Regarding the text; The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, the novel is about the memories of a woman named Harriet Winslow during the time that civil war had begun and was occurring in Mexico. Firstly to start, I love reading novels that have historical aspects to them as I am incredibly interested in history. Another reason as to why I loved reading this novel is due to its Spanish roots, as I have lived in Latin America my whole life. 

What struck me as enjoyable was that the character, an “old gringo,” had come to Mexico to die in the first place (Fuentes, The Old Gringo). Therefore, to die in mind, it made sense that he would die closer to the end of the novel. There is a distinct foreshadowing there, which I found exciting and during my first read made me attentively look for where the character would die. Since the novel is based on a person’s memories, the novel’s central theme would be memory and history in this case. I believe that history may be a theme in the novel since it is set during a historical event, and there is one perspective on it. While memory may not be the most reliable manner to showcase historical events, as there should be some supporting evidence of events, they can give us an account of what occurred in a given place in a given spatial context. The vividness of the memories, such as the description of the “advance guards,” shows the credibility of these memories (Fuentes, The Old Gringo). Additionally, the fact that the novel beings with; “now she sits alone and remembers,” was interesting to me as the novel ends with the exact same line (Fuentes, The Old Gringo). 

What I found a bit confusing and off-putting was that the start of the novel, while introducing characters in a seemingly natural manner, also confused me. The novel mentioned some relationships and conflicts in the first place, which initially piqued my curiosity and made the introduction a bit off-putting for me. It could be different to others, but this was how I had received the start of the novel. In TV shows and movies, I have seen that sometimes they start with an end scene and then move towards the events that led to that moment. To me, it’s not as interesting as beginning with the story right away, but since some themes of the novel are repetition, history, and memory, there is some sense as to why the novel started the way it did. 

I would ask: did everyone enjoy the repetition of the start and the end? Why or why not?