Pachuco refers to a subculture of Chicanos and Mexican-Americans. Is pachuco helpful or hurtful to Henry in his time of isolation? At no point during the proceedings are they or their attorney allowed a fair opportunity to present their case.

Alice also tells him that she knows that he has been imprisoned wrongfully, without evidence, many times.

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Suggestions Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Back in the present, the public reads newspapers and litter the streets with them. Pay using paypal though verified gateway for maximum safety, No risk. He also cautions the audience that the play is both fact and fantasy. Lt. Edwards is the tough cop who tells the press he refuses to “mollycoddle these youngsters anymore” as he puts the gang under arrest. America vs Mexican Americans in the 1940's A Poem Called Just Because Im Henry Reyna Zoot Suit Ellay Wallace & Darrell Elmore Creative Piece Conclusion Zoot Suit is another great example of social protest literature. During this time, Henry develops a crush on Alice despite still being involved with his girlfriend Della.

After he speaks some lines of Spanish, he addresses the audience in English and breaks his character to tell them, "I speak as an actor on the stage./The Pachuco was existential/for he was an Actor in the streets/both profane and reverential."

Henry’s brother, Rudy, starts a fight between the two gangs. The Question and Answer section for Zoot Suit is a great She then is seen "folding newspaper sheets like clothes on a clothesline." Copyright © FreeBookNotes.com 2014-2020. The Press, Rudy, Alice, and others narrate various possible futures for Henry, finishing with El Pachuco’s announcement that the myth of Henry Reyna—El Pachuco—lives on. This defiant, existential street actor wears the colors of Testatipoka, the Aztec god of education.

A large newspaper hangs in place of a curtain.

Zoot Suit proclaims that the treatment people receive will determine the direction they take and suggests that for Chicanos it may be too late; the gap between the barrio and Main Street may be too wide. Although he presents an impenetrable façade to his persecutors and jailers, Hank is extremely confused about his own identity as an American in a country at war that regards him, too, as a foreign enemy. George discovers that the boys have been denied the right to change their clothes or wash, an infraction of their civil rights. At the end of the play, playing with the Mayan philosophy of multiple levels of existence, El Pachuco calls forth a series of vignettes representing alternative futures for the murder suspect, Henry Reyna: a supportive and united family scene in a family living room; a prison scene with Henry killed in a prison fight; a Korean War scene, with Henry dying heroically; a public political scene with Henry awarded a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor; a family vignette of Henry as a father surrounded by several children; and a mythic Aztec scene, with Henry transformed into El Pachuco, a symbol of Chicano heritage and oppression.

Are you referring to the culture? How did Rudy end Henry and the Pachuccos life?

Xenophobia, undue contempt or fear of foreigners, was exacerbated by a perceived threat that Americans of foreign heritage would turn against Anglo-Americans. The trial of the gang, presided over by a judge who is recognizable as a policeman seen earlier, is a travesty. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

He is a kind of director within the play, and however vulnerable the other young pachucos are, El Pachuco remains invincible. Henry’s twenty-year-old current girlfriend, who sports a mini-skirt and fingertip-length coat, is prettier than Henry’s last girlfriend. Were you and your girl attacked?" Reyna, a loyal American about to ship out for the war in the Pacific, becomes a scapegoat for the Los Angeles police. Suggestions Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. In this moment, we see that racism towards Hispanics is built into the criminal justice system, and the men charged with protecting the city harbor hateful prejudice towards the citizens living in their neighborhood. Most lasted only fifteen minutes. And what is happening at the time this happend? The play ends as it began: with the war over, the incarcerated scapegoats released, and police persecution renewed. Henry’s father, Enrique is a first-generation Mexican American. The young boys are unfairly prosecuted and thrown in jail for a crime that they did not commit. Dolores wants to know why Henry likes wearing his zoot suit so much, and worries that the police don't like them, but Henry comforts her, telling her that he will be wearing a Navy uniform soon enough. Henry and his friends are next seen doing time at San Quentin.

A moment later sirens sound from all directions—la jura, the law. and remembers arresting him for stealing a car. What is the impact of the bilingual aspect of this play on Spanish-speaking and non-Spanish speaking audiences? The “largest mass trial in the history of Los Angeles County” opens “to put an end to Mexican baby gangsterism.” George raises his objection against the clothing restriction, but the Judge overrules him, saying it is a useful way to identify the witnesses. In the 1940s, fear of foreigners extended to numerous cultural groups; Los Angeles had many ethnic neighborhoods, and the presence of military bases full of personnel readying themselves for war made Los Angeles a hot spot for culture clashes and violence. On the heels of American victory comes triumph for the Pachucos, too, when their appeal succeeds and they are released. Before they leave, Enrique tells Henry not to let Rudy drink beer.

Sorry, this is only a short-answer space but you might try the link below: https://www.gradesaver.com/zoot-suit/study-guide/themes.

El Pachuco (pah-CHEW-koh), a mythical figure, the zoot-suited spirit of the Pachucos, alienated gangs of Mexican American youth living in the Los Angeles area. A minor scuffle with a rival gang pushes dancers into the streets, where gang territory and switchblades turn Reyna’s brave attempt to end a one-sided conflict into police violence and mass arrests. Comet sightings and symbolic sets and rituals further underscore the presence of myth in these plays. Regardless of the difficulty, we deliver an unparalleled solution without any delay.

Summary. The play ends as it began: with the war over, the incarcerated scapegoats released, and police persecution renewed. The Question and Answer section for Zoot Suit is a great Stage directions tell us that "the giant facsimile of a newspaper front page serves as a drop curtain" and "The huge masthead reads: LOS ANGELES HERALD EXPRESS Thursday, June 3, 1943.

These were real gangs that existed in Los Angeles, starting in the 1920s.

Because it is a musical, with terrific song and dance throughout, it is his most conventionally entertaining play, but because it dramatizes an overlooked episode in American history that reveals a pervasive racism against Chicanos, it is also one of his most powerful and socially relevant plays. Suddenly, Enrique, Henry and Lupe's father enters, and orders Lupe to change. Henry complains that his clean clothes, which were supposed to be delivered days earlier, have not arrived yet. The boys are suspicious of him, convinced that he's a cop.

Bertha gives Henry a hard time for not killing Rafas. In this moment, the actor playing Pachuco identifies himself as an actor in order to show how Pachuco is an allegorical presence and a mystical entity more than a literal man; by calling attention to the theatricality of the figure, playwright Valdez helps the audience see the mystical elements of the plot. Reyna, a loyal American about to ship out for the war in the Pacific, becomes a scapegoat for the Los Angeles police. Then, Zoot Suit is a fast-moving, didactic play in a variety of styles that protests Chicanos’ treatment in America. Scene 8. Zoot Suit study guide contains a biography of Luis Valdez, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of the play. When hundreds of servicemen and party-going Mexican Americans accidentally clash, the result is a large-scale riot that results in hundreds of arrests, including one for murder.

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Henry lets Rafas go and the Downey Gang leaves. How long have I known you?

When El Pachuco tries to console him, Henry lashes out at his alter ego, sending him away. A marauding band of servicemen strip Rudy of his flamboyant zoot suit and his dignity as they rampage through the streets looking for brown-skinned “foreigners” who, they believe, do not sufficiently respect the American way of life in wartime. The battle had many fronts: from the courthouse to the schoolhouse, Hispanics, African Americans, and other ethnic groups educated themselves and the public on the daily injustices committed in the United States. George asks to hear what happened, and Henry tells him.

Think about it," Henry decides not to. Humiliated, Rafas takes his Downey Gang to the Williams Ranch and terrorizes the people holding a party there. He describes himself, El Pachuco, as "a mythical, quizzical, frightening being/precursor of revolution/Or a piteous, hideous heroic joke/deserving of absolution?".

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