Two of the major themes in the book I, Rigoberta Menchù: An Indian Woman In Guatemala are community life and the natural world. They are constantly referred back to throughout the book, and help tie everything together. Even with the suffering that the Indians are put through, these two things are still held close to their heart, and always in their minds. Always staying on good terms with your community, having a close community and respecting and loving earth and most things on it are rules to live by. These two themes are shown many times all throughout the book, and are always remembered throughout their daily life.
Throughout the book Rigoberta constantly talks about how close her community is. First of all in Rigobertas community the community discusses every decision, no matter how small. Decisions such as marriage is first brought up with the boy and the girls parents, then when they have made up their mind, then the boy and the girls parents go to the village representative to tell they the boy wants to get married. "The community elects its leader but everything he does has to be approved by the others. What the community does no approve cannot be carried through- (R.M. pg. 128). So no matter what the decision is the whole community has a say in it, whether it is marriage, or something much bigger. Like what the community has to do because the ladinos tricked them to signing their land away. Secondly the community is always looking out for other members, whether they are sick, or have just had a new child. For example, when a newborn baby comes into the world their customs say that the baby must spend the first 8 days with only its mother. "The community takes over all the household expenses for these 8 days and the family spends nothing- (R.M. pg. 11). If a member of the community is sick, or someone has just died the community will help out and give all they can to the person to help them out.
