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2. Skill Focus. Huerta recounts her personal experiences throughout her speech. Choose one 5
place where you think her inclusion of her own experiences was particularly effective, and
explain why you think it helped her to prove a point she is trying to make.
3. Huerta chooses to open her speech by discussing Martin Luther King, Jr. Considering her section two
audience and her purpose, why was this likely an effective choice?
4. In paragraph 5, Huerta makes an analogy between picketing and praying. Explain this
comparison, and determine whether it is effective in this context. /
5. Near the end of her speech, Huerta begins to directly address her audience: “Probably some
of you think to yourselves…” and “plain old you.” Why does Huerta choose to directly address
her audience at this point and to use these particular phrases? Dolores Huerta
6. In paragraph 6, Huerta uses a simile to describe the actions that people take as being “like
dropping a little stone in a pool.” Explain the meaning and effect of this simile in this context.
How does it relate to Huerta’s purpose?
7. What you have read here is only an excerpt of her speech at UCLA. While this portion ends
with the phrase “Sí se puede,” her full speech continued afterward. At the conclusion of her
speech, the audience shouted “Sí se puede!” What is the impact of this phrase and why is it
so essential to her purpose?
8. This text is a speech delivered in front of a group of college students, and while Huerta clearly
had points she wanted to make, it also feels a little extemporaneous — not planned — in its
delivery. Identify language choices, sentence structures, or other choices that reflect this
extemporaneous feeling, and explain how this approach helped or hindered her presentation
of her argument.

Topics for Composing

1. Analysis. Overall, what message is Huerta hoping to communicate to the college students
about change? What evidence does she use to illustrate and support her points?
2. Argument. Is it true that “in school you are going to be taught how to conform,” as Huerta
suggests? Provide evidence from your own experiences in school — and additional research,
if needed — to support your position.
3. Connection. What issue is so important to you that you would “lend your whole body” to it,
as Huerta urges? How have you already (or how might you) become involved? How would
your actions compare to those suggested by Huerta in her speech?
4. Speaking and Listening. Deliver a speech to your class or a small group about an issue that
matters to you and that could be addressed, at least in part, with a boycott designed to hit
someone “in the pocketbook.” Be specific about the nature of the boycott you propose and
how it would lead to some significant change.
5. Research. Huerta discusses a number of ways to protest and create change, and she spends
significant time on the role that a boycott can play. What makes a successful boycott? Research
successful and unsuccessful boycotts in the past and identify the key factors that the successful
boycotts have in common. What changes occurred as a result of the boycotts?

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Copyright © Bedford/St. Martin’s. Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample chapter.
Distributed by BFW Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

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