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Tag Archives: war

The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

War seems to be the common theme the last couple of weeks and it is no different as this story takes place during the Angolan Civil War. However, this book tries to find the best out of this horrible situation by creating a dreamlike landscape and beautiful imagery to make this situation a little tolerable for us readers and the characters involved. Daniel Benchimol just like Cercas was going through a big slump in his life with divorce, no job, and the constant horrors of his environment. However, Daniel took it one step further by completely utilizing the dream world entirely as his source of escape. The connections between his fantasy place and reality were really entertaining to read and the back and forth really got me invested, especially when Daniel’s daughter showed up. That entire turmoil throughout the novel gave way to many important themes that were correlated very well between both worlds. That theme I think involved the chaos and pain that the war produced, and it even was present in Daniel’s dreams as well. The theme of fear was also very present and it was the major driving force for Daniel and his friends to realize that ambitious dreamers and people who revolt and strive for change are fighting for the same cause in some way. Of course, that been said, it also took some disconnecting on both worlds as it felt like Daniel was constantly stuck in reality because of the daughter’s actions that his fantasy world becomes fuzzy and vice versa.

I was a huge fan of the dream concept here in this book as I consider myself a constant dreamer. Whether I sleep at night or daydream by day or when random ideas pop into my head, I just get caught up in my fantasy world. It is very beautiful and how Agualusa utilized that to further tell the history of the Angolan wars was a fresh take that kept me wanting to keep reading. It is quite difficult to want to go back in history especially if it was war-torn because most of the memories are horrendous and ugly. But how did Agualusa manage to share those brutal sides of history and incorporate them into a story of truth and fiction via the dreamworld is astonishing and amazing all around?

My question for this week is how do your dreams/daydreams connect with your everyday life? Are dreams all fantasy or are there hidden agendas?

Xyrus Ramos

Cercas x Mazas In Soldiers of Salamis

Cercas’s novel was a very nice blend of truth and fantasy to it just like Bolanos Amulet. The main difference is the narrators and authors. Bolano felt like a big-league writer who was already very established. while Cercas is a person who is struggling to find his groove in the writing industry and has a very rough personal life. I can honestly relate more with Cercas more because I can relate with him and he feels like just a regular person like any other person that’s trying to get by in life. His journey to relevancy really got him to connect to an individual he even never met before in Sanchez Mazas. Even though they lived in two different timelines, The connection between them was very crucial as Cercas was able to overcome his demons by writing, researching, and telling the story of Mazas while we get to learn more about the his history and the conflicts of 60 years ago. But the character the seemingly stole the show was Antoni Miralles, the well respected soldier with prestige. His moral character was very admirable and the little things like hiding a smoke from the nuns or showing emotion when dancing with his partner shows how human a soldier can really be. More importantly, this novel gives us the biggest question to ponder, is he the soldier that spared Mazas’s life? I’d like to think so.

The theme of this book revolves around the concept of memory and history. How 60 years have gone by and how those conflicts and war still affect present time. People are still so fixated in uncovering the histories of the olden days as they want to prolong the memories of their ancestors whether it is good or bad. The more they uncover, the more they realize how society ended up to where it is because of the actions of the past. A really great point Cercas mentioned was that not only the winners of war or life are remembered, but even the losers and anyone can be remembered as long as individuals have the willingness to learn their stories. Hence, why the dead are still alive to this day through storytelling and remembering history.

Finally, I really adored how the utilization of literature gave us a fiction novel with a nice plot and story while also giving us a true history lesson about the characters and the events that was depicted, It was a perfect blend of both.

my question for this week is do you agree with authors such as Bolano and Cercas stretching the truth in a way to further excite the book they’re writing?

-Xyrus Ramos Aparri

Thoughts on The Indiana General (AKA The Old Gringo)

The Old Gringo was definitely one of my favorite reads so far in this course. The book title really caught me off guard and I was surprised with how the storyline went. Knowing that the term “gringo” is used by the Latino community to describe a caucasian white male. If I may add, a caucasian that’s usually a bad person. However, this old gringo was a very respectful and wholesome man that volunteered to go to Chihuahua and aid in a civil war currently taking place. He felt at peace with his life and even kept insisting throughout the story that he was ready to pass on. The people from Mexico were very skeptical of this man and it seemed like they did not take the gringo seriously as he was already of old age and the fact that he was “different” from them. I liked how they tackled the animosity between South America and North America, and how this old man was proving the stereotype wrong and insisting on helping out with a conflict he does not need to be a part of. Like I mentioned, the old gringo seems at peace with his own world since all his family members are all gone, but not satisfied with the world around him so he probably came to a conclusion to discover the conflicts of the world.

The amount of knowledge the Indiana General shared and the stories he heard from the people in the community were truly inspiring, and this book really had that adventure, western-like vibe, especially his conversations with Arroyo. From the moment Ambrose hit that coin with his pistol, a special relationship formed with them and although it was mostly disagreements and butting heads,  I sensed respect with them. This book expresses the concept of courage which Ambrose showcased with his fearlessness and heroic acts towards Arroyo’s soldiers and refusing to commit heinous acts while Arroyo kept trying to push his moral values. I felt like Arroyo felt envious of Ambrose and how “good” the gringo really is a person. With a person with nothing to lose, all he can do is gain. With retrospect to Arroyo, who had everything to lose and he seemed to definitely succumb to the pressure. It was only poetic that it was Arroyo who made Ambrose’s wish come true as he kills him. But at the end of the day, The Old Gringo found peace with himself, and probably hope after witnessing the Mexican revolution and trying to change the tide for the people struggling there.

My question is, Is Ambrose truly a good person in your eyes? Or do you think he is hiding some demons that we don’t know of?
-Xyrus Aparri

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