Espada Essay

     Abuse of power is a serious problem and effects lots of people. Various poems by Martin Espada tell stories of people using their power to make others, particularly Mexicans, suffer. They show the unfair treatment that Mexicans endure or have endured. Espada’s meaningful poems “New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, and “Two Mexicanos Lynched at Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” all express examples of abuse of power.

            The poem “New Bathroom Policy at English High School” shows a principal abusing his power. He overhears students speaking Spanish while he is in a stall. He hears his name come up in the conversation and assumes they are talking badly about him. He then bans Spanish in the bathroom so it won’t happen again. “The only word he recognizes is his own name and this constipates him. So he decides to ban Spanish from the bathrooms.” This shows how the principal jumped to conclusions and immediately thought the Spanish students were saying something bad. Because the principal didn’t understand a language that wasn’t his, he decided to take it out all together, which is abusing the power he has over the students. This is unfair to the students and shows the discrimination that probably happens everyday around the world,

            “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” is another poem that shows an example of abuse of power. In this poem, the speaker fantasizes what would happen if another person mispronounced his/her Spanish name. He/she talks about buying a toy pistol, hijacking a bus of Americans, and using other forceful and violent acts to get revenge. The author also used allusion and exaggeration. The poem reads, “push my beret at an angle, comb my beard to a point.” This describes an Argentinian military officer, Che Guevara, who was powerful and forceful. The acts that are described in this poem such as, “I want to buy a toy pistol,” are exaggerated revenges for when people abuse their power and say names wrong. The speaker was not using his power, only imagining, yet the Americans were when they said the Spanish names wrong.

            The third poem, “Two Mexicanos Lynched at Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877” describes a true event where two Mexicans were hung by vigilantes for being Mexican. In that time period, Mexicans were not considered equals by many of the white settlers. The vigilantes would hang many Mexicans because they did not want them there. The poem talks about Mexican customs and beliefs like La Dia de los Muertos and the Virgen de Guadalupe. The poem shows how the vigilantes treated the Mexicans because they thought they had power over them. Mexicans were killed simply because of their race and heritage, which is an unfair abuse of power.

            As shown in these three poems by Martin Espada, abuse of power has happened at many points in time and sadly still occurs today, in many different ways. The author believes that abuse of power is wrong and has a lot to do with opinions and what society deems acceptable. The author’s purpose is to inform people of the unfair ways that people abuse their power. He hopes that things will change by telling these stories in his poems.