Monthly Archives: September 2021

09/26/21

Religious Critiques and Their Effects

I find his critique on Colonialism in the Paradise text to be very profound. I can see this becoming very controversial for the time. I am curious to hear other students’ perspectives on the matter. Do you think its parallels would have warranted a reaction similar to that of Paradise Lost (A text famous for its critique on the bible, God, and the fall of Lucifer) or other critiques of the religion? I think its main difference with Paradise lost is that it’s not directly critiquing the bible, rather the people who are colonizing their culture and changing their paradise for the worse in the name of God. It does a good job of pointing out the irony of holiness in this type of setting. I could see the lines where he refers to the colonizers as “serpents [who] spoke, forbade the fruit and decided paradise among themselves” could be a particularly divisive statement as a snake is considered to be a representation of the devil. It also indirectly brings to light the idea of religious freedom. As much as it is their right to practice Christianity it is also the right of the “Indio” to freely embrace their paradise in order to embrace their spirituality. Why should religious freedom be only applicable to Christians at the expense of Native Americans? I hope the effect of this poem did manage to provide a meaningful critique that hopefully some Christians at the time took to heart and convinced them to become supporters of indigenous beliefs, despite their differences. 

09/24/21

On Ak’abal’s “In the K’iche Language”

Situated on a section of its own, Humberto Ak’abal’s poem “In the K’iche Language” provides an interesting framework for the rest of the collection. It is the only poem we read from this collection that is not part of the “500 Years” section. In fact, it is separated from the rest of the poems and has its own accompanying image, which displays a Guatemalan cemetery. The image depicts different cells of people celebrating around graves. When studying it, it is difficult not to recall the “Dia de Los Muertos” tradition generally thought to be Mexican. However, this tradition originates from some parts of Mayan culture, from the ceremony by the name of ‘Hanal Pixan’. Hanal Pixan is a day where families gather and spend the day celebrating with the spirits of their deceased loved ones. It is a tradition that looks at death not as a finality, but as a part of life. Having this image before the “In the K’iche Language” poem makes perfect sense. The poem itself is very simple, it has two verses, four lines, and has a very clear message. “In the K’iche Language/ we don’t say good-bye/ but katinch’ab’ej chik/ (I’ll talk to you again),” (page 152) When paired along with the image beforehand, this way of saying goodbye sheds some light into how Ak’abal’s culture addresses death and the impermanence of things. It seems that to them things don’t end, and it is expected to see things again. Going back to the placement of the poem in the collection, I think it’s interesting to keep in mind what follows it. The next section, 500 Years, is entirely about the effect of colonialism on Indigenous cultures, and most of the poems in it discuss the subsequent plight on them. I think that “In the K’iche Language” and its placement in the section before, could be interepreted as Ak’abal’s way of saying:”We’re still here, and we’re gonna stay here. Despite everything.” It gives some hope to the 500 Years section, in retrospect.

09/24/21

Who Sold The Rain? (We Did)

In Carmen Naranjo’s And We Sold the Rain, I find there to be an interesting connection between the use of the third-person plural (particularly in the title), and the removal of the country’s natural resources. Throughout the work, the ineptitude and greed of the higher ups is constantly satirized and ridiculed, even from the first line; “This is a royal fuck-up”(page 1). The country is plundered for all its worth, and countless mechanisms and cycles are catastrophically damaged. In these descriptions, the work singles out both foreign and domestic culprits, though undeniably it is the multinational influence that is portrayed as the true evil, whereas the local corruption simply allows or permits for such evil.  What is most interesting, however, is to see how the work uses “we”. Other than the title, there is only one occasion where the third-person plural is used by the voice of the essay and not in citation; the moment where this “we” laments what the country had once been.

This causes me to question the title of the work, why the use of “we”, and who exactly is “we”? Though it may seem obvious that “we” refers to the writer and their country, in the work itself, “we” only comes into play from the perspective of the working class, and is otherwise merely recalling what a higher-up or a newspaper was saying, and their use of “we” comes across as dishonest and detached due to their obviously privileged position. Why then, is it used in the title? It seems to me like this reflects that, despite all the protests and complaints the author has for the country’s public officials, they still recognize them as part of the same group. It might seem like this is inevitable, but in my personal experience, many radically-minded Canadians tend not to refer to Canada as a “we”, especially when discussing the government itself or our international presence. It is certainly possible to avoid using “we” for one’s own people, so I find the use of it in the title (and almost exclusively there) quite interesting.

09/24/21

Magical Realism and Government Corruption

Elements of magical realism are juxtaposed with harsh realities in Carmen Naranjo’s short story “And We Sold the Rain” to portray the corruption of a developing nation’s government in a sardonic, satirical tone. In an attempt to escape its debilitating debt, the president of an unnamed Latin American country looks to unconventional methods of procuring funds. We can immediately grasp how unfairly the situation affects lower class citizens, and see the government’s inclination to ignore their struggle for their own gain.

The nation’s worsening conditions are evident: some neighbourhoods must now contend with the rising price of water bills and increased rates of violent crime, whereas others, characterized by “a whole alphabet of trade names of gleaming new cars” (151), are more distressed at their inability to travel to exotic destinations. The government considers various proposals, from imposing a tax on the air (151), to praying to patron saints (150), to creating a transnational aqueduct system to aid in selling their only remaining natural commodity: rainwater. They end up implementing this final idea, and while citizens are initially supportive of the rain funnels, the lack of precipitation soon destroys their beautiful “green” (153) land, leaving them with even less than before. It is at this point that people begin to travel through the aqueducts in hopes of finding a better life on the other side, and while they do for a short while, the final paragraph hints at the cycle beginning again.

Though the ideas of air taxes and rain funnels are implausible in the real world, it is precisely their comical nature alongside the sarcastic narration that allows readers to better understand how willing a government can be to exploit every last drop that their country can offer in order to rake more money in, even when it comes at the cost of losing the very people that make up the country.

09/23/21

A Hopeful Ending

In Ak’abal’s collection of poems, the section entitled “500 años” or “500 years” offers readers a complete storyline through a number of poems. Ak’abal introduces us to this story with the poem titled the same as the section, “500 years”. This poem gives us a context for the section, one critical of the treatment and status of Indigenous peoples. “500 years”, “pain”, and “holes” work together to paint a picture of the injustice (p 155, line 5), misery (p 157, line 1), and poverty (p 162, line 4) experienced by Indigenous people, and by Ak’abal. The poem titled “paradise” enlightens us to the cause of this mistreatment of Indigenous people, colonization. This particular poem begins with a description of a world of paradise, without sin, but soon transitions to a world of violence where the powerful enforce their will on others (page 159).

These poems give us the beginning and the middle of a story of colonization and oppression. However, the final poem of the section “the lamb” leaves me thinking there is hope for this story. This final poem speaks of a lamb and a shepherdess, as the shepherdess licks the lambs wound (page 163). As Ak’abal ended this section with this poem, I am left thinking that the lamb represents the oppressed Indigenous people, and the shepherdess represents a more abstract idea of hope, or freedom, or justice. His choice of finishing this section that is filled with a depiction of the creation and perpetuation of the minority status of Indigenous people with a poem of healing and comfort reveals an intent to rewrite the end of a story of oppression and change it into one of hope.

09/23/21

Here is Paratext

The paratext used in Here Was Paradise, by Humberto Ak’abal, help the reader to understand the deeper meaning behind the poems.

The 500 Years introductory image supports the idea that the section is about Spanish colonization of the Mayans. The image depicts a leopard jumping across the page, surrounded by various animals and a string of beads. However, only the leopard and the snake are wrapped by these beads while the other animals remain free. The poem Paradise, which is Ak’abal’s rendition on the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, where sin was introduced to the world through Satan appearing as a serpent, also commentates on the influence of Catholicism in modern Mayan culture.  With the knowledge from the poem, the image takes on a new meaning; the beads become a rosary, and the snake is now the conquistadors who have tied the leopard to them through the rosary. This depicts the connection between Catholicism and indigenous religions, which formed when Spanish conquistadors forcefully converted indigenous peoples after taking their land, forever changing how people practiced spirituality and religion. The words and the image work together to sell the main idea to the reader. 

The use of paratext not only reinforces a main idea, but also allows the main idea to be applied to every poem, even when it is not as obvious. The poem “Pain” is not explicitly about colonialism, but within the context of the section title and illustration, it becomes clear that the poem is not just about any suffering; rather, suffering because of colonialism.

In conclusion, the paratext, including the section headings and introductory images, surrounding Here Was Paradise help the reader to make sense of the poems, and reinforce the main ideas.

09/23/21

Symbolism and Allegory in “And We Sold The Rain”

The short story, “And We Sold The Rain” by Carmen Naranjo is a work of Contemporary fiction which contains the literary conventions, Allegory and Symbolism.

An allegory is a symbolic narrative in Contemporary Fiction that implies a second meaning. The whole idea of selling rain to other countries is an allegory. This story is a critique of the modern, industrialized society.

While the country in this short story is made-up, the author, Carmen Naranjo, takes inspiration from her home country of Costa Rica. The book was originally published in 1988, but Carmen Naranjo seems to be referencing ISI (Import Substitution Industrialization) and the agro-export expansion from the early 1970’s as well as the debt crisis which took place in 1981. The fictional, nameless country in this book is implied to be a rather poor country with the government selling one of the country’s most basic and important natural resources, rain.

Symbolism is the use of items, events or signs to signify ideas. In the case of this short story, rain is thought by many to be symbolic of change. It means good things such as new life and renewal. The government selling the rain in the nameless, fictional country for the good of the country is quite ironic as it symbolizes that they are basically selling away something that can bring the country new life. With the government of the nameless country selling away their rain, they end up making the country uninhabitable, causing its citizens to flee to other countries.

09/23/21

Us vs Them

We never discussed in class the effect of the change from third-person narration to the first-person plural narration at the end of “And We Sold the Rain” by Carmen Naranjo. This is something that I have been thinking about and I would like to share my thoughts on its effect.

The use of “And” in the title suggests a sense of desperation since it sounds like the end of an extensive list of goods that the country had to sell to get itself out of debt. The “And” adds to the satirical and hyperbolic tone of the story in which Naranjo is critiquing the international organizations that economically destroyed this nation forcing them to sell their natural resource of rain to stay afloat. The “We” in the title however adds a sense of collectivity in this mass economic struggle.

After numerous failed attempts by this nation’s leadership to dig themselves out of debt, the citizens were forced to finally escape this unsustainable country. Once the citizens fled from their economic oppression, the narration turns to the first-person plural, with the line “In that country, we were second class citizens, something we were already accustomed to.” (pg 156). There is a sense of awakening and hope for the citizens of this unnamed nation, that perhaps this new country will be better. This line also acts as a critique of the unjust distribution of wealth. However, the line “the emir asked for a loan, then another, then many” (pg 156) indicates that while there may have been a moment of hope, the never-ending vicious cycle of a loan and debt repayment catches up to them again. The cyclical nature of this story is representative of the dependency that the international organizations forced upon Latin American countries resulting in economic crises during the 1970s and 1980s.

Naranjo never names the nation at focus in this story, but critiques explicitly the multinational organizations at fault for the crisis. The anonymity of the nation in contrast with the explicit naming of the international organizations acts as a powerful attack from Naranjo, there is no doubt who the villain is in this story. The impact of the change from third-person narration to first-person plural narration is that it reminds the reader that there are real victims of these irresponsible financial decisions of those in power and brings the story to a personal level.

09/23/21
"Old Feedsack Rag Balls" by 'Playingwithbrushes' is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The Will of Rags

"Old Feedsack Rag Balls" by 'Playingwithbrushes' is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Old Feedsack Rag Balls” by ‘Playingwithbrushes’ is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In Ak’abal’s poems, each line is worth a thousand words. There is often a metric ton of subtext/context that is contained within these poems, especially if you can recognize his history both as a poet and the history of his people. To achieve this, Ak’abal uses a substantial amount of literary and rhetorical devices to help him convey his messages. For example, “they hurt, / they hurt” is a form of repetition in Pain, while  “weight of poverty, / of indifference, / of injustice” in 500 Years is an example of Anaphora – where a poem repeats the same phrase at the beginning of each line (Ak’abal Pain, lines 3-4 | Ak’abal 500 Years, lines 3-6 ). Pain is a masterful poem, it conveys many words with very few; the repetition in Pain emphasizes and exaggerates how much pain the people are suffering due to “misery / [and] poverty” (Ak’abal Pain, lines 1-2). The pain that is caused by being abandoned by the colonists and the government. These two words, misery and poverty, by itself, can cause a startling image to form in ones mind. This is further illustrated in the next lines of Pain, where the Mayan and Indigenous people were so demoralized that they would rather be “a piece of rag” – an inanimate object (Ak’abal Pain, lines 5-6)! Thus, this demonstrates what they were going through – their wills were reduced to nothing more than the tattered cloth of a peasant or slave. However, even with their battered and withered wills, they still want to “be useful [like a patch]” to other people (Ak’abal Pain, lines 7-8). A patch that could mend wounds, correct errors, or even hastily repair what has been lost. Ak’abal is establishing that THIS IS THE WILL OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE! They want to prove that even on death’s door, they were willing to forgive – to make amends with those that have wronged them. Ak’abal and the Indigenous were not looking for something as petty or hateful as vengeance – they were the better men – men that were willing to forgive and to mend…

 

09/23/21

Marquez and Naranjo

Magical realism is a powerful tool within Latin American literature as it challenges our conceptions of life and culture. In Naranjo’s “And We Sold the Rain” the seemingly impossible within regular life highlights the strain of the economic crisis in the collective conscious. In our class discussion, we briefly touched on Naranjo’s use of intertextuality and reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s work. While there is a direct reference with the mention of “Macondo,” there seem to be stylistic similarities between “And We Sold the Rain” and “100 Years of Solitude” (pg. 151). Marquez begins “100 years of solitude” stating “Many years later as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía” would remember the first time his father showed him ice (pg. 1). Naranjo begins her piece quite similarly, focusing on one man of power, a climactic moment, and a distorted sense of time. Naranjo’s narrator is omniscient, narrating what the treasury minister said “a few days ago” similarly to how Marquez begins his story in both the future and the past (pg. 151). Both Marquez and Naranjo play with time as a concept at the start of their stories as if to suggest that the nature of the problems that face both men are cyclical.  This technique also drops the reader immediately into the meat of the story and gives them a view of the potential conflict. Additionally, the cyclical nature of time points to a trend in magical realism that focuses on generational stories and struggles. I found the introductions of both stories to feel quite similar in style and am interested to see if others feel similarly.