The second of this half of this work was a real shift from the first half. Marcos’ staunchly political takes as a mouthpiece for Indigenous Chiapenses slowly gives way to a more personal form of storytelling. It really was, as we talked about today, seeing him go from a sort of screen to be projected on to. Sort of amorphous nothing that can become anything or anyone.

I also found the way he starts to include somewhat personal anecdotes, and how the people in those stories are given their own distinct and (over time) developed identities. Even the comical Durito evolves as a character through the stories. From some small beetle to a snarky knight-errant. Or Don Antonio, whose wisdom must be shown rather than shared, a secretive old soul. And yet, we get little to nothing about Marcos, he remains, I dont want to say detached, but distant from us.

Given the chronology of these tales, it is also interesting to see Marcos find his authorial voice. All the iterations progressing towards his final sarcastic and dry, albeit still political, voice. Along with this development, we start to get some more of Marcos’ personality. We get the image of a well-meaning, but bumbling man, trying his best to manage his responsibilities to the EZLN and his audience. We get a glimpse into the life of a man stretched paper-thin trying to hold it all together,

On a more uplifting note, this section has a much more jovial tone. We see a Marcos more willing to engage in play and storytelling with his audience. This seems to coincide with a switch  to a more narrative storytelling approach. Particularly when it comes to Durito’s and Don Antonio’s stories, we see more of the author Marcos and perhaps a bit less of his rebel identity. While all the stories are metaphors for the struggles and injustices of the EZLN, they meander, taking diversions to the past along the way. I found it a really cool way to tie in the Indigenous roots of the EZLN into the greater political narrative. Where n the first part, it focuses more on Indigenous maligning and invisibility (in relation to the Mexican state) this section pulls in history to imagine a future. I think most strikingly between one of the commanders and Durito where he reveals that the EZLN will win the fight only it will take a long time, and the commander essentially goes ‘tell me something I didn’t already know.’ It’s a simultaneous recognition of a better future and a signal that there was never any doubting that it could get better. Overall, this section felt a lot more like a book than the first half, the overlap/continuity between stories felt a lot more smooth, and less like communiques from a commander out in the field.