Analyzing "Pueblo," by Bernice Zamora

"Pueblo" is a poem by feminist Bernice Zamora about a young girl shamed for being kissed by an older man. Not only do the people close to the girl scold her, but the girl is ashamed of herself for allowing this man to kiss her. Although the girl may have been repressed from admitting Montoya kissed her, the second line of the poem said Montoya kissed the girl. The girl knows she was the one who was kissed, but that does not mean she still does not blame herself. The title of the poem, "Pueblo," suggests the girl lives in a small town, which magnifies the shame she feels because small towns tend to generate more gossip.

"Pueblo" is written with a first-person point of view, and it sounds like it could be a confessional poem. Zamora is a feminist, and she introduces this double-standard the town holds when it comes to how males and females should behave. According to the poem, no one blames the man when a couple is caught displaying public affection when they shouldn't be; they only blame the woman. Zamora does not directly write what she feels, but through structure, she emphasizes the fact that the man, Fred Montoya, was not put to shame in any way.

There are seven lines in the poem and only the seventh line is indented. It is significant that the indented line is the line Zamora writes that no one scolded or said anything to Montoya because it stands out. The punctuation is also important to consider. Throughout the poem, Zamora follows the rules of grammar; she capitalizes proper nouns and uses commas and periods where appropriate. However, the last sentence in the poem does not contain a period, which suggests there is more. This is the beginning of a struggle within the girl. She may be struggling to not completely blame herself, or she may be struggling to show the rest of the world that she should not be blamed. Perhaps the lack of the period represents the beginning of Zamora's struggle as a feminist. It is also important to mention the significance of the poem's seven lines. Among other things, seven is the number of sacraments in the Roman Catholic faith, the number of virtues and deadly sins, the minor symbol of yang in the Taoist yin-yang, and the day God rested after creating the world. Zamora may have deliberately only written seven lines for this poem to further emphasize the significance of the poem. Going along with the theme of feminism, the image of the yin-yang could be broken down to symbolize the masculine and the feminine with the seven lines in "Pueblo" representing the feminine.

Lastly, the diction in "Pueblo" is interesting, especially the way Zamora uses the word "you." In nearly every line there is the word "you," however, it does not always refer to the same person. In the first two lines and the last line, "you" refers to Montoya, but in the fourth and fifth line, "you" refers to the girl. It is misleading because until the last line of the poem, the reader does not know the "you" refers to more than one person. Until the last line of the poem, it seems the blame is being placed on the man, but after reading the last line of the poem and then rereading the poem, it is clear all the blame goes to the girl.