Universidad Veracruzana
Facultad de Idiomas
Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa
History and testimony through representation in three acts by Luis
Valdez: Humiliation and marginalization of Chicano people
Nataly del Carmen Rosas Landa
Director: Mtro. Victor Hugo Vásquez Rentería
Co-directora: Mtra. Patricia May Reidy Ryan
Lectora: Dra. Iwona Kasperska
Para mis padres,
no hay agradecimiento que alcance. .
Para mi abuelita Amada,
quien le pedía a Dios que me diera “una buena cabeza para estudiar”.
Para mis maestros,
me dejan mucho en la mente y en el corazón.
Para Victor Hugo,
gracias por enseñarme la magia de las letras.
Para Iwona y Pat,
gracias por su paciencia.
Para los que creyeron y para los que no creyeron en mí.
II
Lee este libro, lector, si te place la prosa que me dicta el hablar común de los oprimidos;
de lo contrario, si te ofende, no lo leas, que yo me siento por bien pagado con haberlo
escrito desde mi condición de mexicano indio, espalda mojada y chicano.
Miguel Méndez, Peregrinos de Aztlán
III
CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1
1. Historical overview.......................................................................................... 4
1.1 Historical and geographical context ................................................................ 4
1.2 Chicano, Mexican-American or Pocho? ......................................................... 7
1.3 The birth of Chicano consciousness ................................................................ 9
1.4 Chicano phenomenon and arts ...................................................................... 10
2. Testimonial literature and El Teatro Campesino ......................................... 13
2.1 Luis Valdez: Works and biography .............................................................. 13
2.2 El Teatro Campesino .................................................................................. 15
2.3 Los Actos ..................................................................................................... 16
2.4 Dramatic literature: From virtual triangulation to real triangulation .............. 20
2.5 Testimony: The voice of the voiceless .......................................................... 22
3. History and testimony through representation in three acts ......................... 27
3.1 “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito”: The figure of Pocho ................................... 27
3.2 “Los Vendidos”: The negative stereotypes .................................................... 32
3.3 “No Saco Nada de la Escuela”: The experience in the Anglo educational
system ................................................................................................................ 37
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 42
Bibliography......................................................................................................... 44
IV
Introduction
There are several ways in which information can reach people: through reading, through
another person or by being witness to the situation that triggered off the information. Of
course, when referring to old historical facts, the first two options are the most common.
However, the last one is also tangible, maybe not being witness of the original event, but of
a theatrical representation of it.
Representation offers the possibility of reproducing situations, whether to amuse, or
to inform or educate. Using representation for educational means is known as
‘Sociodrama’. According to Antonina Garcia and Patricia Sternberg (2000), this group
learning process is focused on providing practice in solving problems of human relations. It
offers the chance for those participants to learn about themselves, the world and their place
in it (p. xvii). Sociodrama helps people to express their thoughts and feelings, solve
problems, and clarify their values. Rather than simply discussing social issues, sociodrama
gets people out of their chairs and exploring in action topics of interest to them (p. 4).
The aforementioned feature is important for the purpose of this work as the objects
of study are three plays of playwright Luis Valdez. In this work, a reflection on the
representation of the plays as a way for denouncing bad treatment against Chicano people
will be suggested. For this purpose, I will provide some examples that illustrate the
importance of representation of Valdez’ plays in the creation of critical thinking in the
themes of marginalization and humiliation among the strikers of Delano and Chicano
people in general.
Thus, in spite of the fact that throughout this research, some dialogues of the scrip
of the plays will be used for illustrating the bad treatment against Chicano people, it is
essential to highlight that representation is the most important since it was through it that
Luis Valdez sought to create social awareness, and not through the usual reading of the
plays, which probably would not have been enough to achieve the effect Valdez was
looking for.
1
The importance of the representation of Valdez’s plays lies in the fact that it
constitutes a vivid way of transmitting a message and, in some cases, a solution. Taking the
problems to the stage allows the audience to perceive their reality from another point of
view; the representation reveals aspects imperceptible to the eyes of the people involved in
the problem. As Professor Michel Modenessi (2007) points out
…el teatro tiende a subrayar lo que de sobresaliente hay en lo
común simplemente por su naturaleza espectacular: cual lo indican
sus orígenes lingüísticos, el teatro (“lugar para observar”) y el
drama (“acción”) tienen por ineludible meta hacer ver lo que
sucede en escalas mayores a las del ambiente que llamamos
realidad, siempre menos propicio para observar con atención,
sensibilidad e inteligencia lo que en él pasa –o lo que no pasa… (p.
199).
The objects of study in this research are “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito”, “Los
Vendidos” and “No Saco Nada de la Escuela”. These plays belong to Luis Valdez’s book
Actos (1978). I chose these plays because I believe that they are the ones that best illustrate
the injustices against Mexicans, Chicanos, Pachucos and farm-workers in the United
States. I decided to make an analysis of Luis Valdez’s plays because I consider they are
emblematic in the Chicano struggle due to their denunciating nature. Throughout this
research, the aforementioned feature will enable us to understand the work of Valdez not
only as conventional plays, but as testimonial.
History and testimony through representation in three acts by Luis Valdez:
Humiliation and marginalization of Chicano people is constructed in a way that allows
understanding not only the problem of marginalization and humiliation, but the Chicano
phenomenon in general; its artistic manifestations, social movements and all the people
involved. For this purpose, I divided the research in three parts: “Historical overview”,
“Testimonial literature and El Teatro Campesino”, and finally “History and testimony
through representation in three acts by Luis Valdez”.
In the first part I will enlist some of the main events in Chicano history, the
consequences and contributions to the construction of its identity as a group, as well as the
first encounters of Mexicans with hostilities and the conditions in which these where
generated. These historical facts will allow us to understand the situations of the plays in a
2
better way. Also, I will include the main terms for describing Chicano people in the United
States, their probable origin and connotations according to some authors. Later, I will
mention the first social manifestations of discontent for discrimination, along with their
main leaders. At last, the importance of art in the Chicano struggle is pointed out as well as
some contributions made to this field.
In the second part I will include a brief introduction to the life and work of
playwright Luis Valdez, under which conditions he became a playwright and the
importance of the creation of the Teatro Campesino as well as his social commitment to the
working-class. Later, as the object of study of this work belongs to the book Actos, I will
provide a brief review of it. I will mention the ideology of the book, its influences and the
theatrical resources Luis Valdez uses in the construction of the stories. Subsequently, I will
point out the importance of representation and the aspects to consider when reading a
dramatic text. At the end, the notion of testimony will be described, its aim and main
characteristics and how this approach can be applied to Luis Valdez plays since they were
created with the aim of denouncing bad treatment.
Finally in the third part, with the help of the information of the two previous
chapters, the plays will be analyzed in order to demonstrate why they can be considered as
testimonial and how their stories contribute to the denunciation of the abuses against
Chicanos throughout different contexts and periods of time. In each play I will point out
how the problem of marginalization is tackled and I will support it with specific scenes
from the play. Later, the problems in the plays will be related to the studies of testimony to
suggest Valdez’ work as a way of documenting the bad treatments against Chicanos.
3
1. Historical overview
1.1 Historical and geographical context
Estamos encolerizados porque nos han robado nuestras tierras y
nuestro idioma. Nos dan la libertad que se le da al pájaro
enjaulado. Tomaron las tierras y nos cortaron las alas.
Reies López Tijerina
It is well known that Mexico has a strong relationship with the United States. Not
coincidentally, Mexicans represent eleven percent of the entire population of the United
States (CNN México, www). Throughout the years, these two countries have had issues
that have marked each other’s history, such as the Independence of Texas (1835-1836) and
the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Both events have much to do with prejudicial
acts towards Mexicans. According to historian Rudolfo Acuña (1985), before the MexicanAmerican War tension between Mexico and Texas was already strong:
Los texanos declaraban que su territorio se extendía a lo largo del
Río Grande e incluía una vasta porción de Nuevo México. Después
de 1836 aumentaron las tensiones entre los habitantes de Nuevo
México y los texanos. Aquéllos se sabían odiados por los
anglotexanos y resentían el trato que sufrían los mexicanos a manos
de los angloamericanos (p. 73).
In 1841, a Texan expedition led by General Hugh McLeod arrived in New Mexico.
Inhabitants of New Mexico accused the United States of the invasion as well as the
rebellion of Texas in 1837 (Moyano, 1976, p. 69). In reprisal for the invasion the export of
silver and gold was prohibited and Mexicans raised the taxes of the products that the United
States exported to Mexico. On the other hand, the consequences of the Mexican-American
War were a big factor that contributed to the hostilities between Mexico and its neighbour
country. With the loss of what are now the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and
New Mexico many Mexicans had to deal with the fact that they were instantly living in
another country, with other customs and another government.
4
The new government’s addition did no good to the citizens of those countries. Its
aim was taking the land away from the now ‘U.S. citizens’ by raising land taxes in the
knowledge that the Mexicans could not pay them (González, 1967, p. 52) (as cited in
Acuña, 1985, p. 80). Besides that, large extensions of land were given to the railway
companies and to higher education institutions. It is worth mentioning that most of the
Mexicans did not even reach secondary school, so there was no benefit in giving their lands
for building schools where education was always reserved for the minorities (Acuña, 1985,
p. 81).
With the end of the Mexican-American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was
signed. In this document certain points that benefited both countries were established. Some
of the main articles guaranteeing Mexicans’ rights were as follow:
I.
There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of
America and the Mexican Republic.
VIII.
Mexicans established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, shall
be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any time to the
Mexican Republic, retaining the property which they possess or disposing
thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please, without their
being subjected, on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge
whatever.
Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain the
title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens of the
United States within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications
of this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said territories after the
expiration of that year, without having declared their intention to retain the
character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to become
citizens of the United States.
X.
All grants of land made by the Mexican government or by the competent
authorities, in territories previously appertaining to Mexico shall be
respected as valid (Congress of the U.S.A, 2013, www).
Apparently, with the signing of this document Mexicans had the security that
their rights were guaranteed, but when the United States’ senate ratified the treaty in
March, it reduced article IX and deleted article X guaranteeing the protection of
Mexican land grants (Congress of the U.S.A, www). The deletion of such articles
5
brought as a result acts of violence against Mexicans. More specifically, Charles
Tatum (1986) points out that
[l]es fue negada la práctica de su idioma y costumbres; sus
propiedades, en la forma de concesiones de tierras, les fueron
arrebatadas por medios legales e ilegales, y se hizo norma la
discriminación en la enseñanza, la vivienda y el empleo, entre otras
cosas (p. 24).
Finally, another important event that marked the addition of Mexicans into the
United States was the Gadsden Purchase (1853-1854). With the sale of this extension of
land that included the region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New
Mexico, the borders between the United States and Mexico were marked. Thus, with the
two events mentioned before, we have that the major concentration of Mexican people in
United States was so far on the states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
With the creation of this new division between Mexico and what became part of the
United States, another division was produced as well, this time not between countries, but
between people. Facing such a drastic change was not easy for Mexicans; most of them had
to deal with the bad treatments received from the original U.S. citizens, so in order to
survive in such rough environment they decided to differentiate themselves from Mexicans
by arguing that they were descendants of the first settlers of New Mexico. Their arguments
were that during the colonial epoch, New Mexico remained separated from the south, so as
a result they remained racially pure unlike Mexicans; they decided to call themselves
Hispanics (Acuña, 1985, p. 72). Later, several names were used when talking about the
remaining Mexicans in the U.S.; Latin-Americans, Spanish-speakers, Pochos, Chicanos,
etc. Whichever the correct term is, the important thing is to know what lies beneath these
apparently common names.
6
1.2 Chicano, Mexican-American or Pocho?
¿Sabes qué?, ora como que apaño güergüenza, siempre
cameleando como un pinchi animal, ése, usté que ha leyido tantos
“comics”, ¿qué somos slaves, nosotros la raza? Luego, ése… es
como si le filerearan a uno los hígados. Allá, ése, pos es uno
“greaser”, un “Mexican”; viene uno acá, ése, y quesque uno es
“pocho”; me empieza a cuadrar que me llamen chicano, bato, me
cai a toda madre, carnal, siquiera ya es uno algo, no cualesquier
greaser o pocho, ¿qué no? Usté que ha leyido tantos funnys,
carnalito, ¿qué semos, ése?
Miguel Méndez, Peregrinos de Aztlán
It is true that there are several terms for describing Mexicans living in United States and it
is also true that some prefer calling themselves one or another. Throughout Chicano
history, these terms have been used with specific purposes. In this chapter the meaning of
such terms, their probably origin and their connotation in the Chicano context will be
explained.
According to the definitions given in Tino Villanueva’s book Chicanos (1985),
the adjectives Chicano, Mexican-American and Pocho have a strong division of classes
beyond their meanings. The term Chicano was used for referring to Mexicans that arrived
in the United States in search of jobs that allowed them to improve their lifestyle, unlike
Pochos or Mexican-Americans that were Mexicans living in United States and that were
already immersed in the culture and the language of the country (Villanueva, 1985, p. 7).
This division of classes was created by the Pocho, a descendant of Mexicans who
considered himself more American than Mexican and that felt superior to Mexican
immigrants, situation that brought as a result the marginalization of the latter (Villanueva,
1985, p. 10).
The origins and accuracy of the three terms have been widely discussed by
historians, anthropologists and philologists. The fact is that it would take a long time to
7
discuss every hypothesis made about them, so I will only mention some of the information
I found most suitable for the purpose of this work.
First of all the origin of the term Chicano is a bit complicated; some say that this
term was born with the addition of the northwestern of Mexico, so that this name is the
result of the Mexican-American War. On the other hand, others argue that it dates from the
year of 1513, the year in which the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León discovered
Florida. Finally, people who believe that the cultural history of Chicano people dates from
the pre-Cortesian period (1100-1521) propose that the term Chicano was originated in the
countries, kingdoms and empires that existed in Mesoamerica (Alarcón, 2013, www).
According to Tino Villanueva (1985), “Chicano is a term that at the beginning of
the twentieth century had a pejorative meaning at least in the state of Texas: it referred to
the inferior class of Mexicans who were United States’ citizens of Mexican descent born in
the United States or naturalized” (p. 7). This term that at the beginning had such negative
meaning would change in the 60’s as Tino Villanueva explains in the following paragraph
Habiendo sido rescatada por una juventud que enoblece
encendiéndola de concientización popular, de protesta social y de
orgullo cultural, aquella palabra maldita, chicano, para bien o para
mal y contra viento y marea, serviría de ahí en delante de divisa
personal y de emblema colectivo, como también de oración
mitigadora y, en momentos de acción social, de grito animador. (p.
17)
On the other hand, the term Pocho defined by Enrique Hank López (1967) in his
autobiographic work Back to Bachimba, states that:
Pocho is ordinarily a derogatory term in Mexico (to define it
succinctly, a pocho is a Mexican slob who has pretensions of being
a gringo sonofabitch), but I use it in a very special sense. To me that
word has come to mean “uprooted Mexican”, and that’s what I have
been all my life. Though my entire upbringing and education took
place in the United States, I have never felt completely American,
and when I am in Mexico, I sometimes feel like a displaced gringo
with a curiously Mexican name –Enrique Preciliano López y
Martínez de Sepúlveda de Sapien de Quién-sabe-quién. One might
conclude that I’m either a schizo-cultural Mexican or a cultured
schizoid American (p. 80) (as cited in Villanueva, 1985, p. 12).
8
Finally, the term Mexican-American is used interchangeably with both terms:
Chicano and Pocho. There are even some other words for referring to Mexicans in United
States, such as: Latin American, Spanish-surnamed, Hispanic, etc.
From the explanations above, it can be concluded that the differences between the
terms Chicano and Pocho exist due to a socio-cultural thinking of superiority from one
sector of the Mexican and the Anglo population, a way of thinking that brought as
consequence the discontent of the Mexicans and later an attitude of struggle that would
locate them as a powerful group in the Anglo scene.
1.3 The birth of Chicano consciousness
…solo les cuento los hechos y bases con los que iniciaron los
viejos obreros su lucha de clases.
Corrido popular
As years passed by, Mexicans became aware of their position in the U.S. context, so they
decided to start the struggle against the wave of discrimination and bad treatments. Groups
of resistance such as The White Caps (a group that used violent methods for recovering the
land that was stolen) were crucial and inspiring for later social movements (Bancroft, 1971,
pp. 87-143) (as cited in Acuña, 1985, p. 97).
In the early nineties, there were associations dedicated to defending the Chicanos
from injustices. Some of them were La Liga Protectora Mexicana, La Orden de Hijos de
América, the LULAC (Liga de Cuidadanos Unidos Latinoamericanos), the so called
American GI Forum (Tatum, 1986), and, more importantly, the United Farm Workers
Association led by César Chávez, who along with Reies López Tijerina and Rodolfo Corky
González were iconic characters in the Chicano struggle.
According to the historian Rudolfo Acuña (1972), in 1967 came out a group called
YCCA (Young Citizens for Community Action) that later became the Brown Berets. This
radical group faced the immediate necessities of the barrio: food, housing, unemployment,
9
education, etc. They used non pacific methods in the struggle for the defense of Chicano
rights. Their philosophy was molded by the conflicts and the streets (p. 164).
The Brown Berets signified a source of inspiration for many young people, the
group was formed by young boys that have left the school and rejected the Anglos and
educated Chicanos (Acuña, 1972, p. 162). This group unlike others supported the use of
physical means for the defense of their rights in the Chicano struggle (p. 164).
The decade of the 70´s brought with it a big change in the process of politicization
of Chicano people. It was since that moment when manifestations change from being
isolated events to creators of collective consciousness. This struggle, known as the Chicano
movement, reached all levels in the Chicano society: it went from the labour movement
headed by César Chávez and his farm workers in the state of California, the fight for the
recovery of lands started by Reies López Tijerina, to the student movements in higher
education institutions and the foundation of the political party La Raza Unida in Texas
(Maciel and Bueno, 1976, p. 12).
While it is true that the social movements were essential in the Chicano scene, it is
also true that there was need of another way for making their thoughts and needs heard. The
way needed was the universal tool used par excellence in social causes: art.
1.4 Chicano phenomenon and arts
With the creation of the Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, the importance of cultural nationalism
and the role of artists in the creation of public consciousness were highlighted. In the
struggle, artistic expressions such as literature and painting were used as ways of telling the
world about their reality. Several newspapers in Spanish were published, their content was
mainly social and political, the aim was keeping the community informed in their language.
Murals were painted on barrio walls. “In the Chicano movement, the mural was intended
to become part of the everyday life experience of the people; it functioned as a social text
by mirroring the actual struggles of the movement in pictorial form” (Ybarra Frausto, 1992,
p. 208).
10
Regarding literature, “epic and heroic novels like José Antonio Villarreal's Pocho
(1959) and Rodolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima (1972) exemplified an earlier period of the
Chicano cultural movement” (Ybarra Frausto, 1992, p. 209). The most representative group
that helped to spread the Chicano ideology was called the Grupo Quinto Sol, which
published the first extensive anthology of contemporary Chicano literature.
Characters such as Rodolfo Corky González and his poem I am Joaquin (1967),
where Chicano identity, cultural recognition and inequality are the main topics, inspired
later authors for writing about the same situation. An example is Oscar Zeta Acosta and his
novel The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1970), the story of a Chicano lawyer who
defends other Chicanos that are victims of the Catholic Church and police brutality in L.A.
during the anti-war movement called Chicano Moratorium.
Gloria Anzaldúa with her Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987),
where she defines the border as a way to separate not only two countries, but the good from
the bad, which reflects the U.S. way of thinking. Besides, she includes some aspects of the
historical background of Chicano people, such as the stealing of their lands and the
violation of their rights in the Guadalupe-Hidalgo treaty.
In theatre, the presence of Luis Valdez and his Teatro Campesino are essential: this
theatre was born as a result of the grape strike in Delano, California in 1965. The main
characteristic of Chicano theatre is its ‘lack of art’: it is not interested in creating a stage
design, an atmosphere or a character. For example, Valdez uses skull masks for creating a
temporary effect. All the masks are identical, only the actions, the wardrobe and the voices
of the characters make the difference between them. The final result is a stylized theatre
like Japanese kabuki or the Greek plays where masks were used (Ortego, 1971: 202).
The heart of Chicano poetry lies in the voice of I am Joaquin, poem written by
Rudolfo Corky González in 1967. This work is perhaps the most influential among the
literature of the movement. Rudolfo Acuña (1972) explains how Corky González portrays
through his poem the sorrows of Chicano people
Corky, illustrates the frustrations of the bato and the youth of the
barrio that have been mesmerized by the public schools which
suffer from a mental block for speaking Spanish. Through his own
11
experiences, Corky understands the lost of identity when the Anglo
teacher changes his name Rudolfo for Rudolph, or when he is
punished for speaking Spanish, as a result he becomes aware of the
marginalization and gives it shape in his poem (p. 181).
According to Tomás Ybarra Frausto (1992), in the mid-1970s, new forms of art
began to be created. Chicano artists felt free to experiment in any direction so long as they
held to the one basic premise: art should be committed and not art for art's sake. Because
there were few written manifestos, we have to look at the practice to see how the political
was embedded in the art (p. 209).
All the events aforementioned are the result of years of change in the Chicano
History, some of them as the Mexican-American War and the Gadsden Purchase brought
negative consequences as is marginalization, and others as social movements and art
manifestations served for the construction of Chicano identity as a group. All this historical
facts are the evidence needed to prove that the History of Chicano people is made mainly of
injustices and struggle. In the next chapter will be explained how these historical facts are
documented in the work of Luis Valdez and how they become part of the so called
testimony genre.
12
2. Testimonial literature and El Teatro Campesino
With the birth of a critical and socio-political point of view about their role in the U.S.
context, Chicano people needed ways for telling not only their people, but people from
other places about the condition they were passing through. Luis Valdez with his Teatro
Campesino offered that possibility. His theatre was the maximum expression of a
testimonial work in the Chicano scene as it involved farm-workers’ real experiences.
In this section, I will illustrate how Luis Valdez through El Teatro Campesino
turned the everyday situation of the farm-workers into Actos, his most representative work.
Later, I will explain the notion of testimony according to some authors, as well as its
characteristics, its aim and its relation with Valdez’s theatre.
2.1 Luis Valdez: Works and biography
Called the father of the Chicano theatre, playwright and director Luis Valdez was born on
June 26, 1940, in Delano, California. He was the second of ten children in a migrant worker
family that had to move constantly in search of work in the central valleys of California.
Due to this life style, he attended many different schools before his family finally settled in
San Jose (Gale Cengage Learning, 2013). Valdez had the usual sporadic education given to
migrants. Unlike the majority of young Chicanos, Valdez graduated from high school and
not only that, he also earned a scholarship to San Jose State College. It was during his stay
in that school when Valdez wrote a one-act play entitled The Theft, followed by his first
full-length play, The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa1 (Huerta, 1977, p. 45).
After
graduating in 1964, Valdez spent the next few months with the San Francisco Mime
Troupe, a company that performed free, satirical theater on political themes in the open air
for audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area (Albert, 2013, www). By that time, Valdez
heard about the grape strike in Delano and came up with the idea of making a theatre with
farm-workers. Apropos, Valdez relates in an interview with Beth Bagby (1967) that
…when I discovered the Mime Troupe, I figured if any theater
could turn on farm workers it would be that type of theatre—
1
The titles of the plays, as well as the dialogues taken from Los Actos (1978) are written as they
appear originally in the book.
13
outside, that lively, that bawdy. That same spring I had heard about
the National Farm Workers Association (p.73).
Valdez worked with the Mime Troupe until the grape strike broke out on September
8, 1965. Later he moved to Delano, where he joined Cesar Chavez with the aim of helping
him to organize and create social awareness among the strikers. From this event a farmworkers' theater troupe was born, its name was El Teatro Campesino. The aim of this new
theatre was to
…educate and inform not only the farm workers but the public as
well. El Teatro Campesino toured the migrant camps with their
actos, or one-act plays that explored political and cultural issues of
concern to the movement (Gale Cengace Learning, 2013, www).
According to Jorge Huerta (1977), in 1967 Valdez decided to move to Del Rey,
California in order to establish El Centro Campesino Cultural. The aim of Valdez was
going beyond the problems of the strike, this time he was looking to express other problems
confronted by the Chicano (p. 49). The theater moved beyond its original purpose and
delved into traditional Mexican theatrical forms.
El Teatro Campesino, since the beginning of its creation to its final stage of change,
cared about Chicano problems, either socio-political or self identity. The important one for
this work is the first one; how Valdez portrayed the Chicano problems through his plays.
In the following section the work of Luis Valdez and his theatre will be explained, as well
as the main topics in his book Los Actos which is the basis of his work in the Chicano
scene.
14
2.2 El Teatro Campesino
Teatro eres el mundo y las paredes de los buildings más
grandes son nothing but scenery
Luis Valdez
In 1965 it was the grape strike of Delano which saw the birth of El Teatro Campesino.
With the help of it and its creator, social awareness was raised among the strikers. The aim
of El Teatro was not only to amuse but to illustrate the farm-workers reality. In words of
Valdez (1978), El Teatro Campesino was putting all the joys, sorrows, history and culture
of La Raza on stage to be examined, to be remade, to pass on to others and to show others
that the answers were there, that things did not have to be that way (p. 1)2.
Chicano theatre was different from the traditional one; it had a big social commitment to
the farm-workers and the pueblo. In his book Los Actos (1978), Valdez highlights this by
saying
Chicano theatre had to be revolutionary in technique and content, as
well as popular, but above all, it had to educate the pueblo toward
(sic) an appreciation of social change, on and off stage (p. 2).
Due to the conditions where El Teatro Campesino was born, it had to perform
wherever it could, with little or no scenery at all. According to Huerta, most of the times the
scenery was real, for example, the actors performed on the edges of the grape fields with
the aim of trying to persuade the scabs3 to get out of the fields (Huerta, 1977, p. 47). Its
main tool was the acto, a short improvised scene that dealt with the experiences of its
participants, for example a conversation between a boss and his striking worker like in “Las
Dos Caras del Patroncito” (p. 46). Journalist and Mexican writer Edna Ochoa, in her work
“Tú eres mi otro yo: el teatro chicano de Luis Valdez” (2011) explains the essence of
Valdez’s actos and El Teatro Campesino. She emphasizes the use of real experiences in the
construction of this new tool
2
3
Actos’ preface.
A person hired to replace a striking worker.
15
Dicen que los Actos venían hechos de carne y hueso, la materia
prima eran los campesinos mexicanos y chicanos y su propia
experiencia. No eran mexicoamericanos acomodados o asimilados
al sistema angloamericano. Era gente campesina, creyente en Dios y
de cultura popular. Y el teatro empezó a hacerse de esa inmediatez;
entraba para funcionar dentro de la realidad más concreta, cotidiana,
de quien trabaja y sufre del abuso, el mal pago, la discriminación, el
racismo, porque el ranchero blanco trataba a los campesinos como
si fueran siervos, como si él fuese el amo de las tierras y la gente.
“Los actos nacieron hambrientos de realidad”, tragaban a
dentelladas las experiencias de victimización de una minoría
explotada y se corporizaban para reflejar las injusticias (p. 43).
In 1967, Valdez decided to move away from the UFWOC (United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee), when it became clear to him that the UFWOC would succeed and
continue to grow, he felt it was time to move and to begin speaking about things beyond the
Huelga: Vietnam, the barrio, racial discrimination, etc. (p. 4).
The work of Valdez and El Teatro did not end when he moved away from the
Huelga. To the contrary, his desire to tackle other problems in his plays became a reality. In
his book Los Actos (1978) Valdez achieves showing a wider spectrum of Chicano
phenomenon as this time he does not only focus on farm-workers. In the following section
we will see how the work of Valdez illustrates the life of Chicanos in school, in the war and
in the urban context.
2.3 Los Actos
Los actos son muy interesantes, chistosos, y representan la realidad
de la vida del campesino.
César Chávez
Published in 1978, Los Actos is a book that apart from being a set of plays written by Luis
Valdez, are fragments of life that deal with essential aspects of the Mexican-American
issues during the grape strike of 1965. The acto according to Valdez (1978) should
…inspire the audiences to social action, illuminate specific points
about social problems, satirize the opposition, show or hint a
solution and express what people were feeling (p. 6).
16
Through nine plays, Valdez illustrates the everyday life of the farm-workers from a
critical and satirical point of view. The plays tackle topics such as the participation of
Mexican-Americans in the Vietnam War and the aftermath it had on their families
(“Vietnam Campesino”, “Soldado Razo”). The discrimination and bad treatments against
the farm-workers (“Las Dos Caras Del Patroncito”), as well as the stereotypes created for
describing Mexicans and the acquisition of U.S. culture (“Los Vendidos”). The creation of
awareness among the strikers (“The Militants”, “Los Huelguistas”) and the re-colonization
of Mexicans in the United States (“La Conquista de México”). And finally, the Chicanos’
experience in the U.S. educational system (“No Saco Nada de la Escuela”).
In Los Actos, Valdez portrays the characters and situations as they were in real life.
He does not attempt to follow the traditional patterns of theatre where stories were
performed by professional actors, who little or nothing had to do with their characters.
Valdez illustrates real situations with real people, clear example of this are the marks of the
everyday talk in the play’s dialogues. Valdez maintains the authenticity of the MexicanAmerican speech by keeping such characteristic feature as is the code-switching.
Valdez’s ideology of social change through theatre came mainly from the influence
of German playwright Bertolt Brecht and his epic theatre, which focuses on socio-political
issues. An important element retaken by Valdez from the Brechtean theatre is the
distantiation effect, which consists of distancing the spectator from the situation on the
stage for the purpose of assessing and reflecting on it (Rodrigo, 2013, p. 150). According to
Dulcinea Rodrigo (2013)
Brecht postula que el espectador debe darse cuenta, a través de
varios artificios, de que lo presenciado es un espectáculo, por lo
tanto el objetivo primordial no ha de ser la catarsis aristotélica ―o
método sentimental por el cual el público purifica sus
sentimientos― sino el despertar de una actitud crítica racional
frente a lo mostrado (p. 152).
Valdez uses this technique in his theatre by including elements such as masks, signs, comic
elements like jokes and puns, achieving the interest of the audience and the reflection on
the elements given. Peña (1984) points out the use of these elements
17
(…) los personajes caracterizados a través de letreros, máscaras,
movimientos, gestos o formas de interacción, reflejan el universo
social del cual son producto. Así en Las dos caras del patroncito, el
patrón se introduce a la escena usando una máscara amarilla de
cerdo, manejando una limosina imaginaria e imitando el sonido del
motor, mientras su guardia Charlie, aparece haciendo movimientos
gorilescos. El trabajador por su lado, realiza los movimientos
gestuales de la acción de pizcar uvas, provocando así un efecto
satírico que motiva al espectador a una actitud desmitificante de los
personajes en cuestión (p. 164).
The plays of Valdez apart from entertaining invite the audience to reflect on the
problems on stage. Every play is a call for reflection: Valdez set on the stage a series of
elements that allows the audience not only to agree with the characters and their situation,
but to take what lies beneath and find the real problem, and a possible solution for it. As
Rendón apropos the epic theatre (2007) says
[e]l espectador del teatro épico dice: “No había pensado en eso…
no hay derecho a obrar así… qué notable es esto, casi diría
increíble… hay que acabar con eso… el sufrimiento de ese hombre
me conmueve, porque habría una salida para él… así es el gran arte:
nada se da por sobrentendido en él… río del que llora, lloro del que
ríe” (p. 28).
Los Actos have elemental features that allow the interaction between the audience
and the characters, for example the intervention of a character addressing the audience:
“Buenos días! This is the ranch of my patrocito, and I come here to prune grape and vines.
My patron bring me (sic) all the way from Mexico here to California…” (Valdez, 1978, p.
9) instead of starting performing and allowing the audience to discover through actions and
dialogues the role of the characters and the problems they are immersed in, they introduce
themselves and make clear what is happening, or what happened, that triggers the situation
off.
On the stage, the devices used are very few for making the message more
meaningful. Valdez recurs to the exaggeration of situations and attitudes. In their majority
the characters are defined by certain features that allow the audience to identify their
purpose in the play. For example, in “No Saco Nada de la Escuela”, the figure of the
tyrannical teacher, who prefers American students in her class, is remarkably emphasized
18
through the words she uses for referring to Mexicans. Peña (1984) argues the objective of
the economy of resources on stage in Los Actos…
No se trata de un drama realista, si no (sic) de un espectáculo teatral
que por medio de una economía de elementos o de la
hiperbolización sígnica de los mismos, produce argumentaciones
visuales que enfatizan la dirección de las acciones y el
desplazamiento de los espacios (p. 165).
The use of allegorical figures is another tool that helps to give a clear message to the
audience. In La Quinta Temporada, the seasons are represented as real entities. As Jorge
Huerta (1977) points out, with the use of allegory the problems presented become images
and make easier to illustrate which the problem is and the solution (p. 48).
Subsequently he explains:
When an actor walks onto the platform and announces that he is
‘Summer’, his shirt is covered with play money and the audience of
campesinos responds with a knowing laugh. The reasons are all too
real for the migrant worker, and he knows that summer is his pot of
gold. But in this acto, the farmworker is reminded of the brutal
reality that he is not going to get rich off a summer's earnings no
matter how hard he tries (p. 48).
Over the years, Valdez’s beliefs evolved and he decided to turn his actos into mitos
where he retook elements from Aztec and Maya Heritage such as indigenous symbols. With
this new theatrical form a new meaning was given to these ancient symbols; Valdez
adapted them to present-day situations based on the History and experiences of Mexican
farm-workers and Chicano immigrants (Ochoa, 2011, p. 44).
The acto and the mito are two essential components of Valdez’s work. Each one
marked a stage in the history of his career. Actos show us the man in a political and social
context, while in the mito the man is immersed in a spiritual realm (Ochoa, 2011, p. 44). As
Valdez (1978) explains:
the two forms (mito and acto) are cuates that complement and
balance each other as day goes into night, el sol, la sombra, la vida,
la muerte, el pajaro (sic), la serpiente, one through the eyes of man;
the other, through the eyes of God (p. 5).
19
Luis Valdez and his actos have served as inspiration for people who have something
to denounce, as Jorge Huerta (1977) says:
…as long as we have Chicanos who wish to express themselves in a
manner which is direct, political, entertaining, and comparatively
easy to produce, actos will provide the form, and the Teatro
Campesino will generate the inspiration (p. 56).
Los Actos are probably the most representative work of Valdez’s influence in the
Chicano movement during and after the grape strike. His plays tried to open the eyes of the
Mexican workers to demonstrate that there was somebody agreeing with their ideals of
change, somebody interested in spreading their message, but now through different means:
theatre. The creation of consciousness was not through a simple invitation “join the huelga
because we need to ask for better conditions of work”. Now the message was discovered by
watching the situation from outside: the problem and the solution were on the stage.
2.4 Dramatic literature: From virtual triangulation to real triangulation
It is essential to take into account that not all texts have as main purpose their usual reading,
or at least not dramatic texts, as is the case of the plays I will work with. These are written
with the aim of their representation in mind, although this in no way means that nonspecialized public cannot read them. Nevertheless, there are some aspects to consider when
approaching the reading of dramatic texts. According to Professor Michel Modenessi
(2007) dramatic literature does not have a direct relation with the reader as other literary
genres have (p. 191). This is because its purpose is…
…proporcionar materiales –sobre todo mediante lenguaje verbal
que registra o sugiere actos de habla (diálogos o parlamentos) e
indicaciones o instrucciones escénicas (acotaciones o didascalias) –
a uno o varios agentes de la realización artística que trabajan en
conjunto –los teatristas: actores, directores, escenógrafos, músicos,
técnicos, etcétera– quienes a partir de esos materiales desarrollan,
desempeñan o representan acciones vivas… (pp. 191-192).
Dramatic texts have as main destination the people involved in the realization of the
theatrical event; people that will use the text for creating actions on the stage and that
20
understand the vivid nature of theatre, unlike general readers who as Modenessi (2007)
suggests, will probably tackle these kind of texts with the same strategies they would use
for poetry or narrative (p. 193), and who, although have read the script of the play, will lack
the scenic experience that brings meaning to the play.
Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that venturing into the reading of dramatic
texts, in spite of being a non-specialized person in this field, is possible. However, one
would need to implement what Professor Modenessi (2007) calls triangulación virtual,
which means reading the text by keeping in mind that its aim is the representation
(triangulación real, p. 193), and it is necessary to make a careful reading that allows
placing ourselves in an imaginary stage where we can conceive the text as a vivid theatrical
event. Apropos of this, Modenessi (2007) says:
La literatura dramática opera primeramente en función de quienes la
realizan y sólo posteriormente de quienes la presencian, y por ello
el lector general se ve (o debería verse) en la necesidad de operar en
ambas posiciones, o al menos intentar hacerlo (p. 197).
The culmination of dramatic texts takes place on the stage. Representation is its
raison d’être due to the fact that all the elements that shape the text spring to life through
actions. Theatre is about living but not real acts, which belong to a sequence of actions that
are held in a defined time and space with the purpose of the interaction between two
groups; the theatre workers and the audience (Modenessi, 2007, p. 197). The script of a
play will only reach an artistic meaning through the movements, gestures, tones of voice,
silences, etc., that the actor gives them. In relation to the importance of the actor’s
performance, Professor Modenessi (2007) points out:
Un papel o personaje escrito en un texto dramático es un conjunto
de signos cuya función es proporcionar al actor primeramente las
herramientas verbales y discursivas, y como consecuencia las de
cualquier otra índole de allí derivadas, para construir en escena
mediante su cuerpo vivo –su instrumento único y exclusivo– la
significación que a esos signos se les reconozca y encomiende a
partir de un trabajo de lectura –interpretativo, creativo y /o
intuitivo– tanto individual como grupal por parte de una compañía
teatral. Resumiendo, en su forma textual, el papel es una matriz de
signos para una ficción que ha de constituirse en escena mediante la
realidad viva del actor (p. 192).
21
For this reason, the reading of dramatic texts requires sensibility beyond the written signs
(Modenessi, 2007, p. 198). The reader needs to consider all the elements that contribute to
the construction of the text: the rhythm, the tensions, the pauses and not only tackle it as a
series of informative dialogues (Modenessi, 2007, p. 199).
The representation of Valdez’ plays have undoubtedly a great testimonial value since they
illustrate the abuses against Chicanos. For a better understanding of this feature in Valdez’s
work, I will mention in the next chapter what testimony is, its purpose and its main
characteristics.
2.5 Testimony: The voice of the voiceless
Lo único que deseo es mostrar el corazón del hombre. De ese
hombre que la historiografía tradicional marcó con el signo
de un fatalismo proverbial, inscribiéndolo entre “la gente sin
historia”
Miguel Barnet
There are in life two types of history: the one taught in school, which enlist the great events
that mark the evolution of humanity along with the important people that participated in
them, and the one that has less scientific prestige: the oral testimonies of the underclass,
who despite of having also contributed to the identity construction of their countries, have
not earned a place in literature (Gutierrez, 2000, p. 54).
According to Margaret Randall (2002), in the previous stages to capitalism, History
was written by the ruling classes, for example, people had to know the process of the
conquest of America through the words of the conquers, there are very few stories from the
original inhabitant’s point of view (p. 35).
This practice of distorting events in benefit of the ruling classes can be noticed in
the productions of Hollywood, comics, radio and TV programs, as well as books with
pretentions of being “History”. All these distortions in benefit of just a few aroused the
22
necessity of writing reliable History of working class life from true experiences. This could
be achieved only in one way: giving people real access to culture and to the proper tools for
writing their own History (Randall, 2002, p. 36).
The tools needed by all the people who had something to denounce were provided
by the testimony genre; it gave the opportunity of telling stories that were the product of
real experiences that illustrated the needs of an entire marginalized group. Testimony
provides the underclass with the opportunity of making History from its perspective.
But, what is testimony? And why is it useful?
According to John Beverley (1987), testimony is
una narración contada en primera persona gramatical por un
narrador que es a la vez el protagonista (o el testigo) de su propio
relato. Su unidad narrativa suele ser una “vida” o una vivencia
particularmente significativa (situación laboral, militancia política,
encarcelamiento, etc.) La situación del narrador en el testimonio
siempre involucra cierta urgencia o necesidad de comunicación que
surge de una experiencia vivencial de represión, pobreza,
explotación, marginalización, crimen, lucha (p. 157).
Testimony deals with a real situation, which is usually about people who have
something to denounce, and who do not have the possibility of doing so due to their social
status, repression by others or simple ignorance. This genre focuses its raison d’être in its
direct connection with extra-textual reality, the elements of the story have an immediate
relation with the world outside (Huertas, 1994, p. 167).
The narrator of the testimony according to John Beverley (1987)
is a real person who continues living in a story that is also real and
continues as well (p.166).
Agreeing with Beverley, I consider that what differentiates the testimony from other
forms of literature is its real content, a testimony is a life turned into a book, just that. It
does not have any intrusion of a creator inside, unlike fictional stories where their creator
has not even experienced the situation related. These last ones are far from being
considered testimonial.
23
Margaret Randall (2002) as well as Beverly, points out a series of elements that give
form to testimony. Some of them are:




El uso de las fuentes directas;
La entrega de una historia, no a través de las
generalizaciones que caracterizaban a los textos
convencionales, sino a través de las particularidades de la
voz o las voces del pueblo protagonizador de un hecho;
La inmediatez (un informante relata un hecho que ha vivido,
un sobreviviente nos entrega una experiencia que nadie más
nos puede ofrecer, etc.);
El uso de material secundario (una introducción, otras
entrevistas de apoyo, documentos, material gráfico,
cronologías y materiales adicionales que ayudan a
conformar un cuadro vivo) (p. 35).
The “real” factor also appears in the elements mentioned, which demonstrate the
importance of the veracity regarding this genre.
Miguel Barnet (1992), precursor of the testimonial novel, points out that the aim of
this genre is to show ethnological aspects of History, the social processes, internal
dynamics and individual cases in order to understand collective behavior patterns (p. 77).
An important point from the above is that testimony cares about collective situations
through the story of a group of people. That is to say, the life of one immigrant represents
the life of other immigrants that experiment the same situation. This feature is called
polyphony. Apropos this Margaret Randall (2002) explains that
[s]i la historia la hacen los pueblos, una sola voz difícilmente puede
proyectarla. La voz del pueblo es una voz multitudinaria. Sin
embargo, a veces es posible captar, en la voz de un hombre o de una
mujer, la realidad y el accionar de todo un pueblo. A veces una sola
persona, por sus características, puede representar a su pueblo. El
que escribe testimonios debe estar consciente de su papel como
trasmisor de una voz capaz de representar a las masas (p. 37).
According to the above, it is certainly true that a particular story cannot be
considered as valid in the testimony field, if it is true that one person can represent an entire
population, it is also true that if his/her story is just a particular experience that cannot
represent anybody else. What a story needs for becoming a testimony is to have other same
stories behind, supporting it.
24
Another significant feature of testimony is the constant textual affirmation of the
narrator as a subject. The main formal aspect of the testimony is the voice in the form of the
first person “I”, which constantly asks for the attention of the reader: “My name is… I
would like to… I believe…”, etc. This feature expresses the narrator’s desire not to be
silenced (Beverley, 1987, p. 161). Besides, it allows him/her to interact with the reader as
somebody who shares or sympathizes with his/her situation. This feature, besides giving
the reader a sensation of familiarity and proximity with the narrator, serves for affirming
the veracity of the event that is being told.
Something worth mentioning is the role of the author, or in the case of the
testimony, the one who serves as a way for the message to reach an audience. The
testimony is the result of the work of two people: the one who tells the story and the one
who hears it and writes it. In many cases, the narrator is illiterate or with little education,
thus, somebody from another class with higher education will be needed in order to give
form to the narration (Beverley, 1987, p. 164).
Elzbieta Sklodowska (1988), in her work “Miguel Barnet y la novela testimonio”,
when discussing the role of the intellectual in the testimony explains that
[l]os revolucionarios cambios sociales en Cuba han creado
condiciones
excepcionalmente
favorables
para
la
autorreivindicación de los marginados, pero el papel mediador del
intelectual ha mantenido su vigencia debido a los vestigios de la
superestructura anterior y la falta de autoconciencia testimonial por
parte de los representantes de la gente sin historia (p. 1074).
Testimony usually emerges from a marginalized sector, which means little or no
education, so the possibilities of the creation of something that helps to spread denunciation
are very few. For example, the case of the grape strikers of Delano could not have reached
the stage without Luis Valdez’ skills.
The author of a testimony can be a journalist, a writer, the participant himself, the
secondary or the main character of the real event that is being told, or just simply the
mediator, who functions as a way for the message to reach the audience (Randall, 2002, p.
33). Probably, without the intervention of an author, it would be difficult to know the story
of a marginalized sector that is not always aware of its condition.
25
Testimony is the tool used by the marginalized to make their voice heard. It has
served as a window to know so many stories that have been hidden for lack of somebody to
tell them, that have been, as Miguel Barnet says “debajo de las piedras” and which finally,
with the intervention of somebody interested in writing them, in giving them form, have
reached the attention they would have had since the very beginning.
The work of Luis Valdez and El Teatro are very significant in the Chicano context:
through his actos the situation of abuses against Chicanos and farm-workers was
denounced. Los Actos clearly fulfill the requirements of testimony since they are based on
true stories and illustrate through single characters the lives of many people.
With his first plays Valdez attempted to create social awareness among strikers, and
with the following ones among the public in general. Luis Valdez opened the doors for
other Chicano theatres and for the Chicanos themselves. Most of all he portrayed the reality
of the people who did not have the opportunity to do so. Undoubtedly when somebody
mentions the grape strike of Delano, or the Chicano movement, he/she must also mentions
Luis Valdez, Los Actos and El Teatro Campesino.
26
3. History and testimony through representation in three acts
In the previous chapter the relation between testimony and Luis Valdez’s Teatro
Campesino was explained. By illustrating the problems of Chicano people, farm-workers
and Mexicans in the United States, Valdez offered the opportunity to make their
denunciations be heard. The work of Valdez has a wide spectrum of themes. The ones that
will be discussed in this chapter are the humiliation and marginalization of Chicanos; the
way the representation of Valdez’s actos portrays this situation, which resources the
playwright uses and why it can be considered a testimonial work. Through the analysis of
three plays (“Las Dos Caras del Patroncito”, “Los Vendidos”, and “No Saco Nada de La
Escuela”), I will attempt to illustrate the situation of bad treatment and discrimination
against Chicano people. Besides, with the help of some studies that tackle the
characteristics and the aim of testimony genre, I will suggest a reflection on the work of
Luis Valdez as a way for denouncing the aforementioned situation.
3.1 “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito”: The figure of Pocho
“Las Dos Caras del Patroncito” is the story of a talk between a grower and the Mexican
scab working for him. During the play, the boss tells his employee the “advantages” of
working in the fields and the “disadvantages” of being the boss. The play has a twist when
the latter asks the farm-worker to change roles with him in order to demonstrate that his life
as a grower is more complicated than his worker’s. With this transformation, Luis Valdez
makes the farm-workers aware that the Patrocito looks identical to any other Mexican
worker.
According to Jorge Huerta, in his work “Chicano Agit-Prop: The Early Actos of El
Teatro Campesino” (1977), the purpose of “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito” was showing the
equality between the farm-workers and their bosses (p. 48), as well as the hypocrisy of the
growers and the ridiculous working conditions in the fields (p. 47).
Besides what Huerta suggests, the humiliation of the farm-worker in hands of the grower is
a visible feature during the play. The Patroncito at all times shows great contempt for
Mexicans and uses offensive phrases when referring to the worker: “Git your greasy hands
27
offa it” (Valdez, 1978, p. 13). “Sure I love my Mexicans, boy! I love’em about ten feet
away from me” (Valdez, 1978, p. 10). This attitude illustrates the strong dividing line that
exists between the two sides. The grower feels superior to the worker due to the advantages
his condition of boss has. The part where they change roles is very significant to understand
this behavior: in the moment the grower takes off the pig mask he is wearing, the farmworker starts laughing, subsequently he says to his boss: “Patron, you look like me!”,
(Valdez, 1978, p. 16). In this line, the actor’s body language becomes important for the
play; the movements and gestures he adds at the moment of saying it, the way he moves
cautiously and curiously when the boss is removing his mask and later the laugh produced
by the real appearance of the grower, reveal the farm-worker’s desire of discovering what
the appearance of the person that treats him so badly was and the irony that is a Mexican
feeling superior to others that look exactly like him. The impact desired depends on the
interpretation and performance of the actor. Apropos this, Professor Alfredo Michel
Modenessi (2007) explains that
[u]n papel o personaje escrito en un texto dramático es un conjunto
de signos cuya función es proporcionar al actor primeramente las
herramientas verbales y discursivas, y como consecuencia las de
cualquier otra índole de allí derivadas, para construir en escena
mediante su cuerpo vivo –su instrumento único y exclusivo– la
significación que a esos signos se les reconozca y encomiende a
partir de un trabajo de lectura –interpretativo, creativo y/o intuitivo–
tanto individual como grupal por parte de una compañía teatral.
Resumiendo, en su forma textual, el papel es una matriz de signos
para una ficción que ha de constituirse en escena mediante la
realidad viva del actor (p. 192).
Finally, now that the face of the boss has been discovered, it is clear that he is a
Mexican too, or at least is of Mexican descendant. Despite this fact, the grower has feelings
of superiority adopting the position of Pocho, who as Villanueva (1985) points out, is the
one responsible for the discrimination and the division of classes among Mexicans in the
United States (p. 10).
The representation of this acto aimed to create consciousness among the farmworkers by showing all the negative aspects about working in the fields. It is essential to
point out that Luis Valdez looked for this creation of consciousness through the
28
representation of the plays, not through the reading of the scripts. After all, it is important
to take into consideration that theatre is a genre where plays are written for representation,
not for regular reading as novels or essays are. As Professor Modenessi (2007) explains,
[e]l texto dramático no tiene por fin primario presentarse a nuestra
atención en la estabilidad de una página que podamos visitar en
cualquier oportunidad, sino ser insumo para una representación, lo
que implica la vocalización de los diálogos en presencia viva… (p.
194).
In relation to the representation of this acto, I consider that there are several aspects
to take in account. First of all, since the problem presented come from real circumstances
and the aim of this play is showing the bad conditions of work in the fields, the actors need
to be farm-workers or actors who have done research on the theme and, therefore, are
familiar with the problem of marginalization that this play illustrates. On the other hand, I
believe that the creation of atmospheres based on actions and descriptions rather than
devices, keeps the audience aware that what they are watching is not a common play, but a
representation of their lives. Phrases like “Take the cigar”, “You see that car?”, “You see
her coming out of the house, onto the patio by the pool?” allow the public to know where
the event is occurring without devices around.
The way of expressing of both characters reveals their ideology and highlights the
message the playwright intended to transmit to the audience. On the one hand, the boss is
somebody that openly expresses his supposed superiority over the farm-worker using
pejorative phrases. On the other, the farm-worker is too submissive, he obeys everything
his boss commands. This obvious dichotomy illustrates the place both occupy and defines
their positions better than if their physical postures on the stage were openly described.
I consider that the actions performed need to be meaningful: every gesture,
movement and tone of voice has to be justified. For example, in the moment the farmworker is talking about the huelga and what huevones the strikers are for being on strike
instead of working, the boss shows himself pleased by these commentaries and pats the
farm-worker in the head as if he was a dog. Later the farm-worker “kisses the ass” of his
patroncito (Valdez, 1978, p. 11). Of course these actions do not happen literally in real life,
29
they may even seem exaggerated, but it is a sarcastic and clear way that Valdez uses for
showing how people can contribute to discrimination only by trying to fit in.
I believe that musical elements are not necessary in this play, neither are
illumination or distinctive clothes. The actions, gestures (the arrogant face of the boss and
the shy face of the farm-worker) and movements (the boss showing off in front of the farmworker and the farm-worker working hard to avoid trouble) allow the audience to identify
who is who and what his role in the play is.
In “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito” the shows of contempt also come from the farmworker. When the boss asks him about the huelga and Cesar Chavez, the worker answers:
“Oh sí, patron!”, showing sympathy. Then the boss asks with apparent annoyance “What?”
and the worker changes his attitude saying: “Oh, no, señor! Es comunista! Y la huelga es
puro pedo. Bola de colorados, arrastrados, huevones! No trabajan porque no quieren”
(Valdez, 1978, p. 11). This attitude, as well as the Patrocito’s, also reflects a Pocho way of
thinking: in order to please his boss and avoid troubles, the farm-worker adopts an attitude
of rejection towards the strikers. Nancie González in her work The Spanish-Americans of
New Mexico: A Heritage of Pride (1967), explains this attitude of rejection
[n]o fue sino hasta el siglo xx cuando los nativos de Nuevo México
abandonaron conscientemente su identidad mexicana. La causa de
ello fue que durante las décadas de 1910 y 1920 hubo gran
afluencia de trabajadores mexicanos a Nuevo México y que, al
mismo tiempo, muchos texanos, nativos de Oklahoma y otros
sureños se establecieron en las planicies orientales, intensificando la
discriminación contra los mexicanos. Los habitantes de Nuevo
México más ricos, en la creencia de ser caucásicos, argüían ante los
angloamericanos: ‘A ustedes no les gustan los mexicanos, y a
nosotros tampoco nos gustan; pero somos hispanoamericanos, no
mexicanos’ (p. 205) (as cited in Acuña, 1985, pp. 72-73).
This play constitutes a way of showing the farm-workers the real impression the
growers had of them. Through three characters and few devices, Valdez tells a story where
he denounces degradation. This element also allows us to see that is not only a play, but a
testimonial work. According to John Beverley (1987) the testimony involves an urgency of
communication product of a situation of oppression, poverty, exploitation, marginalization,
30
crime or struggle. “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito” fulfils this urgency of denouncing the
bad treatment the farm-workers suffered at the hands of the growers.
“Las Dos Caras del Patrocito” consists of three characters, the patroncito, the farmworker and the armed guard whose function is “keeping an eye on the huelguistas” (p. 11).
Each one has obvious features that allow the audience to identify them easily. For example,
the farm-worker and the boss have signs hung that indicate who they are. Besides, the boss
wears a pig mask, which in my opinion symbolizes the vileness of his actions. Moreover, it
reminds us to “Napoleon” the tyrannical pig from George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm
(1945), who as well as the patroncito inflicts violence upon his own people.
Characterizing the boss with a pig mask suggest the outlook the farm-workers had about the
figure of the growers.
On the other hand, the attitudes (the submission of farm-worker, the conceit of the
boss), the moves (the farm-worker pruning grape vines, the boss pushing away the farmworker) and the gestures (signs of surprise, of disdain, of repulsion in the case of the
grower) of the characters are often exaggerated: for example, the armed guard is said to
walk like an ape, this stresses the violent nature characteristic of his job. Also when the
boss enters the scene driving a car he actually mimes the movements of the steering wheel
and makes the sound of the motor. All those elements are used on purpose for telling the
audience that what they are watching is not a play, but a real representation of their lives.
Throughout representation, “Las Dos Caras del Patrocito” portrays the reality of the
farm-workers, the bad treatment they received everyday and the poor conditions they had to
live in. This acto aimed to show the farm-workers what their position were in the U.S.
system according to the growers. With this and the following actos, Valdez offered a way
of denouncing marginalization. For the very first time the problems were not only in the
fields, they were on the stage.
31
3.2 “Los Vendidos”: The negative stereotypes
“Los Vendidos” or the “master piece of the genre” as Bruce-Novoa (1978) labels it, is the
story of Miss Jim-enez, a secretary from the government that is in search of a Mexican for
the administration. For this purpose she goes to “Honest Sancho’s used Mexican lot” where
Chicano robots are on exhibition, the models are the farm-worker, the pachuco, the
revolutionary soldier and the Mexican-American. Honest Sancho shows Miss Jim-enez the
three first models but none pleases her. Finally, the secretary chooses an apparent male
version of her, the Mexican-American. Surprisingly, when the secretary is leaving the shop
with her new model, she discovers he is a Chicano militant. Later, the Mexican-American
along with the other models, scares the secretary who leaves the shop screaming. At the end
of the acto, we realize that the four models are Chicano militants and the only robot is
Sancho, the seller.
In my opinion the representation of this acto depends on the correct characterization
of the actors. Since there are six characters, it is important to provide them with
representative elements that allow the audience to identify who they are, and which is
his/her role in the play. What is more, since this play tackles the problem of stereotypes, the
characteristics of each one could be strongly highlighted in order to produce a satirical
effect. For example, with the descriptions the seller makes about each one, it is clear that it
is an exaggeration on purpose to raise the interest of the audience and most of all the
interest and the horror of Miss Jim-enez. The farm-worker is said to live only on “Tortillas,
beans and chile” (Valdez, 1978, p. 38), to “love his patrones” (p. 37), and to “sleep out in
the fields overnight without troubles” (p. 38). Johnny Pachuco is said to “steal” (Valdez,
1978, p. 42), to live on “hamburguers, Taco Bell tacos and Lucky Larger beer” (p. 41), and
to “knive fight” (p. 40). All these features shape the stereotypes that will serve as a starting
point for a critical assessment.
Besides, the register of each character defines his
personality and his social status; Johnny Pachuco incorporates in his speech a distinctive
feature as is code-switching, the Mexican farm-worker does not speak English at all as well
as the revolutionary soldier and the Mexican-American is bilingual due to his assimilation
to the U.S. culture.
32
Something that I consider as a useful element is the background music; the script of
the plays does not specify whether background music is used or not. But, I consider, it
would be useful to add some music in the moment the seller introduces the models, due to
it may stress the satirical effect in the play, and contribute to shape the personalities of the
models. Besides, the wardrobe and the accessories must be the ones that better represent
their personalities. For example, some old clothes for the farm-worker and a suitcase for the
Mexican-American. Since Chicano theatre is economical in resources, it is important to
choose the one that best shapes the character. Whereas the stage design does not seem to
me as important as is the characterization itself, with the fact that Honest Sancho begins the
play introducing himself to the audience, it is enough to locate them in the place desired.
On the other hand, referring to the ideology of the acto, Bruce-Novoa (1978)
suggests that “Los Vendidos” represents the necessity of union against the gabacho, which
is to say, ethnical affirmation (p. 71). While Huerta (1977) states that what lies beneath is
an old problem of assimilation, a situation confronted by many Chicano families (p. 49).
He considers “Los Vendidos” as an attempt to begin defining who and what the Chicano is
and how he got this way (p. 50). Subsequently, he argues that “Los Vendidos” does not
show a solution for the problem presented, unlike the first actos. He says:
Earlier actos called for immediate action: "Join the Union"; but to
change the minds and attitudes of so many Chicanos who have been
programmed to think that Chicano culture is inferior and therefore
try to become something they are not, is no easy task. Los vendidos
tackles the problem through satire, but it does not propose solutions
(p. 49).
In “Los Vendidos”, it is possible to show the problem of discrimination and suggest a
reflection on it, but the solution needs to be elaborated by the audience according to their
necessities. As Bruce-Novoa (1978) says
The spectator goes home with the seeds of change locked within the
image of a traditional type. That type will someday reveal itself as
the Mexican-American revealed himself one he had been paid for
(p. 45).
Besides what Huerta and Bruce-Novoa propose, as I mentioned before, I consider that the
problem of marginalization can be tackled from the negative stereotypes. For example,
33
when telling the secretary Johnny Pachuco’s functions, the characteristics highlighted make
him seem a criminal. The seller says what Johnny Pachuco does:
SANCHO: Anything and everything necessary for city life. For
instance, survival: he knife fights. (SNAP. JOHNNY PULLS OUT
SWITCHBLADE AND SWINGS AT SECRETARY). (Valdez,
1978, p. 40).
Subsequently, he adds:
He gets arrested, but no without resisting, of course (Valdez, 1978,
p. 40).
JOHNNY: En la madre, la placa. I didn’t do it! I didn’t do it!
(JOHNNY TURNS AND STANDS UP AGAINST AN
IMAGINARY WALL, LEGS SPREAD OUT, ARMS BEHIND
HIS BACK). (Valdez, 1978, p. 40).
Later, when the seller tells how economical keeping Johnny Pachuco is, he says he
can live on yesca (marijuana) and sniffing glue. Since the model is a pachuco, as its name
suggests, he is characterized with the distinctive elements of one, like the outlandish way of
dressing, but most of all, with elements that make him seem like a criminal.
This negative conception of the figure of pachucos lies in the Zoot Suit Riots of
1943 in Los Angeles, where many zoot suiters (pachucos) were chased for being associated
with criminality and gangsterism by Los Angeles authorities (The American Experience,
www). According to Ernesto Chavez (2005) in his review of Eduardo Obregon’s Murder at
the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A. (2003),
…the riots are product of a large wave of hostility between the
military men and Mexican-American youths that had begun in 1940
as a dispute over who was in control of the territory surrounding the
Naval Reserve Training School located in the midst of an ethnic
Mexican neighborhood (as cited in Chavez, 2005, p. 213).
Besides, the characteristic way of dressing of zoot suiters was a form of opposition against
the authorities and their segregation attempts:
The zoot suit was one part of the jazz world that visually defied the
norms of segregation. Unwritten rules demanded that people of
color remain unseen and unheard in public spaces, but the zoot suit,
34
with broad shoulders, narrow waist, and ballooned pants, was loud
and bold (The American Experience, www).
Thus, we have that the reason of such negative stereotype lies in the aforementioned
events. With the U.S. authorities’ conception of Mexican-American youths as cultural
rebels and delinquents who openly defied cherished American values and customs (The
American Experience, www), being pachuco became a synonym of being a criminal.
On the other hand, something similar happens with the description of the farmworker. The seller explains to the secretary that the farm-worker is somebody “built close
to the ground” who “loves his patrones” (Valdez, 1978, p. 37), and who can live under
precarious conditions
SANCHO: You can put him in old barns, old cars, riverbanks. You
can even leave him in the field overnight with no worry! (Valdez,
1978, p. 38).
Besides, the seller adds that the farm-worker possesses “little holes on his arms that emit
certain grease that allow him to slip and slide through the crop” (p. 38). This characteristic
reminds us to the pejorative term used for referring to Mexicans: “greaser”. A term that,
according to Rafael J. Rivera-Viruet and Max Resto (2008) is
…believed to be derived from one of the lowliest occupations
typically held by Mexicans laborers at the time, the greasing of the
axles of mule carts. Some scholars suggest the term come from the
practice by those very same laborers, most of them of Indian and
Mexican descent, of greasing their backs to facilitate the unloading
of hides and cargo, while others suggest it is rooted in a perceived
similarity between Mexican skin color and grease (p. 69).
On the other hand, Chelsy Castro (2005) in her review of Steven’s W. Bender
Greasers and Gringos: Latinos, Law, and the American imagination (2003), points out
what Bender writes in relation to the aforementioned term and stereotypes:
Anglo-American media portrays Latinos as greasy, lazy, lusty, dimwitted bandidos, latin lovers prone to criminal activity, and as
subhuman in that Latinos are content to live in atrocious
environmental conditions. Bender cites instances of police brutalit y
inspired by fear of the stereotypical knife-carrying Latino and to
numerous examples of migrant workers forced by employers to live
in deplorable conditions. These examples contextualize the
35
stereotypes that have condemned such unfortunate victims of social
injustice (p. 38).
Thus, we have negative stereotypes created by the media, social conditions and in
the case of the pachuco, by authorities with the information they provide. Same that led to
racist behaviors, marginalization and bad treatments against Chicanos.
The characters of the farm-worker and Johnny Pachuco illustrated in this acto –as
well as the characters of “Las Dos Caras del Patroncito” and “No Saco Nada de la
Escuela”–, are inspired by real people and their life stories. This makes “Los Vendidos” a
testimonial work. In this acto, Valdez not only portrays the life of a particular pachuco or a
particular farm-worker, he attempts to show through the figure of Johnny Pachuco and the
farm-worker the life of pachucos from the zoot suit riots and the life of other farm-workers
that were under deplorable conditions of work. This characteristic called polyphony allows
knowing a story of denunciation lived by many people through the voice of one single
person. About this, Randall says:
Si la historia la hacen los pueblos, una sola voz difícilmente puede
proyectarla. La voz del pueblo es una voz multitudinaria. Sin
embargo, a veces es posible captar, en la voz de un hombre o de una
mujer, la realidad y el accionar de todo un pueblo. A veces una sola
persona, por sus características, puede representar a su pueblo
(Randall, 2003, p. 37)
“Los Vendidos” is a play that shows not only stereotypes, but the racial thoughts
behind them. This acto illustrates how preconceived ideas can damage the image of a
person and, what is more, of an entire group of people as is the case of Johnny Pachuco
who is portrayed as a criminal only for possessing the characteristics of a pachuco.
Agreeing with Chelsy Castro (2005), I consider that it is true that stereotypes are
responsible for social injustices.
36
3.3 “No Saco Nada de la Escuela”: The experience in the Anglo educational
system
With such emblematic title, “No Saco Nada de la Escuela” is an acto that takes place in
three levels of school: elementary school, high school and a state college. Along these
stages, is told the story of nine characters: a black boy Malcolm, two Anglos Florence and
Abraham, two Chicanos Francisco and Moctezuma (Monty), Esperanza “Hopi” who is the
daughter of Mexicans, and the teachers of the different levels of school. The play portrays
the experiences of the characters in the U.S. schools, some being positive and others
negative.
In “No Saco Nada de La Escuela”, the problem of marginalization is located in a
place which is supposed to teach respect for others: school. In the representation of this
play the attitudes and body language of the actors are essential to shape the characters since
they perform children, adolescents and finally university students. It is important to
consider the changing elements of the characters as they grow up. For example, in the first
stage of the play they are supposed to be in elementary school, thus, it is necessary to adopt
the typical behavior of children: playing in the classroom, shouting, chasing each others,
etc. In the case of Francisco, it is necessary to make the innocence and ignorance of not
knowing why the teacher treats him differently obvious. And when he grows up, showing
his awareness in relation to the discrimination he suffered before.
Besides, some of the characters show racial attitudes since elementary school and keep
them to the end of the play, as is the case of Moctezuma. While others develop a militant
posture, as is the case of Esperanza and Francisco, who at the end become Chicano
militants. Thus, it is substantial to contribute to the characterization with the proper
movements and gestures that allow the audience to notice the transition the protagonists
experiment throughout the play. For example, the way of talking can denote the age of the
character; maybe in the first stage the actors could argue with each other about minimum
issues, and with this show a childish attitude. Later, on the final stage, they could argue
about serious themes with a higher register showing they have become adults.
37
The aforementioned feature can also allow the audience to notice the differences
between the children; on the first stage of the play, Francisco is the only one that does not
speak English at all, so he expresses himself in Spanish. This marks a difference between
the treatment he receives and the treatment his classmates receive. This feature shows how
despised Mexicans were in the U.S. schools for only speaking in their mother tongue. On
the other hand, I do not believe that the stage design is relevant for this play. I consider that
it is enough with the signs that indicate at which stage of school the events take place. The
actions are the ones important to understand the problem in the play.
At the first stage of the acto, the figure of the teacher who has preference for
American children openly illustrates the racist ideals of many American schools. The
teacher is characterized with a white mask that in my opinion represents the hypocrisy of
the educational system that, in one hand is supposed to promote tolerance and respect and,
in the other, discriminates against people for being from another social class.
The characters’ way of expressing themselves in the following stages where they
have acquired a militant position about the problem of discrimination contributes to their
psychological construction. For example, when Francisco says his “A, B, C” he openly
shows his ideals by saying “A is for amor, como amor de mi Raza”, “B is for Barrio como
where the Raza lives”, “And C is carnalismo” (Valdez, 1978, p. 80) By expressing his
ideals in Spanish he affirms himself as a Chicano militant.
According to Huerta (1977) the overriding message of No saco nada de la Escuela
is the firm belief that schools do nothing to give minorities self-confidence and pride in
their respective cultures and themselves (p. 53). Arturo Flores (1986) says that this acto
portrays the situation of a black student and two Chicanos in a school created and ruled by
Anglos (p. 88). Huerta and Flores share similar points of view, both propose that the main
theme in “No Saco Nada de la Escuela” is the experience of minorities in an Anglo
educational system. Being immersed in such a multicultural environment allows their
members to learn from one another, but in some cases this is not possible due to racist ways
of thinking. This is the case of “No Saco Nada de la Escuela”.
38
On the first stage of the play (elementary school), the figure of the teacher is a clear
example of a racist thinking that results in the marginalization of Chicanos. First of all, she
has a strong preference for Anglo children (Florence and Abraham). She talks to them in a
sweet way while screaming at Francisco, Moctezuma and the rest of the class.
TEACHER: Now, all rise for the flag salute. (SWEETLY) Stand
up, Florence. Stand up, Abraham, dear. (TURNS TO OTHERS, A
BITCH) I said stand up! (Valdez, 1978, p. 69).
Secondly, she allows her favorite students to show racist behaviors. This becomes
obvious when Abraham does not want to sit next to Malcom and Moctezuma because one is
black and the other is brown
TEACHER: There, there now, dear, don’t cry. I want you to sit
right there. (POINTS TO MONTY)
ABRAHAM: Wah! I can’t sit there, he’s brown.
MONTY: No, I’m not. (RUBS FOREARM TRYING TO
REMOVE COLOR)
TEACHER: (TURNS HIM AROUND) Well, then I want you to sit
right over there. (POINTS TOWARD MALCOM)
ABRAHAM: Wah! I can’t sit there, he’s Black.
TEACHER: Well, then do you see that nice little girl over there?
(POINTS OUT (sic) TO FLO) Would you like to sit there? (pp. 6869)
As the examples above show, the teacher supports Abraham’s ideas by letting him
sit wherever he wants instead of correcting him in order to eradicate such racist behavior.
As Thomas Carter (1971) says: some discriminatory practices are so obvious that it is
difficult to believe schoolmen do not recognize and eliminate them immediately (p. 7). The
act of letting Abraham separate from Moctezuma and Malcom just because they are
different supports racism and prejudice by encouraging the stereotypes upon which both are
based (p. 10).
On the other hand, the imposition of language is another form of marginalization.
Since Francisco and Moctezuma are Spanish speakers and are still in the process of
learning English, they have trouble when expressing themselves in the new language. In
39
this case, Francisco is the most affected since he does not speak English at all, unlike
Moctezuma who has some previous knowledge. The fact that Francisco speaks only
Spanish contributes to the contempt of the teacher:
TEACHER: Oh! Another one that can’t speak English! Why do
they send these kids to me? You can’t communicate with them
(Valdez, 1978, p. 72).
TEACHER: They shouldn’t place these culturally deprived kids
with the normal children (p. 74).
Such shows of disdain are still being shown in the second and third stage of the
acto; adjectives as “greaser”, “spic”, “chili ass” are used for referring to Francisco (p. 76),
who now has become a Chicano militant. On these stages the way of thinking of Francisco
also brings him negative consequences. When he gives a report on class with the first three
letters of the alphabet, he makes his ideals clear:
FRANCISCO: A is for amor, como amor de mi Raza.
TEACHER: What!
FRANCISCO: B is for Barrio como where the Raza lives.
(TEACHER GROWLS) And C is carnalismo.
TEACHER: (HEATED) How many times have I told you about
speaking Spanish in my classroom, now what did you say? (p. 80).
The teacher, upset because Francisco revealed his ideals in Spanish, decided to
expel him from school. Francisco argues that as a Chicano he was only speaking his
language. The teacher expresses that he and the rest of the class do not understand what the
Chicano is saying, to which Francisco answers with enormous common sense:
So what? When I was small, I didn’t understand English, and you
kept flunking me and flunking me instead of teaching me (p. 81).
The fact that Francisco is expelled one more time due to cultural issues, lets us see
the existent racist way of thinking in school. Referring to the use of Spanish and the
expulsion of Chicanos in school Maciel and Bueno (1976) say:
A principios del siglo diecinueve, las escuelas ejercieron más
sutilmente su labor de control social y socialización de los chicanos.
Llegó a ser una ley separar a las escuelas según la raza y el idioma,
40
y llegó a ser ilegal hablar e impartir las clases en español. En virtud
de que había necesidad de mano de obra chicana no calificada, las
escuelas contribuyeron a la desorientación vocacional y a elevar los
promedios de expulsión (p. 110).
Thus we have that the expulsion of Francisco in elementary school and high school
is not product of coincidence; in order to get a Chicano labour force the schools opted to
expel the students. With the help of such racist behavior achieving the desertion of Chicano
students was not a difficult task, as Carter (1971) points out:
Certain well-established (racist) mechanisms would preclude or
discourage equal opportunity to enter, persist, and advance in either
school or society (p. 7).
“No Saco Nada de la Escuela” goes beyond the original aim of El Teatro
Campesino that was creating social awareness among farm-workers of Delano. This time
the aim is reaching the public in general, not only farm-workers. In this acto, Valdez does
not only tackle the Chicano problem from the rural context, this time he gets interested in
the urban life of Chicano and the negative experiences that lead to a marginalization
problem. “No Saco Nada de la Escuela” through the voice of Francisco achieves it.
The work of Luis Valdez placed him as the playwright of greatest impact in the
Chicano scene (Alarcon, 2014, www). The representation of the problems of Chicanos in
the United States offered the possibility of openly denouncing the social injustices against
them. Through theatre, Valdez brings the sorrows of Chicanos to life in order to show
possible ways to face bad treatment. Besides, he interweaves the History of Chicanos with
drama and creates a testimonial work of great value that allows the people who are not
familiar with Chicano phenomenon to know the experiences of Chicanos in the fields, in
schools and in daily life. Undoubtedly, the legacy of Luis Valdez would endure for many
more years as long as there are people interested in the Chicano struggle and Chicanos that
recognize their voice in the actos as the strikers of Delano did.
41
Conclusion
The purpose of this research was suggesting a reflection on the representation of three plays
of Luis Valdez as a work of testimonial value; the way the plays, besides illustrating the
problems of Chicano people, offered the possibility of denouncing them not only among
the people involved, but among the people that are not familiar with Chicano phenomenon.
For this purpose, I associated historical facts of Chicano people with dialogues from the
plays in order to suggest an influence of History in the work of the playwright. Since the
historical facts corresponded with the stories of Valdez plays, I proceed with the analysis
by recurring to some studies about testimony with the purpose of suggesting the
representation of the plays as a way of denouncing bad treatments.
Through the analysis made of the plays, we could see some of the injustices
Chicanos had to pass through; the discrimination in schools, in the fields, and in the daily
life. Subsequently, we saw how these injustices caused the discontent of Chicano people
and finally the raising of awareness that eventually would encourage them to fight for their
rights. On the other hand, the work of Valdez suggested us a vivid way of denouncing
problems: representation. The recreation of the injustices in the stage proposed a reflection
on the problems through actions, not only through words.
The denunciating nature of Luis Valdez’ actos makes his work one of the most
representatives in the Chicano struggle. Through his plays, Valdez achieves showing the
farm-workers –his first target– and later the audience in general, the main issues affecting
the life of Chicanos. All this with the only purpose of raising critical thinking about such
situation among the people affected. Apart from this, I consider that since the work of Luis
Valdez is very important in the Chicano scene, further researches and analysis on his work
would be useful for understanding Chicano culture.
On the other hand, regarding to theatre and the role of this research, I would like to
suggest an approach to theatre not only by attending to the representation of a play, but by
venturing to the reading and the analysis of the scripts as I did. Theatre as a vivid genre
invites us to know situations and stories not only through reading, but through actions.
After all, I consider that the magic of theatre can occur in the stage, as well as in our mind.
42
I hope this research can provide an incentive to approach to Chicano history and Chicano
theatre, but most of all to the work of playwright Luis Valdez. Work that still alive along
with the spirit of Chicanismo, and which hopefully, as I mention before in this work, would
endure for many more years as long as there are Chicanos that recognize their voice in the
actos as the strikers of Delano did.
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