After enduring some pretty difficult reads for the last couple of weeks (sorry Jon), reading this book by Rigoberta Menchu was like a breath of fresh air I was waiting to taste. It’s such an eye-opening read that I almost couldn’t put it down once I started. Her story hits a bit of familiarity, not personally, but because this is also a struggle that a lot of Filipino people experience, so reading it made me feel a bit closer to home.

To start off with Burgos-Debray’s note in the beginning, she stated that she stayed true to Menchu’s words as much as possible and refrained from editing despite some errors she may have found. One part of it that struck me the most was how Rigoberta mentioned that she learned Spanish, the language of her people’s oppressors, to be able to use it against them. We see how she is abused and maltreated, especially when she was working as a maid, and had a hard time negotiating her rights because she couldn’t speak their language. It was also evident when her dad and her people were tricked into signing agreements that they couldn’t even understand because of the barrier in language and literacy. 

I appreciate that she walked us through the customs, traditions, and beliefs that the Quiché community held and practices, as I think it gave more substance to the story as a whole. I felt like if we just jumped straight from her being young to the oppression they experienced, it would not have left the same impact, or to me at least.

Her story is so moving and it made me think that it’s really sad how people like her and their community just want to live a simple and quiet life, providing for their families in multiple ways such as farming and fishing, working fairly and as hard as they can, yet they are being taken advantage of and end up not having enough food to eat at the end of the day.

However, I was surprised by the revelation in the lecture stating that some of her stories such as the passing of her brother and her own level of education might not have been all true. I wonder now, if this was indeed the case, if she did it out of trying to conceal and keep hidden the ‘secrets’ that she would keep teasing everyone about.

Some blog posts mention Mama Blanca’s Memoirs when trying to digest this week’s blog post. Are there similarities and/or differences that you noticed, and is there one you prefer over theother?