Week 10: I, Rigoberta Menchú (Menchú)

 Hi guys! I hope you guys are all having a good start to your week so far. This week's reading felt very emotional and dealt with some serious topics that are also very relevant today in Canada. I think it is really important to recognize the struggles discussed in I, Rigoberta Menchú, as not everyone has the same or similar experiences to those of the family within the book. I think that this book put a lot of things in perspective for me and how important it is to recognize and appreciate stories of those from different cultures, history’s, backgrounds from us as it can make us more aware of societal injustices that we see in our everyday lives. Although the book deals with widely important topics about social injustice, land and people exploitation, and a clear class hierarchy, the book is written in a way that is easy to understand. I feel like most of the time with books that are so dense in themes and topics I typically have a really hard time understanding and grasping the content fully, but in I, Rigoberta Menchú’s case it was digestible and honestly made me more invested in the stories at hand. 


I think one part that stood out to me was from the chapter “Conflict with the Landowners and the Creation of the CUC”. This chapter in general was very disturbing, reading about how the families constantly had to move land and no longer had things to eat or utensils to cook with as the landowners just came in and “claimed '' that the land was never theirs in the first place. The government then goes on to claim that the land belongs to the nation, but Rigoberta says that it is almost ironic that they come at the time to claim the land after her people have put in all the labor to cultivate it. She then begins to understand that all the systems of injustices are connected, and how they didn’t realize they couldn’t trust the government until then. I think this book provides a very personal experience into the injustices that were felt to her family and her community around her, and I think that this added to the power this book had over me. 


Along with all the sadness of the injustices and displacement that happened throughout the book, Rigoberta’s family goes through very traumatic experiences, yet she still appears empowered at the end of the book. She has taken her trauma of losing her family, her brother, her land, culture, and overall oppression and has turned it around so that she can share her stories and empower others. The last chapter of the book especially highlights this, as she talks about the lucky opportunity of being able to talk about her people to others and get her story out so it can be hers again. 


My question for you guys is what do you make of the questioning of her faiths at the end of the book?


Comments

  1. Daniel OrizagaMarch 20, 2023 at 10:38 PM

    "She then begins to understand that all the systems of injustices are connected". It is true, but she has also understood how they work in each particular situation in which she has had to live, and she has developed strategies with other fighting groups to combat them. However, the end of the book already warns us of certain attitudes with which the book would be received. How do you imagine its current reception in Canada, if it was the first time it was released?

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  2. DaisyMarch 22, 2023 at 3:27 PM

    HI jordan! Thanks for your lovely post this week. I think it was very powerful to have this story be told from someone who went through such hard times and be able to share her experience afterwards. To answer your question, I think that it is common to question your relationship with your faith after really tough times, but it sounded like she was using it in a way to help her heal and find meaning.

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  3. Chanya ChawlaMarch 22, 2023 at 6:33 PM

    Hi Jordan- thank you for a well-thought and written post. I must agree with you that Menchú's writing style made this reading a lot more digestable.

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