1.) On page 165 in Chapter 23, Menchu writes, "Something I want to tell you, is that I had a friend. He was a man who taught me Spanish. He was ladino, a teacher, who worked with the CUC. He taught me Spanish and helped me with many things." She continues, "He taught me to think more clearly about some of my ideas which were wrong, like saying all ladinos are bad." Why is this revelation so important? What does it say about race issues specifically?
The native race looks at the ladinos in a negative way. Especially when we read the context, Tecpan Guatemala a while back. Majority of the ladino population looks at the indigenous people as a minority in society, although ladinos are technically part indigenous. The way the ladino population have treated the native Guatemalans over the years has given the indigenous people a reason to have strong feeling towards them. Tensions between the two have always been the same for years that both see each other in negative ways. Rigoberta Menchu's experience with her ladino friend has proved that it isn't right to judge a person by their nationality, or what they're identified as in society, but rather who they are in the inside.
2.) Chapter 24's title alone gives you chicken skin: "The Tourture and Death of Her Little Brother, Burnt Alive in Front of Members of Their Family and Community." What is your reaction to this chapter? Be specific. Be honest.
This chapter is probably my least favorite because of what happens. Just the title of this chapter made me not want to read what it was about. The first page set what I felt about the chapter. Crime shows today seem more intense and display more gore. This chapter made the shows on television seem like nothing. The things that was done to Rigoberta Menchu's brother was horrifying. It makes me so upset on how corrupt the government is. Imagining the other twenty-one men and woman being tortured the way Petrocinio Menchu Tum Tum makes me feel upset and helpless.
3.) Menchu begins Chapter 25 with another quote from her father: "My father said: 'Some have to give their blood and some have to give their strength; so while we can, we'll give our strength.'" What type of charater foes Menchu's father exhibit?
This quote foreshadow's what will happen to Rigoberta Menchu's father. Knowing that the government hated her family, it seemed simple to guess what was going to happen in this chapter. When Rigoberta was with her dad in El Quiche, he talked about what was to come as if he knew what was going to happen to him, which he had accepted.
4.) After reading Chapter 26 use your favorite wisdom or proverb from Rigoberta's father and explain its meaning to you.
Rigoberta Menchu's father seemed to be very inspirational. I really like when we says, " Don't be afraid, because this is your life, and if we didn't feel this pain, perhaps our life would be different, perhaps we wouldn't think of it as life." No matter what hand of cards we're given, we shouldn't be afraid of what we're given. We all find life as a big struggle. Some are more fortunate than others but I believe that the harder the struggle an individual experiences, the more wise and stronger the individual will be. We wouldn't be who we are if we haven't been through all that we have gone through. No matter how hard we may have it, make the best of it, find the pain and struggles as an opportunity to exceed and become someone worth being.
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