Corrido=ballad (Tex-Mex fusion�Anglo-American ballad form fused with Spanish language/themes�border of Mexico and Texas)

Tradition of honoring Mexican defiance of Anglo-white supremacy (narcocorrido�song in praise of the drug lord, runner)

Cortez: violence, language barriers, power of language, lack of trust/respect/communication; becomes a folk hero for Mexicans who know he can�t get a fair trial and is likely to be lynched by the powers that be (Texas Rangers�paramilitary force)

Jesse James figure�outlaw in a land that is corrupt (this land is condemned)�Railroads�Robin Hood figure; Gregorio Cortez standing up to a racist injust power structure (Anglo lynch mob)

Ballad style: quatrain stanza with rhymes A-B-C-B  simple sing-song melody; oral culture (no single version of the ballad, many versions depending on performance)

Opening stanzas establish: tragedy (desgracia) place (El Carmen) victim (Mayor Cherife) wrongdoer (Gregorio Cortez) �do we know for sure what has happened?  It�s all hearsay evidence.   We don�t know what happened at all. 

He�s a wanted man, a killer (dead or alive)�lack of judicial process; Anglos scapegoating; dehumanizing

Ballads�flexible narrative structure  We move from the 3^rd person to 1^st with no transition (�with a pistol in his hand��title of Amerigo Paredes book in 1958 about the ballad)  how does the gun in hand symbolize Cortez?  He�s capable of defending himself against an oppressive culture�in story, fiction, narrative people can enact their frustrations/desires sublimate through art (healthy thing or not?)  Does art/literature provoke violence or does it merely come out of basic human nature)

�whiter than a poppy/for the fear� Anglo-whiteness becomes equated with fear not supremacy

Pistol (symbol of power machismo phallic); magic animal power�ancient native American that have power beyond the Anglo invader; superhuman element (300 to one); jumping around like comic book superhero;

Ballad repetition (repeat lines to progress story): pistol in hand; jump out corral; kill another sheriff

Why does he call the Rangers �rinches� (using Mexican-American dialect to belittle the white power)

Why does he surrender according to the ballad?  Heroic attitude and surrender himself for the larger good (true hero�put himself aside for the larger good)

Rinches after reward/money � capitalist society of the Anglos ; he�s going to control the surrender�won�t let himself be lynched�smart but defiant even in an of surrender�maintains dignity and humanity�I want same justice you�d give an Anglo