Monthly Archives: November 2021

11/18/21

The Parade and the End

The reader of “The Parade Ends” by Reinaldo Arenas must relinquish their need for linear storytelling in order to progress through the story. The story fundamentally operates on a different epistemology of time — time does not progress linearly forward; instead, it oscillates forward and backwards triggered by motifs. Arenas writes that “I was, again, like so many years ago already, at the extreme where life is not so much as a useless and humiliating repetition, but only the incessant memory of that repetition” (Arenas 99-100). Arenas summarizes the structure of his story within this explanation. The story is not about the banal repetition of life; instead, it’s one step removed from life, it is only the memory of life. Thus, time does not need to function linearly, or perhaps, time can no longer function linearly. Tormented by the fragmented memory of his past, Arenas can no longer stay in the present. 

“The Parade Ends” reminds me of Quentin’s internal monologues in The Sounds and the Fury by William Faulkner. Quentin’s monologues are devoid of all punctuation, and the reader floats ceaselessly tugged forwards and backwards by whatever memory Quentin happens upon. While Arenas does not deprive the reader of all punctuation, the prolonged sentences lull the reader through the mind of the narrator forwards and backwards without respite. In both cases, the narrators cannot reconcile with the linear time, and thus, their narrative cannot be constrained by the normal grammatical structure. The reader must adopt this epistemology of time as they progress through the stories in order to experience the story (rather than figure out the story).

11/18/21

A Parade with Few (Almost None) Comradery

Towards the beginning of Reinaldo Arenas’s “The Parade Ends”, the story’s ‘I’ describes a moment where the crowd around the fence comes together and sings the national anthem in a “single, unanimous and thundering voice” (102). This is one of several moments in the story where the crowd is characterized as being a single being with the same afflictions, aspirations, and intentions. The I describes a sense of community in the event: “In droves, through the shower of rocks, the dust, and the shooting, they’re entering, we’re entering. All kinds of people. Some I know or at least have seen before, but now we greet each other euphorically, in a communion of mutual sincerity, never manifested before, as if we were old and dear friends,” (118). In these few examples, it seems as though everyone is going through this horrific event together. The crowd is described as comprised of people, not just feet and lumps.

However, this sense of community is short-lived, for the crowd is more often than not characterized as an obstacle or an inconvenience to the I rather than as a group with whom he identifies with. As soon as the second page of the story, the crowd is described as “a whole arsenal of voiceferating lumps that move […] and that anly cause contractions, […] leaving everyone trapped in one big spiderweb which stretches out on one side, contracts here, rises over there, but doesn’t manage to break loose anywhere,’ (99). At different points in the story, such as this one, the people in the crowd become an inconvenience that keeps the I from reaching the lizard. There is still a description of a collection of individuals forming a group, a ‘big spiderweb’, but the group is not characterized as something that brings solidarity and community to those within it. Instead, the group functions as a trap, keeping everyone inside the horror, letting none escape. “The mass retreated without being able to retreat, they pressed even more tightly together […] and whoever fell […] his last sight would be the thousands and thousands of feet in a circular stampede, stepping on him and returning to step on him again,” (102). What the group shares, at least how it’s written, is their desperation, but that desperation, selfish, makes it so they trample over other people to get what they want. When thousands of individuals have this same desperation it creates a group that doesn’t allow any of them to get out. In other words, it seems as though the individual desperation of each person accumulates so they all encase each other in the group, inhibiting the ability of all to leave. The circumstances bring them together, not a sense of comradery.

11/18/21

When the Parade Ends

In this week’s reading, “The Parade Ends” by Reinaldo Arenas I was particularly interested in examining the “you” that appears throughout the story. The story is fast-paced with a constant shift in location; Arenas’ inclusion of the “you” furthers this manufactured chaos that seeks to represent the state of life in Cuba. There seems to be a particular intimacy between the narrator and “you.” When planning an escape, the narrator displays how the “you” is local and familiar with the problems facing Cuban society. The “you” instructs the narrator on what materials are needed to escape, where to get them, and how to keep them. Arenas reveals the unique knowledge of survival that is gained under oppressive circumstances. The “you” and the narrator have a certain level of intimacy based on their shared secret; the desire to escape.

We touched on in class that perhaps the “you” or the lizard do not need to be specifically interpreted, which I think was helpful in challenging my own reading of the story. In reexamining the “you,” I found a transitional moment between perspectives that perhaps could bring some clarity. On page 106, the narrator states that “we finished rounding out the plan… but now that clever one has disappeared again,  she’s slipped away,” creating a sense that “she” refers to the escape plan. This would be an interesting lens through which to view the story; the narrator is chasing his plan to escape, which is escaping him in itself. The lizard, or this plan, represents a desire to survive and live. The “you” remains more ambiguous but is involved in the desire to escape nonetheless.

11/17/21

The “Voice In-Between”

The adolescent “narrative voice” of Yunior in “Fiesta, 1989” is what intrigued me the most this week. In “Funeral for a Bird,” we explored the literary device of the child narrator, which we determined conferred a sense of innocence on the reading. For Máximo, it was his inexperience with life that shaped his worldview, and thus, the way that we as readers perceived his world. In other texts, alternatively, was the hyperaware “adult narrator.” In Grieving, for instance, the narrative voice of Rivera-Garza has seen and heard too much to ever operate once again from the state of childlike bliss; her reading is tainted by her knowledges of political unrest, death, and reality. Falling in the middle of this “child-adult” narrative voice is Yunior’s. Like Máximo, he is not yet old enough to identify how his father’s abuse, affair, and skewed family dynamics relate to deeper questions about political and social issues, poverty and diaspora. Yet like the “adult voice,” his is mature enough to advance a bit of a critique of his situation. So, as readers we are presented with this “in-between” narrative voice that simultaneously makes us sympathetic to the parts of it that are still “childlike,” while at the same time Yunior’s awareness of his situation resonates with us as readers from the outside looking in. I wonder what a younger reader (say, 13 or 14) would make of this text – would they find Yunior’s adolescent narrative voice overly mature, or on-par with their own?

11/17/21

Anxiety in Words

 

Parade’s End is a sensory overload, it creates a sense of anxiety and dread throughout the reading by using run-on sentences and fragments of sentences to throw the reader off balance. The use of these techniques helps show the fear and chaos of both living in Cuba  under an authoritarian regime and attempting to escape it. Many ‘rules’ of writing are broken  in this story and it helps show that there are no rules when trying to escape and  trying to understand the world around you when it is also broken. The main character seems to be trapped in limbo and time has no meaning when in this state, present and past are intertwined. The style choices help promote this feeling by making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is happening at a given moment, the main character also does not know what is happening or what is going to happen and is just hoping for the best. These fragments seem like memories, they are not coherent or make much sense but it is difficult to remember everything that occurs in a traumatic experience, especially if it is over a long period of time like this one. When there is so much happening at once only small snippets are remembered and it seems like this story is sharing those small pieces that are remembered so clearly when chaos of the event becomes background noise. By breaking norms of writing this story helps convey the anxiety of the situation to an audience that has never had to experience it.

11/17/21

Gazes of Sympathy and Recognition

“Fiesta, 1980” by Junot Diaz explores the sad reality of family relations driven by the fear of communication. Stemming from an abusive parent, Papi, we see Yunior’s family descend into a state of anxiety and fear of confrontation within their own home, a space that should be safe. Mami, Rafa, Madai, and Yunior submit to abuse that coerces them into silence against Papi’s obvious violence. Although the physical punishments that come with challenging Papi’s assertion of toxic masculinity are painful, it seems the family members are more concerned about losing Papi’s love (pg. 27), they know that to challenge his violent control is to undermine the agreed-upon silence which artificially unites the family under a somewhat liveable and stable environment.

Yet, although the four family members cannot express the repressive family environment, the gaze and looks exchanged provide solidarity and recognition to each other’s feelings evoked by Papi’s abuse. Looks are a very important motif in Junot’s story. The first instance is on page 23 when Papi returns from his affair, and Yunior and Rafa look at each other to recognize their father’s family betrayal. Another pivotal point in the story is on page 26, where Madai is too scared to open her eyes. By being the youngest, Papi’s violence is something she is not as accustomed to. By closing her eyes, she is likely in denial of the pain inflicted by her dad and does not want to recognize the others’ anxiety yet. Finally, probably the most moving moment of recognition in the story, on page 42, Yunior looks at his mom with love and compassion, and through a smile, Mami seems to reassure him of her love. Hence, through gazes of sympathy and recognition, they transmit and read feelings through their eyes that they could not communicate otherwise because of Papi’s presence.

11/17/21

“Fiesta” a story of domestic violence and patriarchal values

The short story “Fiesta” by Junnot Diaz is an interesting story narrated by the young main character. However; the character is a kid and the way he is having complicated experiences at his own home, makes the reader to be more sensitive. I found a bit alarming the fact that Yunor, the character, is aware of his own dad cheating on her mother and with cynicism , his dad brings him into her lover’s house a few times. In addition, one can understand that the father is enforcing a patriarchal rule in the house and he is the one who runs everything. Also, Yunor explains how his dad sometimes smacks him or beats him if he misbehaves and the mother seems  not to have enough power to control the father’s temper. From my personal view, I found the story had many intense moments and what makes it more complicated, is the fact that they are an Immigrant family. Personally, I liked the story; however I found tragic that the main character had to deal with constant conflict.

11/16/21

The Prose Never Ends

Arenas story “The Parade Ends” feels like a novel crammed into a short story. The energy of the piece if turbulent and cascading – each moment pours into the next and the reader is never given a moment to grab onto anything. A quick glance at the work is enough to understand that it will either be extremely tense and chaotic, or very slow and thoughtful. Arenas manages an interesting combination of the two by writing in such a way that the reader must constantly move forward, but is still given the room to process and witness the events unfolding.

Usually, long sentences packed into tight paragraphs cause the reader to “fall” into the prose. There is little rhythm or pause given, and so the style emulates the chaotic rush of the story within. Rather than describing moments and given them time to deepen and flourish, Arenas piles them next to each other, and urges each moment forth. Interestingly, a story can achieve this quick movement in two quite contrasting ways. Short sentences and fluid paragraphs encourage the reader to shoot down the page. Usually, however, this is done when either a play by play action is being described, or events are unfolding terribly quickly. The alternative is to have a tight paragraph packed with long sentences. Though slower to skim and read, this tightness and lack of control emulates the actual event, as often when things feel quick and chaotic, one is bombarded with a bunch of stimulus and doesn’t have the space or momentum to process it all.

Arenas, however, uses this tight prose in an interesting way by having it cycle back to similar motifs and moments over and over. Though it is chaotic and fast, repeatedly seeing the crowd, the fence and so on allowed the reader to grasp the moments just as the character might have over the span of a few days. The first descriptions of the crowds feel confusing and garbled, but numerous revisits give them structure, and the reader is able to make sense of the chaos through the characters eyes. What was once a swarm becomes a backdrop to certain key elements. “You” becomes more and more honed in as it appears time and time again in different forms.

Ultimately, it is the writing style of this piece that stood out to me the most. The never ending prose made it hard to skim, yet at the same time it felt difficult not to simply lose the words in the crowd of sentences. By the end of the work, it felt like the narrators voice gave the reader a chance to breath even though the chaos was still present and the words just as tight. This had the effect of highlighting the importance of thought and voice – the earlier visuals of the work lent a hand to chaos and confusion, where the emergence of the narrator’s voice and clear purpose allowed the reader to empathize and become more present in the work.

11/15/21

(Our) parade fell

In this reading, I was confused but so intrigued at the same time, primarily when they were constantly referring to me (us) in the reading. The word “you” comes across repeatedly, that much that I centered myself inside of the story, almost as if I could feel it and see it. “Luckily, in the last visit, you managed to bring in some books.” (page 108), as if we as readers were friends with the narrator. Almost as if we both share the same passion and impotence of wanting to escape. But how is there an escape route when there is not an exit and ability to speak up, to begin with?. Moreover, silence is a highly discussed theme. The narrator shows the true background story of Cuba by documenting what was never told and the consequences of standing for yourself (he ends up in jail). 

I also want to talk about how hope is also mentioned, “Time passes, time passes, you say.” (page 108), as if life could move on as if there were faith, something worth living for. Plus, noting metafiction “(Hope?)” on page 106 shows the unthinkable, dream, and final goal. Later, the plan changes and turns to revenge “… my triumph which has gone on growing thicker…” (page 113).

Coming back to what I initially mentioned. In the end, when the people jumped the fence and took shelter, the narrator says once again,” they couldn’t annihilate me-annihilate us– completely.” (page 119), as if we were inside with him. However, he mentions he can’t find us, “really, will we still be able to recognize each other” (page 120), making it a little confusing for the reader to identify themselves and figure out which side they are standing on. Still, it seems we (as readers) allied to those “wealthy people” and stayed outside and got ourselves caught without an escape, making us realize that we (someone close to the writer) betrayed him.

 

11/8/21

Tones of Violence

What stood out to me most throughout the Gendered Violence unit was the tone in which violence was portrayed across different authors. Although each story contained description of violence or abuse in some form, the tone in which that violence was discussed varied, and added perspective to the day to day lives of these people.

In most stories, violence was detailed or at minimum made obvious to the reader, however the tone in which it was discussed implied normality. In this sense there existed themes of violence and abuse but there lacked any feeling of “horror”. Instead violence was made to be seen as a reality of life, one that was unavoidable.

However Garza offers us a very different perspective. Here we are immediately provided detailed imagery of bodies hanging off a bridge. Further Garza is conscious in her writing of the atrocities of the violence that persists. She is aware of the normality of this violence but makes a conscious effort to critique the source of this violence, recognizing that change must occur.