43 pages • 1 hour read
Luis ValdezZoot Suit
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1992A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Language (English and Spanish)
El Pachuco opens the play in Spanish without translating into English for a United States audience. This demonstrates that the play will be privileging the Chicano narrative, unlike most mainstream U.S. plays and films that not only feature primarily white actors but are almost all produced in English. Since the United States has no official language, the validation of Spanish as an equal language helps to establish the play’s argument that Mexican Americans are Americans. It destabilizes the false perception that the word “America” applies only to the United States.
The use of untranslated Spanish throughout the play also creates a privilege of accessibility to those who are bilingual both onstage and in the audience. When George first meets with Henry and his co-defendants in jail, Tommy and Joey use Spanish to speak confidentially. George can’t earn their trust until he demonstrates that he also speaks Spanish. However, although George speaks Spanish, he adds, “I’m not much on your pachuco slang” (25). The zoot suiters use a vernacular based on rhyming, adding an additional layer of coding. Language as a signifier of belonging is more important than actual race or nationality, as illustrated by Tommy, who is white but grew up in the barrio and uses the language and pachuco lingo fluently.
Spanish language also connects to cultural history and heritage. For instance, Enrique urges his children to remain connected to their culture, asking his children, “Since when did we stop speaking Spanish in this house? Have you no respect?” (17) Since the barrio functions as an insular community, it requires the labor of learning the language to become a part of it. At the end of the play, Alice expresses her dedication to Henry when he tells her that he “learned a few words in the joint” and she responds, “Yo también, Hank. Te quiero. [trans. Me too, Hank. I love you]” (77). But when she tries to convince him that Henry should stay with Della, she speaks in English.
Territory and Colonialism
Zoot Suit shows how territory and access to land defines communities. In his closing argument during the first Sleepy Lagoon trial, The Press warns listeners about the pachucos as if they are interlopers, describing a “crime wave that threatens to engulf the very foundations of our civic well-being, […] a threat and danger to our children, our families, our homes. Set these pachucos free, and you shall unleash the forces of anarchy and destruction in our society” (47). However, George centers his closing argument on defining the defendants as members of society. George asserts that “they are Americans” and that a guilty verdict would “condemn all American youth” and “murder the spirit of racial justice in America” (48).
The play connects the racism against Mexican-American youths to colonialism. After the arrest, The Press quotes a headline that refers to Los Angeles as “the City of Angels,” and El Pachuco interrupts, correcting, “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina del los Ángeles de Porciúncula, pendejo [trans. the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the River, asshole]” (8-9). El Pachuco refers to the name of the Spanish settlement from which Los Angeles derives its name. The disagreement over the name implies a struggle for the dominant culture. On the day before the trial, The Press announces the headline, “October 12, 1942: Columbus Day. Four Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Discovery of America” (30). The headline links the celebration of colonialism to the bias against Henry and his friends. Before the trial begins, El Pachuco expresses his doubt that the justice system will treat Henry fairly, commenting, “This is 1942. Or is it 1492?” (36). El Pachuco’s question implies that mainstream attitudes toward native Chicanos has not changed significantly since the Spanish colonized California.
The Chicano people receive access to certain territories and not others. As Alice points out, the only reason that Mexican-American children swim in Sleepy Lagoon is because they are barred from other local pools. The barrio serves as Chicano territory, but as a place of belonging, rather than a spot that denies access to outsiders. The gangs further split the leftover Chicano spaces into territories. When the Downey Gang shows up at Sleepy Lagoon, Henry tells Rafas that he is “a little out of his territory” (28). And when El Pachuco is attacked and stripped down to a loin cloth, he serves as a metaphor for the land. The sound of the Aztec conch shows that beneath the colonialist division of territories, all of the land truly belongs to the native people.
