Tag Archives: sex

Week 9 – Captain Pantoja and the Special Service

3 Replies

This was an interesting book. When I was choosing which books to read, the synopsis of this one seemed intriguing and it ended up being exactly that. The way the book was written was quite interesting, the comedic dialogue had an underlying layer of seriousness that made the overall book, satirical.

The character of Pantoja was so different and interesting to me, he isn’t like any character I’ve ever read. I found it so funny and ironic how at the start of the novel he wanted to uphold his principles and not take part in something he found to be ethically wrong. Yet, as time progressed he ended up becoming so committed to the job, like he sent out formal questionnaires to the soldiers to know who wanted the “service”. He took his role so seriously, that he even ended up taking part in the service by getting involved with Olga. Pantoja’s character was like those in movies and TV shows who don’t want to get involved in something, and then when they do, they’re too involved. It kind of reminded me of Narcos and the character Javier Peña, who in season 2 doesn’t want to get involved with the Cali Cartel but ends up working with them, and gets in too deep.

Furthermore, the whole concept and plot of the novel is interesting. Like the entire purpose of the Special Service is to satisfy the sexual desire of men, at a regularly appointed time. Just thinking about that is so humours. This desire that men, particularly the army men, have is kind of seen as a “weakness” that needs to be fulfilled in order for them to do their job correctly. I dunno, writing about this makes me laugh. I’m thinking about how I have a regular skin care routine that I need to do, to stop my acne from growing and for the army men they have this regular service that is supposed to stop there desire from growing. Moreover, it is interesting how this bureaucratic system was meant to control the desires of the men, but instead it ends up growing because of special “project” becomes popular.

Overall, this book was an interesting read and if it wasn’t so long I would read it again. I’m curious about the Llosa’s other works and might do a bit of research to see what other books he has written.

Question to think about: In the start Pantoja rejects carrying out the special project, and then ironically, he ends up taking part in it himself. Why do you think the author chose to have his character end up like that? Did having Pantoja give up his principles add something more to the overall story?

Week 4 – Twenty Love Poems

2 Replies

After learning about Neruda and the choices he made, I wasn’t sure what to expect when reading this. However, I was surprised by the poems I read because some were sweet and softer, compared to what I was expecting. I quite enjoyed the different poems that were written because while the theme (women) was consistent throughout, no two poems were written the same way. It felt as though the first few poems were much more sexual and really touched on the desires Neruda felt towards women, and how he saw them through his eyes. However, as I continued reading the writing shifted to something a bit more heartfelt and sadder, and could be interpreted as feelings of love and loss with a person or even yourself . It was kind of like a “love-story” was being unraveled before my eyes, but with a sad ending. At the start you could sense Neruda’s attraction to women, from the way he described them, but as he continued to write it felt as though he had lost someone who he couldn’t forget and continued to long-for them. Moreover, in the end his final poem ‘The Song of Despair’ completely encapsulates the utter loss and sadness he feels for losing the women he loved . I found the order of the poems interesting. regardless of whether or not it was done on purpose.

I have read my fair share of poems from high school and something that I was always able to do was imagine what was being said, but for some reason I had a hard time putting the words into pictures this time. The poems were very descriptive and it seemed easy to paint a picture in your head but for some reason I couldn’t, and maybe that had to do with the simplicity of the lines. Neruda didn’t use fancy words or make odd comparisons that were hard to understand, he instead wrote in a way that was easy to follow and understand. Rather then painting pictures in my head, I felt myself feeling and hearing more. For example, the line “…leaves garnered your voice, that was slow and at peace.” (I Remember You As You Were), I could hear the slight rustling of leaves accompanied by a husky and soft voice. While I was still able to imagine some lines, my main focus was on the emotions I felt when reading the different poems.

As I mentioned before, Neruda used simple language in his poems and he did that by using nature to tell a story. It was interesting to see how he used the simple, natural world to describe the beauty of women and his feelings of loss. Maybe it was his ability to describe women using nature, that seemed to soften his objectification of women throughout the poems. It is possible that if he lessened the use of nature in his writing style, he would be seen as less poetic, and more aggressive.

Question to think about: Neruda relied heavily on nature in his poems, is there a reason he felt the need to do that? What was it in nature that made him describe and compare women to it?