Summary Of Stereotyping In Zoot Suit

Stereotyping has been a problem for society for many years. People believe that stereotyping does not exist because they might not experience it, but little do they know stereotyping has existed for quite some time. In the book Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez illustrates stereotyping toward the Mechicanos who lived in Los Angeles in the 1940s by utilizing external conflict, imagery, and symbolism to show how the Mechicanos suffered through the discrimination by the media and the court. To start off, Luiz Valdez utilized external conflict to illustrate stereotyping toward the Mechicanos. “Zoot Suit recalls the Mechicanos of the 1940s and the discrimination they suffered at the hands of the media and the courts” (Huerta.1). For example, in Zoot Suit

Along the play the press would make the Mechicanos look how they wanted them to be looked at, for example, they would describe the way they dressed as something negative. During the trial the lawyer spoke to the judge about them not providing clothing or haircuts to the boys,along that, the press responded to them not providing clothing and or haircuts because for them that is the way the gang members are characterized. After George hearing what the press had said he responded to it by stating “ You are trying to exploit the fact that these boys look foreign in appearance! Yet clothes like these are being worn by kids all over America.” (Luis Valdez.Zoot Suit.53). For many people after seeing everything that the press was stating about the 38th street gang members, the society’s opinions changed about the Mechicano boys, “As El Pachuco says to the Press, "The Press distorted the very meaning of the word 'zoot suit.' All it is for you guys is another way to say Mexican”(Granger.6). The press made the word Zoot Suit become a symbol of being a foreign appearance guy who comes from a different heritage and should be looked at in a different way because of