“Maximo could walk in any direction unless the streets were blocked by corpses or fallen walls. That was called freedom.” (pg. 2) In Funeral for a Bird, Arturo Arias captures the harsh reality of the U.S.-backed coup in Guatemala that overthrew Arbenz in 1954. By speaking through the eyes of a child, Arias is able to use a slightly dissociated voice of a child who can’t comprehend the true gravity of the situation. The violent reality is communicated bluntly, from the smell of decomposing bodies to the cockroaches that live inside the corpses. For Maximo, “fallen walls” are as common as corpses, revealing the depth and extent of violence in his town. Arturo adds the phrase “That was called freedom” to seemingly critique the United States’ role in the mass death of civilians. The passive voice seems to indicate that freedom was something promised or explained to those experiencing violence.  While the coup of 1954 was often outwardly branded as a quest for freedom and rejection of communism, the true motivating factors were largely economic. Arbenz pushed for land reform and land redistribution, two policies that threatened American interests. Arias shows the reader what American brought “freedom” really looks like and it looks like death and suffering.

In Maximo’s worldview, corpses are a fact of life and so commonplace that the death of a bird holds more weight for his child self. As bombs likely killed many birds or drove them away from the area, the single dead bird represents something beautiful and foreign to the children, a reminder of the past. Arias also shows how desensitized the children are through their interaction with the bird and its funeral. Children are careful to not step on the bird, yet when Maximo trips on a corpse he kicks it. The genre and narrative voice make this piece so powerful; the reader is forced to consider the enduring impact viewing this violence would have on a child.