Papi by Rita Indiana (Week 12)

To me, this book seemed to intentionally contain stereotypes on steroids. Through the gangster attitudes of her father, to the parental neglect, to the idea that America is the land of the rich, to the vast number of girlfriends, Indiana got me thinking about how our perceptions on these issues can sometimes be (to put it bluntly) childlike. The narrator’s descriptions and observations were so extreme they couldn’t help but come across as embellished and unreliable. In the age of mass media and extreme politics, I thought this book made a statement on how unreliable perceptions could be when classifying people and their position in society. 

To start off, in a weird way, I thought I was reading a more modern version of Pedro Paramo. The idea that the narrator in Papi is chasing down a metaphorical ghost of a father without truly knowing him and instead relying on the perceptions of others to "discover him" or be connected to him was very similar to me. However, I found Papi to be more compelling to read since it was told from the perspective of a young girl (which was more relatable), it was somewhat more straightforward in narrative, and included more modern references. 

The concept of masculinity was also on my mind while reading this novel. To have a father figure embody the stereotypes of the gangster and maucho man with flashy cars, lots of women, and an access of money, but neglect his children was an interesting scope on what machismo and fatherhood means and how it is evolving. Reading this as an adult is also interesting because never at any point did I think that the narrator thought that her father did anything wrong. Thinking back to how I was at eight and my attitude towards my father, I probably would have felt the same. It made me think about how non-judgemental children can be and it is often through environmental factors and learned experience through age that we learn to hold others accountable. 

So much of the narrator’s perspective is also focused on the vast number of her father’s girlfriends. Perhaps this makes a statement on how she is searching for a maternal role model more than a paternal one, or this symbolizes the beginning of her questioning her father’s values over her own. She often also blames the actions or faults of her father on his girlfriends. 

In conclusion, I really enjoyed reading this book. I also wanted to talk more about the stereotype of money and having the perception of vast wealth upon coming to America as this was also handled in a really interesting way throughout this book, however, I'll save it for when I chat with you all in class.   

Question for the class: How have you noticed the theme of fatherhood evolve or change throughout the readings this semester? Considering this is one of the more modern readings on the list, how do you think it speaks to modern fatherhood and its expectations?

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo (Week 6)

I’m not going to lie, this book was one of the most confusing, yet compelling books I’ve read. Out of all the books I’ve read so far this semester, I found this one to be the most mentally challenging (yes, even more than Borges). A lot of energy was spent trying to piece together and separate between Juan and Pedro’s narratives while also deducing between the relevant side characters. Maybe I’m dumb, but the intentional difference between the first and second person narratives didn’t hit me until halfway through. I read through this book in two sittings and when I went to pick it up the next day I felt like I hadn’t read anything up to that point and it took me a long time to understand and get back into the headspace of the narrative again. Overall, I found this book to be very disorienting, however, part of me wonders if that was intentional. Pedro Paramo is also my first introduction into (or what would eventually be called) magical realism. The whimsical, yet intentional absurdity really made me think about some of the deeper themes that these characters represented. There were several themes that stuck out to me while reading this book. The most prominent ones to me were parenthood/family, judgement, and male power. 

Firstly, I needed to state the obvious that this book centred a lot around the idea of family and fatherhood. To me, Juan's (perceived impossible) mission to find his father symbolized the struggle that children face in connecting with their parents and how parental abandonment could lead to children facing a long road of confusion and dangerous uncertainty. Jumping off from this, I thought the idea of the "classic" caudillo figure or strongman was represented in the character of Pedro. The hold that Pedro had on Comala seemed almost dictatorial in comparison and representative of many of the machismo, strongman figures often associated with Latin American history and fiction. The generational cycle and inheritance of the male figurehead is also referenced by Pedro's relationship with his own father, Miguel. Even the fact that Miguel died by his own horse seems like a wink towards the image of the caudillo age to me. While I know this isn't an Argentinian novel, the image I had my head of these characters is reminiscent of a gaucho which serves as a traditional symbol of masculinity. To me, the death of Pedro and Juan symbolized the death of the strongman and the shift to populism or communal power. This was even foreshadowed when Juan was asked "when will you rest" (20) at the beginning of the novel. This also brings up the age old question of should sons be judged based on the previous expectations, experience or biases of the father.

I wanted to go further about how this town seemed to be like a symbol of purgatory where our peers ultimately judge us for our actions, but it appears I'm hitting the maximum word count. So I'll save it for the class discussion. 

Question for the class: How important does family connection play into who we are as individuals? Is it ethical to be compared to long lost family members that we've never even known?