Who Is El Pachuco A Representative?

1254 Words3 Pages

A representative is chosen or appointed to act or speak for another or others, according to Google. The play by Luis Valdez takes place in LA during 1943 where both World War 2 and the Zoot Suit riots were happening. In the play Zoot Suit we follow Henry who is a pachuco, part of a gang called the 38th street gang along with El Pachuco who likes to give Henry advice on what to do throughout the play still he is unable to interact with anyone excluding Henry. Along with Della, Rudy, Lupe, Smiley, Joey, Tommy together with the rest of the 38th gang they go dancing one last time before Henry goes off to fight in the war. Suddenly their rival, the downy, shows up to cause trouble but soon after sirens begin to be heard. The police, along with the …show more content…

This is where it undoubtedly clicked for me that El Pachuco is a representative of all pachucos and pachucas since there are many ways you can compare The Press characteristics and El Pachuco characteristics. During the Zoot Suit riots where sailors and Zoot suiters started fighting, El Pachuco told the press “Why don’t you tell them what I really am, ese, or how forbidden to use the very word. . .” (Valdes 79). This is the first time we witness El Pachuco talking to anyone other than Henry. And it’s when there’s an abundance of pachucos and pachucas. It's in a way just like how in the play they condense the press into one singular character called The Press. Therefore, I think that the author was doing the same thing to El Pachuco’s character to further the story. Afterwards, in the book, while El Pachuco is fighting back against the press and the sailors, the stage directions state “EL PACHUCO is overpowered and stripped as Henry watches helplessly from his position. The press and servicemen exit with pieces of EL PACHUCO’s zoot suit. EL PACHUCO stands for "Standards" The only item on his body is a loincloth.” (Valdes 81). In history, it was a known fact that sailors would strip zoot suiters who were mostly pachucos, the reason being that they thought it was unpatriotic to wear so much fabric during the war. Now with this understanding in mind they are …show more content…

Luis Valdes added El Pachuco so he could be Henry's counselor, guiding him through the small and big hurdles in life. Towards the beginning of the book when Henry still wanted to join the navy, El Pachuco, who opposed his idea, tells Henry “Because this ain’t your country. Look at what's happening all around you. The Japs have sewed up the Pacific. Rommel is kicking ass in Egypt, but the Mayor of L.A. has declared an all-out war on Chicanos. On to you. Te curas?” (Valdes 30). El Pachuco in this scene is highly against him going to fight in the war since there's already a war happening in L.A. Furthermore, El Pachuco is trying to tell Henry that he should first fight the war that's happening in his own city. This also corresponds with El Pachuco being a representative since nearly all pachucos were aware of the injustice that was occurring in their city. When Henry had barely met George, Henry had asked him a question but George didn’t answer his question; El Pachuco told Henry “He didn’t answer your question, ese.” (Valdes 41). Then Henry told George “You still didn’t answer my question, mister.” (Valdes 41). This is a good example of Henry taking El Pachuco’s advice, showing us that Henry does indeed listen to what he has to say. Furthermore, El Pachuco is yet again demonstrating that he is a proxy since all pachucos would be on edge not knowing if the person they

Open Document