Written by Gabriel Garcia Márquez in 1958 as part of Los Funerales de la Mamá Grande, Un Día de Éstos is a short story addressing a vast theme; that of power and how it is balanced. By constructing the narrative primarily around the two characters of Don Aurelio Escovar, an unqualified dentist, and the mayor who is suffering of toothache, Márquez uses their reactions towards each other to guide the reader into understanding how easy it is to become vulnerable, notwithstanding their social class. CHARACTERISATION The theme of power is explored through the characterisations of the two men in the story and it could be said that this done primarily through continuous contrasts between them. To start with, the vocabulary that surrounds Escovar …show more content…
Firstly, an important recurring symbol in the story is gold, used as a motif that encompasses Escovar, which is done three times. Firstly, his physical description includes, ‘un botón dorado,’ which is closely followed by a description of him as ‘rígido,’ attributing him with a similar quality. Then, as the mayor is introduced for the first time, Escovar, ‘estaba puliendo un diente de oro,’ and finally, and perhaps most pertinently, his first name, Aurelio, itself means gold. Seeing as, ‘gold has the reputation of being… especially strong and durable,’ means that the dentist himself embodies these traits1 (page 55). In addition, it could be said that teeth and dentistry are extremely strong symbols in the story to represent the power balance between the two men. Often, if a person dreams about losing their teeth, it could represent a fear of losing control or power in their waking life. When applied to Un Día de Éstos this is extremely telling of how the mayor is not only losing a tooth i.e. power, but it is Escovar that is taking it away. Similarly, the contrast that exists between the gold tooth that he polishes, and the painful tooth that the mayor demands to be extracted further enhance Escovar’s power, seeing as, ‘the [political] cause of Aurelio and his comrades… has greater value than the cause of the mayor and his accomplices.’1 (page 57) Furthermore, twice in this story does Márquez divert the reader’s attention from what is happening in the room to something that has caught his attention outside, meaning they could also be symbolic of what is in Escovar’s thoughts. At the start of the story, he looks outside to see two turkey buzzards drying off in the sun and seeing as often these creatures, ‘are associated with prey, corpses and death,’ this could be a foreshadowing of the twenty dead men that he
Since I am a second generation latino american, I instantly understood what was going on in this crime scene. The camera and the lighting are capturing dead body but the many different objects around it. I believe Osorio is trying to show how the media seems to only highlight the crime in latino community but the hardly highlight the culture. Although there is a bloody corpse in the piece, it is surrounded by positive objects such as family photos and
Los Explotadores, painted by Rivera in 1926, depicts different types of groups during the Mexican revolution. The mural shows a few peasant women who seem hard at work. In the time the huge representation of the women who seemed to work and give just as much as the men. The next person seems to almost be crucified by the looks of the situation and orientation of the body. One can conclude that this person represents the indigenous people of Mexico who at the time were the most stripped of their rights and land.
The stories of Junot Diaz feature various elements of social and personal issues that are highly prevalent in young Latinx men, primarily the compulsion and adverse effect of machismo, the poignancy of being an outcast in one’s community, and the lack of a father figure in a boy’s life. The first set of short stories prominently feature Ysrael, a Dominican boy whose face was disfigured by a pig when he was an infant. In “Ysrael”, he is the object of Yunior’s fascination, and the victim or Rafa’s (Yunior’s brother) torment.
One of the area of conflict that rose in the book involves the usage of the English language in relation of the family’s native language, Spanish. As a Mexican-American raised in the States the exhibition of the English language, whether the use of the tongue is fluent or not, cause a strain in the Mexican culture as the culture takes in consideration of their romance and richness of history in their native tongue (Rothman 204). Language represent the supporting backbone of a person as the progress in life as the ability to communicate without misunderstands, however a person can cause the loss connection to the past romance of the culture and art of cultivation that brings the language to lifes from their inabilities to comprehend the ability/asset to its fullest potential (Rothman 204). To fully understand the true meaning behind a spoken chain of words can be understood by the method of trying to first comprehend the cultivation of the word and the definition behind them. Cisneros embeds the use of Spanish in fragments depicting a sense of reality within a fictional novel, Caramelo, as well with the use of interchangeable dialogues with spanish phrase to express the illustration of Celaya’s family and the culture in which is translate in of importance of pride.
One of the symbolic representations in the “Salt of the Earth” is a scene where Esparanza husband spits on a scab that is a Mexican American and is arrested and beat by the racist cops. Clearly they are trying to intimidate and silence him. The imagery and complaints from Esparanza show how horrible the conditions are that they live in which only furthers the claim that they are treated as substandard. Conversely, the movie Cesar Chavez shows symbolism is the very grapes that are the object of the movie. The grapes represent the migrant workers inability to get out of poverty.
The main protagonist Esperanza, matures from a childish girl to a young confident woman through many critical and life changing events in the story. Ultimately, the author, Sandra Cisneros implements the symbols of confidence, the house on mango street and the metaphor of shoes to show how Esperanza develops into a more mature state. Sandra Cisneros
Throughout history, various ancient civilizations all over the globe have created traditions and customs that have been passed down through generation to generation. The idea of having these customs withstand the test of time is truly remarkable. A perfect example of the passing of tradition is the Mexican celebration of El Dia De Los Muertos. El Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a holiday that honors and celebrates loved ones of family who have passed away. Although it has its origins from the Aztec Empire, the holiday is widely celebrated in Latin America and even some parts of the United States.
Octavio Paz, a Mexican poet and essayist, is one of the many philosophers with a written piece regarding his understanding of Lo Mexicano. Paz’s “Sons of La Malinche” was first published in the Labyrinth of Solitude in 1950 and is a rather grim interpretation of the Mexican character, however, it captures the crisis of identity that Mexico was burdened with after the conquest. Paz uses the Spanish term “chingar,” (when literally translated means “to screw, to violate”) and its associated phrases to understand the conquest and the effect
In Isabel Allende’s short story “Two Words”, readers follow the story of Belisa Crepuscalario, a woman who was born to an extremely poor family and sell words for a living. Colonel, a really tough and closed man who does not show his feelings easily and had spent his life serving homeland in the civil war. Late in the story she meets Colonel where the tough and closed man become a totally different person. In “Two Words,” Allende emphasizes the power of words through Belisa’s work to develop both Belisa and Colonel’s character, helping him realize that life is beautiful and enjoyable. To understand the power of words in Belisa’s life, it is important to know a little bit about her background.
Throughout Miguel de Cervantes novel, Don Quixote, there is a fine line between reality and illusion that seems to vanish portraying a prominent theme in the novel. Don Quixote de La Mancha, a fifty-year-old man, has an insane obsession in reading chivalry books; he is so absorbed in reading these books that he decides to become a knight-errant himself that will set off on adventures for his eternal glory. These books of chivalry have left Don Quixote so deep within his fantasy that there is no risk of him perceiving true reality. There are a plethora of examples where Don Quixote 's perceived reality is his idealistic fantasies. Cervantes expresses these complexities so much that we begin to notice the social criticism Don Quixote receives from people he encounters.
In the novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the narrator sets out on a journey to assemble the remaining pieces of truth surrounding the murder of Santiago Nasar, twenty-seven years after incident. As the narrator recounts the series of facts relating to Santiago’s death, the reader becomes aware of the emptiness, as an accumulation of these informations can’t recreate the event itself. Judging both the narrator’s desire to revisit the past and the foretold events leading up to Santiago’s death, the narrative explores the ways in which the past and the future have an effect upon the present state. The narrator uses the form of a chronicle to organize time into a confined segment, he engages in the nature of time itself and the analysis of the murder. Captivated by the murder that occurred nearly 30 years ago, the narrator continues to look for the truth surrounding Santiago’s death out of desire secure the past.