I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Start Free Trial

Historical Context

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

A Thirty-five Year Civil War

In the late 1800s, Guatemala's economy underwent a dramatic transformation, shifting from traditional agriculture to a bustling trade centered around the prosperous coffee industry. As this change swept the nation, the government sought ever more land to cultivate this valuable crop. In a ruthless campaign of "land grabs," fertile territories were seized from Indigenous villages, repurposed for coffee and other lucrative exports. Coffee cultivation required extensive labor, prompting the government to coerce Indigenous communities into plantation work. This was enforced through a 'vagrancy law,' which, as Pratt elucidates, demanded that all landless peasants toil for at least 150 days annually on either the estates or for the state. This legislation, compounded by the military's expropriation of Indigenous lands, effectively stripped them of legal ownership, forcing families like Menchú's to migrate annually to coastal fincas for work.

A glimmer of change appeared on the horizon in 1944 with the ascent of a new administration, heralding the "Ten Years of Spring" under President Arbenz. During this era, reforms favored peasant rights, redistributing land from corporate titans back to the people. However, this shift was ominously challenged by the United Fruit Company, a dominant U.S.-owned enterprise that branded these changes as "Communism" amid the fervor of McCarthyism sweeping the United States. With United Fruit holding a monopoly over fruit exports, it faced the daunting prospect of losing 400,000 acres, as noted by Pratt. This contentious backdrop led to the overthrow of Arbenz in a U.S.-sponsored military coup in 1954, replacing his government with a military dictatorship, a stark reflection of America's global anti-Communist crusade.

In the ensuing climate of oppression, organizers like Menchú and her kin, alongside Indigenous communities, found themselves swiftly branded as Communists due to their communal lifestyles and advocacy efforts, becoming immediate targets of the regime. Under the authoritarian rule that followed Arbenz's ousting, "land grabs" were aggressively reinstated, and peasant resistance met with relentless suppression. This prompted the rise of a guerrilla movement, galvanized by widespread grassroots initiatives like literacy programs, cooperative farming, and health campaigns aimed at aiding the impoverished. In response to these insurgent activities, the government unleashed death squads, including the infamous "La Mano Blanco" or the White Hand. During one tragic incident at the Spanish Embassy, the army, defying the Spanish ambassador's pleas, set the building ablaze, killing all but one of the demonstrators, among them Menchú's father.

An unexpected consequence of the finca system was that it inadvertently brought together disparate Indigenous groups, a convergence that would have been nearly impossible due to the isolation of their villages. This gathering allowed them to share experiences, foster communication, and ultimately organize. One of the resistance's notable victories emerged in 1980 when a coalition between ladino peasants and Indigenous peoples formed, culminating in a powerful strike involving over 75,000 workers. This alliance signified a remarkable achievement, forged by overcoming entrenched racial, class, and linguistic divides.

Literary Style

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

Setting

Menchú's saga takes root in the intertwined lives of her parents—a father left orphaned and a mother abandoned—both molded by the same harsh poverty that enveloped Menchú's own existence. Her narrative sweeps the reader from the oppressive gloom of the finca to the arduous yet deeply rewarding communal life.

Point of View

The story unfolds through Menchú's eyes, her voice shaped by the Spanish she absorbed through immersion. In her early twenties, she shares her tale with ethnographer Burgos-Debray, weaving a tapestry that includes not only her life's journey but also the histories of her parents, neighboring villages, and the growth of the CUC (The United Peasants Committee).

Symbolism

Throughout her narrative, Menchú threads...

(This entire section contains 615 words.)

Unlock this Study Guide Now

Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.

Get 48 Hours Free Access

two vivid symbols: maize and speech. Maize, or corn, stands as the lifeline of the Indian economy; it nourishes their bodies, sustains their livestock, and they sell it as a vital trade. Elaborate ceremonies celebrate the first harvest each year, while the cycle of birth is a reaffirmation that humanity is crafted from maize, with its very essence embedded in this staple. Maize is indeed the heartbeat of Quiché Indian culture.

Conversely, speech is a powerful symbol of Quiché tradition; it is through spoken words that the elders, nearing death, impart their wisdom and secrets, and through speech that youth and the newly married affirm their bonds to the community. The inability to communicate creates schisms among different Indian ethnicities, preventing them from banding together against their shared oppressors—the ladino landowners and the government. During times of torture, the army silences the Indians by mutilating their tongues, a cruel act meant to suppress the voices that could testify or warn others of their suffering.

I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala resonates with dual literary roots, springing from the ancient Mayan/Quiché Indian culture and molded by contemporary Guatemalan social dynamics. Captured as an oral narrative by ethnographer Elizabeth Burgos-Debray and translated into English by Ann Wright, Menchú's account remains largely untouched. This storytelling, rich with revelations, instructions, and veiled truths, represents a testimonio, a narrative tradition steeped in Indian culture. As Zimmerman suggests, testimonio is "a culminating life act," akin to the words of one anticipating death. Menchú describes that in her community, the dying summon their kin to share secrets and counsel them on living in harmony with the Indian community and in resistance to the ladino. This oral legacy is essential for preserving Indian culture through generations, mirroring the struggle of peasants to uphold their heritage against ladino encroachments. Through Menchú's words, this fight is not merely recounted but actively continued.

In times of turmoil, as Zimmerman observes, writers innovate to find new expressions, and in Guatemala, this evolution embraced metonymy, where one idea represents a broader concept. Right from the outset, Menchú asserts that her tale "is the story of all poor Guatemalans." Her narrative, through metonymy and the accumulation of experiences, becomes the collective chronicle of her people. Just as a dying person's final words blend personal history with ancestral guidance, Menchú's story encapsulates the lives of countless families akin to her own.

In Teaching and Testimony, Arata highlights a "flexibility of expression," a key to the Mayans' resilience, enabling survival amidst centuries of conquest and hardship. This adaptability without losing core values ensures a continuum amidst change, clarifying how Menchú's people maintain fidelity to their ancestral ways despite pervasive modernization. Her narrative structure mirrors this fluidity, seamlessly blending chronological events with intimate depictions of Indian customs. Burgos-Debray's decision to retain the order of Menchú's storytelling, despite potential reader confusion, preserves the narrative's fluidity and its roots in oral tradition and cultural imperatives.

Bibliography and Further Reading

Download PDF PDF Page Citation Cite Share Link Share

Sources

Arata, Luis O., ''The Testimonial of Rigoberta Menchú in a Native Tradition,’’ in Teaching and Testimony: Rigoberta Menchú and the North American Classroom, edited by Allen Carrey Webb and Stephen Benz, SUNY Press, pp. 82-83.

Bell-Villada, Gene H., ‘‘Why Dinesh D'Souza Has It In for Rigoberta Menchú,’’ in Teaching and Testimony: Rigoberta Menchú and the North American Classroom, edited by Allen Carrey Webb and Stephen Benz, SUNY Press, pp. 50-51.

Beverly, John, ‘‘The Margin at the Center: On testimonio (Testimonial Narrative),’’ in De/Colonizing the Subject: The Politics of Gender in Women's Autobiography, edited by Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, University of Minnesota Press, 1992, p. 94.

Carby, Hazel, Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987, p. 74.

Moneyhun, Clyde, ‘‘Not Just Plain English: Teaching Critical Reading with I, Rigoberta Menchú,’’ in Teaching and Testimony: Rigoberta Menchú and the North American Classroom, edited by Allen Carrey Webb and Stephen Benz, SUNY Press, pp. 238-39.

Pratt, Mary Louise, ‘‘Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú: Autoethnography and the Recoding of Citizenship,’’ in Teaching and Testimony: Rigoberta Menchú and the North American Classroom, edited by Allen Carrey Webb and Stephen Benz, SUNY Press, pp. 60-65.

Rochelson, Meri-Jane, ‘‘‘This Is My Testimony': Rigoberta Menchú in a Class on Oral History,’’ in Teaching and Testimony: Rigoberta Menchú and the North American Classroom, edited by Allen Carrey Webb and Stephen Benz, SUNY Press, p. 249.

Zimmerman, Marc, ‘‘Resistance Literature, Testimonio, and Postmodernism in Guatemala,’’ in Literature and Resistance in Guatemala: Textual Modes and Cultural Politics from El Senor Presidente to Rigoberta Menchú, Center for International Studies of Ohio University, 1995, pp. 25-26 (Vol. I), 54-55 (Vol. 2).

Further Reading

hooks, bell, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, South End Press, 1984.

A series of easily accessible essays addressing the topic of feminist political and personal action, in practical terms, from solidarity with other women to the nature of work, relationships with men, education, and struggle, among others.

Gómez-Quiñones, Juan, Chicano Politics: Reality and Promise 1940-1990, University of New Mexico Press, 1990.

A political history of Mexico and in the United States, delineated along chronological and ideological lines, clarifies similarities and differences in the conditions of laborers and their fight for social equality and justice.

Roediger, David R., The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class, Verso, 1991.

A dense but thought-provoking investigation into the process of racial identity formation, and the effects of this racial identification on the size, strength, unity, structure, and progress of the American working class and labor movement. Sheds additional light on why the barriers between ladinos and Indians remained intact for so long, so tenaciously.

Previous

Critical Essays

Next

Teaching Guide

Loading...