Monday, December 6, 2010

Juan Rulfo by Grigori Karlenovich Gazarian y Sorel Scarlet Contreras Meyemberg

"Dice Rulfo: Yo soy de una zona donde la conquista espanola fue demasiado ruda. Los conquistadores ahi no dejaron ser viviente. Entraron a saco, destruyeron la poblacion indigena, y se establecieron. Toda la region fue colonizada nuevamente por agricultores espanoles" (Karlenovich 15). This quote is saying that where he came from it was a place where the Spanish conquest was really harsh. They took over everything and established there. The whole zone was colonized again and by Spanish agriculturist. O chose this quote because from the whole book of his biography I would say that this is the only good quote I could find that would describe where he came from. These is an example of what happened when he was little and also that's some of the things that he included in his books things from what he has lived.


The first Connection that I can make about this book to me would be that in this biography Juan Rulfo talks about the most violent states which could be Jalisco, Guerrero, Michoacán, and others. Well my family comes from Guerrero and well it is true that it is a violent state. One specific situation would be that the drug dealers killed my mom’s cousin. He was a police man and well the drug dealers came and were going to take out another drug dealer but my mothers cousin didn't want to participate so they kidnapped him. After that a couple of days later in the newspaper it came out that they found a dead body in a river hanging from a tree but its head was missing. They were never able to find the head.

The second connection would be that I agree with Juan Rulfo I haven't found a really good book that has fulfilled my expectations. That’s why Juan Rulfo decided to write his own books. I feel that some books that I have read are good but not the way I wanted them to be. The books start good but don't end how I wanted to be. Sometimes I wish I could write the book but change the ending so it could be how I want it to end.

I chose this image to represent my book that I read for honors because it’s basically the biography of Juan Rulfo I just wanted to put his picture instead of another thing that he talked about. Juan Rulfo describes his life how everything in his family was and what happened where he was raised and born. Juan Rulfo describes how things were before and how they have changed now and that some things have not changed at all.

He talks about his family and says that he remembers they were all discreet like him and that his only companions were his three brothers. “Al igual que el propio escritor, todos eran bastante discretos….Los únicos compañeros de Juan eran sus tres hermanos” (Gazarian 21). Another thing would be that in one of his books he talks about them. That book would be called “Nos han dado la tierra” (which means they have given us the land). An example would be this, “En el cuento “Nos han dado la tierra”, aparece una imagen interesante que bien podría ser el reflejo de el al lado de sus tres hermanos y nadie mas: “Somos cuatro. Yo los cuento: dos adelante y dos atrás. Miro mas atrás y no veo a nadie. Entonces me digo: ‘Somos cuatro’” (Gazarian 21). This quote would translate to; “In the story “They have given us the land” appears an interesting image that could be the best reflection of him next to his three brothers and no one else. We are four. I count them: two in the front and two behind. I look more back and I don’t see anyone else. Than I tell myself we are four. These are some examples I found for these picture.

Questions:

1.What do you think about Juan Rulfo's idea about creating his own books because other ones didn't meet his expectations?

2. After reading his biography do you understand some of his books better? Did it clear up some of your questions?

3. Why do you think Juan Rulfo during his infancy was so conserving?

4. Do you think that everything that Juan Rulfo went through had to do with him not wanting to be like other kids?

5. Why do you think Juan Rulfo Started to work in Goodrich if he liked to write stories?


I liked these book because it talks about the whole life of Juan Rulfo. He talks about his life, his family, where he came from, and about some of his book. I think it was a good idea that he talked about some of his books and what they mean because some of them are kind of confusing and that way people are able to understand the meaning of the his books. The only thing would be that they should do a biography book about Juan Rulfo in English because from the search I did I only found books in Spanish for the biography of Juan Rulfo. I liked how they formatted the book by sections and each sections have a title that give you an idea what they are going to be about or if you want to know something specific you can go to that page without having to search the whole book.