After Rigoberta comes home from working in the city she is surprised and grieved to find that her father has been sent to prison for crimes he supposedly committed against the family that had come and started to take over their land. While he was in prison he met another man who really was in prison for fighting against the government. Rigoberta's father came to the conclusion that it was not individual families and plantation owners who were the stem of the problem but the system as a whole. The CUC stands for Comite de Unidad Campesina. This is an organization that he started along with other peasants that was focused on fighting the rich and defending the rights that had been for so long denied them.
2. Menchu Articulates in Chapter 16, "what would happen if we rose up against the rich?" Think about that question. the potential power and fear contained within those words. Why did no one respond? do you think you would have responded? Why or why not?
I think that the reason no one would respond to Menchus words is because they were afraid. Hardly anyone ever stood up to the rich and the people that did would get punished severly. It was taboo. You just didn't do it. It would mean more persecution; something they probably didn't think they could take any more of. It was simply a dangerous idea. I am the kind of person that if I feel something is wrong I will say something. I think any righteous cause is worth sacrifice. I think that if I was with Rigoberta during this time and I felt it to be a righteous cause I would have responded in a heartbeat, but this doesn't mean that I wouldn't be terrified.
3. Menchu begins Chapter 17 with another Popol Vuh reading"... They began to fufill the destiny which was concealed in the marrow of their bones..." What does this quotation play in terms of the chapter?
I think the jist of this quotation can be summed up in the words of the title, self-defense in the village. They were fulfilling their destiny by finally standing up for themselves and fighting for the rights that had been for so long denied them. they no longer would let people come into their villages to take advantage of them and a group of peasants started to sent traps on the paths to their villages. This was the starting of letting the government know that they would not take it any longer.
4. Menchu speaks in detail about Judith, Moses, and David in Chapter 18. Choose one of the three and explain their example.
David refers to David in the bible, as in David and Goliath. They use this story as a way to teach the children about defending themselves. Rigoberta explains that they would often use psalms and scriptures to help teach the children
No comments:
Post a Comment