Hemingway mirrors brutal events in his novel, through the similar traits of brutality found between the Republican massacre in the unnamed town, and the Falangists’ (the Spanish Fascist party) rape of Maria.
Pilar recalls a massacre in an unnamed town, where Pablo has twenty fascists “beaten to death with flails and thrown from the top of the cliff above the river.”1 The Fascists would each be beaten and driven through two lines of flail-armed men, until the crowd threw them off the cliff at the end of the lines. Pilar notes that this brutal, collective killing of the Fascists was intended to motivate the Republicans in taking greater action against the Fascists.
Initially, the massacre is described as akin to passing “a holy image in a procession”2,
…show more content…
This comparison between religion and the massacre introduces the ritualistic nature of brutality, in that the massacre was a necessity performed for the advancement of a cause. The perversion of religion later foreshadows how brutality has a propensity to descend from ritualistic brutality to uncontrollable brutality, when Don Guillermo enters the lines. This is represented by the “drunkenness” entering the lines as Guillermo is readied for his execution. These “drunkards” are not just drunk from alcohol as it is also “other elements than wine”3; they are drunk with their vengeance and power held over the Fascists. The distinction between alcohol-induced drunkenness and revenge-induced drunkenness is made very clear. Drunkenness from alcohol is tantamount to being classified amongst the “worthless” ones and looked down upon. However, drunkenness from vengeance is of “great ugliness”, as though it is vehemently abhorred. Hemingway uses imagery here (the “ugliness”) to juxtapose the physical intoxication of the crowd with their graver, more disgusting emotional intoxication. As Guillermo …show more content…
Initially, the Fascist Guardia Civil (the Fascist Army) arrive at her village to kill all supporters of the Republicans – hence the killing of Maria’s father. Other supporters of Maria’s father are killed, including Maria’s mother, who was not explicitly supportive of the Republicans, but shouted “Long live my husband”14 before she was shot. The presence of the Guardia Civil provides a more official, detached and “orderly” nature to the initial violence. Indeed, Maria describes the Guardia Civil “leaning against their rifles” and “waiting to shoot more”15. The imagery of the Guardia Civil “leaning against their rifles” suggests the normalization of violence in war, and thus by extension the detached and ritualistic nature of the executions. This initial violence clearly mirrors that of the Republican massacre, in that both acts began with a seemingly necessary act carried out in war. The Falangists then take over from the Guardia Civil, proceeding to “herd”16 all the women to a barbershop opposite the city hall. The Falangists, members of the Spanish Fascist political party, were known for their disorderliness, poor discipline and their street violence prior to the Civil War.17 Hence their taking over of the shooting mirrors the drunkards taking over the lines in the Ayuntaimento – in both cases, their taking over represents a descent into
The resulting work is historical fiction, a recreation of the lives of three Dominican sisters—Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa Mirabal— who were murdered for their attempts to overthrow Trujillo the same year Alvarez's family fled to the United States. The Maribal sisters are heroic women known by their revolutionary name Las Mariposas (The Butterflies). The core of the book is made up of chronological reminiscences by the murdered sisters from childhood to the time of their brutal demise. “The Mirabals are a traditional provincial Dominican family, portrayed in clichéd fashion—a middle¬class rural clan anchored by the inevitably philandering but supportive patriarch and the warm, caring and wise mother”
In Julia Alvarez’s novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, a young, naïve girl transforms into a prominent figure in the revolution against Leonidas Trujillo as we read page after page of her most private thoughts. This character is Maria Teresa (Mate), the youngest of the Mirabal sisters. Alvarez weaves Maria Teresa’s story as a coming of age story under a dictatorship, and slowly, but thoroughly, shows us how it corrupts childhood innocence and forms revolutionaries. Mate’s chapters in the novel are solely journal entries. In Julia Alvarez’s words, “Techniques are just tools on the wall to help you get at what best reflects the stories in your heart to tell.
El laberinto del fauno (2006) is a fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro in 2006. It is set in 1944 Francoist Spain where Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother move in with the Falangist Captain Vidal; Ofelia’s new stepfather and soon to be father of her half-brother. This essay will seek to explore how the film’s violence is meticulously portrayed as a masculine trait. It could be argued, that because violence is depicted as a masculine attribute, the main character that conveys and reinforces this concept is Captain Vidal (Sergi López). However, characters such as Carmen (Ariadna Gil) further reinstate this feature by complying and being ‘domesticated’.
Roberto Bolaño’s Amulet is a carefully intertwined story of Auxilio’s past and present: the memories of a woman amidst the revolutionaries of Mexico, and a woman’s fight for sanity as she remains in the women’s bathroom in the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) during its occupation. The occupation began on September 18, 1968, was followed by the Tlatelolco massacre on October 2, 1968, in which a peaceful student protest ended with the army shooting in the crowd (Doyle). Roberto Bolaño creates a memoir of these protesters via the narration of Amulet, utilizing a manipulation of time and structure, imagery pertaining to loss of teeth and voice, and themes of death associated with the imagery of valleys. Bolaño seamlessly jumps between
Thus, demonstrating the futility of relationships between individuals under political overpower. However, the relationship symbolises a rejection of Party doctrine, parallel to Freder and Maria’s relationship in Metropolis, one acting as an apparatus to drive revolution and unification, relaying both authors contextual concerns of the people’s rejection of
In his work “The Underdogs”, Mariano Azuela is able to master the spirit of villismo regarding both its theoretic, underlying principles as well as the movement’s subsequent physical manifestations. Though significant characters conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the humble agrarian spirit central to villismo’s origin, characters in this text also exhibit the disruptive, callous behavior that is more characteristic of the federalist forces and dictatorships they aimed to unseat. Moreover, Demetrio’s degenerating understanding of the reason he’s fighting, coupled with his few instances of immorality, symbolizes the collapse of villismo morality into its culminating bandit-ridden reality. Cowboys, farmers, and other agrarian people suffering from land and labor oppression united together as the diverse “pieces of a great social movement [to] exalt their motherland” . Demetrio and Solis embody this original character of villismo revolution, as they maintain a moral, humanitarian compass throughout the novel.
Barbara Diefendorf's book, The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre is a window into the struggle of religion and secular power during the Protestant Reformation. Beyond the social elitism, mob mentality is an ever-present force that is ignited during the Religious Wars. Differences in religion are a contributor to factional tensions. Manipulation by religious leaders and misunderstanding between the two religious sects’ practices create this religious tension. Although Protestants and Catholics share the core teachings of Christianity, a struggle for secular power, feelings of tribalism, and conflicting religious ideals not only solidify the schism between these two sects of Christianity, but escalated these tensions to bloodshed.
The Mirabal sisters were revolutionaries who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. During the revolution, they were given the code name “Las Mariposas”, or “the butterflies”. The term “mariposa” suits each sister in a different way. Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and Mate Mirabal each have their one reason to be compared to a butterfly. The nickname “mariposa” shows who the Mirabal sisters are; they transformed from domestic, innocent mothers and wives into brave, defiant martyrs for national freedom.
Works of post-modern literature raise questions about life and the human condition. The questions raised by the author not always answered in the text. Juniot Diaz’s novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an example of this. In the novel the motif of love and violence raises the question, “How closely aligned is love or the lack of it to violence or madness?” The author provides no clear answer to this question and the questions helps to emphasize the meaning of the work as a whole.
It can be said without question that the Mirabal sisters made extreme sacrifices in the name of social justice. They gave up their time, their energy, their families, their safety, and finally, their lives. But did those sacrifices really make a difference? After all, they were killed before they could see Trujillo’s regime topple. And the sisters arguably did little to impact Trujillo’s reign and his assassination several months after their deaths.
After a long fight with Trujillo, three sisters were murdered. “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez is about the Mirabal sisters long and weary fight with the revolution against Trujillo. Trujillo was the dictator for the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. This essay will address the how they got to joining the revolution , their heroism and fight with the revolution. The Mirabal sisters showed heroism in the face of the Dominican Republic because of their resistance against Trujillo’s regime.
Hemingway sets the story environment at a train station, with two very different sides of the tracks. This setting is interpreted as a metaphor for the choice at hand, an interpretation of life or death. One side reflecting a dry harsh area, with no trees, and devoid of life, on the other side of the
This novel was written based on the Mexican revolution, which was an important event in history for the people of Mexico. The author of this novel, Juan Rulfo portrays the characters as being lost in purgatory to show how the people of Mexico felt during the time of Porfirio Diaz. Juan Rulfo used his experiences and suffering during the revolution and turned it into literature. During the Mexican revolution, there were situations in which men were more powerful and played a more important role in society than women. The use of descriptive language and imagery in the novel allows readers to understand how horrific the time period was and how the people felt.
This article speaks about the dystopian society and how the Gladers manage to survive in the middle of unknown terror. The Content
Since religions and beliefs began to form, corruption has always been present in their midst. Sometimes it is due to greed, like indulgences, other times it is due to power and authority. In The Sun Also Rises, this same exploitation is prevalent in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish religions (the faiths of three characters: Jake, Bill, and Cohn). The type of corruption present in the novel is that having a faith, or one that has a higher morality, makes you superior to those that do not. Ernest Hemingway uses irony and negative connotations to develop this theme that religion is corrupt.