Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I, Rigoberta Menchú, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Tolerance vs. Resistance
Class, Race, and Inequality
Ancestors, Tradition, and Community
Gender and Sexuality
Language, Education, and Power
Spirituality, Nature, and the Sacredness of Life
Summary
Analysis
At the age of 14, Rigoberta went down to the finca with her entire family. She worked there with a friend, María, picking cotton. But one day, after the cotton field was sprayed with pesticides, María died of poisoning. The group buried her on the finca and decided to take two days to grieve. This tragic event led Rigoberta to feel very depressed about her future. María, an active and much-loved member of the community, once told Rigoberta that she did not want to get married and see her children die of starvation. This led Rigoberta to conclude that she would not get married either.
María’s sudden death mirrors Rigoberta’s brother Felipe’s death on a finca, which was also due to toxic pesticides. These two episodes suggest that such deaths were not necessarily rare events—dangerous, unsanitary, and unhealthy working conditions were common on the fincas. Rigoberta’s reflections on the dangers of motherhood will remain relevant throughout her life, as she understands the pervasive problem of child mortality.
Themes
The traumatic event of María’s death led Rigoberta to revise all of her ideas about life. She realized that two of her brothers have already died and that her mother has spent all of her life working relentlessly without complaining. This caused much anger and anguish in Rigoberta, who wondered if an alternative to this difficult life exists. She secretly wished to burn the finca down to the ground, to punish the people who sprayed the poison that killed her friend. She also expressed the desire to die. Unlike what her mother believed, these were not childish fantasies, but thoughts that she contemplated seriously.
Rigoberta contrasts her anger with her mother’s apparent acceptance or resignation toward the injustices that take place on the fincas. Moved by intense emotions, Rigoberta debates between different forms of destruction, directed at the fincas or even at herself. Such violent imaginings highlight the intensity of her emotions, but also the fact that she has not yet found a constructive outlet to express her anger.
Themes
Due to these reflections, Rigoberta considered leaving the community to go to school, as she could receive a scholarship from priests. However, her father opposed this idea, arguing that she would forget her Indian heritage. If she left, he would not support her. While Rigoberta was still reflecting on ways of escaping this way of life, her sister went to the capital to work as a maid. After a while, her sister returned home, explaining that the family there treated her terribly and that rich people are bad. However, Rigoberta was still curious to find out for herself whether working as a maid would actually be worse than their current circumstances. Ultimately, she decided to go work as a maid in Guatemala City.
Rigoberta’s father’s distrust of the school system keeps Rigoberta from learning important skills, such as knowledge of the Spanish language. But it also reveals that the Guatemalan school system is part of a mainstream culture that doesn’t value Indigenous ways of life. Rigoberta’s decision to leave for the capital highlights her desperation: she’s eager to explore other aspects of Guatemalan society, in order to put her own experience of suffering in perspective. This implicitly challenges her parents’ attitude of accepting suffering, as it suggests that one can also try to improve one’s circumstances.
Themes
