One theme that I found interesting in the novel was the theme of transition. Agostino is often caught between childhood and adulthood and expresses the want to enter the next stage of his life by doing more “adult” things. I think the moment when he isn’t allowed into the home at the end of the […]
Maria Luisa Bombal’s “The Shrouded Woman” revolves around the life of Ana María, a woman from an aristocratic Chilean family. The novel is structured around Ana María’s funeral, where she narrates her story from within the coffin, providing insight into her thoughts, emotions, and experiences. While Ana María is physically dead, her soul and awareness […]
I cried. The story, narration, imagery, everything about this book was so sad and touching that I couldn’t help but shed some tears as I read it. Perhaps the reason I felt so strongly about it is because one of my best friends passed away last September and I couldn’t help but think of her […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good weekend, as well as a nice start to your week:) I know we’ve had a little bumpy start to the new term. It has been a bit hectic lately with the snow days and transit strike, but hopefully, we can soon get back into our normal […]
Hello everyone! My reading for this week is Roberto Arlt’s Mad Toy, a novel that explores the life of Silvio, a young man entangled in a turbulent life of poverty and adolescence. This tale is not about the life of a carefree youth growing up but rather explores a different phase of development, an identity […]
This week’s reading was much better than the last one in my opinion. I found it easier to follow along but also extremely entertaining. I want to share my favourite paragraph from the reading. “I seemed to see her outside of time and space, on a dark, dry plain,with a sky so blue it was […]
Roberto Arlt’s novel, “Mad Toy,” was a refreshing coming-of-age novel that invited readers to follow the harrowing journey of a struggling youth named Silvio Astier. In the first chapter, “The Band of Thieves,” Silvio befriended Enrique Irzubeta and Lucio. Together, the three adolescents became members of the “Club of the Midnight Horsemen,” entangled in a […]
Discussions from January 12, 2024
Hi Everyone! I have to say, I feel quite sad writing the (second) last blog post for this class. This…
This book was definitely up there among my favourites of this term. It was simultaneously light and dealt with themes that I connected with, so I was able to engage with it more than I could with some other books we read. There were many themes involved in the novel, but the one that resonated with me the most was that of identity. On pages 117 and 118 (of my pdf – not sure what the page numbers are for a physical copy), there is a discussion of nationality and identity. I found it funny that Clarice Lispector was mentioned; though I didn’t personally read her book this term, it still felt like a fun little crossover.
As someone who has Iranian heritage, was born and raised in the UK, and is now living in Canada, I’ve thought a lot about how nationality may or may not be part of our identities. I would still consider myself Iranian if I didn’t have citizenship, though I’m not sure that I’ll ever consider myself Canadian even if I get the passport. I just think it’s interesting how some places become ingrained in our identities, while some don’t ever get to that status.
Another quote that got the wheels in my head turning was: “Pacifism, my dear brother, is like mermaids: it can only breathe in the sea of fantasy, reality doesn’t suit it”, (p132 of my pdf). It reminds me of the quote from Soldiers of Salamis I discussed last week; “to me a civilised country is one where people don’t have to waste their time on politics”. Both contain a thread of idealism, though one is idealistic and the other shuts it down. It also makes me think about my stance on pacifism. Does it really work? Maybe it does. I feel like I could argue both sides.
Overall, I think this novel did a good job of illustrating the places in between; neither fully good, nor fully bad, neither completely real, nor completely fantastical. The line that struck me as illustrating this idea well was: “Yes, he’s a thug and a good father. I don’t like the thug, but I love the father me is to me”. It’s a reminder of all the shades of grey in life and in people. I find it a more balanced view of the world, and an understanding that comes with age; 10 year old me certainly wouldn’t have been able to fully comprehend it, and I think 30 year old me will have an even stronger grasp of the concept.
The question I now pose to you is about pacifism. Do you think it can only exist in fantasy? Or can it survive in our current world?
