Deep Rivers by José María Arguedas gives a violent and ugly depiction of life while at the same immersing you in the beauty of the world and the natural world. The author spends significant time creating a detailed depiction of the vivid Peruvian landscape and of the different cities and towns that the protagonist Ernesto and his father travel through. He also goes into great detail describing the rich culture of the Quechua people and their love for the natural world, often including poems and songs written in Quechua. The novel also includes words in the Quechua language when Ernesto is speaking rather than translating them, which I thought was a cool addition.
The novel focuses on Ernesto’s struggle with identity as he was raised by the Quechua people but is a descendant of settlers (Western side). This struggle becomes apparent when Ernesto is forced to attend a Catholic school and leave his old life behind. Even though the other students and the priests considered him mostly as one of their own because of the way he looks, they often still call him the name “stranger” because of his different upbringing.
Some of Ernesto’s classmates also make him question what is correct and make him question if the new society he is forced into is really for him. He despises the mistreatment of the indigenous people, when the indigenous people have an uprising and steal salt as an act of rebellion, Ernesto celebrates and chants with them in the streets. Ernesto finds actively himself routing against the colonizers, in a conversation with his friend Antero, he states that he thinks that the Indigenous people's revenge is justified and that “A man who weeps because they’ve been slapping his face for no reason at all can become angrier than a bull that hears a dynamite explosion, that feels the condor’s beak on his neck”, his friend replies that “The Indians must be kept down” and that “You can’t understand because you are not a land-owner” showing the disconnect between Ernesto and the views of the people around him.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but I wouldn't put it among my favorites that we have read in class so far. It did take quite a bit of time to get into it as the first third of the novel is pretty slow and I had not really connected with any of the characters yet. When the story starts focusing more on Ernesto and his time at the catholic school I was able to get more invested in the story and characters.
My question:
One part I thought was interesting is that I didn't find any definite reasons why Ernesto’s dad hates Ernesto’s uncle, the Old Man so much. What do you think the reason is?
"It did take quite a bit of time to get into it as the first third of the novel is pretty slow and I had not really connected with any of the characters yet." Now that you mention it: the structure of the book has some peculiarities that make it more complex than it seems. In fact, continuing with the idea of the "flow" of Andean life, the novel takes many turns and behaves like a river. Sometimes it moves quickly, other times it seems to stagnate.
ReplyDeleteHey Marcus, I didn't find any clear reason why Ernesto's dad hates the old man so much either. I think that's intentional, perhaps the author wants us to leave it up to interpretation. I remember somewhere it mentioned that the old man was somewhat wealthy, so my best guess is that maybe Ernesto's dad thinks he's greedy or something like that. Don't think we can know for sure, and it definitely contributed to the confusion I experienced while reading the first few chapters.
ReplyDelete-Nathan Harris
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