Juan Rulfo's World: A Literary Diorama

Juan Rulfo's World: A Literary Diorama

by Armando Ortiz

Juan Rulfo is one of the best short story writers of the Americas, and his one short novel ranks as one of the best. He stands amongst the great short story writers of all time, and will be read for many years to come. 

Rulfo was born in 1917 in Jalisco, Mexico. His father was killed at 6 years old, and four years later his mother died. In his early teens he lived in an orphanage located in Guadalajara. Despite these challenges he managed to study accounting and went on to become an author and salesman. He received a fellowship that enabled him to focus on writing which gave birth to two books.

His stories take place in a time of great instability and violence, The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and the Cristero Wars (1926-1929) during which poverty became the environment from which his stories emerge. The violence he describes must have been born from the experiences of that time. Violence, was and still is very common in Latin America stemming from politics. It's a theme that many people around the world can understand. 

His whole written canon is made up of two books: a collection of short stories, El Llano En Llamas (The Burning Plain and other short stories) and one short novel, Pedro Paramo.  There is another book that was published, a collection of photographs that he took throughout Mexico. I’d heard his name in passing from an acquaintance. He was very familiar with Latin American writers and told me that there was one particular character found in Rulfo’s book of short stories, El Llano En Llamas, that stood out, Lucas Lucatero.

Reading his works one easily gets lost in the web of his prose which creates magical settings inside the mind. His descriptions and emotions blend to become enigmatic of what word play ought to be. His stories set the bar high and are a template for good writing.

In Rulfo’s world people are always coming and going. Going to places unknown and never seen before. Characters come from locations with strange names and sites where prayers go unheard. Protagonists are always passing through towns where the inhabitants seem more like wandering spirits in purgatory. The people in his stories have condemned themselves or have earned the condemnation of others.

Furthermore, the poor travel by foot or donkey, while the rich gallop around in horses. Ghosts, like Sisyphus, are condemned to carry firewood on their backs on paths that lead to nowhere- forever. Horse riders become the embodiment of the pale horse rider found in the Book of Revelation, and are not given the sacred sacraments of priests. Salvation is inches away but never acquired. No one is immune to the sins of humanity, and to the consequences of violence. Heaven has become a mirage that exists only in delirious dreams.

Though not spoken, each character’s perception, hand gesture, physical movements and journeys to certain places indicate their destiny. Fate becomes an individual’s collective decision and collective future. Bandits are shot at night in the midst of a robbery. Murders are swept away by torrential rains or are relegated to haunt towns forever.

Choices that were made at a time of heated passion, anger and depression become part of the condemnation. Death becomes imbued with sentimentality and regret. Revenge almost completes the cycle of justice but the circle is never really closed. Vengeance leaves the door open to more misfortune. Incest brings about hidden desires and outward shows of affection towards the dead through hollow rituals.

Exploitation is a byword for the impunity by which people live. Killers are condemned by their own crimes and their sleep becomes one where ghost talk and victims scream at night. Violence is the accepted norm. Blood, the sacred liquid that is supposed to cleanse, just gets coagulated with dust, dirt and sweat infecting the body. The sick are relegated to sweat it out in their own mental sweat lodge. Clinging on to the hope of going to the bigger town to pray to the holier relic.

Despite the suffering that many characters live through, every one of them wishes to keep on living. Yet when the time comes to confront death everyone tries to run away. Like Antonius Block, the Crusader in Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, they try to play chess against death and make excuses to prolong the game. 

Wishing to hold on to life a bit longer, the sweetness of sautéed onions with garlic and olive becomes delectable to them. Morning toil becomes dawn’s morning glory. The gun to their temple makes his characters kneel down and beg for life. Their existence is rough but also bearable in Rulfo’s diorama. Nature in his world takes on dimensions that are linked to ancient Mexican mythology with the recent experienced lives.

Reading through his stories you arrive at small towns where natural forces punish its dwellers, as if the Aztec god of tlaloc slithers around in the background. Streams seem to feed the wild weeds. There is hardly any water that’s drinkable, and irrigating the cornfields is a precarious endeavor. Fruit that is harvested by the shadow characters isn’t sweet. Bitter is the taste of life. 

When the rains come, it pours, rivers awaken and can take small adobe homes down canyons and arroyos. The possessions of poverty stricken families; a cow, a pair of pigs and occasionally a relative; are washed away. Life is harsh, but nature seems to be the cruelest of them all.

This harsh natural backdrop becomes a vivid canvas in Rulfo’s narratives. His descriptions of the environment and climate are active and alive, portraying the sun as hot embers hanging over the heads of everyone. When it rains the tears of his characters’ eyes flow as fast as the savage rivers. The sky is blue, and lifeless. Even in the oppressive heat the sky remains cold and silent. 

The winds walk down corridors like lost children at the mall, wailing for something. Waking life becomes an itch that has no origins and no cure for it can be found. Sleep becomes torturous, because the weather is uncomfortable and secrets can’t get lost in the darkness. Night quickly disappears and the rising sun quickly wakes everyone up from their slumber. 

With the unrelenting heat of the moving sun and the trampling of dirt roads, dust rises. The floating sand particles enter through the mouth and nostrils of the characters making breathing, even for the reader, difficult. Life is tough and complex but his stories are easy to understand.

Even after death spirits wander in the stories in their own hell. Infinity is not something worth talking about or worth discussing because the present moment is too bleak and death so certain. It's just a matter of time before we once again wake up and have to deal with the realities of life. As a result superstition seeps through in many of the religious scenes.

Superstition becomes an outlet of hope where there is none. Saints bleed tears of remorse, because no god exists within Rulfo’s stories. Virgin statuettes seem to shed tears but are artificially placed there by priests in the morning. Idol’s hands spread like branches accepting all, listening to the incoherent cries of believers. Carved dolls cannot see mourners because of the thick incense smoke and their own wooden eyes are blind to injustice. Rulfo, in essence, walks the reader through the Valley of Death and tells them that the journey never ends. 

In a way we see the complexity of life through Rulfo eyes. He reveals that humans have complex desires and needs and sometimes are expressed through violence, and superstitions. Yet, a strong sense of human spirit is found in his stories. His characters at times depend on the blessings of priests, blessings that money can and cannot buy. Individuals that have to be forgiven but are not or cannot. 

Everyone at some point wants to be forgiven for something they’ve done. Remorse, even in death, is what many spirits continue to carry. Even in the bleakest of scenes you can hear the traces of hope being whispered throughout the stories. Life can be harsh, with violence being relative around the world, and humans always adapting to the changing winds of new ideas versus old traditions. Yet, it's the heat of the day that causes the nectar of flowers to drop like water onto the ground. Experiencing Rulfo’s writing is like entering an entire self contained world where the forces of nature are unforgiving and harsh, and yet people continue to persist in life.

Jose Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ: Book Review and Reflection

Jose Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ: Book Review

By Armando Ortiz

Have you ever wondered why many of our holidays revolve around the life of Jesus? Jose Saramago’s novel, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, explores the missing instances of Jesus’s life and their impact on Earth. His story will make readers reconsider the impact that narrative has had on our lives. In this essay I will briefly summarize key points of the novel and then reflect on its significance alongside the Bible.

The novel presents a unique portrayal of Jesus living in the Fertile Crescent's cultural milieu. Saramago delves into Jesus’ character, emphasizing his inner conflicts about his destiny and the impact he will have on civilizations.

Saramago’s Jesus is attempting to come to grips with his existence, and his desire for guidance creates empathy for him. He is rejected by his family and embraced by his companion Mary. He questions the need for rituals, as when he purchases a lamb to take to the temple, and then questions the eventual sacrifice of his body. 

In one scene, Jesus attempts to help out the communities he visits, but ends up adversely affecting the other surrounding towns of the lake. Scenes like these will make you think of our own choices and actions with the reactions that occur.

While in the middle of the Sea of Galilee he confronts his creator. During that meeting the fallen angel who announced his birth, and taught him to become a shepherd appears. The devil’s appearance is not intended to incite but to observe and study the deity- turned human. The pastor, in his own way, assumes a role offering alternatives, and raises questions about the evolving realities. This prompts Jesus to contemplate his existence and the path his life has taken. Saramago’s devil isn’t the horned demon that we’ve all come to know from the bible and ideas that orbit Western thought. Satan shows up to observe and to ask questions.

Furthermore, Saramago’s character is open to learning and following. Jesus is autonomous, although not so free from the perspective of the devil. The novel makes you question the existence of Jesus. Whether for good or bad, his life and ideas ended up having an impact on human history. Saramago’s character lets himself be taken by the flow of experiences, getting as dirty as we get. He never claims to be free of sin, and religious piety is non-existent in light of the unreasonable religious demands. He has a clean spirit, but is physically impure. He becomes like one of us.

Nevertheless, the lingering question posed by this novel is whether the scenes from the Bible being portrayed are fiction. This renders all associated ideas within it as fictional. Heaven and hell, good and evil, and all other beliefs connected to the bible are turned upside down by Saramago. After reading the novel I wonder what premises would horror movies have to use if the Christianity did not exist. Morality and sin would be seen from a different perspective. The land where all these events supposedly happened wouldn’t be as sacred and holy as religions claim it to be.

All we have seen in the last two thousand years has been a shadow, the end result, of a narrative that’s had a deep effect on all humanity. Millions of people have been forever affected by the doctrines that emerged in that region of the world. Ideas that sprouted from there altered the trajectory of humanity. 

We only know of Jesus from what the bible tells us, the miracles made, but we don’t get insights into his intentions or into his mind. Saramago’s tale takes place, behind the scenes, the events that were not written down as Jesus became the savior, the perfect lamb to be sacrificed. He places us in the mind of Jesus. For example, Jesus refused to sacrifice his first lamb, refusing to follow the traditions of his people. Yet, what if Jesus had lived the way described in the novel, and what if his mundane interactions and miracles were acts to help those around him. If his attempts at making peace with humanity were true then it would be another story in the series of narratives that describe his life.

Building on this idea, if the impact of Saramago’s tale were similar to the narrative found in the bible, all our belief systems would be different. The conquest of the Americas and the ideas that Natives worshiped the devil would have to change. The religious narratives that emerged out of the bible to justify religious traditions, conquests, and massacres would have been different. Love would be interpreted from a kinder, sympathetic and empathetic perspective like in Saramago’s novel. The beliefs of the second coming of Jesus, Judgement Day and the resurrection would be canceled forever.

Jesus experiences love, family rejection, gossip, town controversy. He has difficulties managing the powers bestowed upon him by the maker. He knew the die was cast and had to follow through with the guilt of knowing what had happened. The visits by a magical being, his father’s cowardice and desire to keep him alive. His unwillingness to make an offering at the temple, experiencing human compassion, kindness from people one would least expect, and falling in love. These scenes and events are left out from the stories found in the Bible. 

In much the same way that the world’s savior narrative emerged, Saramago weaves a narrative that aligns with our preconceptions of who Jesus was- just a person living his life. A man trying to orient himself in the realities that he was living under. Born out of thin air into a milieu of beliefs and traditions, like a puff of smoke, that only reinforced the beliefs of orthodox ideas of other traditions intimately connected to the bible.

In conclusion, Saramago prompts readers to ponder Jesus’ beyond the traditional narrative, challenging established beliefs. His character undergoes love, rejection, controversy, and compassion, humanizing the figure we know today. The novel invites us to explore the impact of second-hand ideas on a global scale. Yet, the narrative also lets us consider the aspects that make us human on a daily basis, showing compassion, helping those in need of help, loving those around us, and sharing time with those that love us back.

The Art of Gustave Moreau: Hieroglyphic Myths, Modern Symbolism, and Roberto Bolano's 2666

The Art of Gustave Moreau: Hieroglyphic Myths, Modern Symbolism, and Roberto Bolano's 2666

By Armando Ortiz

I was first introduced to the art of Gustav Moreau’s while reading Roberto Bolano’s novel 2666, but really knowing who he was and his art came later. While reading James Joyce’s Ulysses, I learned more about Gustave Moreau. This is when I discovered that the art cover on Bolano’s 2666 was taken from Moreau’s piece titled, Jupiter and Semele. The cover art and the novel it protected fit well with the apocalyptic story that was told inside. 

The symbolism and message projected in that painting was religious, cryptic, political and imbued with so much epic mythology that to come to a full understanding of them is quite a challenge. Nonetheless, even in darkness there is a flicker of light that shines a light that reveals a hidden path. The abstractness of a painting or song is what eventually makes us take a second look, which then opens up to the door a greater understanding of its meaning. This has been the experience I had while learning about Moreau and his art.

My quasi rediscovery came about as I was engrossed in the midst of Ulysses and hit upon a conversation on art and literature that one of the main characters was having, where he described different artists and ideas the concepts they present in their works. In this case the “paintings of Gustav Moreau are the painting of ideas.” (James Joyce, Ulysses p.185)

This reintroduction to his work prompted me to read more about the artist, and become more familiar with his works of art. I learned that Moreau’s art is very apocalyptic and many of his paintings are in watercolor, a medium that was not used much those days. His paintings look apocalyptic with his use of bible imagery and what seems to be related to death and the spirit world. At times you might see angels carrying a dead body. At other times some paintings have a woman carrying the head of a man on a platter. In another instance a head appears to a woman. 

Watercolor paintings are as challenging as using oils. When using oils, you mix white into different colors to replicate light, but with watercolor one builds colors on top of the blank white paper. Once that lightness or white is gone. it is hard to recapture -it can be a compelling process. The hues and combinations of colors are key to his art. In some areas he seems to have saturated the paper with multiple layers of color to the point that backgrounds turned purple or brown. They are contrasted by peach colors or faint lines and deep blue colors that make up his skies. His technique makes you think of light, and how when we look out towards the horizon it is difficult to assimilate into a painting. Though one may try, light and refraction plays a big part in the way we see light and color, and yet Gustave succeeds in this with his paintings.

In his book Gustav Moreau, Jean Selz explains that in Moreau’s attempt to explain his paintings he imbued them with greater meaning. By explaining his works with greater detail than could be seen. (Jean Selz, Gustave Moreau p.36) I was engrossed in learning more about his work and when I visited France I made sure to visit his museum. In 2016 I visited Paris, France and visited the Gustave Moreau Museum. Moreau’s most famous paintings are found in this museum, his former studio. His whole studio seems to have been an attempt at explaining the process of making art. When you walk up the wooden stairs of the building and enter it as if the whole space is a library to the process of his artwork. 

Entering the three story studio is like entering his mind as an artist that from the outside does not seem to be significant. Once inside you see the art he created and the artifacts that helped him create his new paintings. Leaving behind sketch books, incomplete paintings, framed sketches, a library of reference books from all over the world. Everything inside is like a representation of what he considered art. He examined mythologies from Europe, but also of other countries. As you continue to look at his reference books you discover that he studied Buddhist art and the jewelry that decorated the personas were inspired by them. Inside glass cases you find marble hands and feet that most likely served as reference to his works.

A recurring theme of his are the chimera found in many of his paintings. Chimera can mean illusion, dreams or the seeking of things that might not be there. When you visit his museum you see before your eyes the different manifestations of illusions and dreams. In some aspects of understanding one can say that life is a dream, but also that dreams are what make us humans. After carefully looking at one of his most famous paintings I began to wonder if it was a representation of an ancient Maya stela imbued with all its ornaments and jewelry and its symbols undecipherable. 

As you continue to explore, some of the framed paintings seem to be sketches and appear incomplete. Taking a step back I think of all the ancient art that exists today. All that is left is the stone artifact, its color faded and no longer visible, yet it still is a piece of workmanship and it is art. The illusion or dream that Moreau was trying to encapsulate can only be appreciated by visiting the museum. It is there where you get a hint of what he was attempting to do- to encapsulate humanity into symbols that were cross-cultural, the symbol of life and people's thoughts, dreams, goals and illusions.

One need not worry about reading his notes on his paintings. Even if it revealed his worries and thoughts about what he wanted to encapsulate on canvas. What he managed to paint is something that is very much along the lines as one of those songs that one likes to listen to over and over. There is a connection in this case with his creation and the outside which still happens even today. Some might ask, well, what is so special about that, and I say that the same concerns that people back in his day had still exist today. Though the symbols used today are slightly different, there is that concern of whether this life is a dream or not. Moreau created works of art, but also explained what the intended message of his works were. Furthermore, his whole studio was an affirmation that art is a process, it was left as proof of how we must be open to ideas, and that process is influenced by everything around us. 

We are the creators of our destiny and we choose how to define the forces around us, and we can recreate the meanings of these forces as a means to create art. The artist, at times is a prophet and at other times a jester too. In order to appreciate the scope of Gustave Moreau’s art one must experience his art, read about his art, and pay a visit to the place that houses his art. Returning to my initial introduction of his work through Roberto Bolano’s 2666. The characters in that book are also living in a world where cultural traditions play a role in the storylines, but these traditions are also challenged. His characters ultimately make independent choices and attempt to recreate their world in a world that is both filled with traditions, myths, sacred, irreverence, lies and mundane symbolism. Maybe, by him talking about Moreau is his novel and having the art cover be his makes Bolano’s novel more compelling and a testament to the power of art.

Joseph M. Marshall III’s The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living

Joseph M. Marshall III’s The Lakota Way: Book Review 

By Armando Ortiz

The author of The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living is a Sicangu Lakota elder from South Dakota who was born and raised in the Rosebud Indian Reservation. He teaches and writes about Lakota culture and way of life which existed even pre-Columbian times. In his book, Joseph M. Marshall III highlights the lives of Lakota people of great merit, but unlike the merit that we might attach to people today like, sport stars or billionaires. The lives of Crazy Horse, his grandparents and many others serve as allegories on how to live life, and gives you a glimpse into the Lakota way of seeing the world.

Earth, our home, plays an important role in the book, because just as mother earth has been very generous to us, that generosity should be practiced and be extended to all. In the Lakota worldview all includes everything on earth, from tiny fire ants to migrating families of whales. What I came to understand from Marshall’s writings is that we all make up tribes and groups that are interdependent on one another, like mycelium is an integral part of the root systems of trees, and like our original mother intended us to understand our existence. Earth is our home and we continually interact with her environment. We are the human people with tribes all across the planet, one of many groups that call this place home.

The stories and fables shared by Marshall were passed down to him by his grandparents and community elders who taught him. Now he teaches readers how to be with each other and how the land contains parables to share. It allows us to enter the Lakota way of life and learn from their adaptations to their land in the last 300 years. These stories originate from the land and are intended to instill in us a desire to have courage, to seek wisdom, to persevere under trials, to be kind and to be grateful. It’s a message for anyone and everyone. We all have ancestors and we honor them, hopefully, by following their words and emulating their positive actions. Everything has an end, but with it comes a beginning, and all we might leave behind are lessons learned to be shared with others.

Reading the book encourages you towards a more reflective and thoughtful way of living where we hopefully see the interconnectedness. Although we might see ourselves as different and unique individuals from others, Lakota ways of honor, morals and humility can be practiced. He also shows us the capacity that we have to endure, as families, tribes, nations and as a people of earth. Enduring to show the next generation that life doesn’t stop and must be confronted one way or another. Yet along with endurance the importance of relationships that we build with our families, our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and earth is an integral part that makes interconnectedness work.

The Lakota Way is a humble, yet powerful way to see one’s life. Long ago our ancestors had stories and allegories to go with them, but still the spirit of adaptation, and an ability to flex and bend with the wind when necessary is there. These tales also change and fit our realities but the message remains the same. Who we are doesn't necessarily mean who or what we think we are but the message and lessons that our own actions tell to the next generation. Ultimately it's a book about being better people to each other and better humans to everything around us.

Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge: Book Review

 

Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge 

By Armando Ortiz

In Bleeding Edge, the author Thomas Pynchon tells the story of Maxine Tarnow who goes into an investigative journey to uncover the workings of events that were unfolding in New York during the first months of 2001. He creates a clear distinction between the techies that are becoming rich profiting from their creations, and those no longer rolling with dough anymore like Nicholas Windust. This review will mainly focus on the connections the book makes with Central America, the alternative online world that had been created called DeepArcher, and how ultimately we all experience new beginnings which in some ways are also a return. 

Nicholas is a person who has accumulated an empire through shady government dealings and has the power to run countries, and yet he can't. He is quickly becoming irrelevant and useless to the powers that be and the country is about to get closer to completely becoming digital. As a result his collaborations, while being an operative of the state, will compromise his identity. Windust, a secret agent, spent most of his time in Central America in the 80’s. His ex-wife, Xiomara describes to Maxine his obsession with the idea of Xibalba after getting stationed in Guatemala in the early 80s, “in Huehuetenango, where Windust and I met, it was less that a day’s journey to a system of caves everyone there believed was the approach to Xibalba.” She kept explaining that “the early Christian missionaries thought tales of hell would frighten us, but we already had Xibalba, literally, the place of fear.” Hence real life characters that once walked this earth, like Rios Montt, weren’t something new, but an expression or an incarnation of what came out from the caves and cenotes connected to the Mayan underworld.

In the novel “frontier” is found on the internet and more specifically in the program site that Maxine’s friend’s had created - DeepArcher. People log into the site and can leave the “meat” world, and exist in the virtual serendipity of digital existence, but at the ending of the novel even this has been closed. Along the same lines Windust had experienced an alternative world via the Mayan folktales that he’d heard in the Guatemalan towns he visited- a world where violence didn’t play out on television screens or in the virtual world of the infant internet but came creeping out of caves. It wasn’t he that used a cattle prod, but his alternate self from the underworld that did the dirty deeds.

Aside from reminding us how the U.S. entered the 21st century, Pynchon looks back at our government’s involvement in Central America. The book keeps reminding the reader that there was a dubious American presence in Central America in the late-70s all the way to the 90s. The 21st century for Windust was his departure, he had done the dirty work. Windust, a U.S. citizen, led a secret life abroad, returning to the world of Xibalba- a foreign world. Abroad, he would merge with the crowds, but remained an outsider, and back in New York he became part of the outside class. His obsession with the Mayan underworld is similar to the world that characters living in New York have digitally.

Pynchon’s characters escape from the hell-like conditions that begin to grow and spread in Central America. They also escape the “meat” world of New York as they embark into a digital space where random meetings take place, like a new frontier. For those in the South the frontier is dangerous, teeming with injustice and the only frontier to flee to is the north. DeepArcher keeps getting more and more popular, similar to how many social media companies came to be. Pynchon gives readers a glimpse into life in the U.S. months before the attack on the Twin Towers, describing the realities middle to upper middle class society were experiencing- a time when new technologies were beginning to be used and if you had the money for these new toys then you’d get them. The internet was just beginning to blow up and people were adapting to all the new changes that were happening.

Those living in New York came and went as they pleased, they left for California and returned with a tan, they traveled to a ranch in the Midwest and flew back scruffy and dirty to a spacious apartment or condo. In 2001, I too left my family and went to study in South Korea. I had only been there a few weeks when 9/11 burst into our psyche. I was in my own alternate reality trying to make it, attempting to adapt, and once I could navigate through East Asian cities and countries I returned home. The novel ultimately is about our return and remembering those things that keep us grounded, like family but also dreams and acceptance that over time things get better. Despite the tragedies that people faced at all levels of reality, there was a return and a settling, and one can breathe with a sense of ease as things get back to a new normal.

Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing: Comparative Book Review

Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing: Comparative Book Review

By Armando Ortiz

Wolves once roamed freely in all of North America, and by the early-20 century they had been exterminated in the U.S. The novel The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy is set in the early-20 century right before the start of World War Two and years after the last wolf was killed in the U.S. It tells the story of Billy Parham who ends up taking three trips into Mexico, which in a way become his rite of passage. This essay examines Parham’s journeys into Mexico and explores the similarities and differences between characters in Cervantes’ Don Quixote de la Mancha and Rulfo’s Pedro Paramo, as they embark on unexpected adventures in their quest for answers in various landscapes. More specifically it will analyze the dialogue that occurs between characters and also the journey as a road where the story unfolds and parallels each other.

Parham initiates his journeys with the search of a wolf that’s been causing havoc throughout the community’s countryside which is located near the Animas Mountains in the Southwest corner of New Mexico. He catches the she wolf, and instead of exterminating it decides to repatriate the canine back into Mexico. It is believed that that is where she came from, and therefore belongs there. He ends up going into the Northern Mexico state of Sonora. His second and third trips are journeys into Mexico again. On his second time he goes with his brother in search of some stolen goods, but then he gets abandoned by his younger brother.

A unique aspect of McCarthy’s book is its similarities to Cervantes’ Don Quixote. It is as if McCarthy in some way taps into Cervantes’ energy in his descriptions of the rural landscapes, like the vistas or highpoints of mountain ranges. The landscapes that their characters see and the people they meet randomly while on their journeys are very similar. Both writers have characters that travel the countryside that seem to have been abandoned. In addition to their shared journeys through the countryside, both works portray characters facing significant migrations for different reasons.

In Cervantes’ world people have departed to other places, to colonize the Americas, joined the Spanish armadas, or gone into the church ministries. In McCarthy’s world, people are migrating north due to natural disasters like drought and earthquakes, as well as invasions by Americans and Apaches, which have ravaged Northern Mexico and its  towns. The steady stream of people that are emptying out the countryside end up in the U.S. In both narratives people have abandoned their place of origin to strike their luck in new lands. Nevertheless, the main characters’ journey begins in the places that people have abandoned.

Those that have stayed in the northern Mexican countryside are gypsies, communes where people share and work for the benefit of the community- ejidos, other people just stayed behind for various personal reasons, like mormons or native communities that resisted the Spanish, Americans and now Mexicans. In McCarthy’s novel the characters living in Mexico seem to be relics of a life that no longer existed in the US, a certain generosity that is open to any possibility that might arise.

In the U.S. Parham continuously comes across barbed wire fences, and homes have dogs that monitor all the activities, and Native Americans, like the wolves of the American Southwest, seem to be more a myth than a reality but still very much alive. In Mexico the land is there to explore and people seem more generous and willing to help- its a common characteristic. There are many meetings in Parham’s travels where people share their food with him.

In contrast to the sparse dialogues in McCarthy’s narrative, Cervantes masterfully depicts extensive dialogues between his characters. Similar to Cervantes, he describes what was and how people interacted with each other while on the road- offering and sharing with each other whatever they had to passerby in need of help. Yet in McCarthy’s world the danger and likelihood of being robbed or killed is there, like a shadow in the background. He paints images that were unique to the Southwest US and Northern Mexico in the mid-20th century along the same lines as Cervantes does when describing the Spanish countryside. 

In The Crossing characters rarely engage in lengthy dialogues, possibly because Parham travels alone most of the time. The experience of a poverty stricken solo traveler differs significantly from that of a pair of gregarious and loquacious friends like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Parham’s companions are his family, people who already know him well. Their brief discussions convey a sense of familiarity, often implying more than what is explicitly said. The dialogues that do take place are with people like the native shaman or the lone ex-Mormon living a hermit’s life from the perspective of the people that are talking to him. Not so much discussions as monologues to the various reasons we exist in this world. Yet his wanderings and his dialogues with people after a while begin to take the shape of a world that is devoid of conversation. Parham’s quest for his brother parallels the search portrayed in Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Paramo.

This sparse use of dialogues and the eerie atmosphere further echo the haunting journey experienced in Rulfo’s novel. As the narrative unfolds, a sense of familiarity begins to emerge. It's as if Parham, like Juan Preciado in Pedro Paramo, were traveling through a land created by Juan Rulfo. At some point you begin to wonder if Parham is a wandering soul in search for his relative, trying to find his way, in lands where he once called home, like Preciado experiences. As in Rulfo’s narrative, roads at times are empty, dangers exist, and you really don’t know who runs the places that Parham treads on. When a mozo brings him his horse the servant calls out for “el joven Parramo.” It is as if Cormac were making allusions between his characters and those that exist in Rulfo’s narrative.

McCarthy’s descriptions of Northern Mexico and Southern New Mexico follow Cervantes’ descriptions of the Spanish countryside. Lunch and breaks are taken along passes with vistas that one can almost see or along rivers where poplars border the water's edge and wave at you as you follow the flow of the story. In both there is kindness sharing, and there is compassion expressed by people willing to help Parham both in the U.S. and in Mexico. Even though, both Parham and Don Quixote have different personalities, their experiences and lessons learned are through their travels and interactions with other people. Just like Parham searches for places and relatives, so does Preciado, and both seem to explore lands that are dangerous, desolate, and ghostly. McCarthy skillfully fits his novel right amidst works celebrated for compelling characters, picturesque landscapes, and engaging dialogues. Furthermore, the story exemplifies the human instinct to search for answers even in seemingly barren places, leading to profound and distinctive experiences.

In conclusion, The Crossing by McCarthy, with its evocative portrayal of journeys, resonates with Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Paramo. Parham’s quest into Mexico reflects the human desire for meaning and connection in vast landscapes. The ghostly atmosphere, sparse dialogues, and eerie towns in The Crossing parallel the mysterious journey in Pedro Paramo, evoking a sense of familiarity across time and cultures.

While Parham and Don Quixote differ in their personalities and companions, they share the essence of travel as a transformative experience. Parham’s family provides comfort and connection, while Don Quixote’s companions offer contrasting perspectives.

The Crossing, Don Quixote, and Pedro Paramo stand as literary masterpieces that transcend time and cultural boundaries. Their exploration of human nature and the indomitable spirit of adventure provide enduring reflections on the human condition. As we follow the paths of Billy Parham, Don Quixote and Juan Preciado, we are reminded of the interconnectedness of all journeys, both physical and metaphysical, and the profound impact they have on shaping our lives. 

Ultimately, these works exemplify the human instincts to search for answers, even in seemingly desolate places, leading to unique and profound experiences. They remind us of the significance of human connections and the transformative power of our quests for meaning and understanding.

Mark Danner's The Massacre at El Mozote: Book Review

 The Massacre at El Mozote: Book Review (7/22)

By Armando Ortiz

Reading The Massacre at El Mozote by Mark Danner left a deep impression on me. Danner narrates a massacre that took place in El Salvador in the 1980s in a series of towns that had been believed to be friendly to leftist guerrillas. Between the late 1970s and the mid-90s El Salvador was involved in a civil war that killed many people and displaced countless more. The book itself has a bit of a slow start and details a rough outline of what the book is about -the civil war of El Salvador. As you continue reading the book you begin to see the tragedy that is told and narrated by people who saw the executions take place, and the reports generated by journalists that visited the location.The last part of the book is a collection of all the documents used to support Danner’s narrative.

As I read the book I was struck by the way people were assassinated. An image began to develop in my mind. It wasn't an image that sprung forth from the writings found in the book, but came from my childhood memories. When I was just a child, my mom would receive different evangelical pamphlets, booklets and small posters from the church that we attended. These various zines and fliers talked about the coming of Jesus, the end of the world, and judgment day, where everyone’s actions would be judged by god. If you were found guilty of being a sinner you would face eternity in hell. 

These images on paper showed characters that lived in sin and had died only to come face to face with the creator. In addition to that a poster that had been pinned on the side of our pantry showed the different forms of torture that would happen to real Christians. According to the book of Revelations, the devil would come down and start his reign of terror killing all who did not ge the mark of the beast. All the people that would die in the name of Jesus would be resurrected on the final Judgment Day. 

These cartoon-like images showed people being burned at the stake with yellow, orange and red flames engulfing the person, being shot to death by machine guns and gun shells flying out of the muzzle, and people being hacked to pieces by people armed with swords. Well, to me the book not only detailed the apocalypse that the people in El Mozote experienced, but also described how some Christian groups who had decided to not side with either the guerillas or the army became targets. 

Danner goes on to describe the death of a young woman who gets assaulted repeatedly and as that happens all she does is sing Christian songs. Reading through this section was as if my childhood memories were no longer really what they had been after having had this veil of truth removed before me. It was disturbing to read these facts, and as I kept reading the book I began to remember a song from a musician that was very famous during that time and is probably still played today, Stanislao Marino. In his song, La Gran Tribulacion he talks about the great tribulation, and describes how all true Christians would rise up to heaven to meet their creator. 

In this song he states, “se oye un grito, un lamento, un soyoso much gente esta alarmada, que a pasado se pregunta, que a pasado en el mundo,”  “you hear a scream, a lamentation, a lot of alarmed people, what’s happened they ask, what’s happened in the world, and hums a hymn.” He continues his song with, “una joven, va gritando, mamaaa! Un esposo va buscando su familia, unos dicen que una nave mucha gente se llevo, pero escuchen alo lejos alguien grita, cristo  vino, cristo vino, y su pueblo se llevo, no hay remedio, no hay salida, es la gran tribulacion,” “a youngling screams, moooom, a husband goes around looking for his family, some say that a spaceship a lot of people took, but listen at a distance someone yells, Christ came, Christ came and took its community. It's the Great Tribulation!” This song kept playing in my head, haunting me, like a scratched record that takes you back to the beginning. 

Reading the book took me back to my youth. It also made me think of this nauseating situation where I was listening to these songs, and began to imagine and to think of the people over in El Salvador and Guatemala that lived through these tribulations. Children being bayoneted and parents being hacked for being from a community that had to deal with groups that were both enemy and friend. 

The week spent reading the book was also the week I drove to the White Mountain Trailhead to hike White Mountain Peak. As I drove to the location I had to pass through the ancient bristlecone forest. Driving on that road and through the forest was an unreal experience. Not only did it seem that I was entering a different world, but it seemed that the book had had such an impression on my psyche that the fallen trees looked like petrified mummies, some looked like they were characters from the movie Pan's Labyrinth, other trees looked like they could be memorials to the people killed in El Mozote. This was especially true on my return drive through the gravel road that takes you back to the main road. To me the root systems of these ancient trees showed frozen images of people in agony, crying eyes, frightened faces, and still born babies. The branches of these old trunks looked like arms that were extended to some imagined place of safety, and had been begging for life before they were pulled out of the ground. 

I wondered if all that I was seeing was somehow connected to the book that I had been reading or was it that these ancient trees tell us something about our destruction of each other and our environment. Driving through the curves of the mountain I wondered if the singer knew what was happening in Central America when he made the song. How had he managed to get such a feeling through his music, but then was that feeling projected to those that had not experienced those tragedies. Was his music being played in the communities that would one day be burned to the ground or only in places where the fiction of the mark of the beast and the second coming of Jesus was preached? Eerie question to consider.