FREE ESSAY ON ZAPATA

ZAPATA

Zapata: The Ideology of a Peasant Revolutionary Zapata: The Ideology of a Peasant
Revolutionary portrays the fight of the Mexicans' and Indians' to gain freedom, from the
people who were 'superior' to them. The powerful story tells about a group of peasants
who put their trust one man, Zapata, who led them into a revolution. Zapata, written by
Robert P. Milon is a very confusing work. He uses many wordy details and jumps between
events in a very fluttery way. When new people make an entrance in the book he does not
make a good transition between the events. He could have added more scenes to help the
dialogue move smoother. The author also jumped around with a very confusing time-line.
Emiliano Zapata was born on August 8, 1879, in Anenecuilco. Zapata was the son of a
mestizo peasant who trained and sold horses. He was orphaned at the age of 17 and had to
look after his brothers and sisters. In 1897, he was arrested for taking part in a
protest. From this you can see that he was a hard worker from the start. He was mestizo,
and therefore oppressed by the upper class. In 1909 he was elected president of village
defense committee. This part is very moving because it happens early in the story but it
shows the first glimmer of hope for these people. By 1910, Zapata, was already planning
things and he led his people on two peaceful demonstrations. This was the start of a
revolution with Zapata and his followers letting everyone know that they would not take
it anymore. The story goes on about the struggle of Zapata and his followers, but by page
36 the hero is lying dead from a trap he fell into. Being that the book starts on page
11, the central character dies rather quickly for the whole book to be about him. After
Zapata dies the author attempts to flash back and recap everything that happened between
page 11 and page 36, so this book appears to be like in media res stlye. Which is a style
of writing by starting in the middle, going ahead, and then telling the beginning.
(Oedipus is an example of this). In Chapter II (Agrarianism), the author hastily tried to
put all of these Plans, and Articles into the story. He bounced from paragraph to
paragraph taking up a new point of an article in each one. The plan of Ayala, first
appears on page 40, and by the next paragraph he is running away with Articles VI, VII,
and VIII. After that Millon is discussing the two revisions this plan had. By the next
page, he is talking about a pamphlet that was used. By page 45 he is introducing a new
manifesto. It seemed that every paragraph started with a date saying Zapata addressed so
and so at this time to produce this plan . The author felt the need to include what
seemed like the life stories of every person involved in making these plans, and the
writing of these articles. In Chapter III (Liberalism and Anti-Imperialism), the author
seemed to jump back in time, again. This chapter feels like an entire repeat of what
chapter II had discussed. Also, through this entire book, the author uses what seems to
be Mexican or Spanish in italicized words, which makes it very hard to read . Words such
as carrancistas, cacique, porfirista, ejidos, & latifundismo appear. As the book went on,
more Mexican words showed up. After the foreign words the author should have translated
them. Combined with the unorganized writing method employed one needed help getting
through the long and tedious chapters. The only thing constant about, Robert Millon's
chaotic writing was that he started every chapter with a long quote from Zapata himself,
to set the chapter up. Chapter IV, entitled Misconceptions Concerning Zapatista Ideology,
did not help to make anything clearer. The author rambled on making an effort to explain
his past chapters and the concepts surrounding Zapata. This was a failed attempt because
the author again goes into wordy descriptions and introduces an abundance of people and
dates. Also, by the end of this chapter the author feels compelled to use a long list of
quotes. Almost every paragraph, is a quote. Millon is not giving the reader his input
here, but instead he leaves the reader with pages of quotes to fumble through. It makes
it very hard to get through. Chapter IV, named Revolutionary Tactics, Millon discusses
the fighting strategy of Zapata and his followers. Again we find ourselves in 1915; the
author has backtracked once more. He retells the story of the past four chapters over
again. He goes over the same tiresome details, again. The final Chapter in this sloppily
written work, bears the name, The Fate of Zapatista Ideology, this tiny chapter, is only
about four pages . In this last chapter, the author summarizes the previous details to
the readers that have already been introduced, but now he explains why they did not work
that successfully . Robert Millon, is not a skilled writer. He did not do Zapata or his
followers justice. His lack of being able to understand the concept of a time-line, and
how to introduce new people showed throughout this entire work. West Civ students should
not have to read his writings. They should have a better portrayal of Zapata. 
Bibliography 
Milon, Robert. Zapata. International Publishers,1969.