RMST 202

Luiselli’s novel navigates the trials and tribulations of keeping her creativity alive while performing  her motherly duties. She also explores just how blurred the lines between reality and imagination can become when one becomes obsessed with their means of escapism, which in her case is the poet Gilberto Owen. Through her movement through different liminal spaces and the switch between first-person narration, we see how the obsession consumes her. Her navigation of these spaces causes the reader a sort of confusion at first wondering what is real and what is imagined. I found this a tad bit hard to follow but found that it only added to the narrative of losing yourself in escape. Her fixation on Gilberto points to how we can form these fixed ideas of people who we don’t even know. The mother fabricates this image of him in her head, creating these encounters that never really happened. This reminded me of the parasocial relationships that people tend to form with celebrities. I ...

 This novel was somewhat of a change in what we have been reading so far, I definitely enjoyed this one a lot. Piglia tells the true story of robbers and through his focus on their drug abuse and other reckless actions, he paints an image of what it means to be a criminal.  Piglia's brutally honest depiction of the robbers worked to reveal their motives for this robbery, a desire to leave their old lives behind. They all seem to have some sort of affliction whether that be drugs, sexual perversions, criminal pasts, or mental problems. Piglia paints a psychological image of them which in turn offers as an explanation for their wild behaviour and blatant disregard for human life as shown during their robbery. Dorda is an especially afflicted character as he is a very nervous person as displayed in their escape. This brutally honest revealing of these characters gives us a slight passage into their past and shows why some people might enter this line of work. Piglia did not glori...

I found this novel to be a disturbing yet consuming read. Like you want to look away but can’t stop staring. The exploration of autonomy in the relationship between the young girl and the wealthy man challenges our instant victimization of the girl. She is a victim of being preyed upon by someone much older than her but she is knowing of this. She decides to challenge that idea of being prey and flips the narrative to show she is not complacent.  She wrote of her love for her mother but says she can’t remember if she wrote of her hatred for her too. This dynamic can only coexist under the context of family. To have such a strong, powerful love for the ones you share blood with but to also have an undercurrent of hatred for them too. This is shown in her relationship with her mother as she attempts to “sell herself” for her family’s liberation, encouraged by her mother.  “The child knows what she’s doing is what the mother would have chosen for her to do, if she’d dared.” ...

“Because there's the right to scream. So I scream.” This novel is not supposed to have you gripping your seat with anticipation, it is a story of a mundane, normal life of someone who you might not have previously paid attention to. Rodrigo is using his voice, one of a higher status than Macabéa because people will listen to it. It is his duty to use that voice to encourage others to listen to her story and have empathy for others like it. Through highlighting this disconnect between classes, Lispector reminds the reader of their duty to break down the barrier of stigma and put themselves in another's shoes in order to understand. Rodrigo discusses this duty of his to write Macabéa’s story and bring it to the attention of others as it is the story of many. “What I write is more than mere invention, it’s my obligation to tell about this one girl out of the thousands like her.” (Page 5, Kindle Edition). As he navigates the storytelling of an otherwise mundane life, Rodrigo attem...

          Rodoreda’s “Time of The Doves” is a story of love and loss, and the desperation that ensues when one must carry such a heavy weight for so long. I must say I was shocked when Natalia was about to kill her children and herself, but it goes to show that when we are pushed so far beyond our limits, we change as a person and the beliefs or personality traits that once defined us either become void or heightened in moments of fight or flight . Not even Natalia’s children could keep her desire to live after what she had to endure. Ultimately, this is a story of the tragedies of life and war and the toll it takes on the mind and body.  One instance where Natalia's desperation truly comes to fruition is when she plans to get rid of the doves as she can no longer take their chaos. This seems like such an extreme way to handle her issue with the doves, killing their young. Natalia could have chosen to talk to Quimet about it (although he probably wouldn’t ...

                 Arguedas “Deep Rivers” is ultimately a testament to his life growing up and the harsh intersectionality of trying to exist in two worlds. He had a similar upbringing to that of Ernesto and I think that this shone through in his novel in the ways in which he talked with such passion about the Indigenous culture and the ways it was enacted in his life.  Ernesto's story is that of alienation and trying to exist in two worlds. He is constantly trying to find ways to exist within the environment of his Catholic school while he stays true to his upbringing. The tribulation he experiences of existing within the school is a story of Ernesto trying to find himself again and maturing in an environment that is not accepting of beliefs that differ from theirs. Hence why the ending is so open ended, we learn alongside Ernesto so we only know what he knows. As he becomes exposed to the harsh realities of this school, he realizes ...