I found this week’s reading to be really captivating, and from reading some other blog posts, I think this is a fairly objective opinion. Personally, I didn’t have that much background education on Latin American history, and I found Amulet provided a lot of information on some really important moments. Another reason I liked the novel was the way the history was told and portrayed through memory, specifically memories significant to Auxilio.
Until taking this course, I had never read so many texts focused on memories, and am really starting to enjoy them. I think there is something specifically captivating about how individuals’ recollections differ and how they are altered by different characteristics of their lives. Specifically here in Amulet, Auxilio’s memories at the beginning seem fairly clear, occasionally irrelevant but nonetheless, depicted well for the readers to follow. As the novel goes on, it almost seems as though with the hunger and exhaustion of being stuck in the Univerity, that her memories start to become very “dream-like”, inconsistent, and growing more irrelevant to her current situation.
With her quotation at the beginning, starting with ” This is going to be a horror story…It won’t seem like that” I would defiantly say that I was expecting the novel to be perhaps a little more graphic, but the story itself still seems very traumatic, and I could never imagine myself being stuck inside a building for two weeks. I also really enjoyed the set-up of the text, I think the plot of Auxilio having nothing to do, but recalling her past allowed a lot of imagery and symbolism to be used to make the novel even more captivating.
My question this week is: Auxilio, even given her intense situation in hiding, talks a lot f her past with young writers, artists and friends. Why do you think this is? Do you think it poses any symbolism?
Hello Brianna,
It is true what you say; as the feeling of confinement and hunger grows, her memory becomes more elusive. At one point, this is embodied and not free-standing. The breakup is the traumatic situation she experiences.
But if you notice, the theme of forgetting and trying to remember is present from the beginning, for example, in trying to remember and reassemble when she arrived in Mexico. There is a struggle between these two phenomena (forgetting and remembering) that is accentuated by the traumatic episode (and it may be that it refers to the more general context of the intellectuals, artists and activists of Mexico at the time since she “personifies” them-“I am the mother of Mexican poetry”).
Also, a few more tags would be helpful.
Thanks
“Until taking this course, I had never read so many texts focused on memories” This is a great observation! I hadn’t thought about this before, but you’re completely right. As for your question, I think reminiscing is fairly common when confronted with the possibility of death, and this is likely why Auxilio lingers on these particular memories.
I think you make interesting points in your post. I agree that the setup was helpful as a way for the narrator to really go through many parts of the history of Latin America. For your question, I think that Auxilio talks about her past with other writers, artists, and friends because it is a way to look at the different perspectives of Latin America at this time. It also gives a kind of depth to her character. They also symbolize different styles. For example, the first two poets she writes about are Spanish and they have their own style. She also writes about the Mexican poets and their styles as well. They symbolize different kinds of people in the Latin world and history.
Thanks for your blog post! I think that Auxilio, even though she is in hiding and away from people, recalls her past and friends and memories to occupy her time and take away that feeling of loneliness. Humans need interaction to survive, and I think this hunger and deprivation she was feeling in the bathroom was to obviously get out, but she couldn’t, so she distracted her mind with her past, so she didn’t feel as lonely.