Author Archives: ConorBirarda

12/1/21

Luiselli’s take on the Essay

Comparing the style of work we have seen previously throughout this course, I believe the Q&A essay format to be a powerful tool in communicating facts with historically accurate detail while also providing an emotional, human take on the realities faced by children going through the immigration process.

While the Essay as a format lacks a pre-defined structure the choice to incorporate Q&A allows the reader to place themselves within the process and understand the suffering that these children face. Further it allows for the author to incorporate her own experiences into the essay.

The ability for the author to interject with her own experiences and thoughts is often used to add comedic relief, breaking up the often sad, and tragic stories of the children she meets. This is further used as a contrast to the these stories, further eliciting an emotional response from the reader.

The flow of the Q&A allows the author to jump around in both time and place, piecing the story together from multiple perspectives while maintaining a logic flow for the reader.

Together these aspects of Luiselli’s take on the essay create a powerful piece that effectively delivers her message to the reader.

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.

10/26/21

Seeking Glory

In the short story “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros the conscious use of symbolism in each character’s name is obvious and helps portray themes central to the story. However one name in particular, that of the protagonist helps develop the character and both foreshadows her growth as well as provides the reader context into the decisions she makes.

The name Cleofilas, means to seek or love “glory”. When we first are introduced to Cleofilas she is positioned to be in love, excited for what her future has to offer. We are further presented with her love for the telenovela, and the relationships and lifestyle they portray. We can see her projecting this onto her own circumstances and seeking this type of ideal or dream life of her own.

As the story progresses we see this ideal, glorious lifestyle she envisioned slip away from her as her realities set in. She goes as far as to recognize all the negatives in her life, comparing her husband, an abusive man, to the relationships she would see in her telenovelas. This contrast is important, as we see the harm that the dream ideal lifestyle has caused Cleofilas.

The idea of glory and the image telenovelas provide her provides commentary that is still very much relevant today. We see the media portrayal of ideal as something to strive for no matter the consequences. Further cultural pressures kept Cleofilas in these circumstances, as is portrayed in these stories, despite the obvious pitfalls of her relationship.

Despite all of this, the drive and courage to seek glory alluded to be her name comes to fruition in the end of the story, where she ultimately makes the decision to leave her abuse for a better life.

10/18/21

Applying the Law in “The Crazy Woman and the Tale of the Crime”

One of the most interesting take away I got from this story was the idea of social status and the Law and the way this is used to provide commentary on the realities people faced within this time period. Within the story we were provided a view of two distinct classes of people, first with Almada, a man who is possesses a significant de facto political power through what we can assume to be a result of his connections and or wealth status. Second with those who are of low socioeconomic status, first through the crazy woman on the street but further through the lives of Larry, a woman turning to sex work to provide for herself, or her partner Antunez.

Almada is used as a symbol representing the significant divide in wealth and privilege. Each interaction he has with the poor and socioeconomically disadvantaged, he presents a disgust or hatred for these people. I believe his gives us an important insight into the way these people were treated at large during this time period. Those who were thought of as in compliant with the state were expendable and violence was normalized. Further they were made out to be lesser, and clearly treated like lower class citizens.

We see this issue institutionalized through the lack of effort the police department put into this case. Despite a lack of evidence, Antunez was expendable and as such easily accused for the murder of his partner, Larry. Despite a strong case suggesting Almada was guilty the institutional power he held prevented the police from looking into him any further. This is where journalism or in the authors case, detective literature, is introduced as an important tool for providing a voice, or an alternative perspective in a highly restrictive state where traditional checks on power do not exist.

09/21/21

Cycle of Crisis

Despite having a strong allusion to Costa Rica in the 1900’s, the story “And We Sold the Rain” by Carman Naranjo and its critiques can also represent a wider theme in Latin American literature and history of this era.

The Magical Realist tone of this story uses imagery of a poor nation full of inequality and corruption to critique the fictional government in the story. The use of anonymity however intrigues me as it enables the reader to interpret the story as a wider critique of an economic and political cycle that Latin American countries seemed to have been trapped in at this time.

Based on our understanding of Costa Rica (as a base line) we observe a country that was corrupt, poor and underdeveloped due to poor leadership and political/economic institutions. Following WW2, we see the country begin to adopt increasingly capitalist policy. Along with this export businesses were thriving, and economic conditions were relatively stable. Here is where it seems things turn, and governments begin to nationalize enterprise, while people begin to demand social policies and welfare, slipping towards a socialist regime.

As the history we have so far been presented suggests, as these nations first turn towards capitalism, they begin to borrow at unsustainable levels, and more of this debt is being used to fund such social programs demanded by the people. At this point all it takes is one economic shock for this house of cards to topple.

This is where it seems we start off in the story “And We Sold The Rain”. A nation insolvent, and an economy unable to generate capital to meet its debt obligations. Here is where the cycle begins. As we see in the story, the government must enact strict austerity measures, symbolized sarcastically when the president suggests that the nation begin to tax the air, yet meanwhile social programs were cut, food was being rationed, and the currency was being devalued and incredible rates.

After embracing what is coined as economic “Shock Therapy” we see an economy that begins to restabilize. This concept has been coined by the works of economist Jeffery Sachs, who has advised governments transitioning out of communist era, and into democratic capitalism, and had done so with great success in countries such as Bolivia.

However as we can see today this cycle, in Costa Rica, has repeated. Where governments eager to appease to citizens, continue to borrow to fund socialist policies and social welfare programs, a substantial amount of debt has been accrued to the point that 42% of the nations GDP in 2021 will go towards interest and amortization of federal debt.

This, similarly to the period before this story is alluded to unfold, comes at a time of a global economic shock. Where in 1980 we saw an energy crisis, today we see a global pandemic.

Due to all of this, I read and interpret this story more so as a warning of this cycle. Rather than critique on capitalism, it seems as if socialism is the issue, although nice in theory, it is practically inefficient, leading to corruption and inequality rather than a world of prosperity and equals.

09/14/21

Estrangement, Violence and Innocence

In exploring the central themes of Arturo Arias’ “Guatemala 1954: Funeral for a Bird” the concept of  estrangement coined by Viktor Shklovsky communicates the motifs of death and violence prevalent throughout the story and in this time period.

Maximo is a child of only 5, who’s entire existence has been defined by death, violence and loss, yet as a child is presented with a sense of innocence. His understanding of the world is confined to stories from his mother, presumed to be dead, as well as photographs in magazines in his home. Due to fighting, and the constant threat of death he is largely confined to his home and his freedoms limited.

The bulk of the story follows Maximo as he explores the horrors of a war torn Guatemala, where as the reader we observe Maximo completely desensitized to the concept of human death, to the point where corpses littered throughout the city both intrigue and annoy him. This is illustrated by Maximo curiously observing bugs crawling out of the mouths of corpses, and kicking one after tripping over it while enjoying his perceived freedom.

This is starkly contrasted with his, and the other children’s reaction to the corpse of a dead bird. Here we observe a more somber attitude where the children seem aware almost saddened by the concept of death among this bird.

These two prominent and opposite responses is central to the theme of the short story, illustrating the extreme violence and death experienced in this time period without outlining specific details. Maximo, a child so normalized to the concept and sight of death, can only truly grasp what death itself is when he is taken outside of his normalized environment. This I believe presents a depiction of war that communicates its horror more strongly to the reader than simply outlining the events that occurred.