1.) Menchu includes two Bible versus from the book of Judith to begin Chapter 27. They read, "He bragged that he would burn up my borders, and kill my young men with his sword, and dash the sucklinh children against the ground, and make mine infants as a prey, and my virgins as a spoil. But the Alimighty Lord hath disappointed them by the hand of a woman." Why did she include these versus for this chapter?
These versus of the bible almost describes what happens in Chapter 27. The Guatemalan government took away as much land as they could. When Menchu quotes the first sentence, "He bragged....my virgins as a spoil," if anyone were to interfere with what the government was doing, they would torture and killed. In the second part of the verse, it kind of talks about what Rigoberta Menchu's mother had done for her people. Menchu's mother was willing to sacrifice her own life to protect the people and her family.
2.) In Chapter 27, Menchu descibes the incredible courage her mother demonstrated during the torture as well as the grusome and disturbing imagery associated with her death. How did her words make you feel? What story do they tell of the war?
As many of the other chapters in the book, this chapter was challenging to read because of how upsetting it makes you feel. It's as if the more you read, the more horrible her stories become. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if something like that happened to my mother the way Rigoberta Menchu lost hers. Rigoberta's mother put up with one of the most horrid ways to die. It makes it worse thinking about the other children who went through the same thing that Menchu and having to see their family die in the most tradgic ways. The war that is discussed about in this chapter shows of how horrible the Guatemalan government was towards the native people, no mater what age or gender you were.
3.) Explain how death is handled in the Indian culture using Chapter 27 as your guide.
Death is very special to the natives that they have special preparations for a death. When a person is ready to die, coffins are made and certain get-togethers are planned for the ones that they're closest to them, where they share secrets of their ancestors and any last recommendations for the community. Once the person talks to their loved ones, this is when they know that they are fully ready and free to die peacefully. When the person has died, the community has a ceremony for the rememberance of the person's life.
4.) One of my favorite quotations from the book comes from Rigoberta Menchu, and she uses it to start Chapter 29: "What hurts Indians most is that our costumes are considered beautiful, but it's as if the person wearing it didn't exist." What does she mean when she says this?
Chapter 29 talks about a certain tradition that the Ladinos do each year. An Indian girl is chosen by the Ladinos to act as the Queen for their parades. She is expected to act properly and play the part as the Queen. She is then dresses the way of the Natives to represent her people and is presented for the tourist and everonyone else to see. The quotaion describes how people come to see and adore how beautiful she is. All the people watching the parade admires how pretty she is but don;t care of who she really is as a person and what she comes from.
5.) Using Chapter 30 as your guide, compare the lessons taught by Indian women and Ladino.
Indian women lives are much harder than a Ladinos. Indian women begin to work difficult jobs by the time they are able to walk and comprehend what they can do. As for a Ladino, they are born into a world where things are given to them easily. Ladinos tend to worry much more about their appearances and how they look. They wear make-up, shoes, fashionable clothing, whereas an Indian woman has none of those and cares for her family and important traditions of her people. in general, native women are much harder workers and care for what is more important in life.
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