Conclusion! (Week 14)

I never thought I would say this about a university literature class, but I'm sad it's over. I had such a great time discussing these experimental and different novels with everyone and I really value and appreciate all the dynamic, thought-out, and engaging discussions I was lucky enough to have with all of you...you were all such awesome classmates! In the first class when the topic of "hopscotch" was introduced I must admit I was a little skeptical as I didn't get the connection and thought it was far-fetched having never read Latin American literature before. Now I really understand how relevant of a metaphor this is and it also helped guide me through the thinking required for these books. With so much emphasis and popularity placed on straight-froward and accessible reading these days ("booktok" I'm looking at you), my first reaction to the constant time-warping and conceptualizing was that it was a bit elitist and unnecessarily complicated. To be honest, without the class lectures and discussions, I probably would have remained thinking this way. I really appreciated how this class made me change my perspective on how this literature wasn't elitist (although I'm still not convinced that Borges isn't), instead, it made me approach these books as challenging puzzles, which is a much more exciting way of looking at things.

Another thing I appreciate about this course is that it provided me with an introductory way of looking at Latin American popular culture in general. Now as I watch Latin American movies on Netflix, I appreciate the bending of time and the complications of relationships. I also appreciate the intertwining of politics, religion, gender dynamics, race, and historical statements weaved through intricate characters and colourful dialogue. This was also my first introduction to magical realism, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I have always been a bit of a reader and I love reading, so I'm very excited to introduce this new genre to my "tbr" list in the future. I picked up a NYT Best Selling American fiction novel the other day and couldn't believe how under-stimulated and bored I was so I'll probably go back and read some of the other books in this class that I didn't get to read.

I'm really going to miss this class and the book club on steroids environment. Thank you to everyone for making it so challenging and enjoyable!

Question for the class: How has this course changed your perspective of Latin American literature? Did you have any notions before the class that got proven or disproven?

Fever Dream by Samanta Shweblin (Week 13)

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. As a sociology major, many of my classes focus on environmental impacts on foreign communities, so it was interesting to read a fictionalized take on the modern technology intervention of pesticide use in rural communities. However, I really (and perhaps stupidly?) came to this conclusion only after watching the lecture. I was confused about whether the dead bird in the stream or the soybean pesticides caused the sickness. If it was the bird then I would apply the observation that nature and environmental surroundings take away from the protections of the symbolic home as to what initially harmed David, however, if it was the soybeans as stated in the lecture then that definitely speaks to the theme of how genetic modification in food is harming the future generations of Argentina or how globalization is causing the destruction of communities. It was also interesting how she started the novel by having earthworms crawling inside their skin as it seems like a metaphor that Schweblin used to foreshadow how nature (or something intruding on nature) was slowly destroying their bodies. 

After watching the lecture the “dew” (91) that wasn’t really “dew” (91) that Nina came into contact with while sitting in the fields between the soy fields made a lot more sense. I found this interesting because my father runs a natural-chemical-free landscape company to prevent exposure to these harmful chemicals, as to him, this prevention is part of his role in keeping me and others safe. This brings me to the themes of neglect and parenthood in this book. I thought the poisoning at David's age was interesting as it makes a statement to me about how children change and become affected by their surroundings as they get older and are not as susceptible to parental protection. This is also paralleled with Nina as the “rescue barrier” gets wider and wider as she gets older. 

I thought there were several instances throughout the novel that were painted as examples of parental neglect. The first was the contact with the poisoned stream, as she wasn't watching him come into contact with the water. The second is the neglect after David changed as he grew, and the third is the total neglect from his parents. Physical neglect is also mentioned as Carla notes that before David “migrated” was “the last time I held him in my arms” (33). I was curious about how the book compared to the movie so I also checked it out on Netflix and was really surprised at how the character of Carla was portrayed. Reading the novel, I pictured her as a grieving mother who wanted to connect with her child, but in the movie, I didn't really feel that she loved her son at all. I don't know if the role was portrayed that way to add to the eerie effect of the film, or if perhaps I was carrying these biases that mothers must automatically care for and love their children. 

Building on the differences that I noticed in the movie, I also thought there was an interesting connection (possibly coincidence?) that the soy fields were described as “all very green, a perfumed green” (93), while the house that David was treated in was also described as a greenhouse. I know this course is on the book, but as a side note to this, I would definitely say that green was a theme throughout the movie depiction as well. Most of the shots were done outside in very green, lush fields, and the indoor shots often had green objects such as teapots, painted walls, or cut flowers included. Amanda’s new house is even painted green. In fact, in the movie the teacup/teapot that Carla drinks from while David is being “treated” by the elderly women during the “migration” is also green. This may not be a very relevant observation, but I found it an interesting contradiction as to me, green symbolizes calm, health, control and tranquillity in a novel filled with intense confusion, sickness, death, and anxiety.

Question for the class: When reading, did you automatically make the connection between the poisoning and the pesticides or was this something that you realized at the end of the novel (or after the lecture)? Why do you think the author chose to keep this information somewhat vague throughout the novel?