Claribel Alegria's Ashes of Izalco

Ashes of Izalco, by Claribel Alegria and her husband Darwin Flakoll (1989), recounts the state sponsored massacre of over 30,000 indigenous peoples during the early 1930s in what was known as "La Mantanza" ("The Slaughter"). Seen from the perspective of Carmen Rojas, the daughter of wealthy parents; Frank, an American ex-patriot; and Paul, a symbol of American democracy, the story brings to light the social, economic and political injustice of El Salvador. El Salvador is symbolized as a small but violent "Volcano," waiting to erupt in Ashes of Izalco (Alegria and Flakoll 34). Alegria, from a privileged family who grew up in western Salvador, focuses on social, economic and political injustice in her works. As one literary critique says of her, she is of "That current known among literary circles as �la generacion comprometida' (the Committed Generation). The �generacion comprometida' was born out of a drive by the intellectual sectors of the middle and upper classes to achieve social and political justice for their less privileged countrymen" (About 1-2). This essay will illustrate my perceptions on various aspects of the novel pertaining to social, economic and political injustice.

We see various aspects of social injustice in Ashes of Izalco. We see that Carmen and her parents are from the upper class. Carmen's parents exhibit values that stem from outside influences, not those common to the indigenous peoples

Category: Literature - C