This reading was one that I found very difficult to read. I understand that there were other “cuentos” within the book, but the first one really struck me. The perspective of it being a child made the horrors of what had happened to the little girl even more disgusting and horrific. I sat down to read it and immediately was in shock. The usage of the child’s perspective here made the feelings I would have and did have even stronger. The descriptions were explicit, but enough that I was so heartbroken. I don’t even think heart broken is a strong enough word.
I found it very interesting that in this text, the narrator never was called by name. Lucia had a name, mama was mama, but the narrator was just a girl. This to me made it so that it could have been anyone’s child, anyone’s daughter, anyone’s memories. It made it more personal in a sense as when I was reading it I could place whomever as the girl.
The role of food here was subtle for me. Elote was mentioned once, and the girl had wanted coconut instead. I looked into it and was discussing with my partner, and we think that the coconut could maybe be a symbol for survival or durability. A coconut has a rough outside that protects the soft inside. A mystery of survival. Coconuts follow no rules, though. They will fall from the tree when they want, on who they want when they are ready. There is no obedience here. It contradicts what mama was saying is the key to survival. There was also a mention of the chicken broth. I think food was in essence a comfort. And the lack of food was a response to a trauma. Lack of food, not eating, is a trauma response. When an individual is dealing with trauma, it is hard to put the basic necessities of your body first. This small detail shows how much trauma this little girl has already gone through.
Hello Hanna,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
Like you, I was quite shocked about the first story in The Mystery of Survival. TBH I would have even appreciated a trigger warning as I was seriously not expecting what was to come.
I also found some of your observations interesting. While I hadn’t thought about what you discuss re: the coconut (I thought it was just meant to represent how the girl and her mom were on completely different pages…) one thing I found interesting was the child’s connection to the dog, Sancho. There was almost this eco-feminist approach where Sancho and the girl both experience the violence exerted upon women, animals and the natural environment, carried out by the patriarchical capitalistic system. The girl saw her pain and her suffering in Sancho, who got the wildness beaten out of him, just like the girl got her ‘disobedience’ abused ‘out of her’ because good dogs, like good little girls, are expected to obey: this is the mystery of survival.
Looking forward to more thoughtful discussion in class today, see you soon!
Yolanda
Hi Hannah,
I found it interesting how you interpreted the coconut as a rejection to the mother and her suggestion of an elote. When you said the “Coconuts follow no rules,” this also most definitely reminded me of how maybe by choosing the coconut the girl was not following her mothers rules of survival. The strategy of obedience being a way to save her does not work for the girl as she deliberately chooses her own path. She shows resistance to conforming to her mothers views and has no tolerance for male presence let alone male violence. I think the coconut scene was powerful in the making of her resistance and like you said a symbol of trauma.