Project: The Kingdom of This World

Here is my paper on my collage:
What is magical realism? It can be defined as “an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even ‘normal’ setting.” Magical realism was used in art, literature, and film. This genre is used to describe Latin American literature in the 1960s. Popular magical realists include Alejo Carpentier (El reino de este mundo), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Cien anos de la solidad), and Juan Rulfo (Pedro Paramo).
Alejo Carpentier coined the term “lo real maravilloso” in the prologue to his book, The Kingdom of This World, which was first published in Spanish in 1949. This novel is a historical novel about the Haitian Revolution. The characters and the events in the novel are the same as in the history books, but time is not logical in the novel. The four parts in the novel are not chronologically in order. Carpentier creates this novel with a discontinuous sense of time to juxtapose the past with the present. Bringing the past history of Haiti reminds the natives as well as the reader that the past is part of who you, as a human being, are. The Haitian Revolution and the courage that these slaves had is part of who my parents and I are. In addition, Carpentier makes magic seem real. Magic is integrated into the daily lives of the slaves, including the main character Ti Noël. Typical of Carpentier, the novel is filled with technical terms. “His literary style is a wonderful combination of dazzling images and a rich language, full of the technical jargon of whatever subject he touches on - be it music, architecture, painting...” When reading the book, I had to search for several places, people, and events to understand their significance in the history of the country. I was unfamiliar with terms such as Damballah and Sans Souci.
The book was split into four parts: Part I (Macandal), Part II (Boukman + Slave Revolt), Part III (rise + fall of Henri Christophe), and Part IV (epilogue). Part I was about a slave named Macandal who is a longtime friend of Ti Noël, who is a slave on M. Lenormand de Mézy’s plantation. After arm amputation, he becomes less useful and flees from the plantation to caves in the mountains. However, he still keeps in contact with the other slaves on the plantation and poisons and kills all the livestock. Macandal turned into a houngan, a voodoo priest and was getting his revenge on the white race. He can turn into any creature and supposedly turns into an insect to escape his execution. Part II was about Boukman and the slave revolt that led to the Haitian Revolution. Boukman was a Jamaican slave and houngan who organized a voodoo ceremony in Northern Haiti. This voodoo ceremony took place in Bois Caïman and is said to have started the Haitian Revolution with the voodoo ceremony. During that ceremony, the god of war Ogoun was called and soon afterwards, the slave revolt occurred. The second part switches gears and focuses on Pauline Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon I of France. She was accompanying her husband General Charles Leclerc to Haiti. General Leclerc was a French general who was sent by Napoleon I to overthrow Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the Haitian slaves in the Haitian Revolution. Pauline Bonaparte is a very flirtatious woman and has affairs with the officers that are under General Leclerc. Her husband gets sick with yellow fever and dies; she, Pauline, stays by her husband’s side and participates in rituals in order to heal her husband. After General Leclerc dies, Pauline left the island. Part III of the novel is very historical and discusses the story about the rise and fall of King Henri-Christophe. Henri-Christophe became King of Haiti after Jean-Jacques Dessalines was assassinated. Jean-Jacques was the first ruler of the independent Haiti and named himself “Emperor of Haiti” in 1805. Former cook at a restaurant, Henri-Christophe rose to power. He had slaves build a palace, Sans-Souci for himself. He also had slaves build a fortress called La Citadelle Laferrière in order to protect the country from a French invasion. Ti Noël returns back to Haiti from Cuba a free man. While observing the work of Sans Souci, he is quickly taken in as a slave and begins to work on building Sans Souci. After working for a while on Sans Souci and La Citadelle Laferrière, Ti Noël escapes and returns back to the city he left, Le Cap. When King Henri-Christophe was in Mass of Assumption, he felt the hostility from the people around him. Feeling loneliness, he commits suicide. After his death, things fall apart; his army leaves, his top advisors are killed, and his corpse was sunken into mortar. Part IV, the epilogue, concludes the story. Pauline’s masseur, Soliman is in Haiti and becomes extremely popular in the local towns by pretending to be the nephew of Henri Christophe. Ti Noël leads the destroying of Sans Souci and becomes the unofficial leader of the town. Soon, foreigners come and take over Le Cap and once again, Ti Noël is forced to be a slave again. The novel ends with Ti Noël realizing that not everyone is equal and he had a “supremely lucid moment” and understood that he was destined to be like Macandal and lead the slaves to freedom (178). He declared war against the masters and supposedly changed shape to a vulture.
This collage shows the historical context of the novel and the magical realism that Alejo Carpentier portrays throughout the novel. There are several pictures on this collage. There is a picture of a child sleeping on a sofa in the skies. This picture depicts the magical realism in the novel. Magical realism makes the unreal seem real and in this picture, the child sleeping in the skies seems so natural, although this event is unrealistic. There is also a purple picture full of shapes. The color purple is symbolic of mystery, creativity, and magic. This picture depicts creativity and mystery. There is no one shape, person, place, or event in this picture, but rather an array of shapes. I chose this picture because the novel has a warped sense of time and logic. The time in which the events of the novel occur do not correspond with the actual events of the Haitian Revolution. Also, as a magical realist novel, the unreal are illogical to the reader. Voodoo ceremonies and humans changing into insects and birds are illogical to the reader. The saint is Saint Patrick who is placed next to a god named Damballah. Damballah is the most important loa (spirit) in Haitian Voodoo who is depicted as a serpent and is often associated with snakes. Catholicism is connected to voodooism in Haiti and Damballah is equivalent to Saint Patrick. There are two depictions of a voodoo ceremony, similar to the one that Boukman started in Bois Caïman that provoked the Haitian Revolution. There are two photos of Ogoun, the god of war, a full-body image and a facial image. Ogoun is a loa who controls fire, iron, hunting, politics, and war and gives strength through magic. A picture of a loa was placed next to Damballah as a comparison to the father of all gods. A houngan summons the gods and a picture of a typical voodoo priest is shown. Boukman was a voodoo priest and there is a picture of him summoning the spirit of freedom. There are also several historical photos in the collage. For example, there are three photos of La Citadelle Laferrière and in one photo, the cannons that would have been used to fight off the French can be seen. There are also three photos of Sans Souci and one can see the elegance of the palace. Unfortunately, the palace was destroyed and one picture depicts the ruins of the once beautiful palace. Two pictures of Henri-Christophe are also placed in the collage. The final picture is contains a monkey reading a passage from Alejo Carpentier’s other book, The Lost Steps. This picture depicted to me Alejo Carpentier’s writing style and technique. The magical and the marvelous are real. To me, Alejo Carpentier wrote about this particular subject to depict that magic could be real and to break away from the Surrealism that he was accustomed to in Europe. By his breaking away from the norm, he created another style of writing that would influence several young Latin American writer for years to come.

Discussion of 100 Years of Solitude-Chapter 10

In Chapter 10, there are quite a few repetitious events and characters. For example, the twins, Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo are a repeat of Jose Arcadio who mysteriously committed suicide and Colonel Aureliano Buendia. The twins are similar to the first generation. Aureliano Segundo was a solitary character, just like the Colonel in his youth. I think also that Aureliano was interested in Melquiades' old manuscripts and the lab in which J.A.B. did his experiments, just like the Colonel had been in his youth. However, I think that the twins are more different from Jose Arcadio and Colonel Aureliano Buendia. Jose Arcadio Segundo was the one who showed initial interest in war, while it was Colonel Aureliano Buendia was the one who had the passion for war. Jose Arcadio Segundo's interest dissipated when he saw that the victims being shot were buried alive. Obviously, Jose Arcadio Segundo did not have the same fate that Jose Arcadio. Although Colonel Aureliano's first woman was his wife Remedios, Aureliano Segundo's first woman was Petra Cotes who he stayed with for the rest of his life. Another repeat seems to be Petra Cotes/Remedios. Before Remedios died, she was a healthy influence in the Buendia household. I think that Remedios made the house happier and more cheery. Petra Cotes is described as someone who "had a generous heart and a magnificent vocation for love" (188). Remedios the Beauty reminds me of Remedios because both have this weird sense of calm and control; Remedios takes her marriage with Colonel Aureliano Buendia with a calm grace and Remedios the Beauty rejects her suitor calmly. These similarities and differences tells us that the novel as a whole revolves in circles. With the repetition of characters and events with slight differences tells the readers that the entire novel is in circles. Time is unclear and runs in circles; Melquiades' manuscripts are called encyclicals; Aureliano's poetry has no beginning and no end; the characters and events repeat themselves.

Magical Realism

Magical realism is when a writer makes the magical or the illogical seem realistic or normal. Alejo Carpentier is a magical realist novelist, especially in his book, The Kingdom of This World. This book is about the time before, during, and after Haitian Revolution and is filled with magical realism. This book is also similar to the country itself. Magical realism dominated Haiti in its past and present. This novel makes voodooism seem natural and realistic. Damballah, the snake-god, and Ogoun, the god of war, seem real in the ceremonies. Macandal, a slave on M. Lenormand de Mézy’s plantation, was not only a slave but a loa (spirit). Loas were summoned for several ceremonies to deliver the natives out of slavery and to heal General Leclerc, a French general during the Haitian Revolution. This book is published in 1949, written in Cuba, and is similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude. GGM’s magical realist novel is similar to that of Carpentier because the real and the unreal are both logical. Because we have all read the GGM’s book, I don’t have to list some examples.

Introduction of Marquez Paper-Religion

In the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, religion is just one of the many themes in the first seven chapters of the novel. Gabriel García Marquez makes Biblical references to the events occurring from the creation of Earth to the Great Flood. Although all the events occurring in Macondo do not follow the Biblical stories, the religious references in the beginning of the novel are meant to demonstrate the corruption of mankind. For example, the simplicity and innocence of Macondo is comparable to the Garden of Eden. The progressive corruption of Macondo is comparable to the increasing corruption in the Bible before Noah and the Ark.

Final Project-The Kingdom of This World (Part I)

The first part of this book is about a man named Macandal. Macandal is a Mandingue Negro who told Ti Noël, the main character, stories of the kingdoms in Africa. Macandal was the one who told Ti Noël the difference between the African king and the "white monarchs." To Macandal, the African king was strong, brave, a warrior, a hunter, a judge, and a priest. On the other hand, the "white monarch" was the opposite. Macandal's arm was amputated in an accident in the plantation. After his amputation, Macandal is given less laborious work. Macandal flees from the plantation and can't be found. According to the white masters, the word "Mandingue" means "intractable, rebellious, a devil" (21). Macandal's disappearance deeply affects Ti Noël because Macandal's stories are deeply missed. Macandal had fled the plantation, but still kept in contact with the slaves on the plantation and was living in a cave. I learned later in the first part that Macandal was a houngan, which is a male voodoo priest, and was responsible for the poison that attacked the plantation. Macandal was also the houngan of the Rada rite and the Lord of Poison. Macandal is able to metamorphose into any shape and size and is able to communicate with two of the biggest voodoo loas/lwas (spirits). After making a complete cycle of metamorphose, Macandal returned back to the plantation in his human form. When he returned, the white masters captured him and burned him, thinking that they destroyed Macandal. However, the slaves know that Macandal remained "in the Kingdom of This World" (46). When I first started reading the book, I tried to figure out how Alejo Carpentier was part of the "magical realism" writers, but based on the first portion of the book, I can see why. Carpentier makes voodoo, a religion based on spirits and is illogical, a part of the daily live of a slave in Haiti. Because voodoo is emphasized in the slaves, voodoo seems realistic or even "normal" in the setting of the book. The way Carpentier presents voodoo makes me think that it is something real and does exist, not just something that people made up.

100 Years in Solitude-Time (Part II)

I think that Marquez purposely makes time unclear maybe because he just wants to confuse the readers. Or maybe just because she felt it...but, somehow I get the feeling that Marquez didn't just go, "Oh, making time unclear would be cool to put in a novel. Let's do it!" But seriously, I think that Marquez purposely made time unclear to signify that time should not and cannot be measured or observed. The fact that J.A.B. is convinced that it's Monday at least three times is proof of that. In addition, Marquez changes the month several times. Maybe Marquez purposely made time unclear to demonstrate how time can't be calculated or observed. When the time machine broke, José Arcadio Buendía "spent six hours examining things, trying to find a difference from their appearance on the previous day in the hope of discovering in them some change that would reveal the passage of time" (78). Although José Arcadio Buendía spent hours trying to find something to indicate time change, he couldn't find it. His inability to find the change in time caused his insanity. José Arcadio Buendía's insanity supports the idea that Marquez wants to indicate to the reader that time can't be observed or measured.

100 Years of Solitude-Time

So, it's been a while since I've last posted, but I've really enjoyed One Hundred Years of Solitude. Time in this book is purposely out of order. I mean, Garcia Marquez starts out the novel with "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." Obviously, that statement is projecting to the future. The next sentence starts with "At that time..." coming back to the present. Marquez shifts from the past, to the present, to the future. Marquez doesn't clearly define the present, past or future, either. For example, both Melquiades and Prudencio Aguilar die and come back to the present. Oh, also....the dates seem to be the same in the novel. I mean, how many times did J.A.B. say that it was Monday, again? Oh, wait....countless times. Or Marquez decides to jump from February to March in two lines. What I'm curious to know is why Marquez decided to make time so unclear. He definitely succeeded in making it hard for the reader to make a chronological timeline as to what happened in the novel. However, I don't think that confusing the reader is his sole purpose. I guess I'll have to keep reading to find out :)

Biblical References

I think that there are some biblical references in the novel so far. For example, the creation of Macondo could be seen as the creation of the Garden of Eden. Macondo was also a very primitive town with no language and no corruption. The town was very innocent, just like the Garden of Eden. Jose Arcadio Buendia (J.A.B.) becomes even crazier when he is tied to the tree and becomes this crazy because of his quest for knowledge. Adam and Eve both realized that they are naked after they ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. J.A.B. becomes insane when he attempts several of his "projects". Melquiades can be seen as the "serpent" in this Eden-like world. We all know that the serpent persuaded Eve into eating the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. In the book, Melquiades was the reason that J.A.B. went on his "quest for knowledge". One example is that Melquiades brought a "daguerreotype" when he came back from the dead because he couldn't stand solitude (okay...), J.A.B. decides to take the "daguerreotype" on a quest to capture God in picture. Oh, one more...Macondo seems to be ruled by more and more corrupt people...first, Don Apolinar Macoste, who rigs the election, then Arcadio, who is a dictator, then Ursula, who tries to bring back the town for its corruption but Arcadio comes back (whoohoo), then Conservative general Jose Raquel Moncada, who is executed and Colonel Aureliano Buendia takes over. With the exception of Ursula and Jose Raquel Moncada, Macondo is being governed by progressively crueler mayors. It almost seems to me like The Great Flood. Before the flood, people were becoming increasingly corrupt and straying away from God's Word, and so God got pissed off and decided to wipe out the corruption from the Earth and save those who were following His Word (Noah). I wouldn't be surprised if there was a flood or an Armageddon in Macondo because of the corruption that seems to be happening with the leaders.

Ay, Ay, Ay of the Kinky-Haired Negress

I thought this poem was really interesting. I think in some sense Burgos is being a pioneer for rights for blacks because she says the first two lines give a sense of pride for being black. For example, Burgos says that the speaker is "pure black." The use of the word "pure" gives, at least to me, a sense of pride. It's the same as saying "I'm 100% black and proud of it." I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I thought. The speaker continues to give a sense of pride in her blackness when she says that "my statue is all black." She doesn't say just black, but all black as if there are no impurities in the speaker's race.

In the couplet, "Ay, ay, ay wash the sins of the white King/in forgiveness black Queen", I immediately thought of chess. Everyone knows that in chess the Queen has the most power, not the King. I thought it was interesting that Burgos says "black Queen," indicating that in some sense that the Black Queen has more power than the white King. This idea seemed the complete different of the previous pieces of literature that we read. In Sab, blacks were viewed negatively because Avellaneda wanted to prove a point. I think Marti said that they races did not exist. But, in this poem, the black race is actually in control of the white race. The white King is asking for forgiveness because of all the sins that had been committed. Burgos continues to give the black race a sense of control in the second to last stanza where it says "or perhaps the white will be shadowed in the black." Although it is just a speculation, it seemed radical at least to me that she would even think to write about white being underneath the blacks. That statement is just way ahead of its time.

I liked this poem the best because of the interesting way race is portrayed in the poem. For the first time, whites are not placed higher than the blacks and someone seems proud to be black.

I'm Going to Sleep-Alfonsina Storni

I thought that this poem was really interesting. The way that Storni transitions from sleeping on an ordinary night to dying was really smooth. I thought is was really interesting that she uses the word "Nurse" in the second stanza. When I read the poem the first time, I saw the Nurse as someone who was taking care of a sick person and was seeing to it that she was going to sleep for the night. It was interesting because I would thought that if Storni would have wanted to show the poem as death in the beginning, she would have used the word Mother or Father. Usually, when someone is about to die, they would have referred to a family member who has died, usually their parents. I don't know whether what I just said makes sense...Anyway, the third stanza is the transitional stanza where Storni starts to talk less about falling asleep and more about a peaceful death. She creates an image of peace by saying "high above" and "celestial foot" and "a bird sings some lullaby notes". These three images create a sense of leaving Earth. Finally, the last stanza is the stanza in which she has left the Earth by saying "tell him/not to ask for me; tell him I have gone".

Cesar Vallejo's Poem-Spain, Take This Cup From Me

In my opinion, Vallejo's two poem Spain, Take This Cup From Me is a very interesting poem. In the first stanza, Vallejo calls Latin America "children of the world," indicating that Latin America is still a young nation. Vallejo continues to states that "if Spain falls--I mean, it's just a thought--if she falls..." I thought it was very ironic that he says that the possibility that Spain falls is just a thought. It's almost as if he states the possibility that Spain falls and then he says, oops! I mean that won't happen but the possibility is just something that popped up in my mind. But then he confirms that possibility by again saying "if Spain falls." The phrase "if Spain falls" is like bookends around the oops! statement of "I mean, it's just a thought." That line with bookends is repeated in the third stanza and the last stanza. When I started reading that the first stanza, I thought that Vallejo was trying to reassure his audience by saying that "--I mean, it's just a thought--." Then, as I kept on reading, I thought that Vallejo seemed to be almost mocking the reader. It seemed to me that Vallejo is like a little kid keeping a secret and giving you a hint to a story, but wants you to keep guessing. In the rest of the poem, I am not really sure whether Vallejo is stating that Latin America cannot survive without Spain or whether Vallejo is trying to rev up Latin America to start a revolt against Spain. For example, "mother Spain is...appears as mother and teacher..." In this quote, Spain is teaching its students, Latin America, how to govern itself and Spain is also a mother at the same time, to nurture Latin America with the tools it needs. But, at the same time, Valeljo tells Latin America to "Lower your voice, for she is/with her rigor which is great, not knowing/what to do, and she has in her hand..." In this quote, it seems as if Vallejo is stating because Spain is clueless, Latin America can revolt against Spain. It could also be that Vallejo just wrote those words because he felt like it, but I highly doubt it.

Cesar Vallejo-Gloomy Topics

Cesar Vallejo's poems are very sad and discuss very gloomy topics. For example, in the poem The Black Messengers, the first line states that "there are some blows in life so hard..." That line sets the mood and the tone for the reader. By just reading the first line, one could say that the rest of the poem is going to be just as gloomy as that first line. As the poem continues, the poem states that the "blows" that come in life come from "God's hatred." We haven't really seen God mentioned in Marti and Dario's poems, except in Dario's poem To Roosevelt. In this poem, it is interesting to note that God is associated with "hatred." I always thought that God was known to love, not hate. Vallejo also states that the blows in life were sent by "black messengers sent us by Death." When I was reading this line, I wondered whether Vallejo used the adjective "black" to describe the messengers. Was it during the time period that Vallejo wrote this poem that people believed that "black" was bad? I'm not really sure, but that was a question that popped up in my head as I was reading the poem. Finally, the poem Black Stone Lying on a White Stone is a gloomy poem because the poem discusses Vallejo's death. Vallejo states: "I will die in Paris, on a rainy day...". In this line, Vallejo, once again, sets the mood for the rest of the poem by stating that he will die "on a rainy day." It is a sunny day or a hot day, but a rainy day, setting a gloomy mood and tone. According to the life story of Cesar Vallejo on page 95 of the poetry book, Vallejo lived the last three years of his life in Paris and he was often poor and ill, so it makes sense that he says that he will die in Paris....but he may not have been living in Paris at the time that the poem was written. Hmmm...but if he did write the poem in Paris, then it makes sense that he says that he will die in Paris. Vallejo also states that he will die in autumn. Autumn is the season before winter and winter is symbolic for old age and death because everything dies in the wintertime. I think that autumn represents adulthood and Vallejo is stating that death is soon to come because it is autumn. At the end of the poem, Vallejo states that he has died and everyone has "beaten him." I'm not really sure what that really means. I thought that maybe Vallejo is looking for pathos? maybe...I'm not really sure. Overall, Vallejo definitely, without any doubt, writes his poems with a sense of doom. I was curious as to know why he writes his poems this way, and I was reading the life story of Cesar Vallejo, and it stated that Vallejo was committed to "the agonies of humankind that Vallejo seems to make himself a pure voice of suffering and grace" (95). So, according to the life story on page 95, Vallejo wanted to make himself a spokesperson for anguish and in my opinion, Vallejo did that well.

Dario's Poems

Dario's poems are very interesting. As said in class, his poems are filled with allusions. For example, Dario makes allusions to Greek and Roman mythology. In the last stanza of his poem, Springtime, he makes a reference to the Ancient Romans when he states that "My sweet muse Delicia/brought me a Greek amphora/carved out of alabaster" (33). An amphora is a storage used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans to carry wine and oil to the winner of the Panathenaic games. The Panathenaic games was part of a festival to honor the Greek goddess Athena, the wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. This is one allusion to Greek mythology. Another allusion is that in this quote, Dario uses the word "muse" as an allusion to the nine daughters of Zeus that provided inspiration for different areas. I think that by saying the "muse Delicia" he is referring to the wine that he continues to discuss in the last stanza. The wine that Dario discusses in the last stanza is "Naxos wine" (33). Naxos is a Greek island that was famous, in the ancient times, as a center of Dionysian worship. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature. Therefore, it makes sense that the wine would named after the island Naxos and the island would be place of worship to the god Dionysus. In addition, Dario makes a reference to the Roman goddess Diana when he states in his poem Springtime, "Diana is on the amphora,/regally proud and tall/" (33). Diana was the goddess of nature, fertility and childbirth and is portrayed as a huntress being accompanied by a deer and Dario states that Diana has a "stance of a huntress"(33). Dario's poem, It was a Gentle Air, is filled with allusions to Greek and Roman mythology. On page 35, Philomel is a nightingale and is a reference to the Greek mythology tale of Philomela and Procne. Procne, Philomela's sister, was married to King Tereus of Thrace, who is one of the sons of Ares, and they had a son named Itys. Tereus raped Procne's sister Philomela and then cut her tongue and imprisoned her so that she couldn't tell anyone of what he had done to her. Philomela managed to weave a tapestry to tell her sister Procne what Tereus had done. In revenge, Procne killed and cooked Itys, her son, so that Tereus could eat his son for dinner. When Tereus found out what Procne had done, he chased the two women and tried to kill them, but before he could, Tereus was turned into a hoopoe (a bird similar to the kingfisher), Procne was turned into a swallow, and Philomela was turned into a nightingale, hence why a nightingale is called a Philomel in poetry. I think that the grief that the nightingale may be singing is the grief of being raped. I think that Dario uses so many allusions in his poetry to make his poetry more elaborate. Instead of writing his poetry short, concise, and to the point, Dario writes with classical allusions to provide imagery for the reader. In addition, I think that Dario is showing how much his literary knowledge he has. His literary knowledge came from his studies in Europe and the books he read in French and Castilian literature. Although the poetry makes Dario look extremely intelligent, it is more complicated for the reader to understand. For the average John and/or Jane Doe who doesn't know too much about Greek and Roman mythology, Dario's poems are really hard to understand. I know that I had a hard time understanding his poems and I had to look up the classical allusions.

Possible Paper Topics on Sab

A possible paper topic would be what symbols or ideas Avellaneda uses to relate to Sab's unclear character and how she uses these symbols or ideas. In the previous post, I state that Avellaneda uses the garden, race, and his heritage or background. I think that could make a possible paper topic, but I am not sure whether that particular paper topic will be long enough or not. It would also be interesting to do a paper on race. But, I am not sure how exactly to narrow down that topic or write a paper on this topic without repeating what was already discussed in class.

Thoughts on Sab

Avellaneda uses three ideas to show Sab as an unclear character; she uses the ideas of race, heritage or background, and the garden. Avellaneda also uses the garden to symbolize Sab's unclear character. The garden is unidentified and its location is unclear just like Sab's character. The way Sab views race is very interesting. Sab's views on raceare unclear. When he was describing his mother, he said that she was an African princess and was "born in a country in where her color was not a mark of slavery"(31). In this quote, Sab knows that race does not matter in the land that his mother came from. In this quote, he views slavery as something that is not important because his mother was born "free and a princess"(31). But, Sab is an educated man and knows that in Cuba, where he lives, that race was an important issue and determined your place in society and how you were treated. Sab knew that the reason why he could not be with Carlota was for two reasons: money and race. He knew that if he were white, he woudl not have as much trouble telling Carlota his feelings for her. Sab's unclear views on race match well with his character. Again, when Sab is first introduced, he does not have any clear heritage or background. He is said to have a face "which revealed a mingling of two distonct races, an amalgam...of the features of the African and the European yet without being the perfect mulatto" (28). Once again, Sab's heritage is unclear and is a symbol as to how Sab's character is unclear.

Sab Discussion Question

In Sab, each of the four main characters, Sab, Enrique,Carlota, and Teresa, are described differently. Enrique is the first main character to be described and Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda describes him as traveler who had fair, rosy skin, blue eyes, and golder hair. All of these features indicated that he was not a native to Cuba and of some "northern region" (27). Because Enrique was stopping several times to observe the scenery, he could not be poor. Whereas Enrique had the classic blond hair and blue eye characteristics, Sab was described as "a tall young man of average build but with striking features" (28). He was a mulatto who had yellowish white skin and black, lustrous, curly hair ("as lustrous and black as the wings of the raven"-28) and thick lips, showing his African heritage. In Chapter Two, Carlota is described as gentle with parted chestnut hair in ringlets framing a 17-year-old face. She was said to have the "model of perfection" because of her delicate features and the soulful gaze of her large eyes. She had a certain angelic and poignant air around her and she was wearing a dress of pure white when she is first introduced to the reader. Teresa, however, is described to have an ordinary face with neither repugnant nor beautiful features. Her face was so devoid of emotion that it seemed to inspire hate instead of love. She had dark green eyes that always "had a cold, indifferent look which held neither the fascination of sadness nor the charm gaiety" (35). Her eyes always stayed the same with that particular look whether she laughed, or cried because her features did not show any emotion. When Teresa did show emotion, which was scarce, she looked alive and energetic and only then did her eyes change from that cold and indifferent look that she usually held. Carlota and Enrique are described to have perfect or near perfect features, whereas Sab and Teresa are said to have "average" or "ordinary" features. I'm not exactly sure why Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda did this, but I think that Carlota and Enrique were the ideal man and woman. Although Sab and Teresa are clearly not the ideal man and woman, I think that both of these characters are happier than Carlota and Enrique. Sab is happy just being with Carlota; Teresa is happy after she goes to the convent, although that does not occur until towards the end of the book. Carlota and Enrique appear happy with each other, but Carlota is always trying to decide whether Enrique truly loves her or her land and money. Enrique is undecided as to whether he truly loves Carlota or her money.