The characters in Miguel Street are always lying about who they are. They say they are mechanics, teachers, writers, and poets, all without any education on any of those topics. They all say they are these things, but they are not. The people of Miguel Street want to improve themselves, but they refuse to truly change. The use of ambivalence in Miguel Street presents the cultural effects of colonialism on tightly-knit communities. There are common themes of deceit at all times in the book, people are always acting like someone they’re not, having a sense of falseness. The characters of Miguel Street often show this desire or need to appear as a different version of themselves. Commonly in the reading, characters begin to act more Western …show more content…
Man Man going insane is a good way of looking at the effects of American cultural colonialism. Man-Man is seen as the “crazy” guy on Miguel Street, he was always very odd, and especially after his dog died, his mental state seemed to be negatively spiraling. After Man-Man had tied himself to a cross and asked people to fling rocks at him, he was begging for one thing, pain against himself. When the people listened to him, beginning to throw these rocks, he reacted unexpectedly. “Man-man looked hurt and surprised. He shouted ‘What the hell is this? What the hell you people think you doing? Look, let me down from this thing quick, let me down quick, and I go settle with that son of a bitch who pelt a stone at me” (54). Man-man clearly has gone insane, but there is a deeper meaning in the way he is acting. He asked for people to throw rocks at him, but then got mad when they did. Here, this theme of ambivalence arises once again, and it represents the people of Miguel’s Street view of American culture. They want to accept American culture and be more like them, however, they don’t want to lose the spirit of their small village. The people of Miguel Street often complain about their living conditions, and how it is unfair that they have it worse. They know that accepting Western values would help them with this issue, however, one of the biggest ways that they connect is through their culture. If they were to move away from the culture that was built via the connections on Miguel Street, it would completely change the aspects of their town. Many of the townspeople, understandably, are scared by this threat to their community, despite knowing it is better for