Martin Espada Literary Essay

          Martin Espada writes poems about the hardships of a Spanish life. A lot of these hardships are about the relationship between Spanish and English people. The hardships are from different points of views. In Martin Espada’s “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” the point of view is from a student who gets his name frequently mispronounced. In “The New Bathroom Policy at English School,” the point of view is from an English principal eavesdropping on students speaking about him in Spanish. In “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” the point of view is from two Mexican men being hanged by white people. Espada also shows how these hardships effect people of the Spanish culture.

            As mentioned before, a lot of the hardships Espada writes about are about the relationship between the Spanish and English cultures. In “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” it shows how a Spanish person’s name is frequently mispronounced, which is trying to show how a lot of English people don’t have to worry about getting their name mispronounced. In “The New Bathroom Policy at English School,” it shows how Spanish students take advantage of speaking Spanish about the principal behind his back. This is not really showing a hardship of a Spanish life, but an advantage of a Spanish life. This poem by Espada can show how English people don’t always have it easy either. In “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” it shows how English people try to make Spanish people feel not powerful enough or worthy enough. This also shows some of the racism Spanish people have to go through.

            Marin Espada also shows how the people Spanish faith get affected by the hardships. In “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” the student who gets his name frequently mispronounced feels like hell. In “The New Bathroom Policy at English School,” the two Spanish speaking students feel like they have an advantage of getting away with talking behind the principal’s back. In “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,” it makes the two Mexicans being hanged feel powerless and weak by the racism.

            To conclude, Martin Espada’s poems are mostly based off of the hardships of a Spanish life style. Sometimes Espada writes about the advantages about a Spanish life like in the poem “Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877.”