The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes

This week’s novel, The Old Gringo by Fuentes was also a very dark and tragic read. The start of the novel is very effective in grasping the reader’s attention because the Old Gringo is lying there dead and figure is associated with death. It is such a stark beginning to the novel that the reader knows that the book will end badly. It sets the tone for a story of conflict, and fighting. This novel is just wreaked with conflict. The journalist has left his broken family back in the United States and there is a sense of loss with those relationships. There is the tension that results from the love triangle between the Old Gringo, Harriet, and Arroyo. I found the relationship between Harriet and the Old Gringo really strange. Their relationship seems to start off as more of a romantic one but when Arroyo tries to persuade her into being with him, she is willing to make this sacrifice for the Old Gringo. After this, she views him more as a paternal figure in my opinion, and evidence of this is seen when she claims that he is her father when she is burying him in the end. He also in return, treats her like a daughter and I think that this is because his own biological daughter refuses to speak to him anymore and he lost his bond with her. The two of them seem to rely on each other for what they are missing in their lives and I think that this speaks to how people lean on each other during war. This story seems too tragic to be a love story. Rather than a love story, I think that it is more of a story about jealousy, conflict, and violence. It seems to highlight relationships that form during times of loss, and war times. Harriet and the Old Gringo seem to find peace in the end because Harriet has gotten closure for her real father by burying the Old Gringo who she views as a guardian figure, and the Old Gringo has somebody who cares about him and will remember him when he is gone.

A question I would have for the class is, how do you think The Old Gringo’s perspective on life evolved throughout the novel? Do you think his loving somebody gave him back purpose in life?