Hi everyone, this is my blog post for this week’s novel “Money to Burn” by Ricardo Piglia. Firstly, I want to note how disturbing yet interesting it is that this novel is based on a true crime. Knowing this while reading, it really made me consider the real life contexts and values that existed in South America that led to all of these outcomes.
This may not be shocking, but I did think the most interesting part of the novel was in fact when Dordo, Crow Merles and Brignone set majority of their money on fire. “The bills looked like butterflies of light, flaming notes” (157). This quote really stuck out to me because it allowed me to visualize what their very high and unstable minds were seeing when the money was set on fire, but also because I think it encapsulates other really important themes of the novel as well. So we should ask, why would they burn money? For me, these young men are all living on the outskirts of society. Whether you understand that figuratively or literally, it is really important in understanding their harsh attitudes and erratic behaviours. Dordo for example, is a very mentally ill man who hears voices in his head and has been sexually assaulted in prison by men. This does not change that he is gay, but it sends him into a whirlwind of trying to navigate ideas and norms of himself versus society that are very much in competition to one another. Furthermore, to speak back on his mental illness, he remarks “I already am a bad lot. I’ve been on the wrong track since I was a child. I’m a hopeless case.” (188). This sense of self-awareness is honestly heartbreaking but also explains why he would burn money. For me, I percieved his burning money as a way to finally end the exhausting competition between living in societal norms and conditions and marking the point where he will just give into any primal instinct without a second of consideration or remorse. I would say that Brignone had similar reasoning to partake in the burning of money, but maybe there was more of an element to support Dordo because he loved him and give power over to his drug fueled intuition.
With Crow and Brignone dying in the end, and Dordo being taken away barely alive, the novel comes to a logical conclusion. When the gang burned the money, they sealed their fates as permanent outcasts who were “human waste” (163) according to Commissioner Silva. This novel tells the depicts the story of a heinous crime being commited, but emphasizes the constraints society imposes on people and how often the only way to become free is to simply go.
Discussion Questions:
- Do we think that Dordo’s role in the crime would be treated differently if it was committed at a different time and location?
- Do we think that all of the inside contacts within the police and border security etc that were involved in the robbery will face any consequences? If not, why?