La idea
Al haber terminado este libro, se me viene a la mente que ya todos estamos destinados a algo, nada más que tenemos que encontrarlo por nosotros mismos. En el caso de Billy, él comenzó sólo su viaje y al final de todo, lo termino sólo. De todos los consejos que le daban a Billy pienso que de alguna manera le estaban advirtiendo de lo que iba a pasar. A mitad de la novela la primadonna le advierte que el camino tiene sus razones y que no todos los viajeros van a entender lo mismo en ese viaje y creo que esto fue lo que le paso a Billy y a Boyd. Para Billy la búsqueda de sus caballos era más importante que cualquier cosa hasta más que su hermano. A Boyd el camino lo toco de otra manera donde miro la injusticia de lo que pasaba en México y quiso hacer algo para poder arreglar las cosas, lo cual lo transformo a él completamente y él si logro encontrar su propósito en la vida aunque lo llevo a la muerte. Al término de la novela miramos a Billy de nuevo todavía tratando de encontrar su propósito en este mundo pero aunque ahora no tan ingenuo como cuando comenzó sino que ya echo todo un hombre.
Identity quest
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- the voyage represents some type of quest
- a quest for identity (inner self)/ meaning of life
- the road magnifies what really matters to you
- while on the move you need to search for that meaning
- in the voyage you won’t necessarily find your identity but there will meaning to what you find
- the quest is more important then actually finding exactly what you are looking for
Questions on Crossing
McCarthy’s writing is composed of sparse dialogue, rich description and philosophical statements about existence, God, the self and other abstractions. Flag these statements for further discussion and exploration.In this story you can see a great deal of examples and advises that are concerning life in itself. To me it seem as if in a way it is sort of a way to try to find something that perhaps is not lost but it will make you feel complete maybe fill a space that might make you think you are empty. In a way is like Billy is not happy were he is at, therefore he has to make his own adventure to satisfy that emptiness that he might feel exists in his life. When he decides to take the wolf to Mexico, is kind of like something that he feels he has to do just to try to make some sense of things and somehow he knows he has to do it in order to fulfill him in a way.
Why are the wolves so savage in killing cattle? What kind of society or way of life do the cows violate, angering the wolves?I think that the wolves are so savage in killing the cattle because in a way they represent society and the people that have conquer their open space. These cows belong to those who have taken control of all that belonged to them and the open spaces that once was theirs. These animals represent in a way the people that have taken over everything that once were open for them to go about with out any care.
Woman as a Victim
Clemencia can be consider as a victim of society since she is portrayed in a form where she doesn’t belong to the Chicano culture or the Anglo culture. She might also be consider a victim of Drew since he uses her only to please himself, but never plans to take her seriously enough to leave his wife and marry her. Aside from been a victim she also has power over the men that are involved with her since in the case of Drew’s son she told him to have him and let him be born. She also has control over Drew since she can recreate him from memory and make him be seen as she wants him to be seen. She also had control over the other men that had been with her since she retains them by her side when their wives are giving birth which is a very important moment on a couple’s life. In the story Clemencia is called Malinalli, Malinche by Drew which is also another aspect of how she was a victim as the Malinche by being rejected by her own kind. A similarity between both of them is that Clemencia was also a translator and both of them were used in a way to satisfy the needs of others, in this case men.
One Holy Night
This is a good example of how girls can be manipulated by men. Like the other stories this young girl is taken advantage of by a men she hardly knows, but that has a powerful “labia”, big lair. This story has little truth on it since Chaq lies to her of who he is and she lies to her grandmother. The only truth in it might be that she is pregnant and that he is a murderer. Maybe the relationship between truth and power could be that if your words sound truthful enough you gain power over the other person and convince then so they would do has you tell them.
Boy, Baby, Men
The men in these stories are formed to be something else then what they resemble. In the Eyes of Zapata she talks to him in baby forms calling him mi bebito while she takes care of him in his sleep. She said that to her he is still the boy she met and fell in love with even though he was a man who everyone considers a great general. On Never Marry a Mexican she talks about Drew’s son as the boy, her baby, who she gave permission to be born. This boy of hers resembles his father who used to be her lover, but now she only has the son who in a way replaces Drew. In comparison to this story the men who are loved by these women become everything to them, where they can behave like a baby, be playful like a boy, but seduce then like a man. In a way they might be pointing out the reality of man that they are nothing but baby’s who are very irresponsible. They are also deceiving and love can be a trader too, letting you see things that are not real.
Little boy Zapata
This story is a completely different version of the image of Zapata that I had in mind. She depicts him has a normal man not like the hero and great man that all of us have in mind. She basically emasculates him by everything she said about him. In a way she talks about him in a form that she becomes his mom by saying that she has always been there for him even before he was born and she calls him mi bebito, mi Milianito. She talks about how much she wish she could rub the grief from his face as if it was smudge on the cheek is just like when a mother does that for her little child. Also, it talks about how she wish he was Nicolas or Malena, their kids, just so she can grab him in her harms and run up the hills with him and hide him from all the bad things, a reflection of how a mother would grab her kid and try to protect him and hide them if that is what it takes to keep him safe. In this story she talks about needing him but in a way I think he is the one that needs her. It talks about him telling her that he only sleeps well when he is with her because in a way he knows that he is protected with her. He is always nerves, always alert just in case they try to kill him therefore he doesn’t get good rest but when he is with her he sleeps just like a baby. She even mentions that he can get a good rest since she will be watching over him to make sure nothing bad happens to him.
Religious symbols
It is interesting seen a movie that has a lot of intellectual montage. One of the images that call my attention is where the young girl gets merry and on the way to the house from the church you see a lot of little girls that are wearing this outfit that looks like the one the Virgin Mary had because it shows the little girls then it turns to focus on the picture of the Virgin. This film has a lot of representation from the bible. On the top of the church you see a young man carrying a stick on his shoulder to signify Jesus carrying the cross and as he stops and gets on his knees, this woman comes over and wipes his face with a cloth just like Mary did with Jesus.
Questions on Film Que Viva Mexico
1. In a way he uses a serape to compare it to the Mexican culture because on a sarape the colors stand on their own separated from the rest yet all of them are held together independently which makes it look beautiful. In the Mexican culture there are still many ancient customs and tradition that are still strong influence in present day culture because perhaps they also have been held together by a strong invisible string that in a way weaves all the different customs together.
2. The primitive essence in present day today is that they still believe or worship the same ancient gods as the past generation and some of those descendents are still present in certain areas of Mexico. In the movie it points out how the Mexican people reflect or resemble the past civilizations depicted by the stone ruins that are still present. It is point out that Mexicans still carry the same facial features as those of the pass. Also they still celebrate or keep honoring the Virgen de Guadalupe as a memory of the Spain conquest of Mexico. In the movie they show how they have fiestas and they do all fights in honor of the Virgin. The bull fights is another example of past civilization influence since it was something introduced also by the Spaniards. It also shows the suppression of the lower class by powerful land owners this could also resemble the suppression the Indians in Mexico went through in the hands of the Spaniards.
3. In the film it gives you the idea that religion plays a big role in the Mexican culture. It shows men walking with sticks of cactus carried in their shoulders as to represent Jesus as the walk up to the church. It also shows a couple of toreros sacrificing their life in honor of the Virgin. In respect to the culture it depicts men as being the one in control for example they rest while the women are the one working to make the money. Also how the ones with the money suppress and take advantage of the campesinos or lower class by making them work hard.
4. He probably wanted to show that Mexicans owner their ancestors by celebrating the ones that are dead and that to show that perhaps they don’t fear death but instead they celebrate it.
Love symbol
The Underdogs is in a sense a love story that involves a man, Demetrio Macias, and his change of loves. One can think that this man was doing what ever it took to defend his family but in reality it seems that he is doing what he is passionate about. It seems that the revolution was his true love because he was even willing to leave his family just to go back to fight, he did not care about his wife or that his own son did not even know or recognize him as his dad. The only thing that seem to matter to him was to keep on fighting. The revolution was like his bride that he had accepted it until death does them apart. At the end of the store is states that he still fighting and it points out that his eyes were in an eternal glance; he had the barrel of the gun point ready to fight, which could give one the idea that perhaps he had been killed or maybe he just won’t give up even if it means loosing his life for his wife the one true love, the Revolution.
