The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes
The Old Gringo is a fiction novel written by one of Latin America's most renowned and eloquent authors, Carlos Fuentes. Filled with war, adventure, love and more, this novel takes you back to the Mexican revolution fought in 1912. This contemporary fiction is based on many themes found and experienced by the main characters in this novel. The relationship between Mexico and the United States, the drive to find one's true self and the different ways two men need a woman are only a few themes contained in this story. The question: Is he Ambrose Bierce or just an old gringo, is one that I had to answer while reading this book. We all have different opinions, but it is a question that all ask themselves while reading The Old Gringo.
This novel is told in third-person narrator and at times, different characters in the story. Death is the most popular choice taken in the novel, especially for two of the main characters. It all begins when Harriet Winslow, an American schoolteacher, decides to come to Mexico in 1912 to teach English to the children of a wealthy landowner. What she finds is a general in Pancho Villa's Revolutionary Army and an old American journalist, on a quest for adventure and death. The climax is reached at the death of the old gringo and the Mexican general. The story then ends with the return to the United States made by Harriet Winslow.
This story reminds me very much with the story of Pocahontas. The old gringo and the general, Tomas Arroyo, both desired Harriet Winslow's love. In the story of Pocahontas, John Smith and Kokoum also had such feelings towards Pocahontas. In The Old Gringo, Harriet has a passionate love affair with Tomas Arroyo, the man with the different culture as her. In Pocahontas, she falls in love with John Smith, the man with the different culture as her as well. In both of these situations, we see the different desires for one woman made by two men.
The Old Gringo takes place in the early 1910's in Mexico. The setting of this novel had major influences on the characters, the plot, and the themes of this story. Each character had different ideas on what Mexico meant to them. For Tomas Arroyo, Mexico was his home, a place he could never leave. The old gringo thought of Mexico as a destination for death, a place to die, while Harriet thought it was a pl...
... middle of paper ...
... be so afraid sometimes.
Another theme seen all over today is the fighting between two men or woman for the love of a woman or man. So many television episodes have been designated for this theme because of its popularity with the media. Jerry Springer is just one example. So many people enjoy this show because of the violence that is shown when two people are fighting, especially two girls for one man. I think it's rather stupid though because there are plenty other men or women in this world that one could desire.
I highly enjoyed this book mainly because I had never read one like it before. It didn't have too much of a significance on me, but I learned about Ambrose Bierce and Pancho Villa because of it. I never really remember history or try to, but reading this novel has made me learn about the Mexican revolution and Bierce. I really was fascinated with this story because it really felt as if the old gringo were Ambrose Bierce. I keep on wanting to think that this is what truly happened to the American journalist. 'Was the old gringo really Ambrose Bierce?'; you're asking. That's a question one will have to find out for themselves by reading the novel, The Old Gringo.
The story is told in the first person and it seems to be reasonable, because the author tells his own story. Although, he is very careful, while talking about the facts, because even the fact of the existence of this book exposes him to danger. Because the content of it, revels the reality of life in Mexico, including the life of criminals, and the way they influence the life and career of the author and the ordinary people. The story is gripping, and it simultaneously appeals to both: ethos and pathos. At the same time the author seems to be worth believing, because, on one hand, he worked for Dallas Morning News, and got...
In Elvia Alvarado’s memoir Don’t Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart, she expresses the struggles that people such as herself, and numerous other Honduran citizens face every day. Elvia Alvarado was a Honduran woman, who was considered a peasant. She was born into a poor family in the countryside of Honduras. The book retails stories from Alvarado’s life and the obstacles she is forced to overcome in hopes of achieving a better life for herself and the people around her. She faces oppression due to her social class, ideals, and especially her gender. At the same time though, she is able to find support through these communities. While the odds are stacked against Elvia Alvarado, she is able to continuously preserve,
(134,219). The author and main character Rodriguez are one in the same person. At a young age Luis Rodriguez started writing about his life story which becomes a big feat for him because of not getting education in school, gang related problems, and being a leader in school for his fellow classmates. He clearly goes against a stereotype he faces which is Hispanics are illiterate by, writing a book despite getting without help in his circumstances and writing becoming very popular throughout the years. As a result of his hard work he put into his stories and poems, thanks to one of his teachers Mrs. Baez, the stories and poems were edited and sent to many literary contests.
The first act of Gringo takes place at a mine that is owned by an American named Don Juan Chivers. The mine is located in Mexico where Mr. Chivers discovers what he assumes is a new ore deposit. Mr. Chivers has a daughter named Besita (meaning "The Little Kiss") who is half-Mexican by a Mexican mother. Besita's mother is not around.
Literature of the Americas has many stories and they all have comparisons, but they also have many differences. “Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Monro and “Crossroads: A Sad Vaudeville” by Carlos Solórzano have characters that share some traits and ways, but like all characters they have things that are different. The old woman from “A Sad Vaudeville” is a dynamic protagonist who finds herself meeting the perfect man for her, but has a dilemma when he is in denial because she is not the ideal girl of his dreams; she’s old. Myra from “Day of the Butterfly” is a static antagonist who does not have the same care free attitude as most of the children her own age. She is rather shy and does not fit in or socialize much with people her own age. She does not derive from a very wealthy family. She is responsible for her brother Jimmy which holds her back from having more age appropriate experiences.
Author Mariano Azuela's novel of the Mexican revolution, The Underdogs, conveys a fictional representation of the revolution and the effects it had on the Mexican men and women who lived during that time. The revolutionary rebels were composed of different men grouped together to form small militias against the Federalists, in turn sending them on journeys to various towns, for long periods of time. Intense fighting claimed the lives of many, leaving women and children behind to fend for themselves. Towns were devastated forcing their entire populations to seek refuge elsewhere. The revolution destroyed families across Mexico, leaving mothers grieving for their abducted daughters, wives for their absent husbands, and soldiers for their murdered friends. The novel's accurate depiction also establishes some of the reasons why many joined the revolution, revealing that often, those who joined were escaping their lives to fight for an unknown cause.
This book is a story about 4 sisters who tell their stories about living on an island in the Dominican Republic , and then moving to New York . What is different about this book is the fact that you have different narrators telling you the story , jumping back and forth from past to present . This is effective because it gives you different view point’s from each of the sisters . It may also detract from the narrative because of the fact that it’s confusing to the reader . This is a style of writing that has been recognized and analyzed by critics . Julia Alvarez is a well- known writer and in a way , mirrors events that happened in her own life , in her book . Looking into her life , it show’s that she went through an experience somewhat like the sisters . I interviewed an immigrant , not from the same ethnic back ground as the sisters , but a Japanese immigrant . This was a very
...all want to believe that the crime was truly “foretold”, and that nothing could have been done to change that, each one of the characters share in a part of Santiago Nasar’s death. Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes about the true selfishness and ignorance that people have today. Everyone waits for someone else to step in and take the lead so something dreadful can be prevented or stopped. What people still do not notice is that if everyone was to stand back and wait for others, who is going to be the one who decides to do something? People don’t care who gets hurt, as long as it’s not themselves, like Angela Vicario, while other try to reassure themselves by thinking that they did all that they could, like Colonel Lazaro Aponte and Clotilde Armenta. And finally, some people try to fight for something necessary, but lose track of what they set out for in the first place.
This proved to be fitting to the time in which Cervantes lived, for at the time he wrote Don Quixote, the golden age of Spain was declining, along with the arts that had long been celebrated in the country’s culture. The stories that this book combats are perfect examples of this decline, much like the dark ages of the 14th c...
The eighties prompted change as well as the opening of Best Buy’s first superstore. During 1983, a new corporate name was approved and the Sound of Music Company became known as Best Buy Co., Inc. With mounting consumer support Best Buy continued its road to expansion by opening an additional five stores. In 1985, the newly named company was being publicly traded under the symbol BBY. The late eighties brought forth additional change for the continuously growing company. Best Buy adopted a new concept in retail merchandising with the opening of massive superstores. The new concept shifted the placing of all inventory on the sales floor and hiring a specialized staff of non-commissioned service representatives (FAQ). Such adaptations have fueled the company into progression and continued to promote the company’s corporate vision of “Making life fun and easy”(Fact Sheet).
It is apparent to me that this is not a novel about an individual person, but about a place. The land and people of New Mexico are the storytellers. It is through them that this series of short stories are joined together into a novel. It is the story of these events that make up the narrative.
After the first English translation of part one of the novel in 1612, the novel became popular throughout Europe, and by the 18th century, Cervantes himself was regarded as a literary icon. As scholars and readers alike consider Don Quixote to be a literary classic, it continues to generate controversy and study, especially among South American writers. In a foreword to a translation of the novel, Carlos Fuentes tells readers "[T]he modern world begins when Don Quixote de la Mancha, in 1605, leaves his village, goes out into the world, and discovers that the world does not resemble what he has read about it." His words echo the sentiments of other critics and novelists, who agree that Don Quixote was the first truly modern novel in western literature. The use of realism in Don Quixote deconstructs the fantastic, whimsical nature of the earlier chivalric tales that were popular. In fact, many attribute the decline of those tales to Don Quixote itself, which faithfully delineated and depicted the lives of the lower classes. Don Quixote also tackles a theme which later novelists would favor in their works, one of the contrast between illusion and reality. However, despite a reputation as the harbinger of the modern novel, Don Quixote differs from the modern novel in many aspects. For instance, the comedic tone of Don Quixote contrasts with the majority of the works written in the style of the modern
García Márquez has effectively used magical realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold with the blending of the supernatural and reality being the key element that allows for magical realism within the novel, with the structure and unreliable narrator being less significant elements. Within these elements, the omens; the circular structure of the novel; and the state of the narrator during the consummation of Santiago’s murder are key points in García Márquez’s use of magical realism within the novel, and his proficiency in writing in the genre of magical realism certainly makes Chronicle of a Death Foretold a more captivating read by far.
To begin with the chosen poem is the street written by Octavio Paz in 1963. The poem style is written in free verse consisting of 14 stanzas, the poem does not consist of rhyme patterns or many literary devises. The meaning behind The Street by Octavio is about how Octavio is not sure what he wants exactly sure out of life, After Octavio resigned from being Mexico’s’ ambassador he was not sure if he made the right choice or if what he is going to do now. Although By the end of the poem he is trying to come to terms with his decision so he finally confronts "nobody." The street, by Octavio Paz uses an extended metaphor and imagery to convey the struggle which he has inside of himself. In his poem, “The Street”, Octavio Paz uses the literary devise of an extended metaphor, and imagery, and a mysterious, foreshadowing almost tone to capture the reader’s attention.
Miguel de Cervantes' “Don Quixote” is one of the finest books ever written. Cervantes makes us love Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. He puts that love to the test through various misadventures that seem to come from a place of fantasy. Instead, the Don and Sancho educate one another (and us) in reality through their conversations and cause otherwise hidden aspects of reality to appear.