Who is El Pachuco in Zoot Suit?
El Pachuco is a multifunctional character in Zoot Suit, since he serves as both a narrator and a part of Henry ’s consciousness, often talking to him and giving him advice in times of hardship. Valdez describes El Pachuco as the very embodiment of the “ pachuco myth.”
What does El Pachuco symbolize in the play?
In the play itself, El Pachuco mirrors Henry "Hank" Reyna, offering himself up as a symbol of self-criticism and negativity. He serves as a "reality check" that forces Henry to give up his destiny, embodying the spirit of Pachuco culture in order to preach fidelity to la Raza.
What is a pachuco?
A pachuco is a Latino playboy with a strong aesthetic sensibility who wears zoot suits and engages in street gang activity and the nightlife scene. It is also a term associated with those migrating to El Paso, Texas, where the concept of a "pachuco" is thought to have originated.
What does El Pachuco say to Henry about Alice?
A proud man, he often urges Henry to forget about people like Alice who try to convince him that they’ll be able to help him win his court case. To that end, El Pachuco is something of a pessimistic pragmatist, which is why he tries to tell Henry not to expect justice from the American government.
What does the El Pachuco symbolize to the Mexican Americans and or Chicano culture?
The pachuco counterculture flourished among Chicano boys and men in the 1940s as a symbol of rebellion, especially in Los Angeles. It spread to women who became known as pachucas and were perceived as unruly, masculine, and un-American.
What was the symbol of the zoot suit?
34 Through cultural associations, the suit became for many symbolic shorthand for danger, waste, otherness, and racial inequality. The zoot suit had acquired symbolic valences in part by the fallout from the riot as a cultural expression of what it meant to be Mexican-American.
Is Pachuco the same as zoot suit?
Pachuco and Pachuca are terms coined in the 1940s to refer to Mexican American men and women who dressed in zoot suits or zoot suit-influenced attire.
Why did pachucos wear zoot suits?
Their rebellion against the expectations placed on them came out looking pretty fantastic. At the time the poor and working classes wore loose fitting clothes, and the young Pachucos decided they were cool with that as long as it looked fly, so they chose to wear loose fitting Zoot suits like they saw in the movies.
What does El Pachuco represent to Henry?
El Pachuco serves as an omnipotent narrator with the ability to control the story. Of the other characters, only Henry Reyna seems to be able to see and interact with El Pachuco, and he thus becomes Henry's inner voice and alter ego. He is often the pin that bursts the bubble of Henry's hope or optimism.
Who is El Pachuco in zoot suit?
El PachucoHenry ReynaLieutenant EdwardsDella BarriosSergeant SmithGeorge ShearerZoot Suit/Characters
What is Pachuco?
Definition of pachuco : a young Mexican-American having a taste for flashy clothes and a special jargon and usually belonging to a neighborhood gang.
Why do Pachucos originate?
Pachucos emerged in El Paso, Texas, among a group of Chicano youth who were influenced by African American culture and urban 'hep cats,' although it may have roots in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico, where loose-fitting clothing was popular among men.
What was the Pachuca panic?
Escobedo begins with an overview of what she calls “the Pachuca panic”: the hysteria in the 1940s over Mexican female juvenile delinquency, especially as embodied by the “Pachuca” or young woman who donned the zoot-suit style.
Is Pachuco a bad word?
Offensive A Mexican-American man or boy. [American Spanish, person from El Paso, pachuco, possibly alteration of payuco, yokel, from Spanish payo, peasant, perhaps from Gallego Payo, Pelagius (considered a typical peasant name).]
What is a Pachuco cross?
“A gang tattoo associated with Chicano (Mexican- American) gang members, a pachuco cross is usually worn between the thumb and the fore finger of the left hand” says Aitken Smith. Tattoos like this are often used as part of initiation rituals for new members, as well as to show solidarity and allegiance.
What did the zoot riots symbolize?
This exacerbated racial tensions, as Mexican American youths wearing the zoot suits were seen as un-American because they were deliberately ignoring the rationing regulations. The Zoot Suit Riots are commonly associated with the Sleepy Lagoon murder, which occurred in August 1942.
Pachuco Quotes in Zoot Suit
The Zoot Suit quotes below are all either spoken by Pachuco or refer to Pachuco. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Arte Publico edition of Zoot Suit published in 1992.
Pachuco Term Timeline in Zoot Suit
The timeline below shows where the term Pachuco appears in Zoot Suit. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
What does Paz say about the Pachuco?
Paz goes on to say that in the case of the pachuco, there is ambiguity. The clothing centers the attention on him -- a self-imposed isolation by style -- but by adapting western wear the social uniform "pays homage to the society he is attempting to deny."
What is the principle of pachuco?
One principle that rules in North American fashions is that clothing must be comfortable , and the pachuco, by changing ordinary apparel into art, makes it "impractical." Hence it negates the very principles of the model that inspired it. Hence its aggressiveness.
When was the Zoot suit riots?
This week of June marks the 70th anniversary of the Zoot Suit Riots, which flowed from the social fallout of the 1942 Sleep Lagoon Trials. As an American tragedy, the events remained sequestered in street art and song until Luis Valdez workshopped the story to Los Angeles stages in 1978. This year marks the 35th anniversary of that Center Theater Group's production, which makes 2013 the same anniversary for the art.
What does the green band in the Gomez hat mean?
A green band in the hat matches the front handkerchief that signifies dressing up for the night, and maintaining it, was ritualistic.
What is Gomez's style of branding?
Gomez's style of using iconography for branding was a throwback to 1940s illustration form that, even with its commercial intent, could still be considered Chicano Art. The context coincides with Latino myth making, as the character is bigger than life in this form, which could be called Chicano Classical Realism.
