Analysis Of Menchu's 'Self-Defence In The Village'

So, I think that Menchu isn’t really looking for our approval. I do believe that she’s asking us to be on her side because of the number of injustices that have occurred but searching for approval seems like the last thing on her mind. If we look at chapter 17 “Self-Defence In The Village”, we can see this idea come into fruition. This is when Menchu realizes that there is a lot of discrimination going on. She continuously asks herself questions like, “Why is the Indian not accepted? Why was it that the land used to belong to us?” (188). This whole chapter serves as a realization within the community. They can no longer be dormant and they have to be prepared to protect themselves. It’s almost like a wake-up call for the reader to realize that the following chapters were going to be gruesome because certain situations were about to start coming into play.

When they are first testing their traps and they are digging ditches she says, “We broke with many of our cultural procedures by doing this but we knew it was the only way to save ourselves” (197). This seems to be a constant theme during the last half of the book because at some point they have to put their traditions aside to be able to protect themselves and she’s pretty adamant on making that clear. Her people did not believe in violence but were still considering that very idea that they did not believe in. I mean there are some pretty gruesome scenes going on here so if she was looking for anyone’s approval she pretty much got