatemala. Sadly, the army found out where Rigoberta’s father and his peers were planning this event and they bombed the building killing everyone in there including her father. One would like to think that her father was the last family member that Rigoberta had to say goodbye to in such a painful way, but the army also got a hold of her mother and did unspeakable things to her. The army was able to kidnap Rigoberta’s mother, and they kept her away from her family while they raped and abused of her repeatedly, to the point of almost killing her. Rigoberta goes into detail that is almost too gruesome to even imagine, much less to go through in this quote “On the third day of her torture, they cut off her ears. They cut her whole body bit by bit (183). The torture does not end there, because the doctors were able to keep her alive long enough for the soldiers to keep raping and abusing her. The soldiers would send her clothes back to the village to try to lure her kids to go see her, but Rigoberta and her siblings stayed away, knowing that her mother was going to be killed no matter what, and if they went, they would be too. Rigoberta states “They left her there dying for four or five days, enduring the sun, the rain and the night. My mother was covered in worms.. My mother died in terrible agony. When my mother died, the soldiers stood over her and urinated in her mouth” (18). In the most inhumane way possible to treat another person, the soldiers then left her for dead, and let her carcass become a meal for the wild animals. The pain that Rigoberta’s mother must have felt during those times is unimaginable, and is not an experience any other person should have to go through. The pain and suffering that Rigoberta endured while having to see her siblings die, her father be bombed, and her mother raped and abused is well enough to make a person turn cold, insane and closed off, but that is not the story that Rigoberta is here to tell the world. Rigoberta chose to fight, and took initiative to be the voice of people that were treated unfairly. Like her dad, Rigoberta wanted to escape to seek help for her community which was slowly withering away and she did just that. Although she was being looked for, with intentions of killing her, she was surrounded by people that helped her escape and fulfill her father’s inentions. Menchu first gave her testimony in Europe and it immediately caught the attention of many people. She has brought a lot of attention and help for those in Guatemala and has helped it thrive despite the horrible things that have happened there. Rigoberta and her sisters even chose to go back to Guatemala because their heart was with the people and they felt like that is the place they needed to be. Rigoberta’s story is inspiring and the events that this woman has gone through are proof of how strong-willed and resilient she can be. Throughout her book, Rigoberta gives the reader a first-hand account on the trials and tribulations of the Indian people of Guatemala like herself. Rigoberta tells her story while speaking in first person, and uses events all the way from her childhood to her life as an older woman, to paint a picture for the reader of the life in Guatemala. A strength this book possesses is that it is laid out in a chronological order which makes it easy to follow along. The book is organized in chapters with specific titles that allow the reader to easily identify what she will be speaking about in each chapter, which is very helpful. Another strength in this book is how the stories used are very personal and detailed because Rigoberta is speaking about her own life. She provided plenty of detail and her stories are credible because she lived through them. Also, she uses a lot of words that are from dialects spoken in Guatemala, so the reader really gets a sense of their culture by learning words they use to communicate with each other that are not known to the general public. A flaw or weakness that I identified in this book is that one could classify it as being one-sided or biased. Although Rigoberta’s stories may be credible because she lived through them she only tells them from her point of view She does not discuss the stories

from another person’s point of view or include detailed events of other Indian people’s lives. Overall, this book was written and executed very well. I would definitely recommend this book because it is very relatable, not only to other Indian people or Guatemalans, but also people across the world can benefit from reading this book. The world has a lot to learn from Rigoberta Menchu, and she stands as a symbol of perseverance and strength to people that are being oppressed and treated unfairly. Instead of fighting in other ways, Rigoberta chose to learn the Spanish language, which was the language of her oppressors and use it against them. Her choice to fight with the Spanish language is demonstrated in the quote “Spanish was a language which was forced upon her, but it has become a weapon in her struggle” (1). Menchu chose to fight her battle with words and that is why she is such a remarkable figure in Guatemalan history. She paved the way and set an example for people by showing them that there can be great outcomes when you stand up for yourself, and she has brought forth much needed help to her community in Guatemala. For that, she can be seen as a hero. Teresita Gonzalez, California State University Dominguez Hills...