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Conclusions

I’m really glad I took this course; it’s taught me so much and met the playful expectations I had when I learned that it was called hopscotch and drinks were involved. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to actually get a hold of most of the beverages but I did manage to watch the lectures and always sip along… even some of the relevant drinks a couple times, the beer, the milk, the hot chocolate, my substituted Marinda for a Fanta. Overall, this course has been different from every course I’ve taken in so many positive ways. From working backwards in choosing our grade and corresponding adventure to being able to just take a week off really put me in charge of my own learning and made me more accountable for my education. It’s also opened me up to content (readings, movies, music) I would unlikely have picked up on my own and actually really enjoyed some of them. Once I got past the first couple of readings and got into the routine, I actually looked forward to my reading days. I’ve also somehow come to see myself picking up a book and reading for pleasure now. I’d say the most important things I’ve learned are how to approach, enjoy and discuss new approaches to reality and storytelling.

The high stakes of the contract and need to take handwritten notes are where I have the dilemma as to whether they were positive or not. I know losing two whole letter grades really made me push myself to new limits to get the work done on time. However, I gotten off to a rough start, as the formatting of the course was different so I missed the first deadlines and a an additional one, waking up the next morning realizing my submission hadn’t gone through. These were both pretty major blows. In addition, finishing the semester without almost any notes on the discussions really doesn’t make me feel prepared to write an exam. If I could recommend any changes for a future delivery of the course so students are more likely to succeed, I would suggest, including specific due dates (day & month) in the contract in addition to the week number, allow typed notes and a transparent one or two strike system to the contract. Just to end it off, these things don’t take away from the course being one of the most fulfilling I’ve taken during my degree at UBC. Thank you to Professor Beasley-Murray, Daniel and my fellow classmates for making this such a positive experience.

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Rita Indiana, Papi

This week’s reading, Papi by Indiana Rita was definitely the hardest reading for me this term. Perhaps it may have been too complicated or unfamiliar. I found that the non-linear narration made it very difficult for me to follow along with and made the story more confusing than I think it need to be. It was difficult to get a footing on the story, right off the bat the story started off in the present jumps to her childhood and teen years then back to the present day. In contrast to Nellie Campobello’s Catucho, which was also narrated from the point of view of a child, the main characters narration jumps between thoughts, flash backs and dream sequences while providing too many unnecessary details that end up drowning out and prolong the story. For this reason, I also kind of dreaded that it was from the perspective of a child rather than being able to appreciate it for adding dimension to the story.

To speak on the question Professor Beasley-Murray brings up during the lecture, it seems to me, the daughter looks at her father like he’s her hero, her protector, one who can do nothing wrong. She believes him to be like the image she’s formed in her imagination; superior to everyone else dad because he has all of these things and is celebrated by some people. She maintains her undying loyalty to her father that doesn’t really deserve it because of her struggling relationship with her mother and a need for something more. Her father seems to care about her as his child but isn’t very involved or consistent. Seeing as there was an instant her mother used her as a pawn to get a TV out of him, he may be keeping his distance as she can be used to manipulate him. I think this novel really highlights the importance of the father-daughter bond and the influence it can have on shaping a child’s sense of self and belonging. Throughout her search for him, finding him and learning about him, she begins to understand the world, her place in it and how the relationship around her have shaped her life.

Since I personally found the novel fairly confusing, as my question for discussion I’d like to ask; How did you interpret the story? What kind of message do you think Rita Indian was trying to get across in publishing this novel?

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I, Rigoberta Menchú: an Indian woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú

I really enjoyed this week’s reading I, Rigoberta Menchú: an Indian woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú. Although the stories she disclosed were very sad, the testimonio was written in such a way that was very easy to follow along with while still being interesting. The first-person narration and straightforward, conversational nature of the stories/interviews made it feel as though Menchú was personally reciting them.

Throughout the book we learn about her experience as a member of the Quiché community in Guatema, their struggles with the Ladinos as-well as their oppression as third-class citizens under the Guatemalan government. During all of this, she also talks about the generational efforts of the community to preserve their traditions, secrets, and culture from the assimilation efforts from the powerful minority Spanish speaking society.

Among the details of her life, she chooses to disclose some of the teachings of her parents, their work, and few Quiché traditions. While she discloses some of these things, she also refers to certain “secrets” which she doesn’t share. At times she mentions that these secrets are what allow them to preserve their Indian culture and prevent it from being taken away. Their importance to Quiché culture is clear, as she mentions parents make a promise on their children’s behalf to keep the secrets of their people once they are born and pass down their traditions. Without telling us what they are exactly, she leaves the reader to assume. I found that the repeated references to these secrets highlight the resilience of the Quiché community while also being a reminder of the persecution and fear they live under that warrants this need for secrecy to protect themselves. As a reader, their mention definitely kept me interested in that I wondered what they may be referring to or she would open up and eventually let us in on the secrets. Initially I thought it would be their warfare tactics or certain traditions but these are things that she did discuss so I was left quite confused about what these secrets were actually referring to, perhaps more specific details.

It was brought up in lecture that upon investigation, an anthropologist discovered that Menchú may have made up certain things like the burning of her brother and included errors in the story. Finding this out ruined it a little as it brought doubt to her credibility in calling this a testimony. My question for discussion is: how did knowing this detail affect your reading and take away?

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Mario Vargas Llosa, Captain Pantoja

This week’s reading, Captain Pantoja and the Special Service by Mario Vargas Llosa was interesting but pretty confusing. I found the style of writing to be interesting and pretty easy to follow along with compared to other readings this term. The authors use of multiple narrators to tell the story from different perspectives through personal letters, memos, radio broadcasts, news reports and accounts written by various characters provided a more complex and complete understanding of the story. I think the shifting of perspectives, made the story more personal and exciting than it would have had it been written from the point of view of a single narrator reciting the chronological events of this army operation.

Pantoja’s growth into his position in the army and as the leader of the special service taking his life over was the overarching narrative that stood out to me as most events connected back to his story. Although originally apprehensive against the idea of it, he signs on to lead the special service for the benefits it will provide his family. Overtime, he grows more entrenched in his work, his morality skews, his wife finds out about his affair with one of the prostitutes working under his command who later dies and the operation ends.

 

I watched the lecture prior to reading the book and the mention of dark themes like the death of Pantoja’s mistress had me wondering how the novel would unfold to be a comedy as mentioned. After completing the reading and watching the film I’m not sure I share the same definition of comedy or let alone know how to define this style of comedy. Sure, there were comical elements like the girl named knockers, referring to project as the “special service” and various other innuendos but the main themes of the story were more tragic than funny. Maybe there’s some comedy in the ridiculousness of solving the problem of rape in the town with an army sanctioned brothel but even then, the dark implications that come with it like violence and death make it hard to laugh at. I feel like I might be missing something when it comes to the humor in Mario Vargas’ writing but it was surly entertaining and hard to put down.

My question for discussion: What did you believe would make this novel a comedy? Is there anything you found particularly funny throughout your reading?

 

 

 

 

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Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years II

In the later part of Gabriel García Márquez’s’ “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, we see the once simple town of Macondo struggle with disruptions brought over by the shiny new train. This comes in the form of modernization and capitalism which begins to take over with the start of industry in the banana plantation and later the towns dependence on it. I wonder if this is supposed to be commentary on colonialism and western industrial technology brought to Latin America.  The issues associated with the modernization of Macondo play out throughout the end of the novel which notably is plagued by constant deaths, war, and total collapse. At one point Garcia Marquez draws a pretty vivid comparison to the corpses from the massacred piled up “in the same way in which they transported bunches of bananas”. I think this line is really indicative of the dark fate Macondo experiences during the turmoil and collapse of their major industry after the deluge.

It wasn’t until the end of the book where I finally realized how much of the history of Macondo and the lives of its inhabitants had already been prophesized by Melquíades’ closely following the history described throughout the parchments. It seems like every generation repeated the mistakes of their ancestors (e.g., the Buendia family’s tendency for solitude and involvement in wars and revolutions) seemingly without much progress in terms of new approaches or even much attempt to alter their fates. For these reasons, I believe the fate of Macondo was inevitable and doomed from the outset.

Originally, I thought the intention of novel may have been to provide further commentary on the circular nature of time and inevitable repetition within human nature like we’ve seen in other readings this semester like Borges’. However, after getting through more of the novel it seemed like it was more about the influences of the outside civilization and the ailments that come with progress leaking into Macondo like we’ve seen happen with Western Nations leaking into Latin America. My question for discussion is how has “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez influenced your understanding of progress and change? Is the search for progress and improvement all that productive considering all of the unforeseen possible outcomes that may come as a result of it?

 

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Garcia Marquez 100 Years of Solitude

After getting a taste of the new tools and technologies brought to his village by gypsies José Arcadio Buendía learns there’s more to life and sets out in search of progress. It is this same journey that leads him into a life he into solitude. Reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “100 Years of Solitude” felt like starting the journey of life in a very basic civilization.  José Arcadio Buendía evolves as a kind of pioneer of Macondo but his obsession with ways to apply these new technologies and his solitude drives him into madness and various “advancements” made by others drive the town into conflict. The democratization of the town and the social constructs that come with organized religion struggle for power between Arcadio and Don Moscote seem to signal the beginning of many tragedies for various community members. The way the town evolves by the middle of the novel, resembles less of the simplicity, and becomes more familiar to society today; polluted by religion capitalism and war.

A recurring theme we’ve talked about throughout our course is time. This week’s reading like previous ones covered in the course (e.g., Mama Blanca’s memoirs and Pedro Paramo) follows a non-linear structure. The narration jumps through time, through frequent referencing of different periods it shows the reader the past, present, and future within a short period (i.e., it starts out in with a reference to the future killing of colonel Buendía, in the present then by the second chapter it moves back to the past). It also spans several generations of the Buendía family but doesn’t describe them in chronological order. I think this only adds to the difficultly of the reader to follow along. Not only are there many different characters intertwined with very similar names but it’s difficult to pinpoint when these events are taking place. The only thing that made it possible to gauge a sense of time was through the tools they had available or actual historical references that personally were unfamiliar without additional research. Even by looking at the tools It’s still confusing because the first mention of the magnifying glass and daguerreotype happen quite close together. We also see repeated elements of magical realism like borges, where Garcia Marquez blurs the line between fact and fiction, the real and the magical, making the mundane more interesting than it actually is. My question for discussion is; why do you think Garcia Marquez chooses to employ magical realism in their writing? What do it accomplish that say a more natural approach couldn’t?

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Juan Ruflo’s Pedro Páramo

Reflecting on my experience with this week’s reading, Juan Rulfo’s “Pedro Páramo,” I can only describe it as challenging. Despite my initial excitement to delve into what I expected to be a concise narrative at an overview, seeing that it lacked traditional chapter breaks and was fairly short, I soon discovered it would be yet another new reading experience. Overall, I found it pretty difficult and confusing for a number of reasons. Rulfo’s series of fragmented memories and non-linear narrative is hard to follow. At times, I found it difficult to understand what was taking place in the realm of reality and what was taking place in this other fantasy realm filled with ghosts. Another reason is the disorienting narration style. The jumping around between past and present, 3rd person and 1st person, frequent shifting between various living and dead characters’ points of view made it difficult to keep track of who was speaking and, at times, follow along with their stories and place in the timeline of the novel.

During the lecture, Professor Beasley-Murray mentioned that “Comala is the site of a permanent afterlife, of tales that continue to be told long after their tellers are dead (but not gone).” I think this speaks to the question brought up during the discussion about what the text is telling us about life, death, and the relationship between them. Like Comala, the people that comprise it have maintained a kind of permanence in its site. In the text, Rulfo explores the idea that death is not the end of existence, but that life and death are interconnected. He does this by telling stories through the perspective of ghosts that appear in an in-between state of life and death, suggesting that death is not the end, but rather a continuation of life. The way the story is told also blurs the line between past and present and between what is alive and dead, showing that life and death are not always separate; they can be connected in different ways.

Despite reading the novel in its entirety and doing additional research, I’m still not really sure what I’m supposed to take away from it. So, my question for discussion is: What is your interpretation of the themes and messages in “Pedro Páramo”? What do you think the author is trying to convey about the human experience when it comes to life and death?

 

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Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths

In his collection of short stories in Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borge theorizes about the nature of time and reality through intricate and imaginative plots. The title of the collection, ‘Labyrinths’ speaks to the complexity and uncertainty that surrounds the existences he bases he stories in. Like a Labyrinth, the complex philosophical positions he takes and in turn our understand is constantly shifting and evolving without one set or correct path.

I found the idea of immortality to be a recurring theme in some of these short stories, including ‘The Circular Ruins’ and ‘The Garden of Forking Paths’ where he presents the idea that the journey through life is a never-ending cycle that is continuous. In The Circular Ruins, we see this with the man that dreams up a person only to realize he was dreamt up himself and that person is presumably to follow the same fate. In ‘The Garden of Forking Paths’ we see this in the discovery of the novel that contains an infinite number of possible paths and outcomes with every decision constantly creating new paths and possibilities without an ending.

I found it interesting that he would refer to himself in his stories, specifically ‘Borges and I’, differently from how someone would if they were writing a diary entry or a story about themselves. He takes a contemplative out of body approach where he sees himself as something that’s separate from his metaphysical form “Borges”. I think in this way he also immortalizes himself.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I think he has an expansive viewpoint on the world and what’s in the realm of possibilities. Outside of themes and various repetitions that tie the stories together, I haven’t noticed much else in terms of continuity or an overarching narrative. Some of the stories were hard to follow but there were often points where something interesting would happen that would prompt me to want to re-read the story and try to interpret it again.

I found Borges’ approach to complex philosophical concepts quite thought provoking and different from what I’ve previously been exposed to. From it I take home the idea that there is no one way to view the world but different perspectives and a constant evolution of our understanding.

My question for discussion: What story struck you as being impactful or left a lasting impression on you? Did it change how you view some aspect of life?

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Nellie Campobello, Cartucho

After reading the rest of Nellie Campobello’s novel Cartucho I am left with a pretty dark impression of what it was like to grow up during the Mexican revolution. She provides us with vignettes of short stories about the people in her life and their involvement in the revolution. I think two major things this book accomplished was bringing a face and life to some of the lesser-known characters of the Mexican revolution, those that Campobello grew up around or was exposed to through her mothers role in the community. As well as view the revolution and the parties involved from the untainted eyes of a child to provide a new perspective against the one that dominated after the war.

I really enjoyed her vivid and visual descriptions of the setting and people; I think they really helped animate the book. However, it was difficult to follow. I had trouble keeping up with all of the different characters and quick pace of the stories. After getting a sense of who these people are, their stories come to an end either because they die, or the narrator moves on to the next one. Getting to know a bit about a character and then end to their story within a page maybe two made it seem like their lives were somewhat short lived and interrupted. I also found her descriptions of the gruesome deaths in an unattached, matter of fact way also made it difficult as a reader to get attached to characters and make connection between them. This made it difficult to try to grasp at an overarching narrative.

I think adopting the point of view of a child through these stories was like starting with a clean slate. At the beginning there was a sense of hope and curiosity, two scenes that stand out are her introductions of the men of the north and her curiosity when it came to something odd like generals bright red guts. Over time things became less exciting and some form of tragedy was to be expected. Through her less increasing less playful descriptions, it seemed  like she was growing up, becoming numb and more disconnected from everything that had happened. I know reading the story, knowing it was from the perspective of a child made it different from other recounts of the revolution. Do you think the story would have been as popular had the author taken a different approach?

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Teresa De La Parra: “Mama Blanca’s Memoirs”

‘Mama Blanca’s Memoirs’ tells the story Blanca Nieves. One of “Six Little Girls of the Big House.” She was the Black sheep of the family – darker than the rest of her sisters and her hair was not naturally curly. Her mother would go to extremes length to curl it regularly and ensure her daughter Blanca fit in.

In her memoir she writes about the pivotal people, places and events that transpired during her life and influenced her up-bring. She frames their stories in a way where we see what she admired about them, the role they played in her life and the lasting impact they had on her that would reverberate through later chapters like her last encounter with Vicente Cochoco.

A part that seemed interesting to me that I don’t fully understand, is how she meant to portray her father’s relationship with her and the rest of her family. She recounts more interactions between her father with characters like Cousin Juancho and Vincent than with her and her siblings, it seems the only influence her father seamed have on his daughters were his values around health that were enforced upon the girls by Evelyn. Ironically, she mentions something about her father having everyone avoid crowded cities for fear of disease and illness. However, when his property Piedra Azul had to be divided amongst his brothers, he thought it would be a good idea to move to Caracas to start his own practice and for the girl’s education, his initial values around health were no longer at the forefront and Aurora would end up dying from measles.

Towards the end of her memoir, I think a main point emerges, contrary to decision to publish the memoir.  After years they decided to take a trip back to the plantation. During the decision-making process her mother tells her “It is dangerous to go back to the sights and scenes that form the basis of our memories”. Having been disappointed by all of the changes made by the new owners and with the passage of time she comes to a similar conclusion stating, “we should fold away our memories within ourselves without ever venturing to confront them with things and beings that life changes”. Although against Blanca’s Nieves’ explicit desires as well as a large realization in the story, Teressa de la Pera publishes the book as a memoire preserving her memories because such was admittedly “in fashion” at the time. I wonder if someone has interpreted this differently? Is it right for her memories to not have died with her if that’s what she desired?

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