Author Archives: cariza warner

Cartucho Blog Post

Before I watched the lecture video for Cartucho, I was feeling very overwhelmed of the book. I found the book easy to read, but very difficult to comprehend and follow, if that makes sense. But after watching the video lecture, I felt a sense of ease when Professor Beasley-Murray said that the book being difficult to comprehend was all part of the game that the book portrays. Campobello assumes that the readers already know what she’s talking about in her narratives, so she doesn’t provide much background on each character that she introduces. Professor also mentioned that being narrated in the eyes of the child is also part of the game.

I’d like to answer the question on the video lecture with regards to the effects of adopting the point of view of a young girl. I believe that the book clearly shows how a situation or traumatic events do have different impact on the child, as well as bring out the maturity within them. They might be unable to remember the specific details of certain events, like the names of whoever their parents were talking to, or specific information that were too difficult for them to comprehend, but major traumatic events definitely has an impact on their brains. One example that I could think of is how Campobello have different interpretation of the images of the dead people in front of their house, or how she was vividly able to describe the sight of her mother tending to the medical needs of those soldiers. I think that’s why Campobello was able to clearly remember these memories, because the sights are too traumatic for a child to experience.

One last thing I want to mention here on my blog is Campobello’s Mama, Rafaela Luna. One of the things that I definitely followed and clearly understood in this book is the strength and perseverance that Rafaela had all throughout the book. I admired her strength when soldiers invaded their home looking for firearms, but she didn’t seem to be moved by it, as long as the soldiers don’t touch her children. But this strength didn’t only shine through when enemies were around, she also portrayed this when she was helping out those who were in desperate need of medical care. She was strong, yet sympathetic towards those who are seriously injured, even if the ones she’s taking care of are from the enemies side. Therefore, I do find Rafaela Luna’s character very admirable.

My question for you is, who’s character in the book stood out for you the most?

Mama Blanca’s Memoir Blog Post

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Mama Blanca’s Memoir by Teresa de la Parra was about the childhood memories of Blanca Nieves in their plantation with her parents, sisters, and caretakers. I personally found this reading quite easy and relatable to follow. Since Blanca Nieves mostly talked about her memories as a child, this made me reflect on my own memories in relation to my own family, but as well as the Philippines’ traditions, structures, cultures, and ways that are very similar to this texts era.

For those of you who don’t know, Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards for more than 300 years, therefore most of our traditions, culture, and language were incorporated from their ways. Some aspect of this is the hierarchical structure of families and the society as a whole. In the text Blanca Nieves mentioned that their father was the head of the family, and the one they’re extremely scared of. Similarly in the Philippines, our country is also very patriarchal, although it’s slowly recognizing the importance of equality, most households, especially those who live in the rural areas, are very patriarchal where the father of the house gets the final say on important matters regarding the home.
One other example of hierarchy that I’ve noticed in the text, that are similar and still very present in the Philippines today is the well defined lines between social classes. Most rich homes in the Philippines still have their designated maids, caretakers, cooks, gardeners, farmers, drivers, etc., just like how Blanca Nieves and her family has Evelyn as their main caregiver, Candelaria as their cook, Vicente Cochocho as their “everything” man, and so on. Right now though, most Filipinos are on the same household structure as Blanca Nieves’ family after they sold their plantation, where they only have one caregiver, who looks after the children and also does the cooking and cleaning around the house.

There were other similarities, like how servants used to call their boss “Don”, and how children were expected to behave when there are visitors, but by reading the text, it brought back my own memories from my home country. It reminded me of the similarities in our history, but also in our familial and society structure. Reading Mama Blanca’s Memoirs, in a way, kind of took me on a little trip back home. Maybe not necessarily during my generation, but through the history of my country through the home of Blanca Nieves.

How about you, did you make any personal connection with the text as well?

Introductory Blog

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Hello everyone! Sorry for posting late on here, I was kind of confused on how the whole blog posting thing work, but I hope I’m doing this right. Anyway, my name is Cariza Warner, I’m a 3rd year undergrad student majoring in Psychology. I was born and raised in the Philippines, and then eventually moved to Saskatchewan when I was 13 years old. Back in 2018, my friends and I decided to visit our friend here in Vancouver. We stayed for 10 days, and I fell in love with the city. I love the warm weather, the rain (I’m not a huge fan of the snow and the cold weather that Saskatchewan has), the city and its diversity that it has to offer, and I love how it’s now just one plane ride away from home. So when I decided to go to university in 2019, Vancouver was my first choice, and lucky enough I was accepted here in UBC. Right now I live off campus, and very much enjoying my daily bus ride from North Vancouver and back.

To be completely honest, literature is not one of my top subjects, and I only took it because of the literature requirement. But since I am a Filipino and the similarities it has with Latin America, I am quite interested on the different aspects and culture that I’m going to learn from this class. I know it’s going to be a hard work for me, but I do want to enjoy and succeed in this class. That’s why when I found out about the format of this class, I was excited that it was very flexible and that the professor was very fun and engaging during lectures. I like how he put an emphasis on treating literature and this course as a game with its rules and constraints, but also take into consideration the seriousness and play that is involved in every game. This really takes the overwhelming feeling that I have with regards to this course. Plus on my spare time, I don’t really get to do a lot of readings, and through this class, I really feel that it would help build my vocabulary and knowledge not just about Latin America, but language as well.

Here’s a quick question for everyone: What do you look most forward to in this course?

I look forward to discussing and engaging with these different texts with everyone. My goal is to actually enjoy this course, learn something from it, and succeed. See you guys around!