In this second part of the book, I am glad that Antonio has had the strength of being in charge of his own destiny. The conflict between the different interests of his maternal and paternal side, finds a coherent and nice conclusion at the end of the book. Antonio decides to go with the Luna’s family and try to understand their way of live. Gabriel, his father, finally comes to terms with the sweeping changes that are destroying the vaquero way of life, and accepts that Antonio should live the life that he aims to, not what him or his wife wish for him. The most valuable life suggestion that Gabriel gives to Antonio, is to learn that a man builds something new from his past echoes. Ultima also helps Antonio to get to this conclusive decision. She recommends Antonio to make change a part of his strength.
However, Antonio’s final decision was not so easily taken either. Before he has come to this realization, major changes had to occurred in Antonio’s life. Through this part of the book, we can see how the conflict between Antonio’s maternal and paternal heritages ceases to be the major preoccupation. The main conflict now becomes Antonio’s struggle to find a coherent way to understand his past experiences. Antonio no longer finds answers either in Catholicism or in the teachings of Ultima for his evolving doubts regarding death, eternity or the forgiving/punishment of sins. In other words, Antonio struggles to understand why there is evil in the world.
Yet, once he decides to not fight more for complicated and maybe impossible answers, he understands that change, and distance from his past experiences, is what he really needs. This helps him to affirm both, his Luna and Márez heritages. He feels at peace with his identity, once he understands that his maternal and paternal heritages can be compatible. I see this, as if Antonio finally understands that his life, his culture and his family represents a syncretism between the Spanish and the indigenous traditions. He is a mix of languages, cultures, beliefs, and ways of seeing life. His religion is only one manifestation of how complex, but also how rich, his identity is. More than being always incompatible, he reflects syncretism. Finally, it is nice to see how once he has accepted the complexity of his identity, he is able to recognize that change also brings wisdom and a deeper understanding.
Pamela Chavez
The first thing to say is that I have just been re-reading the posts that all of you have written, and am blown away by how great they all are. Pamela, yours is no exception! I almost feel I have nothing to add. 🙂
But I will say (continuing some thoughts I’ve been making in comments elsewhere) that, at the end of the novel, I personally am unsure as to how much Antonio has “accepted” his identity, and how much he has in fact rejected it. I know that he (and the book) tell us that it is acceptance, that he has learned that he is both Luna and Márez. But I remain struck by the fact that this is also rejection, that ultimately he puts both facets of his heritage behind him. Indeed, perhaps it is only by doing so that he can accept them, and resolve their contradictions: by placing them both in a semi-mythic past marked by childhood.