In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a form of Mexican folk music called corrido gained popularity along the Mexico-Texas border (Saldívar). Coming from the Spanish romantic tradition, the corrido is a border ballad “born that tells the story of border conflicts and their effects on Mexican-Mexican culture” (Saldívar). A sort of “oral popular history,” the corrido was studied intensely by Américo Paredes, who later constructed his masterpiece, George Washington Gomez, around the “context and theme” of the corrido (Mendoza 146). But the novel is not a traditional corrido, in which the legendary hero defends his people and dies for their honor. Instead, through his plot, characterization, and rhetorical devices, George Washington Gomez is an anti-corrido. The corrido has been identified as having distinctive characteristics that make up its theme and plot. First, the corrido takes place in “a context of hostile relations between Anglo-Mexicans along the border and the establishment of a stage structure, geographic location, and opposing social forces” (Mendoza 146). The hero of the corrido “is a hard-working, peace-loving Mexican who, pushed by the Anglos, indulges in violence, leading him to defend his rights and those of other members of his community against the rinches, the Rangers” (Saldívar ). This hero “is quickly introduced to legendary proportions and defiant stature” and many people must die before the hero reaches his triumphant, yet tragic, demise (Mendoza 146). The Anglos of the corrido, on the other hand, are not one-dimensional villains but “complex figures who contain both positive and negative qualities” (Mendoza 146). These distinctive features of a corrido – setting, conflict and characterization, among others – ...... middle of article ......l. “Ge-or-ge,” she called in an exaggerated Gringo accent. He turned around. Tears streamed down his rigid, expressionless face. “Cabron!” she said. “Vendido sanavabiche!” » » (Paredes 294) In this way, George – and no longer Guánlito – betrayed his people politically and culturally, and “is not the tragic hero who died to defend his people” (Mendoza 148). In conclusion, through his plot, characterization, and rhetorical devices such as tone, George Washington Gomez is an anti-corrido. However, it must be said that perhaps in its vocation as an anti-corrido, the novel is a corrido. In telling the story of Guánlito, the anti-hero of Mexicotexans, Paredes is perhaps singing to readers his own frontier ballad, a wry, uplifting tale for Chicanos to remember who they are and where they come from and resist, always, like a corrido hero would do.