Jan
24
Carpentier: Post 3
Posted by: | January 24, 2010 | Comments Off on Carpentier: Post 3
Well, I must say, Carpentier uses very difficult, complex language which makes the story very difficult to follow. The prolog indeed seemed very important to read as it introduced the idea of “lo real maravilloso,” to describe what is Latin America, its countries, lands, and cultures. I think, but I was not positive, Carpentier uses this expression to counter and critique the accounts of the first European explorers and conquistadors who lacked words to describe what they encountered in the new world and described the native people as beast and savages.
The book is about the oppression of black people during slavery, and there is a constant theme of blacks against whites in the book so far. The two main characters, as of now, are Ti Noel, the slave owner, and Mackandal, his slave; who escapes. I thought it was interesting how destroyed Ti Noel was after Mackandal escaped (pg. 31), he was crying and holding himself, and Mackandal was even his source of knowledge. This is reversal of roles between the slave holders and slaves: the blacks are empowered and knowledgeable where as the whites are weak and ignorant.
The blacks want to overthrow the whites and establish their own rule. I wanted to clarify the rest of the story, because next there seems to be a whole lot of death and dying, all caused by Mackadel? And I think through mushrooms, “hongos” but really I am not sure about that? Here the “lo real maravillos” plays a huge part because Mackadel can transform himself into different animals and insects to protect himself. However, I think when her turns back into a human he is caught by the whites and burned. The whites feel empowered however the blacks snicker to themselves well walking home knowing the whites are fools.
This is what I have understood so far from the reading, I am very interested to read other peoples post for this week, because I think we all could have very drastic interpretations of what happened because I found the text to be very confusing and difficult at times!
