Favorite Text of the Semester (or one of them)

The variety of the texts, art, music, and films we studied in this class enriched greatly not only my understanding of Latin American authors and the culture but of fundamental principles in life that are essential in human relationships.

I have always enjoyed reading literature that would help me learn historical content. Ines of my Soul written by Isabel Allende was very well written as the plot line was clearly structured, I was able to understand the historical significance of the different areas they were traveling around and I could understand the relationships and see the character development as it progressed and changed throughout the novel.

I have always believed that in order to understand our future and present, personally and as a nation, it is fundamental that we understand our past. Latin American history is a complicated issue, and my eyes were opened so much more as to what the Spaniards did as they conquered Latin America. The three g’s, gold, glory, and God, really were the momentum for the men in this novel, and during this time period, while for the women, they were almost powerless and victim to males desires.

But through the example of Ines we can see that the way a society is does not determine how it has to be. She chose not to let the norms of society dictate how she had to act or keep her from getting what she wanted. I was fascinated that this theme really is as prevalent today as it was 500 years ago.

It was hard to pick a favorite text because once analyzed they are became more applicable but this one was easily applicable to principles and themes I understood personally.

Prosper in the Land

Enrique: You mother loves you, Carlitos, a lot.
Carlitos: Then why did she go so far away? 
Enrique: What do you mean, "why"? So you could have a better life.
... Tell me how you've liked these past few days? 
You liked picking tomatoes? Hiding from the I.N.S.? Eh? 
Or washing dishes just for a meal and a place to sleep?
No one chooses to live this way, Carlitos, unless they've got a good reason.
I'm sure that for her, you're that reason!

(Under the Same Moon 82 minutes)

  

I am sure that I would have had much different thoughts and feelings if I had seen this movie before I served a mission in Houston, Texas. However while I was there I heard stories from people, every day without fail, of someone they knew, a family member or a friend, who fled here to seek security because their lives or their families were threatened in some way in Mexico. This film portrays Rosario and Carlitos as just an example of this. 

I  have always thought a lot about this because when you think of the human individual, you cannot help but to feel compassion for those who primarily just want to protect their family and provide for them. 

In The Book of Mormon they refer to this land, the American continent, as being the "promised land." I wonder a lot about this prophecy especially when I read in 2 Nephi 1:5-9 which says that if Lehi's descendents keep God's commandments they will prosper in the land of promise. 

When looking at both nations, the United States or Mexico it would be quite hard to judge who is keeping the commandments better (but that is a whole other topic).

Since those experiences I had, I always think of Lehi’s promise to those who live in the Promised Land. Families seem to be falling apart here more than ever. Carlitos mom is sacrificing her life and everything for her small family.

Of course justice and laws are important but ultimately God’s laws and promises reign.  This understanding helps us be a little slower to judge people or our neighbors who are a little bit different than us but then who are truly the same when it comes to ideals and the most important things in life.

Since the beginning of time God’s promises, however all-embracing and far reaching they are, they always come to pass. This leads us to wonder, when are the lamanites going to prosper in the land? Or is this only spiritual prosperity which is already happening.

The Sum Total of Our Experiences.

"Ay, every generation, every man is part of his past. He cannot escape it, but he may reform the old materials, make something new--"

Rudolfo Anaya (Bless Me, Ultima 247)

Nearing the end of this novel the main character Antonio and his father have a sweet conversation unique to any others in the novel that took place. Antonio was able to reach below the surface level small-talk and hear the emotions and thoughts of his father. 

A frequently quoted phrase says that we are a "sum total of our past experiences," where often we don't realize the potential of what we can make of ourselves. 

In the spring of 1954 an act said to be impossible by physiologists and athletic trainers, Roger Banister broke the four minute mile, something no one had been able to do. Though what happened just shortly after was just as fascinating. In just a years’ time almost 150 others had broken that record. How was this possible?

The old materials, or the thought that many people didn't think it was possible, that the human body couldn't run that fast was almost believed as a fact, but as soon as someone took that old material, or that old way of thinking, and decided to make something new out of it, or decided to think differently about that given situation, reform happened. Changes happened.

We are all part of our past because we lived it, endured it, and made it, but we don’t just make something for nothing. Everything we make is for the future. We run to break records. Antonio, an observer and listener, soaked in life and experiences from his father in this situation and also many other people in other situations throughout the novel, to help him undertake and carry out the final events of this book.

Little did Antonio know, he was preparing himself for the time when he would be without his father and other loved ones. Little do we tap into the capacity we have from stored experiences, old materials; to make them new—to make us new. We possess everything necessary to make any change possible, to reform ourselves, the question is how are we going to make us new?

Introverts and Extroverts: A Forgotten Virtue of the Need for Both

"It is the blood of the Lunas to be quite, for only a quiet man can learn the secrets of the earth that are necessary to planting."

Rudolfo Anaya (Bless Me, Ultima 41)

Specifically speaking of the Luna's, mother's side of the family, the farmers, the students, the content, can also be referred to as the growers or learners. This can also be argued from the quote that the "quiet man learns the secrets of the earth [which] are necessary to [growth]."

We then reason that only a quiet person can learn the secrets to life that are necessary for growth and learning. Though this is only half of the quote focusing on the Luna's side of the family, this reasoning can be absolutely true for them. 

A recent TED talk by Susan Cain reiterates this same reasoning and giving evidence to why the act of being quiet for some people means growth as much as for some people who thrive being in the spotlight grow just as equally.

She gave a talk called "The Power of Introverts," which was based off of her recent book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking which emphasized the fact that it is okay to be alone. Especially in society today where everything is always going, always in action, but this is not how all people thrive. Historically some of the greatest people who changed the world like Gandhi were not necessarily great because of what he did among people but because of necessary time alone he had to create these grand thoughts and acts. Introverts thrive in the quite of the world--that is where they feel most alive—that is where their growth happens.

She then echoes this in a quote saying: 

“There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.”

The main character Antonio thrives in the ways of his mother's family, but this does not make him inferior to his father’s more 'extrovert' way but that is how he grows. He grows in the quite.

Growth is different for all. Certain plants grow better in different areas, each is essential, but each requiring different means to become their complete full potential.

 

Four Score and Seven Years Ago...

"Better the colony should perish than a principle."

Alejo Carpentier (Kingdom of This World 66)

For some reason the word 'perish' in this sentence created a connection for me to a powerful speech written back in the nineteenth century. Visionaries and liberals from the novel quoted this line in response to the French colonists permitting the black slaves to some political rights. These men, who despite the eminent threat of a possible civil war still understood the right for human equality.

A similar visionary, Abraham Lincoln echoed these same words in his speech the Gettysburg Address, also campaigned for the continuation of the rights of man over the rights of the federal or state government.

Quoting a few lines:

“…dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal… we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The principle is that equality exists among all human beings, an inalienable right, which was a strong motive and cause, whether directly or indirectly, for this civil war in the United States. The death statistics are unfathomable for this war and other civil revolts around the world. Specifically in the United States it was in the name and principle of freedom, showing that the colony, country, community, was worth very little if no one was willing to fight to the basic principles to command a country by.

Where a hundred and fifty years later, can we still say that any sacrifice is worthy for divine, correct, and inherent principles to continue forward? Is it better to perish than let a principle endure?

Lincoln understood that sacrifices were necessary for true principles to endure and the founders of the United States before him, or other ‘liberalists’ or ‘visionaries’ for that matter. It is indispensable that every citizen understands, lives for, and protects the liberties of equality and government by the people, that so many before have paid the ultimate price.

 

Tip of An Iceberg

"As he watched the slow scattering of the herd grazing knee-deep in clover, he developed a keen interest in the existence of certain plants to which nobody else paid attention...he foraged with his only hand among the familiar grasses for those spurned growths to which he had given no thought before. To his surprise he discovered the secret life of..."

Alejo Carpentier (Kingdom of This World 17)

In Capentier's novel, The Kingdom of This World, he inserts a handful of deep and thought provoking lines such as the one quoted above. The character Macandal in this novel notices for the first time, perhaps after losing his arm, the tiny details that make live in life. He began with the plants, and then explored into the plants to see the life of smaller plants and insects that any passerby-er often fails to notice. 

This same principle is demonstrated in the life and make-up of an iceberg. Not too long ago I came across a video produced by BBC which displayed the birth and life of an iceberg.  Often with an iceberg we are only able to see about 1/8 of the complete structure which leaves the majority hidden to the naked eye which only see the tip above water; and where icebergs are made up of frozen freshwater floating in a salt water ocean they are like an oasis in a desert.

Similarly this situation is relative to Macandal’s experience lying on the grass, yes, on a grander level, but Macandal who had always seen life by the tip but never really having excavated its true riches until now.

We can learn the secret life of plants and bugs and underwater arctic waters, but the most significant lesson would be that on first glance what we see is mostly likely only a taste of reality or the potential each location and experience has to offer. The "diamond in the rough" as Aladdin states is truly all around us. 

The majority of time people skim over life and its’ experiences like a water skier, quickly, and without much depth but the uniqueness of people, our surroundings, and the moments of life in general must be carefully analyzed and detailed to realize the force and energy that is often available to us if we stop and let it soak in us so we can discover its' secrets.

 

Listening to History That Did Not Live In Vain.

[. . .truth, whose mother is history, who is the rival of time, depository of deeds, witness of the past, example and lesson to the present, and warning to the future.] 

Jorge Luis Borges (Ficciones 53)

I was interesting to me that Borges was impressed to analyze these lines from Don Quixote among all the many lines he could have chosen. These lines exemplify which truth is. Not only what is now but what is was--the same as now because it never changes.

Upon reading these lines in this text I immediately thought of eighth grade history class and a quote by Edmund Burke which we had to memorize, it said:

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

Through all of these years this line of truth has stood tall in my mind without being forgotten. Edmund Burke lived in the eighteenth century, and was a voice for political conservatism. 

Though what I find incredibly interesting is that he relates truth to the mother of history. How can the study of history shape our future? And how does listening and benefiting from our mothers, our caregivers, life providers, and our nurturers be just as life changing for each of us.

Much of it comes to a central agreement that we are not on our own. We have our mothers to help teach and provide for us and in another aspect of life we have history. The fact that people have not lived in vain, and sometimes it is in vain if we take no concern to see what they lived and died for—a similar attribute of our mothers.

The truth that history is the best teacher, and also a warning for our future, and teaches us here in the present emphasizes Burke’s words that the truths in history are here for our benefit but if we choose to ignore it the same events are going to happen to us—that this mother, history and life already lived doesn’t need to be a cycle of destruction but a lesson for the future of humanity.

Searching for Sugar Man

Each one of us is Man, and represents the hopes and possibilities of the species. Redemption is a personal task... Life only justifies and transcends itself when it is realized in death, and death is also a transcendence in that it is a new life.

Octavio Paz (The Labyrinth of Solitude 56)

The most legendary of all stories and tales in life and those which are almost magnetic to the human spirit always fall along the similar lines of a tale of a fall and redemption. As we see the character fall into the darkness and then rise up to the light again, we can all relate to this process of the human soul.

A particular example of this, now an Academy Award winning documentary called Searching for Sugar Man depicts the story of a promising folk artist in the United States who only found success in South Africa though completely unbeknownst to him for he never received royalties. There he was bigger than The Beatles, and Rollingstones, but working in Detroit as a humble demolition worker. In the end of the twentieth century South African fans searched his story out among assumptions that he was dead and found he was actually alive, and living in Detroit. He then returned to perform in South Africa before thousands of fans in sell-out concerts. While upon returning home he still continued to live in the same house and return to his same work.

When redemption is real it's focused on character and never on wealth. The redeeming nature of Sugar Man is that first when fans thought he was dead, they came searching for the truth of this heroic character in South Africa because his music transcended his legacy. Sugar Man then experienced this new life and a personal redemption when his music became known to the world at large.

Sugar Man didn't realize that he was redeeming himself through those years of back-breaking labor. His humble character transcends his music success today as he gives his earned money to friends and family. His humble character made true redemption possible.

Redemption happens for all when the majority of the time we do not realize it is happening. Like Sugar Man, it is slow but possible, the closer one comes to death, and realizing the hopes not lived and that life can be redeemed, we like Sugar Man can also redeem the inner man first.

Handel's Glorious Language of Song

"It is evident that music has to be recognized as an element of socialization. As an agent of social development in the highest sense, because it transmits the highest social values, such as solidarity, harmony, mutual compassion and it has the ability to unite and entire community and express sublime feelings." 

(Documentary Tocar y Luchar)

These lines of text from the documentary Tocar y Luchar are just a taste of the depth of analysis one could write on the sublime significance of music in each human life. Being a classically trained pianist I was not only thrilled by the potential of these musical programs in this film but I immediately thought of the many artists in history who have labored in music’s name, and whose works have lifed on for several centuries as a living testament to its’ greatness. One such example is the genius of Handel’s Messiah.

(Trailer from the documentary Tocar y Luchar)

The creation of this oratorio was composed after a stroke which left him with partial paralysis and then unpopularity among audiences with his most recent work. These setbacks led him to assume that he was nearing the end of his career. However, a friend lent him a manuscript containing many scriptural citations that leapt into his depressed soul filling it with renewed life and purpose. Handel composed the Messiah in just three weeks.

This oratorio is one of the most well-known musical works ever composed and its’ creation consisted of solidarity within Handel’s own personal suffering and then to absolute composing, harmony with himself and God, compassion towards the listeners (where he donated all proceedings to the incarcerated and poor) overcoming his desires for wealth and popularity, and to this day, over three hundred years later, he has united countries, continents, and communities with the majesty of this piece of music.

(Excerpt from Handel's Messiah, Hallelujah Chorus)

There are hardly any Christmas’s remembered without one hearing an excerpt from this work, where community productions have been produced with orchestras and choirs and even the audience at times in participation, creating the highest sense of unity within a community.

Music speaks to the souls of the audience what words cannot, a language which elevates each individual to pursue the highest potential in one’s life; to live with compassion and in harmony with your fellow man and uniting in the this unspoken language of music. 

Born of Suffering

"You are Moacir, the child born of my suffering."

Jose de Alencar (Iracema 101)

The amount of symbolism and possible analysis from this small phrase can be related to several of the greatest or the smallest of events or ideas that have occurred in the history of the world. One in particular that interestingly applies to this ending theme Alencar writes in this novel is of the results of suffering, which can be applied to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

In Buddhism a frequent and central question is: “Why does suffering and pain exist?”

Hence the Four Noble Truths were created explaining that (1) suffering is in all existence, (2) this suffering is usually caused by desire and attachment, (3) if the desire and attachment is eliminated, so is the suffering, and (4) the Noble Eight-fold Path can eliminate these desires.

Primarily Iracema was desired by her Tabajaran village, though Iracema knew little of suffering until she met Martim. She grew to desire Martim, who also desired her and felt and an attachment towards her, which ultimately became her downfall.

In that desire for attachment Iracema became pregnant with his child, which started the majority the suffering we read about in this novel. We see here that because that desire was never eliminated, in her suffering stage Iracema bore this child, and with this new attachment her suffering only increased, especially with the absence of Martim and never left her until her tragic death.

So why does suffering and pain exist? What comes from this suffering? Alencar writes that the baby of Martim and Iracema brought suffering which is also Brazil, who also that came from this suffering. In the teachings of Buddhism and in this novel something beautiful, complex, and great can come from suffering. Suffering is truly essential in the forming of a nation and a character. As we can more clearly understand and see that all beauty does not have a beautiful beginning. 

The Weeping Among the Roars

Juan Manuel Blanes, Paraguay: Image of Your Desolate Country, c.1880

After brief but somewhat in depth discussions, studies, and readings of Latin American culture as influenced by the conquest of the Spaniards and Portuguese, it is hardly difficult to see and understand that these events that began over 500 years ago have yet to be forgotten, while still leaving these countries in a process of recovery and making progress. 

This work of art, painted of a battle in the 1860's is a rather striking example of the desolation that has come upon the natives in Latin America from foreign sovereignty. Which first began in the name of God and religion, to gold and power has continued in an almost ever going bloodbath. 

We see hundreds of years in the past, we see fear, and oppression though this similar melody has been sung in the several other areas of the world with one in particular, South Africa with the Apartheid.

After hearing this particular song about this oppression among the blacks in South Africa, the parallel was made towards our studies in class, and even to this painting. What the blacks felt in Africa, and the Jews and Muslims during the inquisition, can be compared to the never ending ironic 'fight' for change, and peace, and that this Paraguayan women can represent, right now, all groups ever under oppression.

This song that Josh Groban sings, explains that even though this particular group of people have gone through these horrors of oppression, that this

“nightmare would never ever rise again, But the fear and the fire and the guns [still] remain.”

Here this women, alone, remains with this gun, with fear and sorrow, with the death of her people, and yet, as a re-occurring line in this songs says:

“It wasn't roaring, it was weeping.”

She is weeping, and the countries of South Africa, Paraguay, and others who have lived under the oppression of another at times still weep. The same roars of war aren’t there but this subtle weeping still influences these areas. Scares are still deeply deeply cut. They are healing yes, but weeping remains for any who have fought and lived under war and oppression.

                                   

The Worth of Wait

The gobernador insisted on pushing his conquest toward the south, but the more territory he occupied, the less he could control...His army was divided into small parties that might go for months without communicating among themselves."

Isabel Allende (Ines of my Soul 286)

When thinking of the logic and the factors that play into the conquering techniques of Pedro Valdivia, and reading of the trial and error in these tactics, so much more can be sifted out and learned than how to try and conquer the native tribes of the Chilean empire.

After reading that line it immediately came to me that Pedro was not going to have success in this tactic. We all know it. The phrases “spreading yourself thin” or “build a strong foundation” first came to my mind. While throwing this thought around more I realized the significant importance of why one must secure his foundation strong before branching out to cover more areas.

From my last post about the pioneers, we know that they first built a strong central town before they sent out others to establish another town. Even to Washington waiting in the winter for the perfect time to cross the Delaware River and fight the Hessians. Why did they wait? Or in modern day living we cannot go run a marathon without taking the time to train or we will get hurt and fail most likely. Why do we wait?

From the scriptures we know that through “small and simple things are great things are brought to pass.” (Alma 37:6) Why would this be important to Valdivia or any person for that matter? Why aren’t people satisfied with what they have and often searching for more? When do we know we are strong enough to move on or if we need more time mending and building?

There is a key to this formula, of course more than one for whatever life is making you build or strengthen at any given moment. First, that understanding your strengths and weaknesses is actually a strength and second, to differentiate the difference between needs and wants.

Imagine if Pedro would have understood this? Do we understand this? That in truth we can be a greater strength and do more good if we can control ourselves and what we have, and then will come the prosperous life.

The Founders of a Nation

 "My responsibility was to nurse the wounded and ill back to health, and to do what I like best: founding. That was something I had never done before. I discovered my vocations and have never turned away from it. From that moment on, I have built hospitals, churches, convents, chapels, sanctuaries...entire towns...This land is fertile, and its fruits should provide for all." 

Isabel Allende (Inés of my Soul 164)

From the opening pages of this novel, we have seen the character of Inés evolve as that of an incredibly stoic, determined, and courageous woman. Inés was thought of as strange in her actions because this behavior was unusual and uncommon for the culture of women in Spain during that time. The New World was not the only place for determined and strong minded women like Inés, several examples are also seen in the thousand mile excursion made by the Mormon pioneer’s crossing the Midwest and also while they encountered many similar situations.

The history of the Mormon pioneers crossing the Midwest to the Salt Lake valley can be paralleled to any new territory of conquest. The natives covered much of North America as well and created very dangerous travel territory. Though the pioneers had a completely different objective in settling this new land, the women in these travel parties, while some lost their husbands to natives, exhaustion, and harsh elements continued to press on with their children in tow because of their desire for religious freedom. 

These pioneer women were as much founders and fighters as Inés was during her life time. Both starting their lives from scratch many times and re-creating what they hoped would be a new life, away from the suffering and distress they previously lived and knew. They echoed in their own footsteps and lives many of the words stated by Inés. At large these women did as much as their husbands in persevering and completing this journey, from the watching of their children, to the protecting and plowing of every step in their journey while ultimately building a flourishing land from what was before an isolate dessert abyss.

In both examples these women created a new town and a new life and thousands became benefactors of their courage to create in a barren land, and to their perseverance among the afflictions of dessert or snow, Indians, and near starving situations. In both of these New Worlds new lands were generated, new opportunities presented, and new lands for other founders. 

 

A Hope of a Beginning

“Juan de Málaga was dead and I was free. I can say with all certainty that my life began that day. The years that preceded it were merely training for what was to come."

-Isabel Allende (Inés of my Soul, 85)

Imagine being part of the discovery of the New World, but with the allotted benefits of the communication technology we have at our instant access today. To then leave out the pain of waiting, of wondering, and the whirlpool of emotions that accompanies the unknown facts in that usual long space of time. 

Looking back at the previous events in the lives of Pedro and Inés, they both lived through countless examples of enduring a present time until their ultimate desires or goals would be accomplished, ever waiting, working, and enduring. 

A few days ago I came across a story about a woman in Mexico who bid her love off to sea, while promising he would return and she would wait for him until he did so. The story continues that he never came back, and she waited there on the shores of San Blas until her death last year, where her specific wishes were that her ashes would be scattered in the bay of San Blas. 

The point is that from the words of Inés, all of her searching to find the truth, and saving her earnings to travel to the New World until she would meet Pedro would have been utterly worthless if our instant communication that we benefit from would have come into play. Besides the fact that world events would be altered, Inés herself said how incredibly important those years were or "training" in helping her understand the kind of life she wanted to have. 

From the song dedicated to this women and her story, because of her example of this determination, I then began to understand the crucial roles of patient waiting, and experience were in the lives of these individuals in this novel, especially the mentioned who risked the future of their existence on a hope.

Whatever that hope may be, usually different for all of us, causes one to risk for the unknown, inspiring the rest of humanity. Meaning we can be free if we are willing to risk, and begin our life anew, a hope of a beginning. 

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