Daniel Asher Greenman

802

Monday, 2•2•15

Martin Espada Poetry Essay

Martin Espada’s three poems about injustice against Hispanics are all very biased towards the viewpoint that it is caused by the ignorance of those in power.”The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” is about a principal wrongly taking away students’ privileges, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” is about others not knowing Hispanic culture. “Two Mexicanos Lynched In Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” is about the lynching of two mexicans that occurred because of racism. Espada’s poems are about how the culture of Hispanics is neglected by others.

“The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” is about a principal banning Spanish in bathrooms because he hears his name mentioned in Spanish, a language he does not speak. He wrongly assumes that the mention is being used negatively. as shown in the lines “The only word he recognizes/is his own name/and this constipates him.” This shows that he is ignorant, as he fears that something he can’t understand is being used against him. He bans Spanish, selfishly, so he does not have to fear something he does not understand, and has more control. This is illustrate in the lines “So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ from the bathrooms/ Now he can relax.” A misunderstanding of Hispanic culture caused a problem for both sides.

The poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” is about Espada’s rage at the mistakes people make about his culture. The example he uses is his name, and he uses this to show what the speaker wants to do. “I want to buy a toy pistol, / put on dark eyeglasses / push my beret at an angle, comb my beard to a point, / hijack a busload / of Republican tourists / from Wisconsin.” This shows also that he is angry at a specific type of person, a stereotype of a racist American. Espada feels that not taking the time to understand a culture is an insult to that culture.

In “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” Espada shows the apathy to Hispanics expressed by “gringos” at the lynching of two Mexican prisoners. The poem is based on a historical photo, and Espada focuses in on the lynching victims. He accomplishes this by a linguistic version of a film zoom. The first three stanzas begin with the phrase “More than,” after which he describes a series of details in the scene. Then, at the beginning of the fourth stanza, he settles on the figures in the picture: “the faces of the lynching party…a high-collar boy smirking, some peering / from the shade of bowler hats, but all / crowding into the photograph.” He illustrates that the people are not remorseful about the death of the Mexicans because they see them as being  vastly inferior, and see their hanging as an spectacle.

Espada’s poems speak of an American culture where the Hispanics are disregarded as a minority. The oppressors, or ignorant people in his poems, are stereotypes themselves. He uses historical evidence in his poems to show how his views are supported, and also to spur the need for change. Martin Espada paints a realistic picture of being insensitive to other cultures.