Contemporary Maya peoples have endured hardships that have uprooted their way of life and disheveled many homes. When the Guatemalan government began "giving" away the land to the plantation owners or Finca owners, it began to change the social structure and community bond of the many Maya villages located on these once indigenous owned lands.
             One topic that seemed to be a major concern in both Menchu's and Gonzalez's accounts were the loss of indigenous lands to wealthy land owners. In Gonzalez's account Mekel, a Maya man, made the decision to go work on a finca because the land had only provided a small amount of corn that season. What little corn they had would not provide enough income to sustain the family as well as pay off the mortgage that Mekel had on his land. Many Maya faced the same dilemma of needing money to pay for essential items such as medicine, clothing, and other necessities. So as a quick solution many signed contracts with the wealthy Ladinos (Gonzalez, 1995, p. 34).
             Many of these wealthy Ladinos would trick the Maya into signing false contracts that did not actually state the agreed upon loan amount or the amount of time for the loan to be paid in. In "A Mayan Life" Lwin, Mekel's son, had to take out a loan on his land for two hundred fifty dollars at ten percent interest for six months. When Lwin appeared in court the Ladino had changed to agreed upon amount and the judge ruled that in lieu of the money, the already wealthy Ladino would receive Lwin's land as collateral (p. 210)
             Rigoberta also addresses the problem of the wealthy Landowners trying to take land from the village people in order to create their Fincas so they will be able to further exploit the Maya. As in Gonzalez's account, we see the same manipulation in the court system. Although in Rigoberta's case, it was the judge who was manipulated as well. A bribe was given in order for R...