Central America has seen tragic events happen to their people, but none as the stories in …after… and The Tattooed Soldier have to share. The main characters in the two books share many themes as they both struggle to survive during the war. This is one of the worst times for Guatemala people because they are left in poverty and the individuals are in the middle of everything trying to survive. They share stories looking back at the war and show how they got to where they are now, while others are telling a story as they live through the war. People died because of some form of mark or symbol that they carried with them during the war or because of someone they were, and this led them to their death. During that time two things are connected …show more content…
death because it happened to many innocent people, but also the reason for their death which was for mark making. This was one of the biggest reasons for why characters in these two books died and it was painful for those who loved them because they did not deserve to die. Although as explained in the books, there were reasons for the death of some characters, it goes to show that during war no one was safe and if you were a part of something, your death was nearly guaranteed. Two great authors are Carolina Rivera Escamilla and Hector Tobar that share stories an experience that opened my eyes during this time. In the book …after… the first story shows a big significance on the point of how people are killed, and how their death is caused because of someone they were and a mark that they had with them. The characters in “Alma at About Four-Thirty in the Afternoon” are two friends, Dalia and Alma, who shares many similarities with each other and have a special relationship in the way they became friends. They were going to school doing many things together but life outside of that was not the best because they were in the middle of war. Furthermore, they wanted to help support their families for the bad situation they were in because of the government. Overtime they both begin to try and start a movement by helping people and making them aware how the government is the one responsible for sending soldiers to kill people and this is something they do together making them part of the guerillas. So for both of them they were involved in the country’s political situation which put them at risk and their families for going against the government. One day turned out to be bad for them at school because when Dalia finds the man Alma referred her too there was an explosion heard and the man says that “The attack in El Zapote hasn’t gone well. They surrounded the companeros before they could attack. Alma was the leader of the mission. They killed everyone.” During this time they were planning another attack on a military location, El Zapote, but things did not turn out as planned and this led to the death of Alma and all the other people who were in support of her and who were in on the attack. This goes to show that because of being involved in political situations and being part of the guerillas, Alma’s mark of being the leader led to her death. The soldiers killed her and everyone else who was involved in that movement. If she were to have not been part of it then maybe she would have not died but that just shows that anyone can be killed and even more if you are part of something and you are known for it. This was one of many similar problems that occurred in Guatemala during the time of war and they were all for the same reason of trying to the fight the government for themselves and their families to have a better life. Even after people have left or been cut off from their position in the guerillas movement, they still leave a mark for what they did and the soldiers will still go after them because of someone they once were.
Facing the fear that they will go after him because of what he and others tried to push for, going to hide under his bed was the only solution for him as Rivera explains. “How stupid. How could I come home for Mama to hide me? There was no other safe place at the time.” This is what ran through his mind because he knew that the soldiers would come looking for him the worst part of it all was that it made him a fugitive in his own home, when he just simply wanted a better life for everyone. Under his bed he recalled many things when he was little and this was his time of reflection as he knew his time would come soon. A very short story called “The Bed” brought many memories from him and his family as a kid but even in this short story, Rivera writes enough to prove how both death and mark making are connected. As the story continues, Rivera writes about how he heard violent knocking on the door and he knew that there would be no escape from that. The mother of the boy tried to protect him as much as she could but soon enough they would get through and would begin to cry, only to be silenced by a riffle. Slowly they would reach for him under the bed and he lay there to reflect one last time as if the mattress was still covering only to know that his time had come. The …show more content…
mark that he had is the one that he left behind after he got released from the guerillas but to no avail because what he did during his time there was enough for the soldiers to know of him and go after him because of the big impact that he was going to make that year. From one book filled of stories happening during the time of war and what people did to try and stop this, comes another in which one man’s life is changed because of a tragic event and his survival after the war is just as hard as anyone else. There are very few people who can say they are lucky of not facing death, but along the way they still loose people they love. One death of a person can change the life of another but each death has its reason and one man seeks revenge on the person who killed his family because of who they were. Life in Guatemala for one person was not easy because he struggled on his own will. It was not until that person, Antonio, found a woman that he would love with time and have a family with, Elena. His work was not the best but it provided enough to support the both of them just as Elena did the same. However her work was more involvement with the government in trying to raise awareness for the people of Guatemala of the army from there who were named The Jaguars. The Jaguars were men from the army who went around killing people for no reason while for some it was an order from the government because of reforms they tried to do against them. Antonio and Elena would have a child named Carlos and eventually the both become part of this reform called the guerillas who wanted to put an end to the war and fight against the government. Guillermo Longoria was the leader of the soldiers named the Jaguars and one day he was sent pictures of Antonio and his family and was told to go kill them because of what they were trying to do. So one day they show up where Antonio and his family lived only to find him not being there. While they tried to get answers from his wife of where he was, she was killed because she would not tell them and their baby would also be one of those deaths. Solely the reason for who Elena was led to her death and it would have led to Antonio’s death as well if he was present at the time.
Years passed and Antonio moved to Los Angeles, but his life was a struggle there because he had nothing left, everything was taken away from him and he wanted to start and build up his life again but it was not easy. Until one day when he was walking through MacArthur Park he notices someone, “The shaved head, the tattoo of the yellow panther. The soldier from San Cristobal right here in MacArthur Park.” For Antonio this was a miracle at first and could not believe that the same person, who once killed his family back from where they lived, is now on the streets of Los Angeles. With time Antonio followed the man and stalked him to know about him and made it his mission to get revenge and kill the man who killed his family. Towards the end of The Tattooed Soldier, Antonio does exactly that and feels accomplished for having done that because Longoria is no longer on the streets. There are two important deaths that happen in this book and they both connect to mark making. The one of Elena is for the reason that she was part of the guerillas trying to go against the government and when they found out who she was, they went after her and killed her for that. So the mark that she was trying to make is what led to her death. For Longoria, it is more of a literal mark because once Antonio saw the tattoo on his arm and his shaved head, he knew right away who Longoria was because that is something he never forgot. Thus it led him to plot out a way
to kill him and get revenge by finding out more about him and being able to distinguish him by the tattoo of the yellow panther he had. Both books show the lives of people from their perspectives and what some had to do to survive while others stayed in question if they deserved to die and how things could have been resolved. Having been someone or being involved in some type of movement shows that no matter whom you were, death is eventually going to come. Both books point out the importance of death and mark how they connect to each other. The characters had their own reason for doing the things they did, some of it was not the life they would have preferred. If you put it all together than you have individuals fighting for a better life. While at the same time being exposed to the war and bad environment around them left them no choice but to aim for a better place. Central America has always faced problems that has led to war and that is something I found out while reading both books. It is important to see this because many people still are struggling now to survive from those harsh times. So if you put that into perspective, you can relate to these authors in there writings during the war as it happened and looking back at it. People need to be exposed to all these issues happening around the world, and a good start would be seeing what has happened over the years to the Central American people.
The story uses many motifs, symbols and themes. First the motif is Antonio’s dreams. In the beginning of the book his dreams are about what he will become when he grows up; the choice between priest or a vaquero. Later on his dreams change to more important matters, such as family questions and his duty in life. The second motif regards Antonio’s family. He has many family members such
Tattoo’s that are removable are not romantic, and it’s the wuss way to do it. I believe that the main idea of this article is how she got a tattoo that most people would regret because of how much she picked at it, but she didn’t regret it like most people would. In one of the paragraphs she says how even though her tattoo is blurry, scarred, and bad-looking, but she still has no regrets about it unlike 17% of the people in America who have tattoo’s.
Downtown Los Angeles is one of the busiest commercial centers in the United States. However, the city holds two groups of people in different economic level-the homeless and the working class. Hector Tobar frequently includes the landscape of the setting in downtown Los Angeles in The Tattooed Soldier. The novel is about two immigrants from Guatemala who have moved to Los Angeles. The protagonist, Antonio, takes a revenge on the antagonist, Longoria because he murdered Antonio's wife and son when he was a Guatemalan soldier. Tobar applies a number of metaphors to connect the buildings and freeways in downtown to Antonio's position in the city. Buildings, freeways, and shadows are metaphors for Antonio's economic and social status.
It is no secret that the United States has a history of economic and political interventions in countries around the world, especially in Latin America. By comparing the lives of the characters in Tobar’s novel, The Tattooed Soldier, to events that occurred in Latin American history, this paper will focus specifically on how U.S. imperialism, political and economic interventions in the central American countries of Guatemala and El Salvador forced many to flee and immigrate to the United states. Where the newly immigrated Central Americans faced lives of hardships and poverty compared to other Latin communities such as the Cubans who had an easier migration due to their acquisition of the refuge status.
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
Evil is omnipresent, but it cannot be clearly perceived without an unbiased understanding of its intent and motivation. In “The Tattooed Soldier”, this sense of evil is depicted in the two main characters, Antonio Bernal and Guillermo Longoria. The book is set in the late 20th century era of Los Angeles, where the city is in a state of riot and utter chaos. The story focuses on Antonio, a political refugee from a dictated Guatemala, and Longoria, a former member of the Guatemalan death squad. They came to Los Angeles from the same country, but their beliefs and actions differ severely. When their paths cross, Antonio is struck with fear, because he recognizes Longoria as the tattooed soldier who killed his family. The encounter triggers a flashback
Immigrants’ experience can be describes as being transcultural, meaning their experiences from their country (including cultural signifiers) are translated or transported to the mew country they live in. During the transcultural experience, people can be changed by the new culture, and they also bring some their own traditional culture to the new environment. In 1990s, a lot of Latinos leave their countries to come to the United States because of the civil war. Hector Tobar’s book The Tattooed soldier tells a story of a Guatemalan refugee Antonio who comes to live in Los Angeles. His wife and son were killed by the government army. Antonio has to escape from his country because he could be killed too. After the murder, the sergeant
The violent nature that the soldiers acquired during their tour in Vietnam is one of O'Brien's predominant themes in his novel. By consciously selecting very descriptive details that reveal the drastic change in manner within the men, O'Brien creates within the reader an understanding of the effects of war on its participants. One of the soldiers, "Norman Bowler, otherwise a very gentle person, carried a Thumb. . .The Thumb was dark brown, rubbery to touch. . . It had been cut from a VC corpse, a boy of fifteen or sixteen"(O'Brien 13). Bowler had been a very good-natured person in civilian life, yet war makes him into a very hard-mannered, emotionally devoid soldier, carrying about a severed finger as a trophy, proud of his kill. The transformation shown through Bowler is an excellent indicator of the psychological and emotional change that most of the soldiers undergo. To bring an innocent young man from sensitive to apathetic, from caring to hateful, requires a great force; the war provides this force. However, frequently are the changes more drastic. A soldier named "Ted Lavender adopted an orphaned puppy. . .Azar strapped it to a Claymore antipersonnel mine and squeezed the firing device"(O'Brien 39). Azar has become demented; to kill a puppy that someone else has adopted is horrible. However, the infliction of violence has become the norm of behavior for these men; the fleeting moment of compassion shown by one man is instantly erased by another, setting order back within the group. O'Brien here shows a hint of sensitivity among the men to set up a startling contrast between the past and the present for these men. The effect produced on the reader by this contrast is one of horror; therefore fulfilling O'Brien's purpose, to convince the reader of war's severely negative effects.
One of the worst things about war is the severity of carnage that it bestows upon mankind. Men are killed by the millions in the worst ways imaginable. Bodies are blown apart, limbs are cracked and torn and flesh is melted away from the bone. Dying eyes watch as internal organs are spilled of empty cavities, naked torso are hung in trees and men are forced to run on stumps when their feet are blown off. Along with the horrific deaths that accompany war, the injuries often outnumber dead men. As Paul Baumer witnessed in the hospital, the injuries were terrifying and often led to death. His turmoil is expressed in the lines, “Day after day goes by with pain and fear, groans and death gurgles. Even the death room I no use anymore; it is too small.” The men who make it through the war take with them mental and physical scarification from their experiences.
Unkind employers are exploiting innocent immigrants, and that is one of the leading factors that many immigrants can not achieve the American dream. This particular issue is brought in the Tattooed Soldier, and a great example that the author provides of this issue is when Tobar introduces the character, Jose Juan. Jose Juan is the protagonist’s closest friend, and his name is Antonio, the protagonist of the book. Both are immigrants, and they both came to the U.S. for different reasons. Tobar explains to the reader that an awful boss took advantage of Jose Juan.
No he did not expect the army to be like it is he thought it was somewhere to chill and not really get bothered by anyone, but he never wants to miss out on a good experience, even though he is fifteen years old. He thought that you got good clothes and guns but never think he’d really have to use them often. He didn’t really know what he was fighting for. He would also send mail to his family members when he got a chance to and tell them how it is in the war and telling them he loves the.he didn’t know how the training would be he didn’t know he’d have to wake up early in the morning and be trained he thought he could sleep in, and he didn’t know that you don’t get showers like you
The world has changed tremendously throughout the years. Through the personal and cultural expression of tattooing oneself most wonder why people today get tattoos. Furthermore, those who think tattoos are just for looks will have to realize that tattoos are a part of ones life. Therefore one might say, “ Tattooing is used in a way to mark important events or people in their lives in a permanent way.”(Milcetich) people today should look in the meaning and value of a tattoo “As a statement carved in ones body” (Milcetich). Along with that meaning in ones body, people’s attitudes towards tattoos have begun to change what one thinks about tattoos.
Trauma—both in its initial occurrence and later retelling—has persistently provided the foundation from which several graphic novels have stemmed. Take, for example, two separate works by Art Spiegelman and Ari Folman. Whereas Spiegelman’s Maus recounts a survivor’s story of the Holocaust, Folman’s Waltz with Bashir instead retraces a soldier’s connection to the Sabra and Shatila massacre after decades of repression. Though stylistically distinguishable in content and presentation, both texts nevertheless approach their material through the same visual medium, juxtaposing historical instances of trauma through graphic representations. In doing so, Spiegelman and Folman have purposefully illustrated their respective narratives through a comic filter, allowing readers to digest the depiction of atrocities with relative ease. The resulting spectatorial distance, however, does not remain untouched by either; rather, it is used to produce a much more profound effect upon readers when they are suddenly forced to look past
As my friends and I continued to explore the many murals of the crossing between 24th street and Balmy Street, I found a mural that not only connects to the topics we covered in class but also to my own family’s life and our “ancestral” home. On the far end of the alley full of murals, past the depictions of gentrification, aztec pyramids, and mobilized social uprising of the past, there was a fiery image of violence against a mestizo village by what looked as military soldiers of some type of government. From afar, you could not tell the exact event depicted in the mural because after all, Latin American history is plagued with abuses from the government against its indigenous communities, citizens of other nation states and even their own
Captain William Farnsworth Cook was an honorable man who stuck to his word and defended what he loved as anyone should at any costs. He carried his granddaughter from the middle of nowhere all the way to Bush Hill and stood by her side when she recovered from the deadly yellow fever and protected her to the best of his ability even when at death’s door.