I, Rigoberta Menchu An Indian Woman in Guatemala
I recently finished reading I, Rigoberta Menchu for another class I am taking. It was written by Rigoberta Menchu and was published in 1983. I felt like this was a good book to review in light of reading about Women’s Rights and Poverty in the modules. Take a person out of their element and force them into an environment that is far from their norm, and typically you’d expect them to fail.
“I was incapable of disobedience. And those employers exploited my obedience. They took advantage of my innocence.”(Menchu, 108) I have 5 sisters, and could not imagine them going through any of what we have covered in this class or even the things that Rigoberta experienced. When first moving here from American …show more content…
Menchu experienced the debt and pay problem, which was basically a sneaky and despicable way to keep the workers who are already in debt in debt. This cycle of buying that you need on the finca like work shoes, food, or medicine for baby and putting that on a “tab” that you can pay off later. Not knowing that it comes of out of your paycheck, and whatever else you still owe puts you in debt. She also went into the city because she knew that it was there where she would find more than life on the finca. She had to put herself out there though, and step out of her own boundaries and security walls.
Menchu went into the city, despite her Father’s disliking to it and she flourished. Not to say that she was met with open arms and a parade, not at all; but she experienced something that she would have never learned on the finca, the fact that not everyone was the same. While there she met ladinos or non mestizo people, who were not out to hurt or disrespect Indians. She was able to open up herself and her eyes to the fact that struggle is everywhere even in impossible settings. Menchu learned spanish as well, which was a huge bonus in her
I recently finished reading I, Rigoberta Menchu for another class I am taking. It was written by Rigoberta Menchu and was published in 1983. I felt like this was a good book to review in light of reading about Women’s Rights and Poverty in the modules. Take a person out of their element and force them into an environment that is far from their norm, and typically you’d expect them to fail.
“I was incapable of disobedience. And those employers exploited my obedience. They took advantage of my innocence.”(Menchu, 108) I have 5 sisters, and could not imagine them going through any of what we have covered in this class or even the things that Rigoberta experienced. When first moving here from American …show more content…
Menchu experienced the debt and pay problem, which was basically a sneaky and despicable way to keep the workers who are already in debt in debt. This cycle of buying that you need on the finca like work shoes, food, or medicine for baby and putting that on a “tab” that you can pay off later. Not knowing that it comes of out of your paycheck, and whatever else you still owe puts you in debt. She also went into the city because she knew that it was there where she would find more than life on the finca. She had to put herself out there though, and step out of her own boundaries and security walls.
Menchu went into the city, despite her Father’s disliking to it and she flourished. Not to say that she was met with open arms and a parade, not at all; but she experienced something that she would have never learned on the finca, the fact that not everyone was the same. While there she met ladinos or non mestizo people, who were not out to hurt or disrespect Indians. She was able to open up herself and her eyes to the fact that struggle is everywhere even in impossible settings. Menchu learned spanish as well, which was a huge bonus in her