For this week, I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. I was excited to read this book because when I was examining the notes for which texts to read it was stated this book was “the closest we have here to a romance if that’s your thing.” Romance is definitely my thing when it comes to the novels I choose to read. However, although The Old Gringo did have a love story it also had other themes that overshadowed the romance, like the concepts of power, war, revolution and so on. Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was an easy read by how few words were on each page, but that could just be the PDF I used to read the book. But even with that, I felt Fuentes had put a lot of repetition to add importance to the dialogue to get us readers thinking throughout the novel.
The book’s narrative is framed as a collection of memories belonging to Harriet, who “sits alone and remembers.” The Old Gringo and Arroyo are shown in a complicated love triangle with Harriet Winslow, an American who had come to Mexico as a teacher for the children. I did not like Arroyo’s intentions with Harriet for all the wrong reasons instead of connection like she and the old gringo had. He was only trying to pursue Harriet to get back at the old gringo for betraying him and was the only way to hurt him instead of killing the man. After all that, the two men inevitably die as they cross the frontier of their differences, the old gringo killed by Arroyo, who was also shot by Villa for overstepping his boundaries of power.
The relationship between Harriet and the old gringo is confusing for me because for the old gringo Harriet was his love interest. Then with Harriet, I was unsure how she viewed the old gringo. Harriet agrees to the relationship with Arroyo so she could protect him. And she buries him under her father’s name, so I was unclear on how Harriet viewed the old gringo if she saw him as someone, she could pursue a love relationship with or saw him as she cared about him as an older guardian relationship.
For this week, I read The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes. I was excited to read this book because when I was examining the notes for which texts to read it was stated this book was “the closest we have here to a romance if that’s your thing.” Romance is definitely my thing when it comes to the novels I choose to read. However, although The Old Gringo did have a love story it also had other themes that overshadowed the romance, like the concepts of power, war, revolution and so on. Overall, I did enjoy the story. It was an easy read by how few words were on each page, but that could just be the PDF I used to read the book. But even with that, I felt Fuentes had put a lot of repetition to add importance to the dialogue to get us readers thinking throughout the novel.
The book’s narrative is framed as a collection of memories belonging to Harriet, who “sits alone and remembers.” The Old Gringo and Arroyo are shown in a complicated love triangle with Harriet Winslow, an American who had come to Mexico as a teacher for the children. I did not like Arroyo’s intentions with Harriet for all the wrong reasons instead of connection like she and the old gringo had. He was only trying to pursue Harriet to get back at the old gringo for betraying him and was the only way to hurt him instead of killing the man. After all that, the two men inevitably die as they cross the frontier of their differences, the old gringo killed by Arroyo, who was also shot by Villa for overstepping his boundaries of power.
The relationship between Harriet and the old gringo is confusing for me because for the old gringo Harriet was his love interest. Then with Harriet, I was unsure how she viewed the old gringo. Harriet agrees to the relationship with Arroyo so she could protect him. And she buries him under her father’s name, so I was unclear on how Harriet viewed the old gringo if she saw him as someone, she could pursue a love relationship with or saw him as she cared about him as an older guardian relationship.
Throughout the readings in this course, we have been repeatedly exposed to storylines set during periods of conflict and civil war. This novel is no exception as it occurs during the Mexican civil war. On the theme of war, we often see the accompanying theme of hopelessness. We learn early in the novel that the […]
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with death, love, tragedy, triangle, war
Near the beginning of the novel, the narrator, Georges, explains that he has very little memories from his childhood. He has lived a very difficult early life, losing both his parents during WWII, and moving from different boarding houses to different family members as he grew up in a war-torn world as a young child. […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, memories, war
This novel had me spiralling fro numerous reasons; however, for the purpose of this blog post, I shall focus on the contrasting chapters alone. It is rare that I come across a reading that I relate to so closely and envy the author for their ability to encapsulate a rare feeling so vividly. The feeling […]
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with authorial intent, dystopian, georges, hyperrealism, Imagination, pain, Surrealism, the real, trauma, war
For reasons that are not entirely within my grasp, W or the memory of childhood was one of my favorite reads this semester. The duality of the narratives and the two parts of the books had a unique sense of … Continue reading →
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with dualities, memory, postmodernism, puzzle, war
The W or Memory of Childhood is a book with two stories, the first being W, and the second being The Memory of Childhood. W was a fantastic story of a man who was on the search for a boy but came across a mysterious island (W) and quickly emerged into their society. W is not the pretty island we think, however. Their morals and sins are based on a game like the “Olympics,” and people must survive, but only the fittest do. This shocked me, and the details in the story made the island come to life. The second story is a memoir of Perec’s past childhood. He is confused because he has many gaps in his memory and cannot remember his childhood clearly. This fogginess is something that I believe definitely is from PTSD from the war and violence when he was a child. I learned in my psychology class that the brain would adapt and forget specific memories if they are too painful and cause a blockage in your memory. This is apparent in Perec’s story as he continuously mentions how he forgets and doesn’t remember his childhood exactly. He believes he has a vague idea of his childhood but cannot put the pieces together. It’s like looking through foggy glasses, and most things are blurry, but no matter what you do, they never clear up. I tried to figure out how the two stories were connected while reading, and it was so confusing. Until I came across this quote, “when I was thirteen I made up a story … [It] was called W and it was, in a way, if not the story of my childhood, then at least a story of my childhood.” After that, I realized that the story of W is not complete but like a symbolic story of his childhood. These ideals were what he had to do as a child to survive and be the fittest. This W voyage is a story of his childhood, and his brain is using what he can to remember his childhood by creating the memories into “fictional” stories that aren’t really fiction at all. The way it jumped back from story to story made it harder to follow along, but it made them feel more connected. If we simply just read the W story and then his memoir, I feel that the effect of the two stories forming and creating each other would not be as apparent. My question for this text is, do you think the author decided to include alternating chapters to connect the stories more in the text? And How do you think this helped shape the story’s themes/similarities to be more connected?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with childhood, confusion, fiction, memory loss, ptsd, war
The W or Memory of Childhood is a book with two stories, the first being W, and the second being The Memory of Childhood. W was a fantastic story of a man who was on the search for a boy but came across a mysterious island (W) and quickly emerged into their society. W is not the pretty island we think, however. Their morals and sins are based on a game like the “Olympics,” and people must survive, but only the fittest do. This shocked me, and the details in the story made the island come to life. The second story is a memoir of Perec’s past childhood. He is confused because he has many gaps in his memory and cannot remember his childhood clearly. This fogginess is something that I believe definitely is from PTSD from the war and violence when he was a child. I learned in my psychology class that the brain would adapt and forget specific memories if they are too painful and cause a blockage in your memory. This is apparent in Perec’s story as he continuously mentions how he forgets and doesn’t remember his childhood exactly. He believes he has a vague idea of his childhood but cannot put the pieces together. It’s like looking through foggy glasses, and most things are blurry, but no matter what you do, they never clear up. I tried to figure out how the two stories were connected while reading, and it was so confusing. Until I came across this quote, “when I was thirteen I made up a story … [It] was called W and it was, in a way, if not the story of my childhood, then at least a story of my childhood.” After that, I realized that the story of W is not complete but like a symbolic story of his childhood. These ideals were what he had to do as a child to survive and be the fittest. This W voyage is a story of his childhood, and his brain is using what he can to remember his childhood by creating the memories into “fictional” stories that aren’t really fiction at all. The way it jumped back from story to story made it harder to follow along, but it made them feel more connected. If we simply just read the W story and then his memoir, I feel that the effect of the two stories forming and creating each other would not be as apparent. My question for this text is, do you think the author decided to include alternating chapters to connect the stories more in the text? And How do you think this helped shape the story’s themes/similarities to be more connected?
Posted in Blogs | Tagged with childhood, confusion, fiction, memory loss, ptsd, war
I unfortunately found this weeks reading to be a bit more difficult to follow than other books we read so far. Not so much in regards to difficult language or translation discrepancies, but rather the multiple storylines that took place throughout the book. In all honesty, I found it quite confusing and found myself having to reread certain passages and pages. From what I gathered, Georges attempts to recall memories from his childhood, while intertwining stories and scenarios from the present.
An initial thought I had after reading the first few chapters, was that it reminded me of our first reading, Swann’s way. In this book, Marcel reflects on his past, specifically childhood and what his relationship was like with his mother and father at the time. I found similarities with this reading, as Georges tries to scrap together memories of his parents before they both perished due to different circumstances during the war. Though most of Georges memories didn’t specifically connect with one another, I found some quite interesting while i felt others were a bit boring. I think part of the reason why I may have found some of these boring is because they seemed to lack emotional depth. In Swann’s Way, for example, Marcel talks about how upset the neglect of his mother made him. With a lot of emotional detail, I truly felt for the character. However, with this reading, I felt as though i was reading descriptions of people or events without receiving much detail on the authors feelings. Which seemed odd to me considering memories are something very personal.
I question if this lack of detail as well as his lack of memory might have something to do with the circumstances under which his parents died. As just a young boy he had to the mourn the loss of both his parents. His father died in the war, and his mother died in the holocaust. Im thinking it’s possible that because of all the chaos and emotional stress he had endured, he lacks memory.
The main thing that has me greatly confused throughout the novel is the multiple storylines and how different they were from one another. Im not too sure how Georges encounter with Otto tied in with his childhood memories, as well as the story of W.
My question for the class: do you think Georges vague memories could be trauma related?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, holocaust, memories, war
I unfortunately found this weeks reading to be a bit more difficult to follow than other books we read so far. Not so much in regards to difficult language or translation discrepancies, but rather the multiple storylines that took place throughout the book. In all honesty, I found it quite confusing and found myself having to reread certain passages and pages. From what I gathered, Georges attempts to recall memories from his childhood, while intertwining stories and scenarios from the present.
An initial thought I had after reading the first few chapters, was that it reminded me of our first reading, Swann’s way. In this book, Marcel reflects on his past, specifically childhood and what his relationship was like with his mother and father at the time. I found similarities with this reading, as Georges tries to scrap together memories of his parents before they both perished due to different circumstances during the war. Though most of Georges memories didn’t specifically connect with one another, I found some quite interesting while i felt others were a bit boring. I think part of the reason why I may have found some of these boring is because they seemed to lack emotional depth. In Swann’s Way, for example, Marcel talks about how upset the neglect of his mother made him. With a lot of emotional detail, I truly felt for the character. However, with this reading, I felt as though i was reading descriptions of people or events without receiving much detail on the authors feelings. Which seemed odd to me considering memories are something very personal.
I question if this lack of detail as well as his lack of memory might have something to do with the circumstances under which his parents died. As just a young boy he had to the mourn the loss of both his parents. His father died in the war, and his mother died in the holocaust. Im thinking it’s possible that because of all the chaos and emotional stress he had endured, he lacks memory.
The main thing that has me greatly confused throughout the novel is the multiple storylines and how different they were from one another. Im not too sure how Georges encounter with Otto tied in with his childhood memories, as well as the story of W.
My question for the class: do you think Georges vague memories could be trauma related?
Posted in Blogs, Perec | Tagged with childhood, holocaust, memories, war
