Symbolism In Los Vendidos

In Luis Valdez short play “Los Vendidos”, it is clear that there was a stereotyping issue and he demonstrates this symbolically. I have analyzed his symbolic demonstrations on how Mexicans are labeled and looked down on by society. This short play takes place in Honest Sanchos car lot. Miss Jimenez is a secretary from Governor Reagan’s office and she is looking for a Mexican type for the administration. When he walks up to Honest Sancho, she firmly insists that her name is pronounced JIM-enez, she obviously has a Hispanic last name but does not acknowledge it. Miss Jimenez begins to give Sancho a list of qualities that she would like her “Mexican type” to have. She’s looking for somebody “suave, debonair, dark, but not too dark” (pg. 1041). Sancho then shows her one of his “models”. The model he demonstrates to her is named the Farm Worker. He is a sturdy, durable, hardworking model, and with a snap of a finger he lifts his head and greets Miss Jimenez, then puts his head down. Sancho then snaps his fingers again to he can demonstrate how hard working he is, when he does so the farmworker yells “El Jale” and
In the beginning of the play it seemed as if the secretary was going to the lot to pick out a car, an object. The car lot symbolizes that most latinos feel like they are being seeing as an object instead of a person when they are being stereotyped against. Latinos are expected to do things as they are told with the snap of a finger. In Julie Bolts article titled “Teaching los actos of Luis Valdez”, she mentions that Valdez’s acts are street theater performed to address specific issues in specific public spaces. The three acts of Luis Valdez that Bolts discusses in her article are “Los Vandidos”, “Los Dos Caras Del Patroncito”, and “Vietnam Campesino”. All three of these acts open up discussions of identity, displacement, and