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
All Maya-Quiché children have a nahual, an animal that serves as a protective spirit, allowing the child to communicate with nature. This double is very important to the community, as hurting a human also hurts their animal double. The nahual is determined by the child’s birthday, according to a fixed calendar. But people are only told what their nahual is once they’ve grown up, so that children will not justify their behavior by referring to their nahual’s personality traits and can grow up in a natural way. However, people often feel strong bonds to their nahual even before they know which one is theirs.
Like many Maya-Quiché beliefs and traditions, the nahual unites ethical and ecological practices with spiritual devotion. The community’s emphasis on respecting animals helps explain why, later in the book, Rigoberta and her fellow villagers are particularly horrified when they witness violence against animals. In their view, animal life should be just as respected as human life.
Themes
Humans, Rigoberta insists, are integral parts of the natural, animal world. Given the important identity that the nahual confers, Rigoberta notes that the nahual must be kept secret, as this protects Indian culture from being stolen. This is why she will keep her own nahual a secret from her readers.
This is one of several moments in which, despite her willingness to share her story with the reader, Rigoberta honors the importance of secrecy in her community. Only through such secrets can she ensure that the most intimate, vulnerable aspects of her culture can be preserved from possible intrusion or manipulation.
Themes
