I Rigoberta Menchu Chapter Summary

1st Essay: Reflections on I, Rigoberta Menchu

There are many things one feels when reading I, Rigoberta Menchu, everything from sympathy, empathy, frustration, enlightenment, sadness, and retribution. Rigoberta’s journey of finding her voice and her story consists of horrific conditions, government oppression, and stunning countryside recollections of life and its many trials and tribulations. Guatemala, in her words as geography goes, sound as stunning as any National Geographic article, and that is where I find it interesting to focus on, the imagery. The recollections of the traditions of childbirth, and her time away from the fincas to the altiplano with her family. There are many themes in which to consider as well when looking into the imagery I saw in my mind’s eye. One theme in particular that I associated with was the cost of progress she and her people had to experience, from childbirth to the eventual education Rigoberta gains by distancing herself from the old ways of the elders and her people. As a child, she was educated from her community in keeping the tradition of childbirth very sacred. In chapter 2, she reflects on the birthing process, “Well, when the
The imagery in itself sounds like a vision of what a concentration camp transport would be like. It brings to mind a smell so horrific; sweat, vomit, urine, animal scat all blended with the suffocating humid heat. The roads, if you’d like to call them that, were hard, bumpy and unkempt. The ladinos wouldn’t even pull over to let them out! It makes one cringe. To have the conviction of having to endure this for less than pennies is quite impressive. Once they get there, there’s the arduous task of the picking fields. Picking coffee beans is a pod-by-pod process, so it’s no easy task, and when working to ensure next seasons crops back home on the antiplano it’s even more impressive. Rigoberta goes on to explain what happens in the fields in the same