Browsing by Author "Aranda, Jose"

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    Death and degeneration in Malcolm Lowry's, Under the Volcano
    (2008) Palin, Jonathan Michael; Aranda, Jose
    In Under the Volcano , Lowry creates a world of excess, extreme situations, otherness and exoticism. Within this primitive Mexico, the protagonist, Geoffrey Firmin, experiences an individual degeneration. It is through Geoffrey Firmin's individual degeneration, along with the social degeneration of Mexico during the celebration of the Day of the Dead, that he accomplishes his goal of living as an Indio in Mexico. By living as an Indio in Mexico, however, he meets the same fate as the (dying) Indio on the side of the road. Lowry utilizes aspects of Mexican history, religion, macabre details of the Day of the Dead, and alcoholism to create a Mexico worthy of the Consul's "catastrophic success." In Lowry's world, we are able to observe the transformation of Firmin from pseudo-imperial Consul to a compañero , accepted into the ranks of the exploited.
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    Revolution on the border: Conflicted loyalties and conflicting identities in “George Washington Gómez”
    (2008) Gauthereau-Bryson, Lorena; Aranda, Jose
    In George Washington Gómez , Américo Paredes depicts the ways in which the border plays important political, economic, and social roles in the Mexican Revolution. Paredes suggests that Border Mexicans are more familiar with and connected to history, since they can trace the "displacement" of their families as land was appropriated by the United States after the Texas Revolution and the Mexican American War. As a result, Paredes' novel illustrates how the Texas Mexican's interpretation of the Revolution is forged by their community's collective memory of past injustices, including questions of land, legitimacy, and racism. Furthermore, the novel depicts how these frustrations continue after the Revolution and reflect the community's conflicted national loyalties and dual identities. Finally, the novel traces the trajectory of the resistance to these frustrations, beginning with violent seditionist raids and ending with the political discourse which will serve as a launching point for future Chicano ideology.