I found Cartucho to be certainly on the weirder side. The book itself was definitely unique, carrying a series of short stories - kind of like a diary. I'm not really sure if I liked it or just kept reading out of morbid curiosity.
I viewed it as a little girl's journal detailing the unfiltered and genuinely unpleasant events of her days living with her mother in the time of the Revolution. Although the novel's fundamental topic surrounds the Revolution, because the story was portrayed through the perspective of a little girl, there was no attention on the Revolution's savagery. There were, however, countless killings, almost as if the child was ecstatic about the sight of it. I want to pull this quote to reference what I mean; "my sister and I climbed up to peer out a window... we didn't see a single body, which we really regretted (p. 28)." Although the child may not be old enough to grasp the concept of war, deaths, and possibly tragedy, I would like to think the human instinct of survival would give some shock value to what these children are seeing.
Drawing on another theme, games and play, I believe this little girl writing these entries saw the Revolution as just that. The men, aka soldiers 'playing a game,' were her entertainment source. For example, "we saw some soldiers coming our way, carrying a tray above their heads, talking and laughing (p. 35)." The tray was full of human guts. I want to draw emphasis on the above where it says "talking and laughing." Again, the soldiers were proud, and laughter drew the children in, making them believe it was fun and games. In reality, carrying a tray of guts is gruesome and shocking to anyone old enough to understand. The adults in this book do not show the correct meaning of games and play. The reason behind the men playing the 'game' would be disturbingly sick to any adult.
Pulling from my psych death and dying course, despite the children's dismissal of killing as a worthless pastime, young kids (birth- about 5 years old) do not understand the finality of death and how it truly is a permanent state. Although I do not believe this girl is five or younger, she was raised throughout this time period, so war and bloodshed are all she has known.
Questions:)
How did you feel reading this book? Was anyone else completely shocked by the gruesomeness of each short story?
Hey Julia,
ReplyDeleteGreat Blog post,
To answer your question, I enjoyed reading this book. I was however, surprised by the gruesome scenes, for example the emphasis on the guts and ordinary process of executions in public. The short stories were intense but they were told how they were remembered, and the perspective of the novel made it a lot more manageable. The heavy subject matter is present but the child’s perspective on the novel allows for a more light tone throughout the novel, which made me look at the novel and revolution in general, in a different way than I would have before.
"this little girl writing these entries"
ReplyDeleteOK, but we need to distinguish between the author (Campobello), who is an adult when she writes this, and the narrator (the little girl). The narrator writes nothing. There's displacement here, as I say in my lecture, where Campobello takes on the perspective of a young girl. Why does she do that? To what effect?
Hi Julia! Great post! I also found it unsettling to read about how detailed the stories of guts and shootings were. It is important though, to the character because as Campobello is writing this from a perspective of a young girl, we can see how she has not grasped the idea or pain of death yet. The revolution is something she grew up in so all these gruesome events are normal in her life. These stories although very gruesome, show how the perspective of children differ from us as young adults reading this book. We have experienced life and judge these events by our maturity, where as a child, like Campobello's perspective does not judge, but just watches and sees the world for how it is. without questioning it. It is nice to read a book with a different perspective on life and teaches us as young adults not to question everything and enjoy the simplicities of life.
ReplyDeleteHi Julia, thanks for your post! I agree a lot with Alyssa ^ that it was certainly difficult to read through such horrific events, especially while knowing it is coming through the lived through experiences of a young girl. I cant begin to imaging the type of impact that must have on someone later on in life. However, it seemed as though she was taking in all of this violence in a way that she seemed somewhat unfazed by. I'm glad that these stories were able to be published as they bring quite a unique perspective to such a monumental time.
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