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This week’s novel, The Old Gringo by Fuentes was also a very dark and tragic read. The start of the... read full post >>

Regarding the text; The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, the novel is about the memories of a woman named Harriet Winslow during the time that civil war had begun and was occurring in Mexico. Firstly to start, I love reading novels that have historical aspects to them as I am incredibly interested in history. Another […] read full post >>

For this week, I have chosen to read “The Old Gringo” written by Carlos Fuentes, which from the book cover I thought this novel would be mainly focused on the Mexican revolution. However, there seemed to be so much more themes in this story.  One of them was an unexpected love triangle of some sort […] read full post >>

The old gringo is set in historic Mexico during the Mexican revolution. This story took a couple of turns that I was not expecting, but it definitely kept me wanting more. The love tale told within the story had both passion, and deceit, which kept it interesting every step of the way. My expectation of …

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 I read The Old Gringo this week. The novel's content mainly revolves around the feelings and cultural conflicts of the three protagonists, Harriet Winslow, Tomas Arroyo and Ambrose Bierce (The Old Gringo). At the beginning of the novel, we meet Harriet Winslow, quietly thinking. So the author uses Winslow's perspective to describe everything that happened before in flashbacks. Ambrose Bierce (known in the novel as Old Gringo) is a journalist from the United States. While working for his employer, he constantly used his reporting to complete the task of attacking others. Still, when he continued to use sharp words to expose In the dark society, his relationship with his wife and children also drifted away. Finally, because of his reports, his two sons committed suicide. So Ambrose Bierce began to get tired of being a journalist. He vowed not to write again and came to Mexico to die. On the way to Mexico, he met Tomas Arroyo. Tomas Arroyo, a colonel of the Mexican rebels, took a document he didn't understand as evidence of his revolution and led revolutionaries through Mexican soil. The two then met Harriet Winslow, who came to teach in a pre-revolutionary landowner's estate and began an emotional entanglement. In this emotional tragedy, Bierce was shot by Arroyo, who was also killed by the general's execution at Winslow's whistleblower.

There are many repeated sentences in the novel. The "now she sits alone and remembers" at the beginning reappears at the end, making people feel that the whole story of the book has become a memory, which only exists in the memory of the heroine and is buried in one corner of history, and the other two in the story. The male protagonist has also been deeply buried in the soil. And the heroine returned to the United States like a lonely fire passer with this memory that will eventually be forgotten. And another sentence in the novel: "he came here to die." also keeps appearing in various scenes. Arroyo's first conversation with the soldier sounded like contempt and disdain for the old gringo. After Gringo showed his prowess and gained recognition, the phrase seemed like a nod to the future of his death on the battlefield. When this sentence appears in Arroyo and Winslow's conversation, it's like an excuse for Arroyo to persuade Winslow to give up Bierce. This sentence represents the admiral's evaluation of this American from a foreign land and emphasizes the purpose of Bierce's coming to Mexico, and implies the fate of old gringo's death. Although in the end, old gringo did not die in a glorious battle, but died at Arroyo's gun after burning Arroyo's documents and was killed again from the front by the general's orders. His death wasn't as complicated as I thought when I first read it, just as Arroyo's death wasn't supposed to be so easy.

Much of the novel also shows the cultural and historical conflict between the two countries. The United States had invaded Mexico, which caused the Mexican revolutionaries to be unfriendly to old foreigners at first. There is an important border between them, the creek between the United States and Mexico. They have a hard time understanding each other's culture. For the first time, the Mexican revolutionaries saw itself in the mirror of the landlord's estate, and Winslow from the United States could dance in this ballroom. Winslow aspires to teach native English but is questioned about its usefulness. Not to mention that at a later stage, the general in Mexico couldn't even understand some of the United States' laws and shot two people a second time to comply with the rules and bury the truth. This cultural divide adds to the sense of borders between the two Americans in the Mexican revolutionaries, and it's no wonder that two lonely strangers are drawn to each other.

My question for this novel is: Why is there so much physical detail added later in the article when describing Arroyo and Winslow's love? Do these details help explain the overall vibe of the relationship?

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 I read The Old Gringo this week. The novel's content mainly revolves around the feelings and cultural conflicts of the three protagonists, Harriet Winslow, Tomas Arroyo and Ambrose Bierce (The Old Gringo). At the beginning of the novel, we meet Harriet Winslow, quietly thinking. So the author uses Winslow's perspective to describe everything that happened before in flashbacks. Ambrose Bierce (known in the novel as Old Gringo) is a journalist from the United States. While working for his employer, he constantly used his reporting to complete the task of attacking others. Still, when he continued to use sharp words to expose In the dark society, his relationship with his wife and children also drifted away. Finally, because of his reports, his two sons committed suicide. So Ambrose Bierce began to get tired of being a journalist. He vowed not to write again and came to Mexico to die. On the way to Mexico, he met Tomas Arroyo. Tomas Arroyo, a colonel of the Mexican rebels, took a document he didn't understand as evidence of his revolution and led revolutionaries through Mexican soil. The two then met Harriet Winslow, who came to teach in a pre-revolutionary landowner's estate and began an emotional entanglement. In this emotional tragedy, Bierce was shot by Arroyo, who was also killed by the general's execution at Winslow's whistleblower.

There are many repeated sentences in the novel. The "now she sits alone and remembers" at the beginning reappears at the end, making people feel that the whole story of the book has become a memory, which only exists in the memory of the heroine and is buried in one corner of history, and the other two in the story. The male protagonist has also been deeply buried in the soil. And the heroine returned to the United States like a lonely fire passer with this memory that will eventually be forgotten. And another sentence in the novel: "he came here to die." also keeps appearing in various scenes. Arroyo's first conversation with the soldier sounded like contempt and disdain for the old gringo. After Gringo showed his prowess and gained recognition, the phrase seemed like a nod to the future of his death on the battlefield. When this sentence appears in Arroyo and Winslow's conversation, it's like an excuse for Arroyo to persuade Winslow to give up Bierce. This sentence represents the admiral's evaluation of this American from a foreign land and emphasizes the purpose of Bierce's coming to Mexico, and implies the fate of old gringo's death. Although in the end, old gringo did not die in a glorious battle, but died at Arroyo's gun after burning Arroyo's documents and was killed again from the front by the general's orders. His death wasn't as complicated as I thought when I first read it, just as Arroyo's death wasn't supposed to be so easy.

Much of the novel also shows the cultural and historical conflict between the two countries. The United States had invaded Mexico, which caused the Mexican revolutionaries to be unfriendly to old foreigners at first. There is an important border between them, the creek between the United States and Mexico. They have a hard time understanding each other's culture. For the first time, the Mexican revolutionaries saw itself in the mirror of the landlord's estate, and Winslow from the United States could dance in this ballroom. Winslow aspires to teach native English but is questioned about its usefulness. Not to mention that at a later stage, the general in Mexico couldn't even understand some of the United States' laws and shot two people a second time to comply with the rules and bury the truth. This cultural divide adds to the sense of borders between the two Americans in the Mexican revolutionaries, and it's no wonder that two lonely strangers are drawn to each other.

My question for this novel is: Why is there so much physical detail added later in the article when describing Arroyo and Winslow's love? Do these details help explain the overall vibe of the relationship?

read full post >>

I’m very confused. Though I appreciate the lecture video providing historical context for this novella, it does not assuage the bulk of my confusion. I suppose some stories don’t provide, nor should they have provide, clear answers in their endings. However, I would have appreciated some sort of explanation regarding the meaning of the trenchcoat, […] read full post >>

This week I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. The story is the memory of Harriet Winslow, an American school teacher who finds herself in the middle of the Mexican revolution. She meets a group of revolutionaries led by … Continue reading → read full post >>

 For this week, I decided to read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. It touches on themes including memory, regret, war, and family. The Old Gringo, who turns out to be the American author Ambrose Bierce, travels to Mexico at the time of the civil war to die in the revolution. I found this reading to be a little difficult to read, but still quite interesting.

 I enjoyed how we were able to trace how each The Old Gringo, General Arroyo, and Ms. Winslow’s pasts played a role in how they all ended up encountering each other. For the Old Gringo, his past actions and the downfall of his family and the lifestyle that led to the death of his sons brought him across the border.  It is often repeated in the text how “to be a gringo in Mexico is one way of dying,” (89). The old man comes to Mexico with the intent to die, but before he does he builds a relationship with Ms. Winslow. There are many times within the story that we see one of the character’s identities being impacted by their parents. Especially for Ms. Winslow and Arroyo who were abandoned by their fathers and try to compensate for this through their respective relationships with the old man. This is made clear when Ms. Winslow has the old gringo buried as her father, I think it’s an act of closure for her to have someone to put to rest in that grave. However, because of this father/daughter dynamic, I was confused by their suggested romantic relationship. 

I found it really interesting to learn that this story was based on a real American short story writer, journalist, and soldier. Also, the concept that Carlos Fuentes used of taking a real narrative and filling in the gaps with a fictional story to answer the mystery of the circumstances of his death. This along with the poetic style Fuentes wrote in, made it a unique narrative that allows the reader to reflect on the greater themes. I think because the story was told from Ms. Winslow's point of view, the readers were able to have a better understanding of both the old man and General Arroyo from the perspective of a woman who understands and was exposed to both their perspectives. 

My question for the class is why do you think Fuentes used Ambrose Bierce’s story as a point of view for the Mexican revolution?

read full post >>

 For this week, I decided to read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. It touches on themes including memory, regret, war, and family. The Old Gringo, who turns out to be the American author Ambrose Bierce, travels to Mexico at the time of the civil war to die in the revolution. I found this reading to be a little difficult to read, but still quite interesting.

 I enjoyed how we were able to trace how each The Old Gringo, General Arroyo, and Ms. Winslow’s pasts played a role in how they all ended up encountering each other. For the Old Gringo, his past actions and the downfall of his family and the lifestyle that led to the death of his sons brought him across the border.  It is often repeated in the text how “to be a gringo in Mexico is one way of dying,” (89). The old man comes to Mexico with the intent to die, but before he does he builds a relationship with Ms. Winslow. There are many times within the story that we see one of the character’s identities being impacted by their parents. Especially for Ms. Winslow and Arroyo who were abandoned by their fathers and try to compensate for this through their respective relationships with the old man. This is made clear when Ms. Winslow has the old gringo buried as her father, I think it’s an act of closure for her to have someone to put to rest in that grave. However, because of this father/daughter dynamic, I was confused by their suggested romantic relationship. 

I found it really interesting to learn that this story was based on a real American short story writer, journalist, and soldier. Also, the concept that Carlos Fuentes used of taking a real narrative and filling in the gaps with a fictional story to answer the mystery of the circumstances of his death. This along with the poetic style Fuentes wrote in, made it a unique narrative that allows the reader to reflect on the greater themes. I think because the story was told from Ms. Winslow's point of view, the readers were able to have a better understanding of both the old man and General Arroyo from the perspective of a woman who understands and was exposed to both their perspectives. 

My question for the class is why do you think Fuentes used Ambrose Bierce’s story as a point of view for the Mexican revolution?

read full post >>