Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman In Guatemala

Ania Loomba displays how “women’s struggles for equality continue after formal independence and define the nature of postcoloniality” (Loomba 188). Loomba indicates that the nature of postcoloniality is that women are “cast as mothers or wives and are called upon to literally and figuratively reproduce the nation” (Loomba 180). This is shown in the novels, Xala by Ousmane Sembene and the autobiographical I, Rigoberta Menchu:An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Elizabeth Burgos-Debray. In Xala, set in Senegal after colonialism, presents El Hadji’s eldest daughter who was born and raised under French colonialism; Rama, who opposes and resists the patriarchal society. In I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala, set in Guatemala after colonialism,
Rama and Rigoberta Menchu both defy society, however, Rama is shown to be more assertive and more concerned about equality amongst women.
Rama is characterized as an intelligent young woman who is fluent in French and Wolof and is completing her education. Since Rama “had grown up during the upheaves of the struggle for Independence, when her father and others have fought for freedom for everyone. She had taken part in street battles and pasted up posters at night” (Sembene 12). This was the start of her resistance. She joined the fight to kick the French out and resisted the fancy mineral waters, the French clothing and the French food. As the nation grew Rama “joined political associations, been a university student and a member of the Wolof language group” (Sembene 12). The organizations and education that she has been a part of is rare for young women in a post colonial society, however, Rama prevailed by resisting the stereotypes of women. On many different occasions Rama shows her resistance. An example of this is when she says that she is “against this marriage. A polygamist is never frank” (Sembene 13). She is the only one of the female characters to take a stand while
Menchu’s character is a bit more complex than Rama since she is not a fictional character. Menchu has a very contradictory personality shown in her resistance toward the stereotypes of women, however, she also seems to believe that a woman is the mother of a home as well using some negative pronouns. First of all, we see her resist the society she lives in. In Guatemala they told Menchu that she “would have many ambitions but [she] wouldn’t have the opportunity to realize them” (Burgos-Debray 48). She rejects this concept as well as the idea that “as a woman [she] would many things that [she] couldn’t have” (Burgos-Debray 59). Her resistance allowed her to follow her aspirations and not be limited to a life where she is just a mother and a wife. Without her resistance Menchu would have not won the Nobel Peace Prize let alone be alive because the landowners would have kicked her and her family out of their land. She “joined the CUC in 1979, [where she] was given various tasks to do and [she] became one of the organization’s leaders (Burgos-Debray 161). She rose up to the position of a leader, which was rare because many women were not allowed to fight because their husbands prevented them from joining. She even had to punish many companeros who try to prevent their women taking part in the struggle or carrying out any task” (Burgos-Debray 221). She renounced marriage and children so she can focus on a bigger