The Importance of Historical Memory Through Rigoberta Menchu’s testimony in I, Rigoberta Menchu, Menchu was able to shed light on many injustices, cultural traditions, and the overall daily life of a Mayan Indian in Guatemala. For the most part, Menchu gives readers an idea of what it was like to live in the Altiplano, a mountainous region in Guatemala, as well as the traditions many had to follow for their rite of passage. In doing so, Menchu gives readers context behind her decisions, therefore, allowing readers to see why her decisions were impactful, not only to her, but to her community as well. Moreover, Menchu gives the readers her personal account of several events that had occurred, in which Mayan Indians, or the entire indigenous
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Throughout the book Menchu goes into great detail about her tradition and the daily life of a Mayan Indian. Additionally, Menchu discusses events in which several injustices had occurred. Menchu brings historical memory and history together when she covered events that were unknown to the public and to the rest of the world. For example, many individuals would not have known about the event in which Menchu and her family had to struggle to save their land at the Altiplano from ladino, the general Guatemalan population, families. The event left several families from Menchu’s community homeless, since they had to abandon the land, otherwise, Menchu’s community would have been subjected to work for and provide for the ladino landowners. Additionally, it was impossible to receive help from anyone since many took advantage of the indigenous, however, the indigenous still had to rely on ladinos since government officials would not listen to them (Primary Source, Menchu, p. 121-126). Menchu’s testimony about the event gives the readers more context as to the horrible manner in which ladinos treated the Mayan Indian and the indigenous population as a whole, therefore, adding to the bigger picture of la violencia in …show more content…
Throughout Rigoberta Menchu’s testimony, Menchu explains how she and several other indigenous individuals lost their loved ones due to violence. For instance, Menchu lost her brother, mother, and father due to violence. Her brother was tortured alive in order to prove a point to members of Menchu’s community and others. Government officials considered Menchu’s brother and her entire family communists and a danger to Guatemala, therefore, military officials began rounding up many indigenous individuals and tortured them (Primary Source, Menchu, 202-203). Overall, I, Rigoberta Menchu tells the reader that violence was inevitable to the indigenous population, since many indigenous communities were constantly being overlooked and taken advantage of due to their lack of ability to speak Spanish. Moreover, it is a struggle for justice, since many ladinos took advantage of the fact that many indigenous individuals could not speak Spanish, however, to overcome many difficulties, Rigoberta Menchu learned how to speak Spanish. By learning Spanish, Rigoberta was able to voice the injustices many indigenous communities had to put up with, which involved violence as
Throughout the book Menchu goes into great detail about her tradition and the daily life of a Mayan Indian. Additionally, Menchu discusses events in which several injustices had occurred. Menchu brings historical memory and history together when she covered events that were unknown to the public and to the rest of the world. For example, many individuals would not have known about the event in which Menchu and her family had to struggle to save their land at the Altiplano from ladino, the general Guatemalan population, families. The event left several families from Menchu’s community homeless, since they had to abandon the land, otherwise, Menchu’s community would have been subjected to work for and provide for the ladino landowners. Additionally, it was impossible to receive help from anyone since many took advantage of the indigenous, however, the indigenous still had to rely on ladinos since government officials would not listen to them (Primary Source, Menchu, p. 121-126). Menchu’s testimony about the event gives the readers more context as to the horrible manner in which ladinos treated the Mayan Indian and the indigenous population as a whole, therefore, adding to the bigger picture of la violencia in …show more content…
Throughout Rigoberta Menchu’s testimony, Menchu explains how she and several other indigenous individuals lost their loved ones due to violence. For instance, Menchu lost her brother, mother, and father due to violence. Her brother was tortured alive in order to prove a point to members of Menchu’s community and others. Government officials considered Menchu’s brother and her entire family communists and a danger to Guatemala, therefore, military officials began rounding up many indigenous individuals and tortured them (Primary Source, Menchu, 202-203). Overall, I, Rigoberta Menchu tells the reader that violence was inevitable to the indigenous population, since many indigenous communities were constantly being overlooked and taken advantage of due to their lack of ability to speak Spanish. Moreover, it is a struggle for justice, since many ladinos took advantage of the fact that many indigenous individuals could not speak Spanish, however, to overcome many difficulties, Rigoberta Menchu learned how to speak Spanish. By learning Spanish, Rigoberta was able to voice the injustices many indigenous communities had to put up with, which involved violence as