Ashes for the Wind

In the short story “Ashes for the Wind”, Hernando Tellez uses Juan Martinez to show that sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to fight corruption and injustice. Through Juan, his wife Carmen and their baby, the author tries to show that people should not be pushed around and intimidated, which is why I think that Juan is a hero. To me being a hero can mean many things, wether it is to inspire, help or even take a stand and a first step towards something better and good; a hero is a hero and that’s who Juan is. He stood up to the authorities, even though at the time he may not have know or realized this, by sacrificing his life and his family’s, he sends a message and makes a point. Juan represents freedom, innocence and shows the corruption in the government. Freedom to vote for what you want and not what you are forced to; freedom to other farmers and people to make their own choices and not be thrown out, pushed away and punished because of corruption or their votes. Innocence, in the fact that Juan and his family died an innocent death that was not deserved just because Juan voted for what he wanted and when the person who won turned out to be someone else they ordered his death under the suspicion that he was a resistor. These two things help to show the people that there is corruption in their government and that people aren’t being treated equally and fair, that someone has to do something about it and Juan took the first stand. He was a leader, a hero and for all we know could have been the reason for people to start a revolution, that eventually set things right again and saved lives of many people. It shows that through each action, not matter how big or small, we make our