Self-Presentation and Cultural Identity Theme Analysis

Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit pays close attention to how people present themselves and the ways in which this presentation influences cultural identification. The play itself is named after a 1940s style of clothing known as the zoot suit, which many Chicanos saw as representative of their place in American society. From the very beginning of the play, El Pachuco—the production’s active, meta-narrative narrator—calls attention to the importance of self-presentation, urging audience members to look at his clothing, since he dons a zoot suit, which according to Valdez’s stage note makes El Pachuco look like “the very image of the pachuco myth” (a pachuco is somebody of Chicano descent generally associated with Mexican American street gangs). It’s especially interesting that Valdez uses the word “myth,” since this frames the zoot suit as an important symbol of Chicano history while also suggesting that the style comes along with certain exaggerations, misrepresentations, and implications—a notion that aligns with the fact that the “zoot suiters” in the play are unfairly targeted by white authorities simply because the way they look triggers the authorities’ racist ideas about the Chicano community. In this way, white racists attack the very thing that helps the characters in Zoot Suit carve out a space for themselves in American society. It is perhaps because El Pachuco is aware of this troubling dynamic that he is so conscious of how he and the other Chicano characters present themselves, ultimately refusing to let go of his cultural identity. In turn, Valdez intimates that people ought to embrace what makes their communities unique even if those things also attract bigotry and intolerance.

Valdez’s interest in self-presentation is apparent even before the play’s action begins. When El Pachuco emerges onstage, he spends a moment tending to his appearance, adjusting his collar, his suspenders, and his shirt cuffs. He then brushes his hair into a popular style among Chicanos in the 1940s. Valdez’s stage note says that El Pachuco does this with “infinite loving pains,” a phrase that emphasizes just how much El Pachuco cares about the way he looks. But his attention to his own appearance has nothing to do with vanity. Instead, El Pachuco dresses himself in a zoot suit so that he looks like the very model of the “pachuco myth,” thereby suggesting that his attention to the way he looks has more to do with his cultural identity than with the shallow desire to simply look good. Indeed, the care he gives to his own appearance ultimately encourages audience members to consider the zoot suit with the same reverence that he, Henry, and the rest of the 38th Street Gang exhibit throughout the play. And, as if it’s not already clear that Valdez wants the audience to meditate on the significance of physical appearance, El Pachuco’s first words are, “¿Que le watcha a mis trapos, ese?” which roughly translates to, “What, you’re looking at my clothes, bro?” By saying this, he signals to audience members that Zoot Suit will be a play that takes self-presentation seriously and champions a style that El Pachuco—and, in turn, Valdez—sees as integral to the identity of young Chicanos.

Interestingly enough, El Pachuco pays attention to the act of self-presentation by doing more than simply scrutinizing his own physical appearance. He sometimes directly addresses the audience, acknowledging that he knows he’s part of a play. By doing this, he accentuates the notion that the “Pachuco Style” is more than just a way of dressing—it’s a performance of identity. In the same way that he himself is participating in a representational artform by taking part in a play, Chicanos who embrace the zoot suit and the overall “Pachuco Style” are taking part in a collective cultural identity. When a young man dresses in a zoot suit, El Pachuco says, he becomes “an Actor in the streets,” one who engages with a socially-constructed way of being—one that El Pachuco characterizes as a “myth,” a word that evokes the idea of tradition, as if the “Pachuco Style” has grown out Chicano history. Consequently, the audience sees that such matters of self-presentation aren’t superficial or trivial, but intertwined with a serious sense of cultural heritage.

Of course, there can be unfortunate downsides to using physical appearances to represent cultural heritage and identity. Valdez hints at this when he suggests that the zoot suit symbolizes the “pachuco myth,” because although this phrase gestures toward tradition and history, it also subtly addresses the fact that many racists are eager to associate the zoot suit with negative and unfounded stereotypes about the Chicano community (with, in other words, unfair “myth[s]” about what it means to be a young Mexican American). For example, when the 38th Street Gang is on trial for a murder they didn’t commit, the judge and prosecutor try to turn the jury against them by, as Henry’s lawyer puts it, “exploit[ing] the fact that [they] look foreign in appearance.” In keeping with this, the judge rules that the young men on trial must keep their “zoot haircuts” so they can be identified by the witnesses, who would supposedly have trouble doing so otherwise. In this regard, the judge uses elements of Chicano self-presentation against them, going out of his way to distinguish them from white Americans in a manner that threatens to turn the white jury members against them. In turn, Valdez’s consideration of self-presentation and cultural identity takes on an interesting nuance, as he examines the ways in which young Chicanos use the “Pachuco style” to connect with their community and heritage while also suffering the consequences of this identification, since many people in the country are eager to associate the zoot suit—and, in turn, Chicano culture—with negative stereotypes. And yet, despite this tension, El Pachuco himself never stops championing the zoot suit, thereby indicating that people ought to proudly stand by their cultural identities even when facing discrimination.