In the process of reading Deep Rivers, I couldn’t help but take note of Ernesto’s sensitive character as he tries to make sense of the injustices he witness towards the Quechua people. Even though he was sent to a Catholic boarding school in the hopes that the education would help him integrate within white society, he prefers to stick with identifying with the Indigenous people since they were who he spent the happiest periods of his life with.
In fact, it was even stated in the text that he found the atmosphere of the boarding school to be quite oppressive. Ernesto’s innocence causes him to question things more frequently than his peers, causing him to be relatively isolated because of his willingness to question the norm. His friendships with schoolmates (like Antero) are even split apart because of their differences in opinion.
We can also see his suffering from the way he sees others treated, but finds solace in listening to Quechua music and remembering the places he has been in the countryside (to be even more specific, the rivers – hence the title!). His descriptions of the local birds and flora also implies him to feel a strong connection to nature. And it is likely that he has learned this reverence from the local people who have befriended him. By reading about his trips, we also get to discover more about Quechuan culture and folklore, which I’ve found to be very fun to read about. In other words, this is basically his comfort zone.
But even the comfort zone couldn’t distract him from his reality all the time. Personally, I felt very uncomfortable I read the part about abuse of the woman by the boys in the boarding school. The part where the unfairness of the political and religious structure to maintain their status quo was also written very well, and it still is a common argument regarding religion today (which causes Ernesto to understand the role of the church in oppressing the identity of the Indigenous people).
I’m also getting the impression that this book is autobiographical in a way. Since the author did make it his life’s mission to spread Quechuan appreciation to his culture, we can see his passionate stance on the Indigenous people in his writing (which also makes it extremely harsh in hindsight when Arguedas actually completed suicide under the stresses of clinical depression and frustration from the suffering the Quechuan people endured).
So my question would be was there any part about Quechuan culture in the book that you enjoyed reading about the most?