ABSTRACT
When author teaches Oscar 'Zeta' Acosta, he begins by providing the students with some biographical context. Self-proclaimed Chicano lawyer who interacted with many of the Chicano Movement's key players in the late 1960s and early 1970s, who appeared in Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1971 as 'Dr. Gonzo', who set important legal precedents in the courtroom, Acosta must be the most enigmatic figure in all of Latino/a literature. The most important consideration when teaching The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is that it is not an autobiography per se. The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, the political struggles of Chicanos dominate Revolt of the Cockroach People. Despite this, Acosta's second novel is arguably even more critically ignored than his first. The novel makes great use of internal focalization, which allows readers access to Oscar's sensory engagement with his world, and also makes what would normally be an outrageous gargantuan of a character more sympathetic.
