Alarcón's Poem Mexican Is Not A Noun

Alarcón's word choice for the poem “Mexican is Not a Noun” has distinct stanza form, with the word Mexican as a line by itself on the first two stanzas. This word choice allows the audience to realize how important the word Mexican is to the poem. Alarcón tries to get the reader to see the word is not a noun but more like a verb. The use of short lines provides the audience a clear meaning of what the poet is trying to represent by the short phrase (Greenberg, 2008). My thought is Alarcón is trying to portray that the Mexican woman has no control over what happens in their lives providing the word Mexican cannot be a noun or an adjective, but only an action which is a verb. The poem illustrates how the Mexican people are treated in their life. So, the word Mexican cannot describe a person only the way people are treated would be a verb. In the poem, Alarcón states “more than a word; a nail in the soul,” (Alarcón, 2002, 16-19). This again is showing an action and not describing a subject or noun. The poem is showing the audience that being Mexican is

His use of hurts, points, dreams, offends, cries, moves, strikes and burns in the last two stanzas provides the audience a look into why the Mexican is hard life to live. Each of these words are an action of what Mexican life is daily. So, ending the poem with “just like a verb” provides how Mexican people are treated by society. No Mexican would choose these actions to happen to them, society regards Mexican people in this manner creating the reason why Alarcón uses the meaning of the poem Mexican is not a noun but really a verb. The negativity of how Mexican people are viewed by society is the basis of the poem. Finally, Alarcón’s structure of the poem provides the audience a view into the life of being a Mexican heritage in the current society of America and how hard it hurts to be