This week’s reading was Cartucho by Nellie Campobello. While I found this book interesting to read due to the style of its writing, I have to admit I was a bit lost at times and had to review a lot to gain a better understanding of the stories being told. This was in part due to my lack of knowledge of the Mexican Revolution, so I decided it was best to research this as to gain a deeper understanding of the context in which the story was based in. From my little research, I found out that the Mexican revolution occurred from 1910-1920, sparked after Fransisco Madero rose up against dictator Porfirio Díaz. In the north (where this story is set), Francisco “Pancho” Villa was the Guerilla leader for the Rural population as he and his followers (known as the Villistas) fought against the dictatorship of Portillo Diaz. With my new general background of the history in which this story is set in, I found it a bit easier to follow what was occurring in the vignettes.
Additionally, I found it interesting how this story compared to last week’s reading of Mama Blanca’s Memoirs. In both stories, the main narrator is a young girl living in the midst of a time of high tension or turmoil in their respective countries. Despite these similarities, the two stories seem quite different in the perspective of the world around them. To be more specific, in Mama Blanca’s Memoirs, Blanca Nieves seems to be quite sheltered from the outside world as she grew up on the plantation, and had more innocent perspectives of the world around her before moving, as discussed last week. On the other hand, the narrator of Cartucho lived in the midst of the Mexican Revolution, seeing all the gory detail of the war. Because of this, she recalled some normalcy and curiosity in the tragic events that were around her, as she recounts “our young eyes found it quite natural” (32). I found this contrast between the two stories quite interesting as it seems to be rare that literature takes the accounts of a historical event from a child’s perspective and for these two stories to show how different a child may live through these times is quite fascinating.
Overall, I found this story a little hard to follow at first, however, did find some of the vignettes to be very powerful, drawing vivid imagery that is unforgettable. This book allowed me to explore the Mexican Revolution a little deeper, seeing it through a lens that is generally forgotten when recounting these moments in history.
Question for the class: As mentioned, in the last two books we see the stories depicted through the eyes of a child. In your opinion, why do you think it is important to view historical events through the eyes of the youth who as lived through them? What advantages or disadvantages does it bring to our understanding of a certain time period?
Sources:
McGill, S. A., MAS Ultra – School Edition, & Primary Search. (2009). The Mexican Revolution. Great Neck Publishing.
Parra, M., & Project Muse University Press Archival eBooks. (2010;2006;). Writing Pancho Villa’s revolution: Rebels in the literary imagination of Mexico. University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.7560/706972
“From my little research, I found out that the Mexican revolution occurred from 1910-1920, sparked after Fransisco Madero rose up against dictator Porfirio Díaz”
Why do you think Campobello chooses not to tell us any of this, or to refer to these figures? In my lecture I try to advance some ideas… for instance, that it may be related to the child’s perspective, for whom such names are unimportant compared to the immediate experience of what is happening in the street outside or the house next door.
Hi there!
Thank you for your response to the Cartucho reading!
To answer your question, I think it is important to view historical events through the eyes of children who experience them as it provides a perspective different from the norm. We are all accustomed with textbooks that retell important figures and facts regarding any given historical event, however a child’s perspective offers a point of view that holds emotion and rawness. I too found it interesting how Campobello did not provide any setting or context in the way that many historical fiction novels do in the beginning , however I think this may have been on purpose. I say this because I think having a child as the narrator is only believable if it feels as though the contents of the stories are only ones a child would choose to focus on. The little girl herself may not have known of the historical figures we know of now, however she did know how it felt to see such violence and to live in a time where this was almost normalized. At the end of the day this was her reality and her choice to share these stories is because she believed they were worth telling.
Thank you!
Elisabeth
I think a child narrator provides a unique perspective on something that is considered (erroneously) an adult matter- war. It strips ideology away from war and pivots focus to its immediate effects. In general, child narrators simplify complex “adult” things and compel us to step back and take heed of the greater picture- something which I think is valuable.
Obviously, a child cannot recall complicated details or fixate exclusively on things we would think to be important. This can be frustrating. I’ve noticed from other blogs (and my own experience) that I didn’t learn as much about the Mexican Revolution from this book as I had hoped to. I now realize I didn’t learn much about the **history** of the Mexican Revolution, but I learned invaluable things about the Mexican Revolution regardless.
Hello! I loved reading through your post. I felt the same way heading into this reading so thanks for your research. I think it is interesting that she did not include these details throughout. To answer your question, I think that her perspective is so much more unique than how historical events are typically recited. It is unique because she is able to communicate what stood out most to her rather than what others might have felt was most important. However, that can also be a disadvantage when it comes to whether what she remembered (since she was so young) was accurate before passing it down.
Hi! Thanks for this really enticing post! I appreciate the effort of looking things up to better understand certain events so thank you for the additional info as well. To answer your question, I think putting significance in historical events being narrated by the youth is quite important as it carries so much innocence compared to adults who already have their own biases towards who is right and who is wrong. It definitely won’t be the most accurate, however as I was reading multiple blog posts, it came to my mind that maybe Campobello wasn’t writing it for everyone to see after all, but mainly for herself to look back to. It just so happened that it was descriptive and reflected events that transpired during the war without the intention of what it has become and is known for.
Your question is quite fascinating! I think viewing historical events through the eyes of youth is beneficial to learning more about the reality of said events. Children are very truthful, and as discussed in class today, can have no filter. They are also less aware about the rest of the world – outside of their own world – so they have a unique perspective on historical events since much of the time it is the only world they know. They can provide more accurate, and maybe at times gruesome, depictions of life around them. However, this may also be a disadvantage as they are not able to comment on what life is like outside of their world, and therefore their perspective is limited.