Tag Archives: war

Week 10: My thoughts on Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet

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Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet is the journey of a narrator who is originally from Uruguay but later shifted to Mexico with influences from other Latin American countries as well. The narrator and the author reflect on Latin America while living in another Spanish country. To start, I enjoyed reading this novel as, based on the migration of the main character through Latin America, it allows me to relate to the novel in a way I have yet to do. I found it interesting how the narrator described their journey as occurring due to “a lack of love that impelled me to travel,” as though the narrator needed some motivation to travel in the first place (Bolaño, 3). What is even more interesting to me are the words that follow that the narrator’s urge to travel came from “madness” of all the reasons to travel (Bolaño, 3). The narrator is almost self-diagnosing their situation and needs to travel through Latin America during their lifetime. The self-diagnosis is a factor that shows that, as stated in the lecture, the novel is a reflection and memory of Latin America and the narrator’s time in Latin America (Beasley-Murray).

Additionally, as the novel is a journey of memories, as stated in the lecture, Bolaño was able to redefine Latin America and its culture through the novel (Beasley-Murray). However, what I dislike about the novel is how it starts as “this is going to be a horror story,” which sents a predetermined notion in my head of the events that will occur in the novel (Bolaño, 1). Then the narrator either contradicts or changes what they are saying by stating that there is a drawback that the narrator is telling the story and the story is “the story of a terrible crime (Bolaño, 1).

Another part of the novel that was interesting to me was how the narrator had deemed herself as the “mother of all the poets” (Bolaño, 58). While the narrator does call themself the “mother of all the poets,” it seems as though her actions are only to observe the poets rather than take a direct role in their life (Bolaño, 58). There is also the mention of the birth of history, birthing being something that mothers do to become mothers, and has stated, “we’re just taking you to attend the birth of History” (Bolaño,152). I found the mentions of motherhood and how there is also the “birth of History,” to be fascinating and different compared to the over novels that I have read for the course so far (Bolaño,152).

A question that I would ask is: do you believe that the way that Latin America is presented is different than your previous notions of Latin America?

 

Week 9- My thoughts on Carlos Fuentes’ “The Old Gringo”

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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?

 

Week 7- My thoughts on Mercè Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves”

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In regards to Mercè Rodoreda’s The Time of the Doves (La plaça del Diamant, 1962), I found the novel to be exciting, and I was engaged with the text throughout the entire reading. The novel is set somewhat before the Spanish Civil war and leads into the battle itself as the story progresses. The story is about a girl named Natalia who works in a pastry shop and continuously gains complications throughout her life. The story, for me, seemed to be more of a tragedy than anything else. The fact that Natalia attempts to kill herself and her children with hydrochloric acid was shocking to me as I believe that a mother’s first instinct is to protect her children, not harm them in any way. Therefore that moment was surprising for me. The purpose of committing these deaths is for the primary pursuit of happiness in which “everyone would be happy,” if Natalia had passed away to a world in which she “wouldn’t have done any harm,” (Rodoreda, 146). I believe that the pursuit of happiness is essential, which is shown in the last line of the novel. One of the novel’s last words, “Happy,” confused me as I did not understand how the novel could end happily (Rodoreda, 201). The moments of Natalia killing unborn pigeons and death’s surroundings make the novel more tragic than happy. Therefore, there is somewhat of a polar difference, with the ending being “Happy,” and the story shifting between romantic and tragic (Rodoreda, 201). 

There is also that trauma seems to be a recurring aspect in the novel. As the novel has shifted in the plot towards the start of the Spanish Civil war and somewhat after that event, the notion of history and trauma seemed to be critical aspects in the novel. Such as when it is stated that with her new husband and when he says that with him during the war, the people had “picked him up half ripped apart on the battlefield and pieced him back together as best they could” (Rodoreda, 160). The moment that would occur to a soldier seems traumatizing, and I would like to believe that due to the similarities and differences between Natalia and her new husband, they had found some form of solace with each other. The theme of trauma affects decision-making for Natalia, and it seems as though many of the events in the novel are out of Natalia’s control, and she becomes collateral damage. Somewhat like a war in itself. It could be said that while the novel was set during the Spanish Civil war, there is also another war within Natalia’s life. The troubles with her first husband, her consideration of death, the somewhat tragic story of Natalia’s life, and the trauma that Natalia seemed to suffer through reflect some aspects of war in Natalia’s life. 

 

I would ask: do you believe that the story could be considered a tragedy? Or is it a case of a woman trying to control a situation that is out of her control? 

 

-Muskan Shukla