The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia
RMST 202 Literatures and Cultures of the Romance World II: Modern to Post-Modern
  • Home
  • About
    • Trailer
    • Meet your Instructor
    • Aims and Objectives
    • Classroom Etiquette
    • Introduction
    • Conclusion
    • Midterm Evaluation 2022
    • Midterm Evaluation 2024
    • Lecture Feedback 2024
    • Workload/Engagement Survey 2022
    • Workload/Quality Survey 2024
    • Final Survey Results
    • Focus Group
    • Talks and Articles
    • Contact
  • Syllabus
    • Syllabus 2022
  • Authors
  • Texts
    • Choose your Own Adventure
  • Concepts
  • Lectures
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Transcripts
    • PowerPoints
    • Drinks Pairings
    • Lecture Feedback 2024
  • Videos
    • Lecture Videos
    • Conversation Videos
    • Behind the Scenes Videos
  • Blogs
  • Assessment
    • Blogs
    • Midterm
    • Final Exam
    • Broken Contracts
    • Academic Integrity
    • On Ungrading
  • Playlist
Home / survival

Tags

blog book review books childhood class coming of age crime death desire Dreams family fiction France gender history identity Italy life literature love memories memory Mexico money motherhood perspective politics poverty power questions race reading reality reflection relationships romance Romance Studies sexuality Surrealism time trauma violence war women writing

survival

Time of the Doves

Hey Everyone!I hope you all could unwind and relax during the reading break. As we return to our classes, Time of the Doves by Merce Rodoreda stood out as a thought-provoking novel. When I first started reading this novel, I was a bit confused. The sen…

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with hope, identity, love, relationships, survival, Time of the Doves

Time of the Doves

Hey Everyone!I hope you all could unwind and relax during the reading break. As we return to our classes, Time of the Doves by Merce Rodoreda stood out as a thought-provoking novel. When I first started reading this novel, I was a bit confused. The sen…

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with hope, identity, love, relationships, survival, Time of the Doves

Mad Toy; the tensions of living in a world of survival

This week’s reading of Roberto Arlt’s Mad Toy was very interesting because Arlt’s style of writing is something that I am not usually familiar with, but still enjoyed nonetheless. I can see how Arlt’s writing can be seen as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with beauty, betrayal, survival

A Good Place to Pass- The Old Gringo, Carlos Fuentes

The Old Gringo was a book that caught my eye at the beginning of choosing our texts because it was somewhat a romance. I did not expect this book to be all about love, but more themes of war and violence in the story. The Old Gringo was an engaging text about a man known as “Old Gringo” who came to Mexico to die. At the beginning of the novel, there was repetition with the words, the old gringo has come to Mexico to die. I believe that this repetition forces the reader to know what the gringo’s intentions were at the start, to see later that at the end, he has somewhat found a purpose to live. The Old Gringo travels to Mexico, meets Arroyo, and asks him to join his army. After proving himself, Arroyo lets him join, and he meets a lady called Harriet. He quickly falls for her, despite not wanting to but lets himself anyways. Harriet feels like she must protect the old man, so she joins the army to assist onside. The Old Gringo gets into a fight with Arroyo, and Arroyo betrays him by forcing Harriet into a sexual relationship with him, or else he will kill the old man. This tricky love triangle arises in the novel because of conflict. Harriet agrees to this because she wants to protect the old man. Later the old man is found out to be the American author, and Arroyo and him get violent. The Old Gringo dies, and his American support allows a proper burial and charges against Arroyo. This wicked love story filled with violence, repetition, and memories brought me many feelings towards feeling sad for The Old Gringo because he was honouring his morals, and for Harriet because it is unclear whether she genuinely desired Arroyo. I feel hatred towards Arroyo; however, in the end, I feel somewhat bad for him because of the new life he will have to bear, and because he could have killed the old man for his misguided actions before but let him live, however in a painful way. One thing that still remains unclear for me is the repetition of “Now she sits alone and remembers.” I am confused as to who this is referring to. Whether it’s Harriet because the novel is in her point of view, or if it’s an outside character? My question is, what do you guys think the meaning is of the repetition of “Now she sits alone and remembers” is, and who maybe is the one remembering? 

Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with betrayal, death, lies, love, protection, romance, survival

A Good Place to Pass- The Old Gringo, Carlos Fuentes

The Old Gringo was a book that caught my eye at the beginning of choosing our texts because it was somewhat a romance. I did not expect this book to be all about love, but more themes of war and violence in the story. The Old Gringo was an engaging text about a man known as “Old Gringo” who came to Mexico to die. At the beginning of the novel, there was repetition with the words, the old gringo has come to Mexico to die. I believe that this repetition forces the reader to know what the gringo’s intentions were at the start, to see later that at the end, he has somewhat found a purpose to live. The Old Gringo travels to Mexico, meets Arroyo, and asks him to join his army. After proving himself, Arroyo lets him join, and he meets a lady called Harriet. He quickly falls for her, despite not wanting to but lets himself anyways. Harriet feels like she must protect the old man, so she joins the army to assist onside. The Old Gringo gets into a fight with Arroyo, and Arroyo betrays him by forcing Harriet into a sexual relationship with him, or else he will kill the old man. This tricky love triangle arises in the novel because of conflict. Harriet agrees to this because she wants to protect the old man. Later the old man is found out to be the American author, and Arroyo and him get violent. The Old Gringo dies, and his American support allows a proper burial and charges against Arroyo. This wicked love story filled with violence, repetition, and memories brought me many feelings towards feeling sad for The Old Gringo because he was honouring his morals, and for Harriet because it is unclear whether she genuinely desired Arroyo. I feel hatred towards Arroyo; however, in the end, I feel somewhat bad for him because of the new life he will have to bear, and because he could have killed the old man for his misguided actions before but let him live, however in a painful way. One thing that still remains unclear for me is the repetition of “Now she sits alone and remembers.” I am confused as to who this is referring to. Whether it’s Harriet because the novel is in her point of view, or if it’s an outside character? My question is, what do you guys think the meaning is of the repetition of “Now she sits alone and remembers” is, and who maybe is the one remembering? 

Posted in Blogs, Fuentes | Tagged with betrayal, death, lies, love, protection, romance, survival

Thought’s on Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves”

I found this text to be enlightening and thought-provoking. For me, Rodoreda’s writing style was sometimes over-descriptive, but often it made the story more sensual and poetic. Overall, this text was a fairly simple read; I didn’t have to try hard to understand the meaning behind the scenes as I did in some of the […]

Posted in Blogs | Tagged with Mercè Rodoreda The Time of the Doves, survival, war

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Romance Studies
Faculty of Arts
715 – 1873 East Mall
Buchanan Tower
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1
Website fhis.ubc.ca/undergraduate/romance-studies/
Find us on
 
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility