I found Fuentes’ fictional tale of Bierce’s demise interesting, but after looking into the background of the novel, I understand why he chose to write about Bierce. The idea of entering Mexico to fight in the revolution in hopes of death seems to me, despite the fact that no writing exists from this time, to be a very “gonzo”-esque idea (getting shot by a Mexican firing squad actually wouldn’t be that out of place in the weird world of Hunter S. Thompson). I guess in a way, the fact that what was probably a very colourful story in reality undertaken by Bierce was a catalyst for Fuentes to record his own imagination of the events which took place, guided by what little information he found.
What’s interesting in this format, however, is that it is not from Bierce’s point of view. While the title “The Old Gringo” may not seem patronizing, the first portion of the novel’s opening chapter will soon set that straight. And in this sense, the tragedy unfolds—the gringo goes where shouldn’t have been and ends up paying the price for it. In a way, there are some interesting politics at play here that echo throughout modern journalism and geopolitical lines now. Is it a journalists right to be there? Is there a sense of falsehood, or intrusion?
Ultimately, it’s interesting that it is a Mexican author who gets to famously fictionalize Bierce’s demise and rebellious end of days—in a sense, once he passed the border and joined the civil war, he lost ownership of his life and fate (as he may or may not have intended to) and perhaps in doing so, lost control of his ultimate story.
One last thing I found interesting was the difference in contrasting the American and his Mexican counterparts, especially Arroyo. There is a level of visceral will to the “Mexican” side of the story, especially in the actions Arroyo takes, but in the end, we see that it is Arroyo who is also shot, out of fear of America. So on one hand, there is the derogatory nature towards the gringo and what he represents, but ultimately, the Mexicans greatly fear (or respect) the Americans, and they use this fear to kill Arroyo.
Questions:
What did you think of the contrast between the two nations?
Why do you think Fuentes chose to fictionalize this story, and how true do you think it is?
“If it is necessary, our atomized consciousness invents love, imagines it or feigns it, but does not live without it,…
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with love, Mexican Revolution, Mexico, W10, war
The old gringo is another look at memory and trauma, recounting the story of an old man who leaves his life behind and has nothing to lose, and Harriet and Arroyo, all of whom are situated at the hacienda. What struck out to me was how some parts of the novel sounded poetic, especially with […]
The novel “The Old Gringo” to me is like a lesson. Moreover, I think it is a lesson for all Ambrose Bierce, Harriet Winslow and Tomas Arroyo. All three escaped the reality, and converegd in the Hacienda, with the hope to find what they actually want in their not-so-pleasant life. To answer Dr.Beasley-Murray’s question in […]
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with escapefromreality, Mexico, revolution
I’m not sure if it was just the version of the novel that I had, but certain parts of the story resembled poetry to me. Not only with how it was written, but how it was visually represented on the pages. With some sentences cutting short and then finishing them in subsequent lines that have […]
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with Civil war, death, death wish, existential, Poetry, relationships, Romance text, unknown, war, Weekly Response
This week’s reading on Carlos Fuentes’ The Old Gringo wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be almost something similar to an autobiography like last week’s read of W, or Memory of Childhood. Although, I was much happier reading something that wasn’t an autobiography. I found this story really …
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with death, love, memory, reflection, repetition
The Old Gringo was an interesting read indeed. This book touches on memory, life, death, religion, revolution, and history. It recounts the journey of a man who travels to Mexico during a civil war, to die a fulfilling death. The Old Gringo, later revealed as the author Ambrose Bierce, leaves behind little, other than a …
Continue reading “The Old Gringo and Reflections of Oneself”
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with fiction, mirrors, reality, reflection, women
Reading Carlos Fuentes’ “The Old Gringo” felt like being taken into a place somewhere between two cultures, somewhere between past, present, and future, somewhere between sleeping and waking. This feeling, of occupying a space in between seems to me a central theme of the novel, in which it’s primary premises are the exact interrelations between […]
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with America, culture, dream, Mexico, Poetry, time
This week I read The Old Gringo and cannot say that I cared for it too much. I found the plot and the storyline flowed well, however, cannot say that I was completely engaged with the content itself. I think … Continue reading →
I found Fuentes’ novel, The Old Gringo, a little bit hard to read. The plot was convoluted, and I didn’t quite understand the nature of the relationship that most of the characters shared. However, reading the lecture notes definitely made me feel better because I realized that that was done intentionally.
Personally, I found the whole plot of the book kind of odd because of how the idea of the Mexican Revolution was romanticized in the old American’s mind. For example, when the narrator likens being a gringo in Mexico and dying there to euthanasia, I felt like the old man was undermining the ramifications of the Mexican Revolution. This is somewhat reminiscent of how people tend to treat wars that do not concern them directly as something that could serve their pleasure. Moreover, he chose to insert himself into the situation at his age just to die in a blaze of glory.
Additionally, I was kind of uncomfortable with Harriet Winslow’s role throughout the book. She played an important part in bringing the old man’s body back to the United States and was the sole survivor of all the events, but was largely treated as an object by Arroyo and the old man. Both of them viewed her as a means to an end, whether it was forcing her into the role of a lover or into a weird daughter/lover dynamic. Hence, I found this portion of the text was difficult to comprehend, no matter how hard I tried.
A fascinating aspect of this book is how it is a fictionalized work of an actual incident; following the actions of American writer Ambrose Bierce. I found this to be quite interesting, especially because of how he disappeared without a trace and how no one actually knew what happened to him. The notion that this text is a fictionalized narration of a series of events is intriguing because there is a minute chance that some of it could be true.
Overall, I found The Old Gringo to be a confusing read with many messages. I guess my question to the class would be: what are your thoughts on the old American’s decision to take part in a Mexican Revolution for no reason other than to die a glorious death? Do you think Harriet impacted him in an actual, real way?
Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with relationships, war
