Spanish 312 blog

Sorry this is a bit late and sorry for not going to the Gallery today. I really wanted to but Im really sick.

I really enjoyed this class. This is my only non-commerce class this whole year and it is a breath of fresh air.  This semester, this class was like my scape goat.  Even though reading some of the books (i.e. Facundo and I the Supreme) were quite arduous, it gave me a break from all my other classes...The blog and wikipedia project are so unique. I have never had to do this in any class. Very innovative....Plus Jon would always give us a good laugh. :)

On another note, It seems like many people didnt really like the Wikipedia project, but I personally liked it. We actually see our work put somewhere. Its a lot of work though, and if you are willing to put in the work then it is quite rewarding. Ive learned more from this WIkipedia project than in any other literature class I have ever taken. And, on Wikipedia, you don't even have to put in your own work, your just paraphrasing someone else's work. So I really didnt understand how people didnt like it, but oh well. 

My favourite book is still The President. I really hated Facundo. 

The class was fun and I will always have fond memories of Spanish 312.

Gahhh! I have been a bad person lately, always writing my blogs late. But I didn’t want to write unless I read the whole book but during class today I ended up reading the last chapter as it was being discussed (I was multitasking very well :D).  Anyway, here is my quest to goodness. Mwahahaha!

I find it quite interesting that in class today we discussed that the book was like a movie because that was my exact thought upon reading the first three chapters!!! (as I noted in my last blog entry) I didn’t know it was actually made into a movie but I thought that because there these entirely different story lines all intertwined into one big story (Ala Babel!).

So I finally get to the end of the book in the middle of class, hehehehe (sorry Jon, once the section was read aloud I had to read the whole chapter right there, that’s the type of book this is, you can’t put I down). I have realized that I really really really really do not like reading or watching or hearing about women getting raped or women in a situation they do not want to be in, but have to be in. I don’t know why but the image gets to me.  Like in the President, when Camilla supposedly became The President’s concubine, I really didn’t like that. The image just stays in my head and it somewhat haunts me.  The very descriptive writing of Mario Vargas Llosa does not help me forget either, but this way, his writing is effective because these are the feelings he wants to evoke I guess. He wants us to feel pity and compassion for Urania, and those are the feelings I feel for her character. 

Even when she is thousands of miles away from her father and the Dominican Republic she still thinks of it, she can never forget it.  When she is in New York she studies the country, never moves on, never takes a vacation from work, never forgets the evils her father has done to her or Trujillo, instead she thinks about the country by studying and reading about it. 

Wikipedia has been constantly on my mind that I completely forgot about my blog. Anyways here it is.

Finally, a book to read that is actually "normal" (normal as in not like I the Supreme or Facundo, hehehehe).  Its got chapters and quotations and everything! Woohhooo! Even though its fairly long, it isn't as intimidating as the I the Supreme. I feel like I like this book already.  

Anyways, what I really liked about this book was the fact that every chapter was a different scene, a different time period, different characters.  It reminds me of a movie, sort of like Babel, where there are all these different scenes, different characters, different time periods, but they are all somewhat interconnected.  

I found cahpter three extremely interesting. Only because it truly captured life under a dictator, in a different way as compared to all the books we have read in this class.  It shows life under the dictatorship from the point of view that we would usually hear of.  Here it truly showed the loyalty of the people (or perhaps the fear of the people) towards the dictator, whatever the Chief says, is what happens, thats the law, even if its one's own happiness on the line.

I feel like I can really somewhat understand the character of Urania.  She somewhat hates her father, doesn't approve of what he has done in the past, doesn't approve of the man he worked fo.  She has tried to forget about him by ignoring his letters, yet she cannot forget about him.  She is bound to the Dominican Republic just as much as she is bound to her father.  No matter how much she tries to forget him, what she is, what she has become, is partly, or mostly due to the fact that her father was in her life.  She cannot deny him. 

In Facundo, a picture of a very powerful, vigorous, barbaric man in the height of his power is portrayed.  In The President, we do not get much insight into the president's character, but we are constantly aware of his manipulative and dictatorial ways.  Furthermore, in I the Supreme, though El Supremo is bed-ridden and sickly, he is still very commanding, domineering, and very much at the height of his power.  What is different about the General in His Labyrinth is that Simon Bolivar is portrayed during the absolute lowest point of his life.  He is weak, sickly, no longer the head of state, and leaving the place he liberated from Spanish rule.  How could such a powerful man be diminished to such a fragile state?  Not even those close to him could believe his physical state when they visited him.   This book portrays its dictator as human, someone who has fallen after reaching unknown limits.  It’s interesting, we don't read this quite often.

 
Somewhere in the book I remember Jose Palacios, his aide-de-camp, saying something in the lines of "only he knows what he is thinking" in spite of all the time he has spent with the General.  I was reading this book on Garcia Marquez for the Wikipedia project and Garcia Marquez said that he purposely did not use stream of consciousness in this book.  He purposely never gets into the head of Bolivar, but he does for all the other characters, only because he wanted the book to resemble a document.  

On top of that, I really enjoy the historical references the book has.  I know Garcia Marquez put a lot of research into this book, and Im sure the other authors of the other books we read have as well, but I don't think I would have as great an appreciation for it myself if I did not put some research into it for the Wikipedia project.  If I didn't know what they were (i.e. the reference to the Jamaica Letter, Santander, the books written be Francis O'Leary, etc.), I would have no idea what those references would have meant in the book.  I would have just skimped right through it, or thought it was just another character or even a made up character.  However, after doing some research, I appreciate more what Garcia Marquez has written, even the little things such as Bolivar being constipated, having insomnia, having an interest in guavas in certain regions, etc. 

Okay, I admit, I have not finished reading the book just yet, but it doesn't mean I cannot comment on it. :) 

As I continue to read this book, I cannot get the image of Fidel Castro out of my head.  Its a bit out there, but thats the image that pops into my head. I can't help it.  Also because I feel that El Supremo is in "hiding", in a certain way.  Sort of like Fidel Castro is now, kind of.  I mean, who really has seen Castro this last year up front and personal? probably not a lot of people, but  Im sure his doctors are part of the few that do see him (exactly like El Supremo). 

On page 111, El Supremo is conversing with Patino in regards to what people think of him.  They talk about how people "see you venturing forth for your afternoon outing on horseback as usual", but really El Supremo is truly not as healthy as people "see" him to be.  Since people do not see him up close, is that person they see on the horse really El Supremo? 

As El Supremo talks to his doctor, his paranoia/insecurities/mistrust in others continues to show.  He keeps questioning whether or not he would tell people what his condition was and continues to insult him. On page 113 he says "You, exalated examiner of my insides, have not managed to mend a single gutter of my aching guts", and continues to do that in other ways...basically telling him that he is incompetent. 

Some of the statements he makes are quite comical though.  I didn't see how they could be comical when we first discussed it in class, but I did find myself laughing at some parts I read, such as when El Supremo says "I'm so full of fistulas I leak everywhere".  I just thought that was funny.  But there must be something seriously wrong with El Supremo physically.  The fact that he still is in power though, still wanting to rule the country says a lot about his character, his mental strength.  

One last comment, there are a lot of random statements (or maybe I just don't understand what he says when he says this stuff) about fornication or body parts such as tits, asses etc. Such as on page 144 "The nanny, laughing: When you sucked my tit and I didnt feel your mouth" and then it goes on to say "Ah fortune what misfortune when the she-ass wants to the he-ass can't...". I really don't understand what that is supposed to mean, hopefully someone will shed some light.  

Im still confused about the whole book in general though.

I’m not a bad person! I just didn’t know we had to write a blog for this week AND I had a midterm today so I could only write today. I am now a good person though :).

As for the book, I have never read anything like this before.  There are not very many actions or descriptions.  And I am having a bit of trouble figuring out who is actually doing the talking when it constantly switches from Patino to El Supremo.  Also those compiler's notes are extremely long and I initially thought they were just footnotes, but ends up, they are just another spin to the story and sometimes, a completely different story..  What I don’t quite enjoy though, are those italicized comments saying “margin torn” or “the rest of the sentence burned, illegible”.  After it says that, the paragraph just stops there, and the next paragraph becomes something completely different and irrelevant to what was just being talked about.  I just get confused all over again.  The Guarani words thrown in there further frustrate me because I have no idea what they mean.  Its just a little frustrating for me that I have to go to the back of the book to look at what the words mean.  But after talking about how everyone in Paraguay is bilingual in Guarani and Spanish, I guess it adds a nice touch. 

I really enjoyed how it started with “I the Supreme Dictator of the Republic order that…all my civil and military servants are to be hanged…”, because upon reading this, I thought “Oh here it is again, another violent one”, but, it turns out to be quite the opposite.  El Supremo seems really nice compared to the dictators in The President and Facundo.  The only force he has imposed on Patino is to write and they seem to have a friendly relationship evident from the start when El Supremo tells Patino not to call him ‘you grace” or your ‘Excellency’, I can’t remember what specifically it was, unless they were with other people. 

I have come to realize that reading this book is extremely difficult.   But hopefully it gets better as it is suppose to be the best dictator novel ever.  But is it called that because of its content? or because of the way it was written?  I must admit, the way its written is quite unique.  I have never seen anything like it.  But for now, the substance just does not do it for me.  Sometimes I feel like skipping some of the paragraphs because I feel like some of what is written is just useless ramblings or perhaps I am just not a deep thinker.  But we did talk about its difficulty and length in class, but I didn’t listen, and specially after reading The President which was so light and pleasant, it is a little difficult.  This book actually somewhat reminds of Facundo, I haven’t decided yet which one I like better yet. 

I really enjoyed reading this book, though, it did end very sadly.  It definitely belongs up there as one of my favourite.  Though, I was extremely saddened by the last chapter “Nothing to Report”.  As I was reading it, I hoped that maybe, just maybe Angel Face would live to see Camila again and continue living happily ever after.  Especially in the chapter when Angel Face leaves for Washington, we finally truly see his intimate relationship with Camila, and you feel somewhat more sympathetic towards him.  Perhaps also this being the first time in the book any true demonstration of love reciprocated from both the man and the woman was truly talked about.  But as we all know, they did not live happily ever after, and I truly felt sympathy for Camila’s and Angel Face’s characters.  I initially thought Angel Face’s personality would be like that of the Judge Advocate General, because of his closeness with the president.  However, he turned out to be the complete opposite, it just made me even sadder.  This book has such a tragic ending really.  It broke my heart.

I did realize though, that as the book went on, Asturias used less and less repetition.  He would still do it once in a while, like in the chapter titled “The Journey”, he constantly repeated what Angel Face would see in his view on the train.  However, barely did he keep saying “He was as beautiful and wicked as Satan”.

I also wondered one thing: why would the president need to be re-elected if he was a dictator? I’m quite puzzled about that.  

Reading this book truly made me realize how the residents of a country living under a dictatorship are truly trapped in this world they cannot get out of.  The fact that people would shun away the lawyer’s wife when she was only asking them to sign a petition to get her husband’s body back, was extremely saddening.  Then, she would get secret letters saying they sympathized with her.  (By the way, I wonder what happened to the rest of that one letter she was sent, the one that ended with "bod-"???).  Also, when Camila tried to leave the country towards the end of the novel, they denied her a passport.  Further, when Angel Face was arrested, they never told him what he did against the president, or why he was being held captive.  There is no democracy in this situation.  People are trapped under a blanket of fear that they cannot even help anyone, even though they want to.  Those who are willing to do something get killed, exiled, or tortured.

The president absolutely sickened me: the way he twisted everyone’s thoughts around.  Like how he got Angel Face to tell General Canales to leave, when really he just wanted to kill him.  Then, he told Angel Face he was sending him to Washington, when really he was having him arrested.  Its quite cowardly when you think about it.  He doesn't arrest Angel Face, he waits for him to leave, so that no one knows what happened...He makes me mad.

My first impression: this book is way better than Facundo.  

It is much easier to read even though it continually jumps around from one story another, it is generally much easier to follow.  Also, you realise as you read on, that all these characters are somewhat interconnected.  And I guess you can say it is the typical narrative novel where you get insights into the character's thoughts and feelings, etc. which made my enjoy it more than Facundo.  But I really like reading it, and find myself getting carried away in the process.  

Furthermore, I like the little quirks in the book.  Like how Asturias would call some characters as "the ____" which is basically a description of the character, like "the favourite" when referring to Miguel Angel Face as being the favourite of The President, or "the idiot", "the mosquito", or "the zany" even though we don't really get their names at the begining.  The nicknames all describe them.  I also like how he calls Angel Face, Angel Face because he has a nice face, yet continually states "He was as beautiful and wicked as Satan".  I wonder why he always does that though when referring to Angel Face.  I think it is quite odd, but then he has to be saying that statement for a reason.  Perhaps it is some foreshadowing or something because Angel Face is working for the President.  So even though Angel Face seems decent now, he must have some hidden agenda in helping General Canales escape, not unless it really was the president's intention to have General Canales killed while escaping and Asturias just wanted to reveal the "curruption" of the people at the time (by choosing to steal from Canales' house instead of keeping a lookout for Canales).  Im really wanting to finish this book so that I know everyone's secret agenda and how all the characters are interconnected.  We still don't know the main purpose of the puppet-master either, and Doctor Barreno yet.

Another aspect of Asturias' writing that I like are his play on Spanish phrases and words like how "Ah Mar!" can also be read as "amar" as evident through the footnote, and Dona "Venjamon" literally means "come ham", and those second definitions to the names/words further describes the person or the situation. 

I quite enjoy though, how the book really captures the times, where all the actions of the people are being watched and reported.  Yet it makes me quite sad knowing that people like Nina Fedina ended up the way she did.  Being in the wrong place at the wrong time while only looking out for the well-being of Camila, being imprisoned and tortured, having her son die in front of her, being sold to a whore house (was it a whore house???).  Just personally, I dont like reading or watching books or movies that show women in that light, but thats the unfortunate reality some people still do face.

My favourite chapter by far though, is "The President's Mail-Bag" chapter.  There are some stories that I remember being mentioned at the begining, and then I make the connection.  Also, its just funny to see how all of them live in this "blanket" of insecurity and paranoia.

I can't say enough of the book. I like it so much better than Facundo. Hence I am writing my blog early :D.

 - I also remember some parts of the book where Facundo was referred to as THE tiger, which takes us back to our last class where Sarmiento introduces Facundo with a tiger.   I guess that Facundo is really supposed to symbolize the tiger in Sarmiento’s introductory story. 

 - Lastly, I realized the colour red was mentioned many times in the second half of the book. Red was used for flags, clothes, Rosas, rags for cattle, etc.  What would they symbolize??? I guess that is something I need to ponder on.

 That is about it for today. I am extremely exhausted from reading Facundo all day. Haha. But honestly that is what I did all day after class. See you in class tomorrow!!!

As insightful as it iwas reading the descriptions of Argentina at the time, I really got into the book in chapter five, “Lfe of Juan Facundo Quirogo”.  The short stories of his childhood and young adult years, gives an insightful view to the character of Juan Facundo Quiroga.  He, as the book says, has not changed much since his childhood to his adult years.  I did think it was a bit of an exaggeration though when Sarmiento describes how violent of a person Facundo is.  But the more I thought about it, the more I could see it happening, because when people are put into a position of power, they tend to abuse that power, even if it is to a small extent.  Further, I found it quite odd that Facundo Quiroga enjoyed leading, not taking order, and being in charge, but not running the government.  Then I read the lines “government was work benefiting others”, and realized, that not wanting to lead the government fit his personality even more. 

Lastly, I really enjoy those quotations Sarmiento puts up at the beginning of every chapter.  I constantly find myself re-reading the quotations when I am actually done with the chapter, so that I can connect what happened in the chapter to what the quotation is talking about. 

I hope that was okay for a first post.  I was not really sure what to write about but hopefully it is somewhat acceptable.