(It's all English today folks, broken pc, using roomies laptop—which does not have a Spanish keyboard installed... excuses, excuses)
I must admit that the second half of Cumanda was easier to get through than the first half, probably because there was more dialogue and more action. I even began to enjoy it a bit.
I thought that that the plot took an interesting twist at the end with the death of Cumanda, though I believe it needed to happen. First, because I think that, for it’s time, the book was already controversial, being that it was about the forbidden love of a colonist with a “savage Amazonian head-huntress”, and that the twist was that Carlos and Cumanda were really brother and sister; but, how would the author be able to just end their feelings for each other without killing one of them. Their feelings for each other were so strong it wouldn’t have been believable if the passion was immediately extinguished. And it would have been too shocking if the characters ran off and fell in love anyways, or lived with their passions for each other, though ignored them. I don’t know if society would have accepted a book like that. Second, I believe that such a romantic book needed a dramatic ending. Everything was romanticized, from the flowers to the jungle, to the river, to the frogs mating, to the bonfire. In my opinion, a happy ending would have made it flat and redundant.
I also thought it was interesting that Cumanda was the most beautiful girl in all the tribes, and it turned out, she wasn’t even native. She was white and the most beautiful. Does anyone else find this to be an obvious bias? From what I understand, the author was trying to remain objective, was he not? And I understand that he was probably one of the more excepting people of other cultures and it was obvious that he admired the Indigenous culture, but, though we could excuse him for being a product of his own culture, I felt that the continuous name calling of the indigenous people as savage and barbaric made his attempt at enlightening the public of the indigenous ways, fall short.
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4 comments:
Ashea,
I tend to disagree a little that Cumanda had to die because of the possbility that Carlos and her potentially would have engaged in forbidden love. I think the author often suggested in the words of Carlos that his character felt a different, strange kind of love he had never experienced before. Thus, when Carlos found out that Cumanda was his sister, it made sense to him and clarified to himself his strange feelings. Maybe for the times, though, it still would have been too scandalous even though the characters were originally unaware of their blood relations.
-Dave.
I fully agree Cumanda had to die in order for this novel not to end completely flat. It was such a cheesy romantic drama it had to end in tradgedy.
Also, the fact that Cumanda was white and the most beautiful has definitely bothered me throughout the novel. I'm thinking it is not just a coincidence, and this bothers me... I have listened to many people in South America talk about the shame people feel about dark skin, and the desire to be fair. It makes me sad.
-Allison
I too believe that Cumanda had to die. However, my reason for thinking so is because in my opinion everything would have worked out "perfectly" in terms of freeing both Cumanda and Carlos etc. This of course is ignoring the potential problems of their relationship once they realize they are related. As with movies, I hate when everything works out perfectly in the end, to me it is just unrealistic when things work out all neat and pretty.
Your comments about the author bias, and Cuamanda being white are interesting. I had not thought about it in that manner.
Kerry
Estoy de acuerdo contigo que el “bias” de Mera es muy obvio. Claro que no era objetivo en su novela. Creo que el intento de Mera era de hablar de los indigenas en una perspectiva que los pone en igualdad con los blancos, pero lo hace de manera intelectual, y los sentimientos por su cultura y raza son tan fuertes que el mismo no puede ser objetivo. Entonces, vemos como la muchacha blanca es la mas hermosa de todas ellas. Tenemos que darnos cuenta que Mera es un romantico, y que su intento para que la gente conociera las problemas del indigena no fue efectivo pero vemos que fue una de los iniciadores en querer verlos como iguales
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