Introduction
The chapter “Period of Reflection on the Road to Follow” of the book I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala written By Rigoberta Menchu tells about different thoughts appearing in the head of a little girl. The readers come to know about definite conclusions which the main character makes from her observations as the chapter progresses. The chapter starts with the girl’s recognition of the community’s importance; it continues with her thoughts about the injustice of the political situation in the country, repressions faced by peaceful inhabitants of villages, and exploitation of people; the chapter ends with the training of villagers in order to resist soldiers.
Core Perspectives
Chapter 16 exhibits the fundamental themes and questions that give the reader a sense of Menchu’s core perspective – her sense of identity, her dilemma, and her process of thought. The first lines of the chapter let the readers know about the role of identity and community in the life of a child. Her interests and ideas seem extremely exaggerated because it is not typical of a little child to think about politics, hunger, and the lives of the whole country. The movement of Rigoberta’s thoughts can be traced throughout the chapter; first, she thinks about the community, then she learns about the fates of other people and discusses the identity, further come ideas about exploitation, poor politics, and wordy leaders.
The community and its members appear to be one large family which collaborates and makes every effort order to survive. “The whole community was important” (Menchu 117), this statement sounds a bit strange and unusual for a little girl. The community, the sense of unity and identity, the importance of mutual cooperation and partnership are discussed in the current chapter with a view to their influence on the child’s cognition of the world and hardships of life. “We were all worried about the harsh life awaiting us” (Menchu 118); children were aware of difficulties faced by adults and did not want to suffer from the same hunger, repressions, and politics.
The aspect of community and unity is positive in terms of moral growth and the process of cognition. It is obvious that a person could develop thoughts about hunger, repressions, and imperfectness of the political system only from her own experience. Such experience cannot be considered positive, though it helped the author to outline her plans and create perspectives that would refute any power except one that would seem fair and effective. The concept of identity had appeared in the consciousness of the speaker when she came to know that a lot of people within their country experience the same problems as they did. She started developing this definite theme and learned about other representatives of the same nation who suffered from inhuman conditions and hunger, who were also repressed and exploited.
However, it turned out that the main character was not the only child who was arguing about politics and the hardships of their life. Other children thought about the same problems as well as Rigoberta Menchu. The next idea which seems important for the understanding of Menchu’s core perspectives is the recognition of exploitation (Menchu 118). This particular aspect of their everyday life (exploitation) which was experienced by adults seemed to scarify children. As the main character of the book was developing her ideas, she discovered that they were not the only people who faced hunger and repressions. “There were poor ladinos as well as rich ladinos, and they were exploited as well.” (Menchu 119) There were different ethnic minorities that faced all hardships of life as well as the family and community of the author.
The soldiers invaded their villages and massacred people who were ordinary farmers, who hungered in order to feed their children. When the soldiers came to the neighboring settlement, they were not realizing how close the danger was. The next time soldiers came to the village of Rigoberta Menchu. The people were “were angry but [we] didn’t show our anger because there were ninety of them, capable of massacring us all” (124). The problems faced by the community-made people unite their efforts in order to resist a common enemy, though the members of the community have established partnerships before. Soldiers were a serious enemy capable of cruel and unexpected actions, whereas villagers were poorly equipped and their only weapons were lime and stones. They were creating plans and signals, setting traps and deciding on ways to leave the village; they put “self-defense measures into practice” (Menchu 128). All measures were established by all villagers and made everyone participate for the good of them all.
Conclusion
The chapter “Period of Reflection on the Road to Follow” tells the readers about the perspectives of the author when she was a little girl. She respected the community and realized the unfairness of the political system; repressions and hunger which were faced by many people in the country were unknown to authorities and leaders. Inhabitants of her native settlement established a plan to fight the enemy; to be more exact, they practiced to defend themselves when soldiers would come. Rigoberta Menchu tells about people she encountered and ideas that influenced her decisions, mode of thinking and further activities. The whole book is structured in the form of memoirs; the author used a stream-of-consciousness technique to introduce her perspectives.
Works Cited
Menchu, Rigoberta, and E. Burgos-Debray. “Period of Reflection on the Road to Follow.” I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso, 1987