Writing 250 words discussion
Read your classmates’ responses to Discussion #3 and choose 2 figures/topics mentioned in their posts. Then, look in the poem for where those figures/topics are referenced. What do you think is their significance within the poem? How do they contribute to the poem’s representation of Mexican-American history and its legacy?
HERE IS THE POEM:
THIS IS THE DISCUSSION FROM MY CLASSMATE
Upon reading the piece “I am Joaquin” I came across several events and people who I was not familiarized with. The two that I have chosen to research are the Espinosa brothers and Tonantzin. I have found that the Espinosa brothers were also known as “The Bloody Espinosas” Their names were Felipe and Jose Espinosa. The two men came from Vera Cruz, Mexico and some say they were actually cousins, not brothers. They targeted and killed Anglos rooted by their resentment, toward the United States and those who were now living in their land. As the legend goes, Felipe Espinosa said to have experienced a vision, in which the Virgin Mary came to tell him that he needed to kill one hundred Anglos for each of his six family members that had been killed in the midst of Mexican-American War. They killed a total of 32 people, and remain Colorado’s most profuse serial killers. Tonantzin translates to “Our Sacred Mother” in the Nahuatl language. The Aztecs regarded her as “the divine mother” or “mother of the Earth” Some anthropologists even believe that she also served as a protector of women. (Jose E. Uriesote for the Yucatan Times) She is a symbol for fertility and the Earth. Tonantzin and The Virgen de Guadalupe are often regarded as one and the same by a lot of people. Together they symbolize the birth of Mexico as a unified nation, after the destruction and devastation between Hispanics and Europeans during and after the Mexican-American War.
