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
Rigoberta describes the fiestas that take place in towns, which mix ancestral traditions with modern interpretations of history. Schools, for example, celebrate special days such as the death of Tecún Umán, a Quiché warrior who was killed by the Spanish during colonization. However, Rigoberta explains that Indians do not celebrate this event, because, for Indians, the struggle he represents is not a thing of the past: it continues in the present. By contrast, the ladinos present this as Indian history when it is, in fact, nothing more than their deformed interpretation. Indians also do not celebrate Guatemalan Independence Day, since independence only involved greater suffering for them and increased their efforts to preserve their traditions in the face of oppression.
The Maya-Quiché understand history not as an abstract form of knowledge, but as a vital aspect of life that should find expression in the present. This belief in the present relevance of history is evident in the community’s respect for their ancestors’ traditions, which they preserve through their ceremonies and daily activities. Teaching history as a series of facts that belong to the past, Rigoberta argues, runs the risk of remaining blind to injustice in the present. One should therefore see one’s ancestors as powerful forces in the present, capable of leading one’s actions, even if this involves challenging those in power and defying authority, as Tecún Umán once did.
Themes
The one aspect of these fiestas that Rigoberta does enjoy is the “Dance of the Conquest,” which represents the Indian perspective on the conquest. During such fiestas, everyone drinks, including women, which is very rare. Rigoberta recalls her father going to a cantina and drinking so much that he spent all his money. Ladinos, as usual, use these events as yet another opportunity to make money.
Although Rigoberta does not dwell on these issues, her passing mention of the gender imbalance with regard to drinking suggests that, in ordinary circumstances, Indian women might be discouraged from drinking. This also relates to a divide in household responsibilities: whereas Rigoberta’s father spends the family’s money on alcohol, her mother, in charge of the family budget, must work hard to compensate for such expenses.
Themes
Rigoberta also comments on the process through which Indian and ladino “queens” are elected. Ordinary Indians are not allowed to choose: only ladinos vote, given how few Indians actually live in towns. Rigoberta finds such events sad, because they turn an Indian girl into a business. In addition, the Indian and ladino queen never appear together, highlighting the divisions in society. Later, a big festival is organized by important members of politics. The Indian queen is required to attend, appearing in traditional garb. The organizers do not take good care of her afterwards and send her to a cheap hotel. Rigoberta concludes that the leaders of their country enjoy the folklore of Indian costumes but are not interested in the actual human beings who wear these outfits.
This description of Indian “queens” recalls Rigoberta’s previous comments about prostitution. Both phenomena are processes through which women’s bodies are objectified. In this case, the issue of class is crucial: the celebration of Indian clothing is only for superficial enjoyment, not actual appreciation for Indigenous cultures. In this sense, this is another example of the way the rich ladino elite takes advantage of its power and status to selectively appropriate certain elements of Indian culture, all the while economically and politically dominating peasants from that culture.
Themes
