Argentina's Division in El Matadero by Esteban Echeverria and Amalia by Jose Marmol

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In Esteban Echeverria’s short story, “El Matadero” and Jose Marmol’s story “Amalia”, the reader is able to see a one-sided perspective of Argentina and the division amongst the people of the country. The one sided perspective is how both authors favor the Unitarian side over the Federalists side. The division amongst the people of Argentina in these two stories lets the reader interpret how Argentina views their good and bad inhabitants. The people who consist of the Federal party are described as brutal and cruel while the people of the Unitarian party are depicted as educated with heroic language and possessing dignity. Both Jose Marmol and Esteban Echeverria, who were mid-nineteenth century romantics, lived in exile together in Montevideo during the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas. During Juan Manuel de Rosas violent dictatorship he “had abruptly sent hundreds of good citizens into political exile” (Marmol 5). During his exile, Jose Marmol wrote poetry against the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas. By looking at the Federalist and Unitarian division the reader can see how the author’s favor the Unitarian side over the Federalists side; this is important because it shows the reader how Argentina still struggles today with the division of their country. The division amongst people of different social classes and where the people reside is why conflicts still endure in Argentina.
In “El Matadero”, Esteban Echeverria voices his concerns about Argentina’s social and political state during Juan Manuel de Rosas dictatorship. Esteban Echeverria focuses on the cruelty of Federalists barbarians who live in the countryside outside of the civilized society of Buenos Aires. For instance he states, “the purveyors of meat on the other hand,...

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...t Spanish historians of America” (7). People in modern day Argentina will relate with these works of literature because their government system is still under the same idealized form that the past was trying to create. The people living today will see how the conflicts they deal with today regarding social class emerged in the late eighteenth century to nineteenth century. They will realize that the same conflicts they deal with are the same conflicts previous generations dealt with. The vision of the nation these authors illustrate might provide current Argentine citizens with a vision of how the nation of Argentina should be in the twenty-first century and later generations.

Works Cited
Echeverria, Esteban. El Matadero. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor De America Latina, 1966. Print.
Mármol, José, and Ames Haven. Corley. Amalia. New York: Macmillan, 1918. Print.

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