Analysis of "Zoot Suit" Essay

White sailors invaded Mexican American communities and attacked Zoot Suitors. The city police did nothing to restrain the sailors, who grabbed the Hispanic teenagers, tore off and burned their clothes, cut off their hair, and beat them. However, when Hispanics tried to fight back, the police moved in and arrested them. After the Zoot Suit riots, LA passed a law prohibiting the wearing Zoot Suits” (www.stufflikethat.org, 2010)

As early as World War II where Chianca/o youth have been criminalized, it can widen an understanding of how Chicano/a youth battled in the post-industrial United States. It was a time of paranoia, racism, and social and political obedience. In the 1940’s, the Don Tosti Band’s “Pachuco Boggie” created a pachuco subculture of East Los Angeles where it resistant the stereotypical Hispanic culture (Lipsitz, 166). As youth of every generation, Chicano youth had their unique style and trends. Chicano teenage fashion trend called the zoot suit- modeled on flashy, mobster attire—was ridiculed in the white press (Chiodo, 2). Not only did Pachuco have their own fashion trends they also had their own speech sample called Calo. Some words pachuco use are, “lana (money) and

              The Chicano way was the way it was during the 1940s in the city of Los Angeles. The title of my book is “Zoot Suit and Other Plays” written by Luis Valdez. This story takes place on the year 1942 in the city of Los Angeles, California. The way the story is that the main character of the story by the name of Henry Reyna, the ringleader of the 38th street gang, is unjustly charged for the Sleepy Lagoon murder of a man  and is sentenced to life in prison. He wasn’t the only one charged a few of his gang members were charged as well. Their lawyer George Shearer and a news reporter Alice Bloomfield worked for several months to get them out and after many protests and petitions the 38th street gang was released for lack of evidence to hold then guilty. The main character Henry Reyna is very prideful, brings a big influence to his people, and very optimistic. .

     After fellow service men were attacked, robbed, and beaten, marines and soldiers would ride the streets in big groups looking for any Mexican, especially wearing a zoot suit. They would usually take this Mexican and strip him of his pants and brutally beat him. To the servicemen, this was their way of retaliation and believe that the Mexicans deserve it. When watching these riots, civilians on the street would cheer on the servicemen while police just usually stood back and watched before arresting the beaten victims. Every time a soldier was attacked by a zoot suit gang, the servicemen were already planning a next huge riot. When these riots and attacks were getting out of hand on both sides, the Commanders and Generals stated that they would take the necessary measures to try and prevent these outbreaks between servicemen and Mexicans and told the army that partaking in these types of activities reflected on the individual and the army by wearing the uniform while participating in the riots and that the servicemen should seriously consider the consequences (Document 3 196). The Commanders say that the servicemen partake in riots for

Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez explains the racially charged trial of Sleepy Lagoon in 1942 in which the court of California charges a group of Chicanos with the murder of another Mexican-American man. For Chicanos, 1940 was an era of discrimination so the trials were unfairly biased against them. To fight against this discrimination, many Chicanos wore an exaggerated suit, referred to as a zoot suit, that included a long, loose jacket with padded shoulders and high waisted trousers. This choice of wardrobe earned the Chicanos a name of “zoot suiters”. Ethnic identity is an important role in this play because the men on trial were accused of murder for their cultural background, choice of clothing and biased media influence rather than evidence.

Therefore life is filled with dilinquince and there has always been no matter what.But the zoot suit roits was a total mess it was filled with murder,injustice,discrimination to many mexican americans arested and so much more. Why? THE Reason why there was to much of everthing was because it al started in 1999 but therefore there is much more to know let me introduce you to an known experince from the zoot suits riots.

This brought a big rivalry between the Mexican Americans and the Anglos. Also on August 2nd of 1942, Jose Diaz a 21-year old male was beaten to death in an Eastside Los Angeles reservoir. Soon after that, 23 Mexican American teens were young adults were arrested along with on Anglo for participating in the fight that killed Diaz. These youths were charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and assault. One tension that caused the zoot suits riots was because Los Angeles and Oakland fracases were fighting over girlfriends. Eventually these tensions kept mounting fast and that is when these zoot suit riots began to happen more often.

Within the film A Better Life there are many examples of situations that are seen as subjects which many people do not openly talk about. Circumstances such as illegal immigration and how people who do chose to enter the United States through backdoor channels can actually be a benefit to society and raise productive members of society. Furthermore, the movie depicts an illegal, Carlos Galindo and his struggles of maintaining a job, being a single parent, and at the same time evading detection from United States immigration officers. This struggle of trying to provide for his son Luis and make sure he maintains the correct direction which he is following to be a successful member of society is plagued by Luis’s friend, Facundo and his girlfriend, Ruthie Valdez. Both of Luis’s friends are on the track of being stuck inside of a Hispanic gang. This rips Luis in half due to his proper upbringing by his father Carlos. This paper will document multiple occurrences from the film and analyze the cultural significance for each event.

Discourse from newspapers fostered public hysteria. A raised hand coming from a Pachuco that was misinterpreted for a Nazi salute started the riot in 1943 (Pagán pg 22). As attacks from White servicemen, civilians, and police officers expanded to all Mexican Americans and even African Americans, community members began to retaliate (Escobar Pg 2). The rioting didn’t subside until U.S War Department declared L.A “out of bounds” to military personnel (PBS).Yet, the goal of servicemen rioting was to exercise the power to humiliate and shame Mexicans back into their own private spaces by stripping the Zoot suits off(Pagán pg 30).

Salt of the Earth and Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community have a lot of similarities when it comes to the subject of gender roles. So therefore, in this paper I examined the theme of

“Pedro is a Mexican macho” is a phrase that makes Pedro proud because he does not sees anything wrong on it. Respectfully, Pedro avoids talking with his coworkers’ wives; it is not right. In Pedro’s sight a woman who approaches to him without her husband only wants to flirt; it is a typical characteristic of Pedro. Pedro’s wife works and is responsible of their children. Allows what a rancher would not Pedro continues living among a Mexican community in a mobile

Hispanic, stereotypically Mexican, men are often seen in the media as involved with selling or dealing drugs, gangs, and being criminals. In the comedic film, We’re the Millers, the “family” went on a road trip to Mexico to pick up a package from one of the biggest drug cartels in existence. In 22 Jumpstreet, a recent comedy film, Jonah Hill’s character fails to pull off a “Mexican drug dealer” imitation when dealing with the Hispanic gang members. Labeled as smugglers, crooks, and criminals, the stereotypically “best lovers” never get a break from what the media perceives them to be. The image of Hispanic men as criminals is reinforced when the Jets and the Sharks plan for their rumble, as a way to get rid of the “cockroaches” that are the Puerto Ricans.

The theme that is being used is a theme that the artist has experienced or gone through as a past situation that has been a part of the artist’s life or culture. As a Chicano it’s those situations that gives the artist of the Chicano culture the themes to depict in their art. The one major theme that is carried throughout many of the artworks is the theme of violence. The theme of violence is a strong theme and when put together

Specifically, the scene where Guillermo “Memo” brings his wife and her family to meet his family (Nava, 1995). Explicitly, changing his name to Bill instead of using his birthname, lying to his spouse’s family about Jimmy and making Jose lie about El Californio’s grave in the backyard (Nava, 1995). As a result, this scene if described by Antonia Hernandez would follow one of the four sectors of the acculturation process, notably Guillermo would have fallen into the integration section. Guillermo shows his discomfort about showing his spouse’s family, the Gillespies, the stories of his family by appearing to be hiding part of his familial heritage, lying that he has never been to Mexico, and making his dad lie about El Californio (Nava, 1995). Now there are possibly several factors that convinced Guillermo to integrate himself into American culture.

Los Vendidos was written by Luis Valdez in 1967, the play tells us issues that Mexican Americans faced throughout history. “Los Vendidos” translates to “The Sold Ones,” which interpreters Valdez’s opinion on Mexican’s conformity to the American culture. The play defines four different versions of Mexican men. The farmworker, Johnny Pachuco, The Revolucionario, and the Mexican-American. Luis Valdez addresses through humor the stereotypes and historical struggles that Mexican Americans faced in 1967. Although the play was written almost half a century ago I believe it’s still relevant today.