I Am Joaquin Summary

Torn by the inequalities and the inability to truly acclimate himself into mainstream society, Rodolfo Gonzales’, wrote the poem “I Am Joaquin” in 1967 . Rodolfo Gonzales created an epic poem that was able to convey the feelings of his community in conjunction to that of his own. What makes this narrative into an epic is the manner in which the conflict is not a solely against his self imposed identities, but instead the externalities of society, history, and culture. He places himself at the forefront of the conflict and battles against all the predisposed thoughts that circulate society. His internal conflict with society truly allows for him to revolutionize the manner in which Mexican Americans viewed themselves. Gonzales’ low socioeconomic …show more content…
The contrast between the good and the bad is a representation of the two lives they must lead under the two self identifying categories, the Anglo and the Mexican. Because the poem is broken down into the past and present Joaquin is able to mold himself into any potential personalization in order to exhibit the point that Chicanos are not the general working class Mexican American, but instead of variation of identities. The poem starts at the beginning with the depiction of the indigenous people and their prosperity, which was shortly halted after the conquistadores colonized what is known as Latin American and work their way up into the Americas. With the colonization of the Americas, the Mestizos were born. The Mestizos were the initiation of a new group who progressively evolved into Chicanos as history progressed. Rodolfo Gonzales writes, "I am the mountain Indian/superior over all" (Gonzales 7). This alludes to the Amerindian ancestry of Chicanos. The American Indians were once the forefront of northern civilization, but with the abrupt introduction of the unfamiliar, their civilization crumbled under the new pressures. The phrase, "The chattering machine guns are death to all of [him]" (Gonzales 7) alludes to his Spanish background.The Indigenous people were forced to acclimate into the Anglo society which is paralleled moving forward in time, thus depicting the continuous circulation of the same events. But regardless the events further mold who Joaquin is. He is both the colonized and the colonizer, existing as one.The past was out of Joaquin's control, but never the less he expresses a lost hope for the future. Gonzales describes how assimilation and ridicule has forced newer generations to suppress their identities. "I shed the tears