Los Vendidos Villains

An Examination of the Villain in Los Vendidos

While female villains do not appear nearly as often as their male counterparts, when they do they are especially powerful. This is due, in part, to the fact that the role of villain goes against the nurturing, soft image of the female gender. After all, villains are evil; they are to be feared. However, the villain is an essential part of any story and serves many purposes. Villains personify what is wrong, or broken, in a society. Villains usually choose to take the easier path to get what they want, regardless of any moral implications, and in doing so they show an audience the difference between right and wrong. The best villains are sympathetic characters, which makes an audience question their

own ideas and beliefs about a particular subject, but ultimately villains are there to give the audience someone to root against.

In his play, “Los Vendidos”, Luis Valdez deliberately casts the secretary, Miss Jiminez, in the role of villain, and not the Honest Sancho. He does this to show Mexican-Americans the danger in becoming acculturated to the Anglo-American society, while giving them a character with which they can empathize.

Although the play is entitled “Los Vendidos”, (The Sellouts), which many could argue is a reference to the male characters posing as machines in order to swindle people like the secretary out of money, Miss Jimenez is the one true sellout of Valdez’s dramatic work. She fits into the role of the villain by participating in the dehumanization of her fellow Mexican-Americans. The very setting of the play, a shop in which Mexicans are being displayed for the purpose of being sold, serves to equate an

entire race of people as being objects, without human rights. As the play begins Miss Jiminez enters the shop with a particular goal in mind. She must find the perfect Mexican to serve the purpose of attracting other Mexican voters. She does not see them as people, but as objects that are only there to be used in some way. In the text “Overview: Los Vendidos”, it is suggested that, “the villain in this play is not only America's preconceived notion of Chicano culture; it is moreover the refusal of those who are in advantageous positions both to understand the Chicano struggle and to speak up about it in hopes of affecting change,” (“Overview: Los Vendidos” 4). Miss Jiminez fits into the latter category. She is the one character that might actually be able to affect change for her ethnic group, as she is involved in the very system of government that supports the ideas of what an acceptable Mexican-American looks like, yet she rejects them all together in an effort to assimilate into American culture. She has no problem looking at these men as objects to be bought and sold. She sees them as existing only to serve a specific purpose that helps her gain favor within her new culture.
One of the ways that the secretary character shows her rejection of her native culture is through her refusal to speak any Spanish. Not only does she reject her culture’s language, but she has taken on the Anglo-American way of speaking. Within seconds of meeting the Honest Sancho, the secretary tells him, “My name is Miss JIM-enez. Don’t you speak English?” (James and Merickel 211). By using the Anglo pronunciation of her own last name, which is a sign of her heritage, the secretary is making it clear that she is consciously turning her back on her own culture. In this way she becomes the personification of the Anglo-American view on what is and is not acceptable in regards to the Mexican culture. Without specifically stating it she is telling the audience that her way is the correct way for Mexican-Americans to speak and act.
Through his use of stereotypes, specifically in the secretary character, Valdez is warning Mexican-Americans against completely assimilating into American culture.

In “Visions of the Other Mexico: Chicanos and Undocumented Workers in Mexican Cinema, 1954-1982,” David Maciel claims that, “For most Mexicans, Chicanos consciously and willingly denied their Mexican heritage and the Spanish language; it was also believed that Chicanos had a condescending attitude toward Mexico and Mexicanos,” (Maciel 72). Miss Jiminez must feel tremendous external pressure to assimilate into the American culture, especially considering she works for the Governor’s office. In an effort to fit in she decides to take what she sees as the easier path and simply reject her native culture. Instead of standing up for herself, and other Mexican-Americans by being proud of her ethnicity, she has succumbed to that pressure. In this sense, using a female character in the role of the villain works to gain sympathy from the audience in a way that would not happen with a male character. Miss Jiminez is a young female, working in a subservient role in which she has no real authority. One cannot help but take that into account when looking at her motivations for rejecting her own ethnic

group.
Despite any sympathy she gains from the audience, the secretary character still serves her purpose of being an example of what is wrong with rejecting one’s own culture. While looking at the various Mexican models in the shop, Miss Jiminez tells Sancho, “it’s true we need Mexican models like these, but it’s more important that he be American,” (James and Merickel 215). Her internalized racism is evident in the way she superficially judges the other characters that are represented by the various stereotypes of Mexican men. She rejects the Farm Worker as soon as she learns he does not speak English. Johnny Pachuco is unacceptable to her because, he is a thief, and “we can’t have any more thieves in the State Administration,” (James and Merickel 214). Revolucionario almost makes the cut, but is immediately rejected by Miss Jiminez because he is made in Mexico. The only character that is acceptable to the Secretary is the Mexican-American, who is the stereotype of a completely Anglicized Mexican, just like her. She is impressed that he has a white name, Eric Garcia, and that his skin color is dark enough to be identified as Mexican, but that he isn’t “too dark” (James and Merickel 211). By judging the other characters in the same way that the Anglo population has she is participating in the racism that she should be fighting, which is really what Valdez is warning against.
Miss Jiminez’s blatant racism makes it easy for an audience to want to see her fail. In this way she serves one of her major function as a villain in the play. In her article, “Villains Readers Love to Hate,” Tess Collins explains, “ultimately, despite any empathy they may feel for the villain's situation, readers are forced to root against the villain because of his or her sinister acts--the villain's choices,” (Collins p). Even though the audience may feel some sympathy towards Miss Jiminez, the truth is that her actions are unjustifiable.
Once she is convinced that the Mexican-American fits her criteria Miss Jiminez has only one thing left to say, “there’s just one more question: HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT FOR HIM?” (James and Merickel 217). The simple fact that Miss Jiminez is willing to participate in the buying and selling of another human being, especially one with which she shares and ethnic background, is enough of a reason to root against her. This, combined with her countless racist statements and her judgement of the other characters leaves the audience with the feeling of wanting her to fail in some way.
As the villain character in this play, Miss Jiminez serves as a reminder of what an individual may become when they willingly give up their cultural history. In this sense her character is a human representation of the attitudes and beliefs held by the Anglo American population regarding Mexican culture. In her effort to assimilate into what the Anglo community deems as an appropriate Mexican-American Miss Jiminez shows the audience exactly what is wrong with doing so. However, she is not a one-dimensional character that is simply there to be hated. It is easy to sympathize with her and want to see her fail at the same time, which should be the goal of any writer when developing a villain character. While all of the characters personify specific stereotypes, it is the lone female character of the secretary that serves her purpose best. The villain in “Los Vendidos”, while atypical in many ways, is the most powerful character.