Concluding thoughts

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Despite I was born and raised in Spain and that I had heard about very famous Latin American novels, I had never fully read and studied any of the ones we analyzed in this class, and I had mostly studied Spanish Literature only. However, this class made me discover a different viewpoint on the world and human experience through Latin American literature. I gained knowledge of the various cultures, social challenges, and historical periods that have inspired and shaped Latin American writers, and how they implemented this in the creation of such significant pieces of literary work.

Moreover, what I learned while taking this class and comparing the novels and writers, is that Latin American literature has a unique element that gives it its distinctive essence: the fusion of indigenous, European, and African cultures involved in the heritage and experiences of Latin American authors. I found certain topics and elements that were present in many of the novels we read, and I consider these could also define Latin American culture and literature up to some extent: social justice, inequality, oppression… Moreover, a common literary device in Latin American literature is magical realism, which combines elements of the supernatural with parts of reality. A clear example of this element is present in “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, definitely one of the hallmarks of Latin American Literature that globally renowned.

The ability of literature to reflect and influence culture and society has been deepened for me after taking this class, also being able to learn about the history and politics of many Latin American countries. Overall, I really enjoyed taking this class and I think that it exceeded my expectations in many ways. At the beginning of the term, I was especially excited to read and analyze books I already knew about, like “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, “Labyrinths”, or “Twently Love Poems.” However, there were many novels I had never heard about, and in fact these were the ones that I enjoyed the most and caught my attention the most, especially “I, Rigoberta Menchu” and “Papi.” The historical and political importance of Menchu’s book and the playful, innocent tone of “Papi” is what captivated me the most. Also, I must say that probably what I enjoyed the most was watching certain lectures and conversations that Professor Jon posted, for instance the conversation with Giannina Braschi. By watching this, I was able to deepen my understanding of what I was reading, and at the same time realize about certain details or fully grasp some information implicit to the story.

Thank you everyone for being part of this class. My last question blog is: what was your favorite and least favorite book that you read for this class and why?

 

“Fever Dream” by Amanda Schweblin

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I read this week’s book in Spanish instead of English, which I guess that helped me sometimes when I was getting lost or confused. Despite intriging and exciting, I found the novel to be very abstract and confusing at many times. It took me a bit to understand who the characters were and the relationship they had with each other, especially because the narrative of the story isn’t always linear. Moreover, I was sometimes “tricked” by the conversations and the stories that the characters tell, especially by David’s questions, theories, and guesses. David disregards Amanda’s thoughts and concentrates on what he deems important by constantly posing questions and developing theories. However, there are occasions when he has the answers to Amanda’s inquiries but allows her to discover the information, causing additional confusion for the reader. In fact, while reading the story, sometimes i felt like Amanda, slowly understanding the story and the underlying events, but simultaneously very confused and perplexed about what is happening.

The book narrates the story of Amanda and Nina, mother and daughter, who while staying in a town in a rural area of Argentina, they contract a disease, a disease that apparently many people in the town have. We never fully understand as a reader what the disease is or what exactly is causing this “epidemic” in the area, and this confusion around the topic is, in my opinion, one of the auhtor’s objectives for her novel. The character of Amanda, who is hospitalized due to this disease, never understand her situation or how she ended up being sick, providing more questions rather than answers. However, we do get the idea that people who are infected are seen as a plague, weird people with deformities and abnormalities that are destined to live a miserable life or die. “Son chicos extraños. Son, no sé, arde mucho. Chicos con deformaciones. No tienen pestañas, ni cejas, la piel es colorada, muy colorada, y escamosa también.” This quote in Spanish is explaining how poeple who contracted the disease are explicitly “weird”, without eyebrows, eyelashes, and even scaly skin. Moreover, despite getting the feeling that Amanda doesn’t always understand her situation and has uncertainty about it, she has the intuition that she is going to die and shows impressively accepting, straightforward attitude about it . “But I’m going to die in a few hours. That’s going to happen, isn’t it? It’s strange how calm I am. Because even though you haven’t told me, I know. And still, it’s an impossible thing to tell yourself.”

Finally, I wanted to point out the fact that the original title in Spanish is “Distancia de Rescate”, “Rescue Distance” in English, despite the title being different after the translation. The “rescue distance” that Amanda talks about is the safety distance that a mother needs to be away from their child to protect them, to save them. For instance, when Amanda explains she is calculating how long it would take her “to jump out of the car and reach Nina if she suddenly ran and leapt into the pool.” After reading the book, I thought that despite the especial meaning of the title in Spanish, “Fever Dream” better describes the experience that Amanda is having in the story, a state of feverish delirium and confusion. Subsequently, it is also a metaphor of the experience that we get as readers: disoriented, confused, and unsure about what is real and what is not, and at the same time, fascinated and intrigued to understand what is really happening, what the truth is.

How much do you think a title of book can affect the reader’s experience and understanding of the story? Did you feel identified with Amanda in any ways while reading the novel?

“Papi” by Rita Indiana

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I enjoyed reading this week’s book “Papi” by Rita Indiana, not only because of the themes it explores, but especially because of how the writer adapted the story of the novel to the perspective of a kid, who is the narrator. The narrator is a young girl from the Dominican Republic who talks about her father, “Papi”, who left her, her mom, and the rest of the family behind to migrate to the United States. He is not present in their lives anymore, at least in a physical way, and they don’t see each other very often, sometimes every few months, or even every few years. She doesn’t really know when he will come back, but we can see how in the back of her mind, although she claims to sometimes forget about him, she has the hope that he will be back soon. Here is when he see the story through the eyes of a young girl, who seems to not fully understand the situation and is still waiting for her father to return. However, at the same time, she also feels abandoned by him and expresses anger and hate towards the absent figure of Papi, partly because she mimics her mom’s and grandmother’s opinions.

We can see throughout the story that the father not only left to work in the US and earn money, but he also has a new life, goes out with other women, and even had other kids. As the narrator explains, on he didn’t visit on Christmas, but they would receive cards from him “signed by Papi and one of his girlfriends and one of my new little siblings.” The narrator is clearly affected by her father’s absence, but she has conflicting perspectives and opinions about her father. On the one hand, we can observe her feeling of resent, but on the other hand, a feeling of admiration. This feeling of admiration towards Papi is one of the elements of the book that transmit more innocence and portray how naive kids can be in these situations. However, it also portrays the cultural and historical mindset that Dominicans had back then about people who left the island to live in the US and became wealthy, as discussed in the conversation with Arturo Victoriano.

Despite feeling abandoned, she also demonstrates admiration to her father’s success and wealth after constructing a life abroad. She talks about how her dad has so much money that he can’t fit it inside his wallet, and in an innocent way, she explains to the readers how Papi uses that money to buy her numerous things, an obvious way of also buying her forgiveness. “Then Papi goes shopping. And I go with him. Cuz he’s my dad and I’m his daughter. And Papi buys so many things, I forget how many.” The narrator brags about her father’s wealth multiple times, mentioning his outfits, the cars he owns, or his golden chains, which were signs of success. In my opinion, restating her father’s wealth and material possessions is the girl’s way of justifying her father’s absence in her life, which I guess would be the mindset of many kids in that situation.

What do you think about the narrator’s opinions and feelings towards Papi? Why do you think the story would be different if the narrator was an adult talking about her childhood instead of having a child as a narrator?

Yo-Yo Boing

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Although the book “Yo-Yo Boing” has a disperse, non-linear structure, I enjoyed reading it while I slowly discovered its unique character. The book is a collection of conversations, showing love, passion, anger, and arguments about diverse topics. There is not a very obvious transition between one topic and the other, sometimes making it hard to follow, but as I Spanish and English speaker, I was able to better understand these conversations and some of the expressions used. The author explains that she obtained some of her ideas from conversations she listened to and experienced, which were inspirational for her in a time of hope and prosperity for the US and the world. There is even a conversation where the characters are arguing about writing a book, and one of them is asking for help to the other or for a peaceful environment to be able to write: “My book needs your English. – The dialogues are fine the way they are. I think we should dedicate to the structure. – When do we start? – This weekend. – I have a dinner. – Again? It’s the only time I have to work.”

The author of the book is a Puerto Rican writer who has lived for many years in New York City. With her literature and specifically with this book, the writer intends to portray the bilingualism and biculturalism of people like her, who emigrated to a place with a different culture, language, and environment. Therefore, the book intends to show this “fight” between languages, specifically between her native language, Spanish, and the language she had to become proficient at growing up and in NYC, English. This implicitly shows a “fight” or clash of cultures through language, showing that English, representing her life in the US, is something new that she is adapting to while she can’t let go of Spanish, representing her heritage from Puerto Rico.

A remarkable aspect of this book is the switches between English and Spanish, as it is written in both languages. The author claims this is a portrayal of her struggle while writing the book, as she didn’t want to write a book entirely in English, but at the same time, she was living in the US mainland, so she couldn’t write it fully in Spanish either. Therefore, she is portraying “the struggle of the emigrant”. This is something that happens to a lot of people I know who immigrated to English-speaking countries, including myself. My bilingual routine, as well as Giannina’s and every other bilingual emigrant, makes you sometimes forget certain words in one of the languages and automatically switch to the other one. These language switches not only show the complex nature of bilingualism, but in my opinion, also show certain emotions in the characters. When I read a combination of English and Spanish in the middle of the characters’ conversation, I could especially sense confusion and anger. For instance, in the conversation when the narrator is talking about the benefits of always being suspicious or “uncomfortable”: “Dónde. A tu lomo. – Coño. Respiro aire fresco y me siento bien. Te lo juro. I’m not ready for another tragedy, really, who’s ever ready for a tragedy.”

Did you enjoy the bilingual nature of this book or did it make you get lost more often? If the book was translated into only one language, would the reader get a similar experience out of the thoughts and conversations of the characters?

I, Rigoberta Menchú

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I had heard about Rigoberta Menchú before in another class when we were discussing indigeneity in Latin America, although we didn’t go much in-depth and I didn’t know much about who she was and what she did. Therefore, before reading this week’s book I did a bit of research about her and her trajectory as an activist. This way I also learned a bit more about Guatemala and its indigenous population, and how Rigoberta fought for the rights of the indigenous and received a Nobel Prize. Knowing all of this information prior to reading supported me in better understanding the themes in the text and her story as a whole. Moreover, as an International Relations student who is studying related topics, knowing Rigoberta’s character and accomplishments made me look forward to learning more about her and her fight.

This book is an autobiography of Rigoberta Menchu and her testimony as an activist for indigenous and women human rights. Throughout the text, we learn about her childhood in a Maya village in Guatemala where she and her family faced extreme poverty. The author explains she had to start working at a very young age to contribute to the support of her family, which were jobs in very bad conditions and with very low pay. Also during her childhood, she faced discriminatory and racist attitudes from non-indigenous people in Guatemala, which was her main motivation to later become an activist and defend indigenous rights and freedoms.

Despite the treatment that Rigoberta and the people in her community faced, which made me feel very furious and upset, I also loved the sense of community that you get when you are reading about her family and the indigenous culture of the Mayas. Overall, I expanded my knowledge of Mayan culture through her explanations about her heritage and many small traditions and ceremonies she talks about in the book. The author’s parents had a strong commitment to preserving language and cultural values, and also participated in political and activist movements, which also probably triggered her motivation to be an activist.

Do you think this book and Rigoberta’s life story contributed to raise awareness about the indigenous rights movement in Guatemala at an international level? How?

The Hour of the Star

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This week’s book, despite being short, was very powerful and so far one of my favorite novels in this course. “The Hour of the Star” by Clarice Lispector narrates the story of Macabea, a poor, uneducated girl from northeastern Brazil who moves to Rio de Janeiro. The novel follows Macabea’s process of adapting to life in the city and the new relationships she builds with people that she meets along the way. A reason why I liked this book is because of the way that Lispector explores the meaning of personal identity through the significance of the life changes that Macabea undergoes. This made me reflect on the importance of adaptation and realize how sometimes the process can be challenging and overwhelming. Accordingly, one of the ways this theme is explained is through the difference in social classes, and the adaptation of a marginalized person in a new society. The novel highlights the struggles of marginalized people in Brazilian society and the difficulties of living in a large, modern city coming from a poorer, remote area.

Macabea’s character is shy and introverted, and she seems to have a difficulty in connecting with others, which makes her experience overall more challenging. Despite her efforts, she is often treated with indifference or hostility, making it hard for her to find a sense of belonging. One of her main relationships in the novel is with her boyfriend Olimpico, who is portrayed as a selfish individual who takes advantage of Macabea’s vulnerability and lack of self-esteem. Despite Olimpico’s abuse, Macabea innocently continues to love him and believes he is in love with her. Another significant rcharacter in the novel is Madame Carlota, who offers Macabea guidance, which provokes a development in the main character and her way of reflecting about the meaning of life. Moreover, in my opinion, the fact that one of the main relationships of Macabea was a fortune teller also highlights her vulnerability and sometimes blind trust on people. 

Through her struggles and experiences, Macabea ultimately achieves a kind of transcendence as she develops and better finds “herself”. Overall, I found this novel a powerful meditation on the human condition through the exploration of themes such as identity and poverty.

What did you think of the character of Macabea and her way of overcoming difficulties throughout the story? Was this character and her story inspiring u-in any way? Why?

One Hundred Years of Solitude II

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This reading of the second half of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” surprised me in a positive way. What especially caught my attention was the development of the main plot through the growth of the characters and the town of Macondo. The story follows the next generation of the Buendia family and their personal and social dilemmas, as they undergo significant changes.

Firstly while Aureliano Buendia is portrayed as a shy and introverted person who spends most of his time reading and studying, this image completely changed for me as I kept reading. Later in the story, he becomes more involved in the political life and conflicts of Macondo, becoming a leader in the revolution. In my opinion, Aureliano develops from being a passive character with a smaller contribution to an active participant in the town of Macondo. Moreover, I also noticed an abrupt change in the character of Jose Arcadio, but in a very different way from Aureliano’s. Jose Arcadio was the founder of Macondo and therefore has a very important role at the beginning of the story. He could be described as a brave visionary and makes essential contributions to the town, but as the story continues and he gets older, he becomes more insecure and delusional. His personality development is probably related to how his habits change and how he gradually becomes more isolated. Finally, we see his character die, which in my opinion was a very sad ending to a character that started as strong as his. 

One character that was surprising for me since the beginning was Remedios, the irresistible beautiful woman who causes men to lose their minds. While at the beginning of the story she was more humble about this or didn’t give it as much importance, it looks like as she gets older, she starts realizing more about her “treat” and becomes more disconnected from the world. Finally, we see how her character “ascends to the heavens”, floating away into the sky, witnessed by everyone in Macondo. Another female character that caught my attention was Amaranta Ursula, but opposite to the characters of Aureliano or Jose Arcadio who expereince abrupt changes throughout the novel, her character generally remains unchanged during the story. I didn’t like the end that Garcia Márquez chose for her character however, although it does make it different and not a classic “happy ending”. Towards the beginning of the story, she becomes more distant from everyone, being full of resentment and anger about past events in her family. We see her character die without being able to move on from her issues, which is sad but at the end makes you rflect about the importance one should give to problmes in life.

Overall, one of my main focuses as I progressed with my lecture of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was transformation, especially character transformation. Without a doubt my favorite character due to their development was Aureliano.

Who was your favorite character overall and why? What changes or details did you observe in this character as he story progressed?

One Hundred Years of Solitude I

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“One Hundred Years of Solitude” was a book that I was really looking forward to reading since I had heard a lot about it before, especially in Spanish literature classes I took. I had even read some extracts from the book and analyzed them, but without properly reading it nor understanding the story behind it. The novel surprised me and I really enjoyed it in general, although sometimes I got a bit lost following the main plot.

Overall, the analysis of human life and its ups and downs is what I found the most touching and attractive in the story, which is also a theme that has been present in many of the novels that we read so far. The main family in the story, the Buendías, suffer from a curse that causes them to repeat their mistakes and go through unpleasant experiences like war, death, and solitude. The last one, solitude, is the most important one, as not only gives the name to the book but also is a central theme in the story. I enjoyed the way the writer explores the ideas and consequences of the passage of time and the effects of isolation. This analysis gives rise to the more philosophical aspect of the story that García Márquez also examines in a broader way: the meaning of human life and human suffering. 

Moreover, the author accomplishes to create a sense of wonder throughout the story, which really caught my attention and made me feel connected to the characters and their experiences. I genuinely loved the magical, mysterious aspect of the story and its main setting, Macondo, which is described as a remote and isolated place, surrounded by swamps and dense jungle. The town is depicted as being phisically idyllic, but you also get the feeling of mystery and curse in the descriptions of the town. It was initially founded by the patriarch of the Buendía family, José Arcadio Buendía, and at the beginning it is asmall, simple village inhabited by a few families. 

How do you think that the town of Macondo accomplishes to represent the world and human society? How does the place/seting contribute to the development of the story and the fate of the family?

 

 

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo

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“Pedro Páramo” is a novel written by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo a novel that falls under and the main genre is magical realism, as Professor Jon explained to us. The novel is set in the Mexican city of Comala, which I actually visited once a few years ago. Therefore, this detail really caught my attention and made me enjoy the story in a different way, better connecting the descriptions of the city that are made. However, the style of the book was sometimes confusing for me since the story doesn’t always follow a linear structure. The narrative jumps between different points in time, with flashbacks and flash-forwards, which made it challenging for me to consistently follow the arguments and anecdotes that the author was explaining. Apart from experiencing jumps in time, the story also switches between the perspectives of different characters, not only the main one, Juan. This also made it confusing for me to fully understand the events that took place or the personalities of certain characters at times.

The main character of this book is Juan Preciado, and we learn about his experience and perspectives in his journey of searching for his father, Pedro Páramo, who was wealthy and powerful. Juan’s main objective is to learn about his past and his ascendence, which in my opinion adds an essence of mystery to the story as the reader keeps learning more information. Another main character in the story is Susana San Juan, a well-known character in the city of Comala who used to be Pedro Páramo’s lover and is seeking revenge. The story between Pedro and Susana happened when they were young lovers and she got pregnant with his child, and later Pedro abandoned her to raise the child alone. Susana gave birth to the child and didn’t have the means to support him, and sadly the baby died soon after, which explains her profound hate and feeling of betrayal against Pedro.

Overall, what I liked the most about the book is the constant mystery present in the story and the multiple themes that it constains: love, death, power, introspection… Although I sometimes found confusing the style of the novel and made it difficult for me to follow the plot, I sometimes enjoyed it and I felt like it contributed to its aspect of “magical realism”. 

What did you think about the non-linear structure of the book? Did it affect your understanding of the story or did you overall enjoy it? Why?

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

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This week’s reading “Labyrinths” by Jorge Luis Borges, made me reach different conclusions. The book itself and its plot didn’t catch my attention as much as expected, although I admire Borges as an author and I enjoyed his writing. The title of the book is a metaphor itself to explain the difficulties that individuals experience throughout their lives. Borges about the ups and downs of life, and how like in a labyrinth, humans find obstacles and complexities they have to solve to keep going. The plot had a very philosophical background about life, which sometimes I enjoyed and sometimes I struggled to connect with.

Borges reflects on the human identity and the meaning of life, the meaning of being alive. In “The Garden of Forking Paths” he focuses on the idea that every decision we make creates a new reality and a variety of new possibilities for us, both positive and negative, that can lead us to different outcomes and situations. The main character of this story is Dr. Yu Tsun, a German spy during World War I who discovers that his enemy, a British agent, is passing information using a novel called “The Garden of Forking Paths”. This is an example where Borges reflects on the idea that humans make their own decisions and the outcomes they face are entirely the consequences of these. These concepts about decisions got me thinking about the meaning of “destiny” or “luck”, concepts that wouldn’t be part of human life according to Borges’ ideas. Like in a labyrinth, we are responsible for choosing the path we take and there is a reason behind our decisions, which we have to hold on to and accept even if the results aren’t what we imagined.

Borges’ writing style is imaginative, philosophical, and highly metaphorical throughout the novel. He often uses complex language to communicate his ideas to the reader, making the reader it reflect on his words and empathize with their own life experiences. Therefore, this book was also a personal reading experience for me, since some of the author’s thoughts about life decisions and consequences align with mine. Borges’ stories are highly surreal, challenging logic and conventional expectations, which makes it confusing but at the same time entertaining.

Did you connect with the author’s thoughts about human life and agreed with his idea on “the consequences of our actions and decisions”? Why or why not?