Julia Santos 811
Martin Espada is a well known, educated and respected Puerto Rican poet from New
York City. His poetry often deals with major issues and have recurring themes. One theme in
particular has been seen in Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, The New Bathroom Policy at English
High School, and Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877. This strong
theme in Espada’s poetry is the idea of power, and the abuse of it.
For instance, in Espada’s poem, The New Bathroom Policy at English High School, the
principal abuses his power over the school by banning Spanish speaking in the bathrooms. He
has no excuse to do so besides the speaking of Spanish, and hearing his name in these
conversations, "constipating him". The principal in this poem is abusing his power as the
principal, cutting of the Spanish speakers in the school of a location where they can express their
culture and may speak the language most comfortable to them (if they learned Spanish as a first
language).
Additionally, an example of the theme of the abuse of power in Espada’s poetry is in his
poem, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson. The people mispronouncing the narrators name are either
using the power of the narrators name and purposefully mispronouncing it to frustrate him, or
just not taking the time to ask them how his or her name is pronounced. When you have a choice
to make, like the subjects of the poem mispronouncing the narrators name again, and again, you
have power over the situation. Being careless with this power to make better choices is still an
abuse of a, even if small power much of the time, power. Then, the speaker goes on about
ridiculous actions that he'll complete if any one mispronounces his name. For example, "…hijack
a bus load/ of Republican tourists/ from Wisconsin,/ force them to chant/ anti-American slogans/
in Spanish…". This represents Espada's recurring theme of abuse of power.
Lastly, abuse of power is a significant theme in Espadas poem, Two Mexicanos Lynched
in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877. This poem talks about the lynching of two Mexicanos
by whites in California. Not only is the extreme racism and prejudice obvious in this situation,
the “gringos” in the poem had much more power than these Mexicanos. There were forty of them
present to lynch only the two Mexicanos, which means that the Mexicanos were outnumbered to
fight the "gringos" who were trying to kill them. The whites were a higher status and had a better
situation than the Mexicanos. It’s murder in every sense of the word, and all murders or deaths
are terrible, but the way it was committed makes it even worse. The white people in the poem
abused their physical and social powers over the Mexicanos.
In conclusion, the abuse of power is a huge and abundant theme in Martin Espada’s
poetry. He uses it clearly in three different poems, The New Bathroom Policy at English High
School, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, and Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California,
May 3, 1877. Espada used many different forms of abuse of power in his poems, showing that no
matter what kind of power one abuses, it’s still wrong if you do it for the wrong reasons.
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