non-linear narrative – Topics in Hispanic Literature

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?

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, 3^rd person and 1^st 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?

Tag: non-linear narrative

Rita Indiana, Papi

Juan Ruflo’s Pedro Páramo