Category: Arguedas and Asturias

De las dos lecturas la que mas me gusto fue la de Jose Maria Arguedas. Esto porque me hace recordar al tipo de historias que son contadas por gente mayor (abuelos) a gente mas joven. Es una historia la cual nos muestra al pongo, el cual es constantemente maltratado por su patron. Al pongo no le queda otra mas que obedecer y hacer todo lo que su patron le dice. Esta claro que hay una division de poderes, en la cual el patron que es blanco se encuentra por encima del pongo que es nativo. En latino america podemos ver que tambien hay una division de poderes en la cual encontramos que la gente con mas poder o dinero son gente blanca o descedientes de europeos. Sin embargo, en la hisotria vemos que por un momento hay un cambio en esta division de poderes. El pongo termina situandose por encima del patron y esto haciendolo intelectualmente sin que el pongo tenga que resolver a la violencia. Esto dice mucho ya que mucha gente ve a los nativos como gente bruta o que no le gusta trabajar. En esta historia el pongo es brillante y contradice la imagen negativa que muchos en latino america y en otros lados tienen hacia los nativos.

I do not know why but posting comments on your blog seems impossible. I don’t know if someone succeeded already but you should check if there is any blocking option or something! Thanks

I really had the same difficulties than you while reading these legends my fellow citizen! However, I really like the way you described and analyzed what could be the function of these legends and myths. It is true that we usually recognize to ancient civilizations some knowledge and wisdom we might have lost with our insanely rapid modernization. I would personally say that indigenous people certainly have a lot of things to teach us. Because of that, the moral lesson hidden by these stories has even more a strong impact. It is enough to take the example of Inuit people who actually fight against effects of climate change in their Arctic territories and try to give us advice because they are the first concerned, although they have certainly been one of the most environmentally respectful and less damaging people. I also quite agree when you oppose folk culture and these legends to mass culture. Folk culture is definitely a part of popular culture which appears far more authentic and original. However, these texts have been printed and diffused. These legends have been recently rewritten. We could wonder again if this doesn’t undermine their authenticity!

Vexation. “Where and What is the moral of this legend?!” – Was a question I had the honour of asking myself four consecutive times, once for each of Asturias’ tales. In Greek myths and legends such as Daedalus and Icarus, Narcissus, and Sisyphus, the morals are effortlessly detectable, so much so that their visibility is almost deceiving. Each tale can be summarized in a sole phrase or sentence. Icarus – listen to your father, don’t let your abilities inflate your ego or else you will die; Narcissus – don’t be a cruel lover, don’t let vanity get the best of you, or else death will be happy to be your companion; Sisyphus – Just Don’t (there really is no word in English that can describe him), or else you will be sentenced to a banal existence of pushing an enormous boulder up and down a hill for eternity i.e. your soul will die.

Sadly, trying to distinguish the morals within the fragrant stories of Asutrias doesn’t come easily; however, his tales do provide a commentary on social phenomena in Latin America, similar to the way Greek myths and legends exhibit ultimatums concerning lifestyle choices. If I were to apply the same one sentence rule to some of the legends Asturias recounts, taking the final paragraphs of each (since in greek mythology, that is where the elusive moral is discovered resulting in the A-HAaaaaa moment, except for Asturias, it’s more a welcome relief than anything ) could only be applicable to Legend of the Singing Tablets…

One Punch Morals
Legend of the Singing Tablets
“…but many are the poets condemned to deposit white cloudlets in the craters of volcanoes, seeds leftover for the colours that the sun steals from the moon, the price that must be paid for the tablet, in order to form the rainbow.” (88)
There is always a return to nature, a degeneration of what one accomplishes, and a regeneration in nature (rainbow!) from what has been produced.

Legend of the Silent Bell
Don’t gouge your eyes out in vain; don’t compromise your original beliefs to conform to Spanish colonialists – they won’t appreciate it, and will only try to silence you.

Legend of the Dancing Butchers:
If you slaughter people, expect to be slaughtered yourself.

One line morals simply cannot summarize the layers within Miguel Angel Asturias’ prose, where each choice of adjective or noun can symbolize and lend meaning to another idea.

Jose Maria Arguedas’ story The Pongo’s Dream carried, in comparison to The Legends, a literal moral, threaded in a calculated manner throughout the text until the final retribution. Although his tale does not seem to take place within the century, the element of the pongo’s servitude to the criollo echoed in a story I heard from one of my friends about his close friend’s father who, during the 70s in Ecuador had a memorable night. My friend re-told me part of the story on msn…

Licenciado Crespo, a friend of his who was a Doctor, and another friend, had travelled to the rural regions to help the people there. One night, Licenciado Crespo, the Doctor and the Other Friend decided to get really drunk, walked aimlessly around in the woods until they saw a small house, with their cloudy vision, in the field. They knocked on the door and a man with the distinctive features of an indio opened the door, with a machete in hand. The Other Friend was scared shitless and ran away, Licenciado Crespo and the Doctor were pissed drunk to even notice that their friend had disappeared. The peasant was about to hack them until they told them their names (the Crespo family in that region was widely respected). The campesino then invited them inside. Entonces, el doctor y el licensiado crespo se sientan a conversar con el indio, el cual les ofrecio algo de tomar. Los señores acceptaron y el indio saco tres vasos, es la costumbre del campesino de escupir en el vaso y limpiarlo enfrente de sus visitas, es una muestra de respeto. Empiesan a tomar, y el doctor (racista y borracho) empiesa a hablar con el indio. “Sabe usted campesino, que ustedes son todos sucios y no se cuidan, y miren a sus mujeres, que feas”. El licenciado avergonzado por la falta de respeto del doctor se queda callado. El campesino le pregunta “por que dice eso señor, mi esposa es una muy buena persona, cosina para mi”. El doctor le contesta “tengo hambre, traigame algo de comer”. La esposa del campesino se va a la cosina y trae choclo. El doctor dice “estoy aburrido, a ver, doña maria, baile, vaya baile”. El señor crespo le dice “por que se porta asi doctor, no esta haciendo quedar mal”. El doctor lo ignoro y siguio demandando que la esposa del campesino baile. El campesino then pleaded with his wife to dance for the Doctor, and she complied.

Just relating Argueda’s story with a mutual friends’ father’s life event portrays that even in the 1970s and even today in Latin America, despite indigenous or folk culture being the historical branch of popular culture, the people that physically represent that history are often marginalized or demeaned.

I still do not fully understand what Popular Culture is. I could probably explain it to another university student, but I cannot imagine trying to explain it to myself as if I were 8. My economics teacher said that “if you can explain the stuff we are learning to your little sister then that means you understand it.” That makes sense because then you would have to be concise, clear and accurate. For an economics theory that is important, but for defining what popular culture is, it is a bit more complicated. Popular Culture, as we have now examined in our class, is very complex as it is continuously evolving through different changes and influences like economic, political and social ones (.i.e. modernity, capitalism, the Spanish Conquest…) therefore it’s hard to define what such a broad concept is when it encompasses so much history and has gone through so many changes. I find it interesting to track the changes of popular culture, for instances the popular expressions or styles among teenagers. Even more interesting and pertinent is learning how these popular expressions and other forms of popular culture came about.
Learning the roots of popular culture is perhaps why we started this weeks readings by examining Popular Culture as Folk Culture. Taking a deeper look at how popular culture was in the past. The word “Folk” as I remember learning in class, comes from the German word “Volk” which means “people” and what does this have to do with anything? Well when I think of Folk I imagine a people of the past, the people who are like the pioneers, the locals, the traditional people, the common people, the ones who emphasize the transmission of cultural heritage through oral transmission. The folk are the carriers of customs, beliefs, arts and thus culture. Therefore where else to begin to understand of popular culture than by reading the legends of the folk, the people, the carriers of culture?

After reading the Pongo’s Dream by Jose Maria Arguedas I can imagine myself having the same laugh even if I had read it when it was first written as I did this weekend. It is a timeless fable. What I mean when I say timeless is that it touches on the very human emotions and behaviours that have existed ever since humans existed and so it does not matter when you read this story in time, you can relate to it in some way. Personally I like the way it was written. After all the cruelty that the serf went through the best part was when the Saint said “Now, lick each other’s bodies slowly, for all eternity.” YES i thought, justice has been served. Other than my own enjoyment of the fable, it does have a moral message to it that I think is a commonality of most legends. I could say that, even in the other legends that we read this week, that their main purpose was to pass on a moral message in order to preserve culture or at least some of its core values. Overall I think it did a good job at that. We can see even today with folk music and other folk stories how popular they still are. We are still able read and listen to them as they are still part of popular culture today.

A ser sincera, a pesar de que me gustaron las lecturas de esta semana, tengo que decir que la lectura de las leyendas fue un tanto difícil; sin embargo el leer una leyenda siempre será una forma de conocer un poco del reflejo de cierta cultura, como en este caso de la cultura maya a través de la narración que hace Miguel Ángel Asturias, durante las cuales hace referencia a los diversos astros naturales que antiguamente eran adorados como es el caso de la luna o el sol. Al igual que las leyendas que narra Austrias, existen un sin número de leyendas de las diversas culturas indígenas que ha existido a través de la historia, pues hay que recordar que éstas se usaban para explicar los fenómenos o hechos que no se entendían, por ejemplo en México existe un leyenda de la formación de montañas, o el mismo Popolbu que fue traducido por Asturias. En general me gustan porque a través de la magia, la creatividad y la imaginación cuentan una historia que parecería increíble…

En la otra lectura The Pongo´s Dream creo que vemos reflejado un poco el sentimiento de la sociedad de la época que estaba cansada del maltrato que les daban los colonizadores, pero que sabían al final de la vida todo mundo tendría lo que merecía y que lo que se puede llamar “justicia divina” se encargaría de que cada uno pagara por las acciones que había realizado en vida, como el caso del patrón que toda la vida se había encargado de humillar a pongo y ya tras su muerte el patrón había pagado …

In comparison to last weeks chapter of epic length, I found these tales much easier to get through and was captivated by the imagery presented. I’m not very familiar with magical realism and am eager to discuss these stories in class and get a better understanding of the basic plot. I found “The Pongo’s Dream” pretty straightforward, but thats not to say it wasn’t impressive. I was afraid that it was going to end with the pongo dying tragically and was pleasantly surprised to find a reversal of roles between the master and servant when it counts the most. Furthermore I enjoyed learning about Arguedas efforts to keep the indigenous culture alive. Even though he wasn’t brought up a servant, he fought for the “Incan tongue” and helped to inspire movements of people to defend themselves. On the other hand while reading the multiple legends by Asturias, I was bombarded with vibrant illustrations of these mythical characters. I kept imagining an intricate storybook of sorts, flipping the pages in my head as the tale progressed. It was hard for me to keep my mind set to the actual plot or message of the stories, my brain still hung up on the descriptions of the creatures and setting where the action was taking place. I especially liked the “Legend of the Singing Tablets”, the idea of a “Moon- Chewer” really appealed to me. Furthermore I really liked the line explaining the full moon as “the swelling moon which suddenly could no longer be contained either in their mouths, or their eyes..”. Moreover the notion that everything is made of something else that is natural, “those who wove mats and embroidered with butterfly wings”. In addition the tablets themselves only being written on in dew and “blood of warbling birds”. In summation I found the task of reading these beliefs written into fables a very pleasurable activity.

The stories in “The Mirror of Lida Sal” by Migel Angel Asturias were difficult to follow yet enjoyable to read. The subtext of the title was “Tales based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends.” My unfamiliarity with Guatemalan folk culture showed as I attempted to pick apart his meanings in these short stories. While I read, I also looked up information on the author to gain a better perspective of the literature. I was surprised to find Asturias to be a well traveled Nobel Prize winner, who had endured corrupt regimes and lived in exile (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1967/asturias-bio.html). Being aware of this brought to light some of Asturias’s political undertones tied up in fantastical legends.

Asturias has the amazing ability to combine elements of Guatemalan culture, politics, with ancient Mayan legends. I did feel, however, that at times there was almost too much going on in his writing. He took reality, such as the fusion of the people in the Legend of the Silent Bell, and legend and tumbled them together in a complex, surreal manner that can produce confusion in the reader. At times I felt overwhelmed by the density of elaborate word choice and alternate meanings. For me, this deducted from my ability to follow the plotline and truly absorb his message. There is the possibility that some of this was influenced by the translation.

The second reading, “The Pongo’s Dream” was rather entertaining. The story they told here was one that I feel almost every culture has their own version of. It is the classic, ‘God will be my judge’ tale. What I found to be interesting is the extent to which the Pongo accepted his life. There is no ‘overcoming’ the evil ruler, rather even as he is calmly confronting ‘his lord,’ he was referring to him still as ‘my owner,’ or ‘my father, my lord, my heart.’ The Pongo had accepted his role given to him by man fully knowing that through his obedience in said role he would be rewarded in the afterlife. For instance, there is the saying “At the end of the game, Kings and Pawns all go back in the same box.” However, it appears that in Peru, at the end of the game the King licks human excrement off the Pawn at the end of the game. I am pretty sure there was more oppression witnessed by Jose Maria Arguedas than the author of this quote.

It was interesting to read these stories after the long reading from last week. These were both great examples of some of the background that we were provided with and discussed. Overall, great readings this week.

I enjoyed reading these legends. I’ve already read this kind of mythology last term more precisely the Popol Vuh which is the Mayan book telling us about the creation of the world. Moreover I had the same difficulties reading these stories than reading the Popol Vuh. I’m not an native english-speaker so I was not used to some magic and fantastic words.

I think folk culture is definitely a part of popular culture. Folk culture has different function to fulfill: a function of education, of protection of the ancient culture but also a function of « demand ».

Myths and legends always have a message. They teach how human beings act and how they should react in front of the events they have to face in life. It’s a kind of philosophy of life. They analyze the men’s qualities and flaws.

To perpetuate folk culture is also a way to protect the roots of Latin American culture, the particularities of its history. Indigenous culture has been threatened by colonization so folk culture is a way to perpetuate the indigenous identity the colonizers tried to destroy. As we saw in class popular culture in Latin America is also mass culture so folk culture could appear like a more authentic legacy because it doesn‘t depend on the art market. Even if culture evolves through the years, each culture has it own roots. Folk culture means that Latin American people have their own history, their own past so folk culture is an important marker of itheir dentity.

Finally, what I mean by function of « demand » it’s that through the lecture of those myths and legends one’s could feel the indigenous’ resistance. For instance in the Pongo’s dream the frst character represent one particular group and is oppressed and humiliated. This oppression refers to the white men’s one. Those ideas of oppression, domination, stratification could describe the colonization. However, despite this cruel environment, the story shows that people could stand up for defend their rights. They can do something even if they are not supported by a large number of people, indeed, the other servants never help the first character to struggle. I enjoyed reading this text because it was quite optimistic: nothing is rigid and fixed but everything could change. Through this reading one’s could see the indigenous’ will to overthrow their oppressors.

At first I didn’t really understand the point of these articles, but then I began to think about them in terms of my own country, and figured out that a big part of folk culture is important to popular culture.  Although the legends in these articles aren’t necessarily believed 100% by those who tell them, they form their identity… past, present and future.  For example:  In Costa Rica, we have many legends, especially in the country side.  Many people tell these legends (I’m sure not all believe them), however, they tell them as a way to come together, to teach lessons that otherwise would be ignored.  The legend of “La Llorona” is a good example.  This woman lost her baby at the edge of a river and ever since then, she walks near rivers at night crying and and asking for her baby… any child that comes near her, she mistakes for hers and takes them.  I think this is a good example of popular culture as folk culture, because these legends are there… many people know them, and tell them to their children in order to make sure they don’t run off at night.

I enjoyed some of the folklore readings. In the legend of the singing tablet Utuquel is the chewer of the moon a creative muse of sorts. The singing tablets story seemed to represent the idea of collective consciousness for me. It was striking how the wedding rings and family jewels of the natives were taken by the Spanish for a bell in the Legend of the Silent Bell. The Pongo’s Dream is a fairly disturbing story about the value of human life. It centers around two characters, the dominating rich lord and the submissive poor slave. The serf is described as meek and feeble. The lord is cruel not only because he keeps slaves but his humiliation of the weakest serf who serves him. The story shadows the feudal domination which took place in the Andes. The serfs description of his dream can definitely be seen as an uprising of the the working class. I thought it was imaginative how the dream was twisted into a joke with a punch line which seems to allude to the idea that we all must pay for our actions. How popular are these legends in Latin America? Are they really an important aspect of the culture?

I really liked the readings this week, especially the first one regarding Mayan myths. I find that many myths and legends (not only restricted to Latin America) always have a message which is transmitted in the story, moral messages to be more precise, what in Spanish are referred to as “moraleja”. I came across many of these type of stories in a book called The Darien Gap: Travels in the Rainforest of Panama by Martin Mitchinson (it’s a great book if you’re interested in culture and folklore of indigenous people, it’s an easy read perfect for the long hours in the airport, just be careful not to miss your plane like I did). What I inferred from these stories is that the primary end is to teach some in that culture (most likely kids) how to deal with problems that you face in life. At the same time it’s a process of acculturation which bounds the person with the cultural traditions in his group.

The second reading was great. Honestly I will never cease to be amazed with the creativity of those whom come up with these stories. I’ve heard this type of folk tales many times and from different cultures (or ethnic groups) in the region. And again I believe that this story ties in with a particular aspect of Latin American culture: resistance. The many stories I’ve heard that resemble Argueda’s “The Poncho’s Dream” have always the same characteristics. First they have a character that is associated with a particular group, usually belonging to the same which is telling the story. Second, this character is oppressed and humiliated day and night by a more powerful figure, usually the “white men”. And finally, the character at the end always outsmarts his oppressor in some way, leaving him with some sense of pride. And there the story ends.

While reading Mitchinson’s book I came across a similar scenario. In his book Mitchinson and some Embera (indigenous group in Panama) were telling stories to each other. It was Mitchinson turn to tell a story so he decided to go for a joke (if you want to read the joke click here, Mitchinson replaced the word “Pakistani” with “white men” and “Indian” with “indian”).After finishing the joke every Embera in the room laughed and said “That is one smart indian” . This tells me that the audience feels compelled by listening to these stories that involve an oppressed character always outwitting their oppressor.

I found this weeks readings interesting and thought provoking, but still challenging, though in an entirely different way that the readings prior. The Asturias readings represented a resignification of indigenous ideas and were loaded with symbolism about cultures in contact, hybridization of culture, and resilience in the face of domination. I feel that these are the types of readings that need to be read several times to fully understand the complex messages embedded in the sureal writing style. The style of writing was very poetic and beautiful, but in its non-linear style, it was hard for me to fully grasp the message upon first read. Though I’m not entirly sure how, I feel that these readings exemplify the concepts that we discussed in class about cultural flows moving in many directions, and a certain resiliance in the way that indigenous culture was practiced in the face of Spanish domination. In “The Legend of the Crystal Mask,” Asturias refers to “the men with the worm white skin,” which I assume alludes to the Spanish. In the same story, the priest concludes with the thought, “The one who adds creatures of artifice to creation must know that these creatures are rebellious. See, they have buried him, yet they remain!” I think that this quote refers to the idea that even if a group is ‘dominated,’ the nature of humans and of culture is that they will find ways to reinvent themselves in a rebellious way to fight back: culture and the human spirit are too strong to be broken.

As many of my classmates have mentioned, the second reading was a lot of straightforward with a simple plot and punch line. This story to me symbolized again the rebelious nature that people maintain even in the face of outward domination. While it may have seemed that Pongo was sucumbing to the outward domination of his Master, the end of this story shows that subtley, his spirit will not be broken.

I think that it is interesting to attempt to understand culture via understanding it through the interpretation of myth and story and I look forward to further discussing this in class.

I enjoyed this week’s reading. I liked the Indigenous ‘legend of the singin tablets’ ,‘legend of the crystal mask’, ‘legend of the silent bell’ and ‘legends of the dancing butchers’ by Asturias. I was truly inspired by Arguedas (for what he had done) and his story is very touching especially after reading last week’s chapter which I found quite depressing. The change was very nice and well received.

 It was fun reading a story or tale that was passed down from generation to generation by Amerindians. This story however was somewhat hard to envision, but after a while I started to understand. I am not too much into indigenous legends but I would like to as I enjoy other mythology (greek). I find these stories somewhat poetic and softening like a lullaby or nursery rhyme. I also did like how detailed it was. I found it interesting that the story was based around the new year of the indigenous people. Many of these tales have more than one meaning as they are made from a mixing of cultures from Latin American past. There were only two particular stories which I found especially relevant to last weeks topic, but that is not to say the other two were not enjoyed or could be relevant. The first tale which pointed out through metaphor and medium that culture has to have been ‘created’ by large range of things to become beutifle aka rainbow is made by a mixture of all the tablets. This tries to show that mixing folk culture is a good thing. The other story that stuck out for me was the ‘legend of the silent  bell’ which actually features Jesus as an actual person in a folk culture story about Amerindian legend. This is particularly interesting because it shows what the previous story was using through metaphor but in this case much more direct.

‘The Pongo’s dream’ is inspiring because it shows uprising that one can have against oppressors. It is also good because it is a symbol for how Arguedas was a helping force in helping get the oppressed in Peru a voice. It is also good because Pongo rises up against his oppressors in a very humorous and clever way. He did this while feeding the ego of his master. This was a nice change from the tales just before this one in the reader as it displayed a lighter side to these concepts.

The readings assigned for this week consisted of several Mayan legends, as well as a parable. I noticed that there are two themes that reoccur throughout all of the stories: violence and religion. The Mayan legends especially contain quite a lot of violence- from a man being sacrificed (Legend of the Singing Tablets) to a young nun gouging her eyes out (Legend of the Silent Bell).This violence is depicted not only graphically (with images of severed limbs and clawed out eyes), but also through the prose used by the author, Miguel Angel Asturias. While reading his work, one feels the manic energy of pounding feet; the pure terror that is felt by a man whose idols turn against him; and the resignation of one who knows that a painful death is imminent.
Religion also plays a great role in these legends; in each story, a deity is the reason for the actions that take place. From the stone idols in Legend of the Crystal Mask to the mystical Moon-Chewers in the Legend of the Singing Tablets, in some way a deity is responsible for the horrors that befall the participants.
These deities are nothing like the modern Christian god, who is a loving and forgiving figure; blood and violence are necessary to satisfy them.
The last reading, a parable, differ from the others in many ways; the two differences I noticed right away were that the violence was replaced by cruelty, and the bloodthirsty deities of the Mayan legends were replaced by one who was concerned with rewarding goodness and providing strength. The author’s choice of words conveys the humiliation and degradation of the pongo; however, unlike in the previous legends, in the end the abused man’s spirit is bolstered by the knowledge that he is the better man.

This week’s readings were the mythical stories of Miguel Angel Asturias, and “The Pongo’s Dream” by Jose Maria Arguedas. I had a bit of trouble understanding Asturias’ stories, mostly the first one, “Legend of the Singing Tablets”, because it was so wordy, and I was a little confused about what was going on. After I re-read a little bit, I started to really like it, because these stories are so different than the ones that we have been reading so far. The stories were really fanciful and full of unusual imagery, which made them very rich. I think Asturias represents Indigenous culture really well; the stories didn’t seem to show the culture as inferior or as an extreme oddity. Indigenous culture is shown in a sort of isolated, uninfluenced form in the “Legend of the Singing Tablets” as there is no Spanish influence. The next story, “Legend of the Crystal Mask” shows a little Spanish influence, as Ambiastro has fled into the mountains to escape the Spanish (at least that’s what I gathered…). Of course, “Legend of the Silent Bell” is set in the context of Spanish rule, so the changes in Indigenous culture in relation to Spanish conquest is evident. I especially liked “Legend of the Crystal Mask”, and Ambiastro’s obsession with creating little idols and things. My favourite thing is his smoking tube with the monkeys that play with the smoke…it’s so imaginative. The twist at the end when his creations are the cause of his demise is really clever. The idea that man’s creations and technology are taking over our lives (in a severe way, in this case) echoes a lot of today’s science fiction themes, a parallel that is very interesting. I really like how the writings of Asturias, although pieces of folkloric culture, still remain captivating today when the world has left little place for such ancient civilizations and mystical traditions.

I especially liked the second story by Arguedas. The treatment of the lord to the Pongo is appalling, and I found it interesting that the author, who is not fully Quechuan, but half, would show the Indian population as so gentle in comparison to the evil Spanish lord. It often seems that people of mixed race identify more with the race that is more oppressed, maybe due to the dominant race’s judgement of mixed-bred individuals as inferior. I’m sure this isn’t true for everyone, but I thought it is true of Arguedas, who I guess could have chosen to identify more with his European heritage instead. I liked how when the “little man” is telling the lord his dream, it kind of seems like the dream is going to show the lord as the better man. The twist at the end makes the entire dream make sense, and even a little comical. I like how in the midst of such unabashed exploitation and abuse of the Indian servants, one stands up against the lord. The way he does it is very clever, and he proves that even a “little man” can upset and disturb the arrogant lord’s pride.  

I think the first reading can be a little tricky for people who haven’t experienced reading Latin American legends, but besides that it’s a very good way for people to familiarize with it because it has a lot of elements that represent very well native Latin American culture, for example quetzal plumes, rolls of drums, war songs, faces painted with fruit, etc. (pg. 82, 2nd P). It is also a clear example of our legends, because it incorporates a lot of natural elements, it uses metaphors, and it gives mystical characteristics to normal things. You can also see that in religion they believed in many different gods and it was until the Spanish arrived that Latin America became monotheist. One of the legends also talks a lot about the conquest and how Spanish people ask for “prizes” to the indians to “give” them as presents to their Spanish saints. On the pongo kid story you can see how the indians were always abused and treated like objects. In the eyes of the conquerors they were just possesions that they can do whatever they want with them. But this story has a valuable lesson and is to treat everybody with respect, disregarding their race or background. You can also notice in the story how the catholisism is being impossed and that people prayed to “God” and his saints instead of their old believed gods.

When I was struggling to understand the writing of Asturias I found myself captivated by the words themselves. I often found myself re-reading paragraphs in an attempt to pick up the general direction of the “Legend of the Singing Tablets”, the “Legend of the Crystal Mask”, the Legend of the Silent Bell”, and the “Legend of the Dancing Butchers”, but also revelling in the beauty of the words that were being used. I especially enjoyed the story of Ambiastro from the Legend of the Crystal Mask, who displayed a strong theme of resistance to the men with “worm-white skin” (Spanish Colonialists I would guess?) and fled into some sort of cave and created symbolic art pieces out of granite and wood and other materials. All these creations were methods of telling stories or struggle and redemption, or at least I think!! All the other legends had similar stories about legendary figures that have been infiltrated by some new group of people or religion and they resist or fight in some way. I think that in all the Legends the characters that represent the Indians end up dying or succumbing to these new external pressures…at least that’s how I interpreted it, I suppose I will find out in class this week! Even though I did not completely understand what was happening at all times i did however enjoy the writing, there is no question it was eloquent and unique.

The readings for this week were very interesting. Even though they were fictional short stories, they all incorporated and demonstrated a lot of the concepts we have been discussing in class.

The Asturias stories were by favorite, but it took me through about half of the first one to get a grip on his writing style and surrealism. All of the “Legend of” stories we read deal directly with indigenous culture but in a very odd, fantasy-like way. They somehow reminded me of cave painting in that they were highly descriptive yet ambiguous and open to interpretation. In all their haze, though, each story seemed to come with a definite moral or message that relate directly to culture–such as “the one who adds creatures of artifice to creation must know that these creatures are rebellious…”

As much as I though the Asturias stories were interesting, though, I think I have a lot of understanding to do, which I expect we’ll attempt in class.

The other story, “The Pongo’s Dream,” was much more clear-cut but otherwise very similar. In the intro it says that the author, Arguedas, had a “desire for a cultural pluralism for Peru that would go beyond a retreat into a narrow tradition. I kept this in mind, and it really helped me understand the story, I think. The story seems to draw on the concept of cultural hybridity for its punchline. As far as a gather, it is attempting to explain how cultural exchanges are natural and not optional; so the master can belittle his pongo servant all he wants, he can cover himself in honey and his servant in feces, but sooner or later they’ll be licking each others honey or feces, so enjoy it while it lasts.

 This week’s topic of popular culture as folk culture provided to very powerful and thought provoking essays. Although I am sure many will disagree with me, I personally do not enjoy  the style of Miguel Angel Asturias writing. I am not a big fan of mythical or surreal stories. However with this considered I was able to take away numerous underlying messages and symbols from the several stories provided. I found all the stories to represent greater or larger qualities and aspects of life. Dressing up  these underlying messages and symbols into a mythical setting, I believe was solely Austurias way of getting across important things but doing so creatively  in a different or “fun” manner. As much as I enjoyed Asturias essay to me it failed in comparison to that of Jose Maria Arguedas. I found Arguedas to be very powerful and enjoyed reading it. The “karma” or irony of which the essay evolves is dramatic and defiantly made me think deeply about situations of this sort in not only my life but also the lives of those around me. That over clichéd saying of “its what you are on the inside that matter” has great relevance to this story. That in the end we are not judged( *judged being a controversial term not intended to directly imply that of Christianity) by our wealth or power but rather our soul and the people that we are. I liked the stories twisted ending in which the reader is able to be ‘joyous’ in the events that occurred. Quite literally in the story the pongo treated the master like gold and in turn the master treated the pongo like “shit”. In turn the Karma of the situation evolves in the pongos dream where he licks honey off the master and the master shot off the pongo. Both of these stories and folk culture as a whole play a large role in the creation and idealizations and standards of popular culture. Folk culture has a huge influence on this popular culture.  It is evident that even from Asturias paper of which myths and stories were believed thousands of years ago to more recently Arguedas paper that these mythical and outstanding stories have an undeniably large influence of culture to this day. Though as I said, I did not enjoy the writing style of Austurias but felt in the end that the messages and symbols that came from each story made up for my dislike in his style. As for Aguedas paper I completely immerged myself in it and extensively enjoyed it. Over I felt both were beneficial to me and feel as though I learned a lot through analyzing and reflecting upon these two essays. 

I really enjoyed these two readings. They were both easy to get into and kept my attention. The first article by Miguel Angel Asturias is comprised of a collection of legends. A legend is a story or body of stories that are handed down through the years and often popularly accepted as historical. Often legends explain why certain things come to be, or intend to teach a lesson of some sort. I liked the Legend of the Silent Bell and how it created a picture of so many different people coming together. The description in Claras dream, (although disturbing) was memorable to me when she describes the joining of “her brown, warm-blooded race, with all its sacrifices, and the Spanish race, brave and also tarnished.” Most of the people in the Legend were donating material objects (things they could be happy without) pieces of gold like the wedding rings of passed away relatives while this Indigenous but Christian girl had only her golden eyes to give. To give your eyes for something is firstly insane, and secondly shows a great passion or devotion to whatever it is or whoever it is you are giving them to. I was shocked in the end when Clara is yelling out about what she had done, begging Don Sancho (representing the church) to recognize her sacrifice. She calls out to everyone telling of her sacrifice for her race to mix with Christ.  She is ignored, her voice extinguished by the bell… Having just read the ending paragraph again, it seems as though the bell extinguishes the voice of the nun, and in turn grows hoarser and hoarser until it itself stops ringing… I will be really interested to hear what people have drawn out of these Legends!

The second article was also very enjoyable. It’s always nice to hear stories where a bully, in this case the Master is in the end made to look like the fool. The story created a picture of a community or environment that was highly stratified and cruel. Stories like this would definitely have an empowering effect on anyone who felt like they were in a similar situation as the pongo. It encourages people to stand up for themselves even when the situation seems impossible. It also portrays the idea that you can do something without a huge support from other people. The other servants never stood up for the pongo, but probably because they were too afraid. It only takes one person to take a stand against something for others to join and feel as though they can actually accomplish something.

I really enjoyed the readings this week.  I thought they differed so much from last weeks readings and I love the drastic change.  The first set of readings was difficult for me to conceptualize at first.  I had a hard time grasping what the author was trying to say but I think I was just thinking too much.  I found that simply enjoying it instead of dissecting it was the best way to read it.  I especially enjoyed actually reading a story that had been passed down and seeing the way people lived in a time and space that is so different from my own.    I really enjoy mythology and love how Latin American popular culture is encompassed in these complex mythical stories.  I’m really looking forward to our discussion on these readings as I would like to know more background and then read them again.
The second reading was more my style though.  Of course I like it all but I really love underdog stories.  I truly enjoy the idea of rising from one’s upbringing or "place" in life and challenging the social norm, or any norm really.  I really like the character of the ‘little man’ and also the masters character as well.  They were both good reminders of how difficult but necessary change is.  All throughout his anecdote, or dream, the Master still held his same arrogant air.  He was so confident about his position in life that he couldn’t even fathom the idea of someone else surpassing him in any way.  This is true within most societies, there is always someone at the top who is difficult to get through to, on many issues.
Another theme throughout this story was the religious one.  It seemed as though religion was what the master held so high, to what he himself answered to, so that the serf building it up so much was already ahead.  The serf knew that by using religion as a focal point, he would have the master in a stronghold, there is nothing even he could say. 
There are really so many underlying ‘good’ things about this story.