A Pachuco is viewed as a Mexican or a Mexican-American, who has a flamboyant lifestyle. This can be seen through how he dresses when going out to make merry and is usually accompanied by a Pachuca, who is the female version of a Pachuco. Being well connected in the streets and having a gang life is also a dominant characteristic of a Pachuco. This type of characters can be seen in plays such as the zoot suits and also in Conjunto.
An example of a Pachuco in Conjunto is a character named Pichuka who clashes with Genovevo when on a night out. Genovevo criticises Pichuka for his over-elaborate dressing style and the fact that he was Mexican yet could not speak any Mexican. The Pachuco in this play fulfils the role of an individual who has no regard for what people think of him and he also doesn’t believe in upholding cultural and traditional expectations.in the zoot suit, the Pachuco is mainly seen in the form of El Pachuco who together with his friends belong to the 39th street gang which is led by Henry Reyna who is also a full-time Pachuco.
The similarities between this two sets of Pachuco’s is their love for a flamboyant lifestyle and their love for going out to parties. Their affiliation with gangs is also similar as they see this as the easiest way to succeeding in life. One variation on this set of people is that El Pachuco and his comrades have embraced their heritage and culture and get more pride and satisfaction in speaking Spanish while in contrast, Pichuka is not interested in his heritage and does not really fancy speaking in Spanish. El Pachuco and his friends stand for accepting and appreciating one's culture while Pichuka stands for embracing foreign cultures.
Work cited
valdez, Luis. zoot suit. new york, 1979.
