war – RMST 202

Thoughts on Cercas’s “Soldiers of Salamis”

A common theme I have come across in the books we have been reading recently is war. Last week having read Amulet, in which a woman hides from the army invasion in her university bathroom and the week before that with The Trenchcoat and its totalitarian control and paranoia. I think it is awfully relatable to the current world issue today with what is happening in Ukraine. Had I taken this course a year or even a term prior, I would not be able to compare and contrast the situations and see the connections directly. Moreover, it makes me wonder what thoughtful works by Ukrainian authors are being written at this very moment. Today we have social media platforms in which information and awareness can be spread more easily, and censorship is harder to control compared to the times of The Trenchcoat, Amulet, and Soldiers of Salamis. With that in mind, I pose the question to you: how do you think writing about this tragic topic has changed over time?

On to Cercas’s book itself, prior to watching the lecture, I began this book with a fresh mindset but I wasn’t really sure what type of book I was reading, in particular, whether it was fiction or non-fiction. Nonetheless, I enjoyed how we followed along with the narrator on the investigation of Sanchez Mazas and discovered how little the narrator (and by default, us, the readers) know about the war. I think this also connects back to the accessibility and spread of information (and misinformation) in comparison to then and now. Today, if one has access to the internet, they can simply look up the current news and political figures/heroes. While it may be challenging to differentiate the truth from false narratives and censorship, I think it is a lot easier to do now than ever before. The text also examines the nature of war heroes and how their legacy is dependent on how long they are remembered. This reminded me of the quote “You die twice. Once when you take your final breath, and then again the last time someone says your name.” I can not recall where I remember this quote from or whether it was from a film or song, but it seems to be the same idea Cercas is demonstrating in his text. If any of you know the origin of this quote, please let me know!

Thought’s on Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves”

I found this text to be enlightening and thought-provoking. For me, Rodoreda’s writing style was sometimes over-descriptive, but often it made the story more sensual and poetic. Overall, this text was a fairly simple read; I didn’t have to try hard to understand the meaning behind the scenes as I did in some of the previous texts in this course. Another aspect of this book that I appreciated was that I didn’t feel like I was lacking any background or contextual information of the setting of the story. The story was set in Barcelona in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War, but it revolved more around how ordinary people were impacted by the war, so it felt a bit more relatable in that sense – it could’ve been a civil war in my country and its impact on me.
We get to follow a woman’s journey before, during, and after the war and see how she experiences the life she’s been given under her poor circumstances from the very beginning. It wasn’t as if Natalia’s life was perfect or even near ideal before the war started; she was already motherless and a bit too naive for her own good. Furthermore, she was in a relationship where she was seen as beneath her partner. The unequal power dynamic between Natalia and Quimet was far from unusual (during a time in which patriarchy was even more prominent than it is now), but their relationship grows gradually to be more equal. Natalia didn’t really care for politics either, but the war was wearing everyone down, including her. She had to care and provide for her children as well as work, all on her own. Natalia is not only physically strained by the impact of the war, but we also see how she is fighting for her sanity.
My question is, how Natalia’s life, and other victims of the war for that matter, would’ve been different if mental health awareness and resources were more prominent. Even with modern wars today, during a time where mental health awareness is likely at its highest than it has been in history, I wonder how accessible mental health resources are to the victims and how much it is prioritized. As we witness through the text, the war may be over but the healing has only just begun. Survivors must come to terms with the reality of the situation and what has been done to get them to this point in order to look towards their future.