The first thing that struck me about "Facundo" was Sarmiento’s writing style. Highly descriptive, it flows very well sending the images of the Pampas and La Rioja so clearly into my mind, that I felt that I had been there myself. Perhaps my favourite description is in chapter five: “Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga.” In the opening pages to this chapter, Sarmiento details the tale of a man, a gaucho, being pursued across the desert by a tiger (I must admit that I was confused about what lions and tigers were doing in Argentina, until Sarmiento explained that the colonists gave pumas and jaguars these names in emulation of familiar animals), and he writes, “The tiger’s roar…causes an involuntary shaking of the nerves, as if the flesh all by itself were trembling at the announcement of death” (p. 92). Later, we learn that this man is Facundo himself, who ironically goes on to be called The Tiger of the Plains.
As Sarmiento tries to draw a line and a contrast between the civilized, European influenced city of Buenos Aires and the barbaric rural life that lies outside of it, it is very obvious what side he is on. However, because of hindsight bias it was fairly easy to dismiss his assertions about the superiority of Europe, although I could see how, when it was written it was a very powerful and moving piece of literature. Likewise, it did take me a while to look past Sarmiento’s ethnocentrism and sometimes racist words, and I had to keep reminding myself that it was written in 1845 and that the mindset of that period and in that place was drastically different from the city of Vancouver in 2008.
I also thought that Sarmiento’s description of singular events in Facundo’s past did a very good job of turning the reader against Facundo. And at the same time that Sarmiento describes these scenes in which Facundo has a man suffer two hundred lashes of a whip for a seemingly trivial action, or when he makes all the cultured men of the city practice army drills all night he is very careful about drawing comparisons with Rosas (or even simply bringing up his name at the right time), causing his readers to associate Rosas with the atrocities that Facundo was capable of.
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2 comments:
Hi. I was also confused about the lions and tigers until it was explained. I agree with you about Sarmiento's views and needing to look at them in the context of his time and the culture he so admires (of course this only helps to explain his views, not validate them). I also thought I detected a hint of admiration for Facundo...at least in terms of his intelligence, as described at the end of Chapter V, even though I agree with you that Sarmiento does a great job of turning the reader against Facundo...so maybe there is, or will at some point be, some tension there.
I agree, his description of the country is so beautiful. As such a passionate writer he clearly romanticizes both the country and the city.
It is hard to understand Sarmiento's relationship with Facundo's character. I agree with you, that his violent acts put the reader against him, but I also agree with Darja that he also shows some admiration. I also think that his childhood stories humanize him a bit, although the fact that he is so much trouble from such an early age also makes him hard to relate to. It is definetely a complex relationship between the reader, Sarmiento and Facundo!
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