An Analysis of The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa by Luiz Valdez Essay

Villa, Vendidos, y Vatos Actos are reflections of a Chicans experience. Just like most Chicans are different from each other, but at the core share the same value system, so it is with actos. Huerta uncovers the meaning of three actos, The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa, Los vendidos, La victima, that share the theme of Chican identity in the late twentieth century. More importantly each play tries to demonstrate what a Chican should not be and provides alternatives that are positive. The acto that is most explicit with the Chican identity is The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa. The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa like other actos by Luis Valdez are political and deal with survival in El Notre. Unlike the television show, Survivor, Valdezs characters are struggling for cultural survival while progressing economically. The play is of Mexican parents trying to keep their family together. Like most mythology, there are two opposing siblings who transform throughout the acto. Joaquin becomes the modern day Robin Hood, stealing from rich and giving to the poor. Domingo, on the hand, is el vendido the one who deny his Chicano identity. There are other characters such as the parents, Pedro y Cruz, their other children Belo, the head of Pancho Villa, and Lupe. But it is Joaquin and Domingo who represent the two opposing forces that each Chican deals with on a regular basis. Domingo represents an extreme representation of cultural amnesia. Like an old pair of jeans that dont fit, Chicano identity is like a spirit Domingo is trying to exorcise. He develops a negative attitude towards his family because they are not Americanized. He believes that his family is defeated and that they need to move out of the barrio. He tries to encourage his mother to move out of the neighborhood. She insists in staying put because she knows that the new neighbors will not accept her son Belo. Domingo in time...

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