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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I, Rigoberta Menchú, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Tolerance vs. Resistance
Class, Race, and Inequality
Ancestors, Tradition, and Community
Gender and Sexuality
Language, Education, and Power
Spirituality, Nature, and the Sacredness of Life
Summary
Analysis
In 1979, Rigoberta’s younger brother, Petrocinio Menchú Túm, was tortured and killed at the age of 16. As secretary of the community, he was the only family member who stayed in the village after the family separated. In light of Rigoberta’s family’s resistance to the regime, the government disseminated an image of them as monstrous, foreign, Cuban communists. On September 9, 1979, Petrocinio was kidnapped. Rigoberta’s mother went to the authorities to protest, willing to give her own life to fight for her son, and she discovered that a member of the community was responsible for betraying Petrocinio.
As occurs throughout this story, the use of the term “communist” is used not to define a specific political doctrine but to demonize the enemy. This is done in order to portray peaceful protests as dangerous and subversive—which justifies the use of violence against the enemy. The betrayal of a member of Rigoberta’s community shows that there are bad people on both sides: even the poor can be convinced or coerced into siding with the army that oppresses their own community.
Themes
Rigoberta later learned the details of Petrocinio’s imprisonment. For 16 days, her brother was subjected to beatings and sexual and psychological torture, and he was mutilated beyond recognition. The soldiers inflicted wounds on him that they allowed to become infected. They made sure to keep him alive long enough to keep on torturing him. During her attempts to save her son, Rigoberta’s mother was soon told that if she kept on looking for him, she would be subjected to the same kidnapping and torture.
The brutal methods that the army uses against innocent citizens such as Petrocinio contrast with the attempts at dialogue that Indian villages took part in when capturing enemy soldiers. Whereas many poor Indians seek a radical transformation of the system, which includes open dialogue, the army wants to suppress the villagers through fear and violence.
Themes
On September 23rd, the army sent propaganda bulletins to nearby villages, avoiding Rigoberta’s because they knew the community was well-organized and could fight back. They announced that everyone must come to witness the public punishment of the guerrillas in a nearby village. The villagers who did not come would be considered enemies themselves. As soon as Rigoberta’s family—which had decided to gather during this moment of crisis—heard the news, they rushed out of the house to go witness the public punishment, convinced that Petrocinio must be there.
Although Rigoberta’s family knows that they are all putting their life at risk by taking part in political organizing, they still try to save one another’s lives. In this case, they take the risk of meeting up—which they know can get them all killed, given that they lead underground lives—in order to save Petrocinio. This decision reveals their hope that it might not be too late for them to save Petrocinio.
Themes
After passing 20 soldier-manned checkpoints, Rigoberta’s family—who hid their real identity on the way—reached the village. It was completely surrounded by soldiers: armored cars and other army vehicles occupied the streets, while helicopters flew overhead to keep guerrillas from intervening. The army announced that the villagers—who had been forced to attend this event—were about to witness punishment against dangerous Cuban subversives. Rigoberta’s mother was convinced that Petrocinio would be among the group of prisoners, but Rigoberta wasn’t sure, because she knew her brother was innocent and was not affiliated with any armed group.
The use of terms such as “Cuban” and “communist” highlights the role of this conflict in a larger, global context of the Cold War, which had opposing Communist and Capitalist Blocs. In the context of Guatemala, however, such terms are largely devoid of meaning: they are hurled as fake accusations against poor Indians who attempt to defend their customs and their rights. Although there are indeed some politically affiliated guerilla groups in the region, many of the army’s victims are innocent civilians.
Themes
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The army then brought the prisoners out of a lorry. The prisoners were all in their final moments, in agony from the torture they had suffered. Rigoberta’s mother then recognized her son Petrocinio, who was nearly disfigured beyond recognition and couldn’t stand because of the torture they had inflicted on his feet. Every time the prisoners fell down, the soldiers forced them back up. An officer then told the villagers that they should be satisfied with their lands. He threatened them not to follow communist ideas. He pronounced the word “communist” a hundred times. At every pause in his speech, the soldiers hit the prisoners with their weapons.
The officer’s excessive repetition of the term “communist,” interspersed with the torture of the prisoners, points to the army’s own hypocrisy. Although he accuses the prisoners of dangerous subversion, the true violence and danger lies on the side of the army, not of the people. His insistence that the villagers accept the current land situation reveals his true aim: to silence legitimate protest and rebellion, so that the poor accept the unfair distribution of land that the government has brought forth.
Themes
Everyone forced to witness this scene was crying. Rigoberta finds it difficult to recount this episode, although she cannot forget any minute of it. Rigoberta’s mother was convinced that Petrocinio recognized them, but Rigoberta couldn’t tell because of how disfigured his face was. After two hours, soldiers removed the prisoners’ clothes with scissors—they couldn’t be removed easily because the bodies were so swollen from their wounds—and the officer proceeded to describe the different torture techniques the prisoners had been subjected to. He said that anyone who tried to rebel would suffer the same treatment. In total, he spoke for about four hours.
The horror of this scene serves as a vivid and profoundly disturbing illustration of how helplessness poor Indians are before the authorities. The extraordinary length of the officer’s speech suggests that he might even be enjoying himself: the army has become so cruel that it actually takes pleasure in harming innocent people. Of all the methods that leaders have used to dehumanize Indians throughout Rigoberta’s narrative, this is the most extreme example of brutality against a helpless population.
Themes
Rigoberta found herself so horrified that she couldn’t concentrate on anything that was happening. The officer repeated that the government was democratic and had given its people everything. Meanwhile, the workers present knew that they were powerless before the army. Rigoberta’s mother almost put herself in danger by trying to hug Petrocinio, but the family quickly held her back, knowing that their safety depended on staying anonymous. Rigoberta’s father was too full of rage and shock to shed a tear. The whole family shared the same anger, knowing that Petrocinio was an innocent, kind child who didn’t deserve this punishment.
In the same way the army uses the word “communist,” the officer’s defense of democracy shows that words are simply war weapons: they are meant to force the other side to stay silent and obey a brutal government. The Guatemalan regime is far from democratic: its power derives from fraudulent elections, racial discrimination, and the use of sheer force.
Themes
Finally, the soldiers dragged the prisoners, who could no longer stand, and poured oil over them. The officer both threatened and insulted the community: he said that these prisoners must die by violence, so that the ignorant Indians in the audience would learn a lesson. The soldiers then set fire to the bodies. Although none of the prisoners had reacted until then, this final moment of agony was too much to bear, and the tortured individuals begged for mercy and desperately tried to escape. Many villagers had machetes with them because they were on their way to work when this public punishment was announced. When witnessing this terrible scene, the villagers were moved to so much anger and hatred that the army suddenly retreated, realizing that everyone, even the children, was ready to fight.
The officer’s deprecating address to the Indians in the audience shows that his intention is not to educate, but to terrorize. Although the villagers aren’t nearly as well-equipped as the soldiers, the army’s gesture of retreat signals that they can feel the powerful indignation and hatred motivating the villagers to act. This suggests that villagers have been moved to act even if their own safety is at risk: the actions they are witnessing are so inhumane that their instinctive reaction is to rebel.
Themes
The squad withdrew, laughing and chanting slogans in support of the regime. The villagers raised their weapons, knowing that they would undoubtedly be massacred if they resisted—but everyone was so enraged that death ceased to matter. Because the water supply was far away, the villagers did not succeed in quelling the fire and saving the tortured prisoners.
The soldiers’ laughter once again reveals how deeply they have dehumanized their enemies: instead of realizing how horrifically cruel their actions are, they take pride in harming others. The villagers’ resistance emphasizes their courage: they are willing to die in order to defend what they consider to be basic human dignity.
Themes
In this scene of horror and disbelief, Rigoberta found herself grieving not only for Petrocinio but for all these tortured Indians. At that moment, she reached the conclusion that, if the Catholics had taught her it is a sin to kill a human being, what the regime did to her community could be nothing but a sin as well.
If the Catholic notion of sin has kept Indians from taking part in violent deeds, Rigoberta now realizes that this engagement has only been one-sided: the army has long taken part in sin. Implicitly, she decides to discard such a rigid condemnation of violence, as violence might be justified when it is used to fight against injustice.
Themes
For the next two hours, everyone in the village worked hard to cover the bodies and find coffins for them. They cut flowers to honor the dead and fetched the priest, whom Rigoberta assumes must have also been murdered since then. Although the monstrosity of the scene was paralyzing, it also gave people enough courage to bury the dead as best they could. With desperation, Rigoberta’s mother embraced her dead son Petrocinio and spoke to him. The villagers promised the dead a Christian burial, and the family left, unable to withstand this scene any longer.
Rigoberta’s assumption that the priest, too, must have been killed since this event suggests that some members of the clergy did sacrifice their own lives to support the Indians in their fight against injustice. It also suggests that the violent repression they were up against was very difficult to survive. Any form of collective, cultural resistance—such as Catholic ceremonies—was viewed as dangerous subversion, capable of undermining the army’s control of the region.
Themes
Rigoberta’s family was in deep shock. However, upon returning home, their immediate reaction was to focus on their work. Rigoberta’s mother said that no one should endure what she has endured, and that she would fight hard to keep this from happening to other people. Rigoberta’s father declared that he would join the guerrillas to seek revenge for his son. He left the next day. Rigoberta’s mother, in the meantime, brought the “compañeros in the mountains” (the guerrillas) Petrocinio’s clothes. She resolved not to cry in front of the neighbors, preferring to give a positive example by keeping up the fight. After a week, Rigoberta left too, knowing that each of them would make a separate decision about how best to take part in this fight against violence and oppression.
Rigoberta’s family’s reaction shows a particularly combative, hopeful reaction to suffering. Instead of giving in to despair, they all attempt to use this suffering in a constructive way, as a source of motivation in their fight against injustice. Rigoberta’s parents’ proximity to guerillas also suggests that, in the face of so much cruelty, certain forms of violence are acceptable. The goal, everyone understands, is to stop the army from spreading so much pain and destruction, even if that means defending their people with weapons.
Themes
