Of prison reality to Libertad by Arguedas
When I buy a book by José María Arguedas, I usually wait for the same usant theme, the difference or conflict between two realities, since since its first writings it has caught my attention making my interest in the Andean worldview more and more. When buying his work, entitled The Sixth, I imagined again on an Andean stage where the serrano is good and the coast becomes a villain, where the metaphors and words in Quechua motivate my interest while sweetening the storyDespite my difficulty to pronounce them, however, Grata was my surprise to discover that the work is the opposite of what I imagined, I gladly affirm that the author surprised me again, changing and expanding his perspective, although, without leavingBack your indigenist writing style.
When I had the pleasure of reading the deep rivers, from the beginning you could glimpse the conflict between two worlds, when reading the sixth, this theme remains present, but in a different way, which makes this work’t become the one thatBetter represents the Peruvian reality of the 30s and, why not, it is also the one that best represents the social conflicts of Peru.
I constantly say that Arguedas has a prejudice for the costs who do not let him improve as a writer, however, from the first chapter of the work he looks as the author has already set aside this resent and expands his perspective, especially after listening toRosita’s voice, since she pronounces a fragment that was taxed in my memory as one of the most significant: if they sang at that moment the chicuacos and the pigeons, of such different voices, the song stood out, accompanied the deep sound of the treeThat I went from the subsoil to the infinite and invisible sky, perhaps if it were only the phrase would have taken it as another metaphor, however, it is the context and the new interpretation that makes it something as special as Rosita.
Rosita is a character who stands out in the novel, mainly because she is a "fag" that has great power within jail. In his first morning, Gabriel delights herself when she heard her sing, because he says he listened to a woman and when she sees him, she thinks, remembers her childhood and when writing this metaphor expands her point of view, also including homosexuality in her,Because, after all, having a different sexuality, does not less than us.
If we compare Rosita’s reality with which she had had if she was born in the mountains, as Gabriel mentions, her mother would have saved her the sacrifice of staying alive. We realize how far our prejudices arrive, we say not to feel better than the indigenous population, and, at the same time, even if we do not accept it, we are many who fight against racial discrimination and do the opposite with homophobia.
This reality is reflected throughout the history of our country, in the 30s homophobia becomes part of our daily life despite the beginning of new
ideologies and it has been maintained in recent years, although it hurts to accept it, it is in the mountains where there is more prejudices of this type. It is because of the metaphor that I believe in the change in Arguedas mentality, in an example that people can adapt to new realities, in this case, expanding the meaning of a word that is present in all its works.
If we compare El Sexto with other works that intend to talk about Peruvian reality, from the beginning the superiority of the Amauta’s work is noted, even about its other writings, one of the main differences is the context where it develops. When reading an indigenous work I am used to the scenario being the Sierra or an ostentatious Lima house, however, this work takes place in a prison, tells the author’s most difficult life stage and this allows him, once again, channelyour feelings to make social criticism through the most revealing book you have written.
If we compare this work with the deep rivers, the second is short in revealing new stocks of the country, in the first encounter new opposite worlds, new realities that the most acclaimed work of Arguedas fails to include effectively and enjoyablely, making it"The Sixth" of, among all the works of Amauta, the one that best represents the Peruvian reality.
I think that the reality of our country is also expressed in the division of the floors within the prison, although it is true, it is narrated that on the first floor are the worst criminals, in the second those that apparently are not so bad, and the third belongs to political prisoners.
In the Peruvian reality, those of the first floor would become the most remote populations, because the thought and prejudice that the natives are the most violent, on the second floor the middle class of the country would be located on the second floor, whichThey are even more influenced by the upper classes and serve as puppets for the powerful, at the top of the prison is the most powerful social class in my opinion, politicians, who are not imprisoned for injustice, but rather, to continueHis own ideals
During the narration of the work another clear reference is seen and this explains social conflicts. Since then a struggle for people’s freedom of expression was lived, and we see it reflected in social conflicts, for example, Gabriel is arrested for being part of a conflict against Camarotta, already within the prison, rather thanFor the floors, this is divided by political parties, communists and apristas, which are currently the opponents and followers of the government, we will call them leftists and right -wing to facilitate understanding.
During the narration of the work, the fight is seen from the beginning, when they sing the Marseille aprista and international, during the development of the history the view towards this conflict is expanded and something very important is mentioned and it is the following. As usual for Peruvians, we usually blame others when we do not achieve a clear objective, more specifically, we blame abroad, in the work, the communists blame the apristas to avoid the true revolution for supporting Russia.
At present, the Peruvian continues with the same mentality, only now blaming the government, in a thought that they are the only guilty of the lack of growth in the country, I believe that this is true, but that the culprits are not onlyThey, but also because we do not motivate a positive change, we sit at home saying that the culprit of everything is the State, as if that were going to reduce the needs of the country, we do not need a character like the pianist, whoRepresent the so -called hope or political future, all we need is to believe in us to stop depending on the decisions of paper tigers.
I remember reading very few writings where a Peruvian author tells this issue to motivate a reflection, since others only focus on a social conflict, whether terrorism or discrimination, they fail to include so much variety of problems, even the novel award in literature, Mario Vargas Llosa has admitted that this work is the one that best represents the prison reality of the country, placing El Sexto above works such as the surrendered or memoirs of the unknown soldier, which seek to discuss a very similar issue.
Returning to the work, we also treat another social problem, child labor. The work is already advanced, the story of a 14 -year -old boy who is treated as he puts on a hacienda is told, his boss takes him to the sixth ensuring that I rob him a face, so the child is taken to the second floor ofThe prison, where the rapists are.
The next morning Gabriel finds the boy crying inconsolably because they had abused him, Gabriel tries to calm him and speak to him from his heart, expressing that the place where he came, the men never cried.
To interpret this story we divide it into three parts, the first will be the second the violence and the third the phrase that Arguedas exclaims.
Starting with the exploitation of the 14 -year -old, at that time, it was still very normal to observe this type of abuse to be unpunished, perhaps because the child was indigenous or for fear of reprisals if they denounced, however, we say we have evolved andLeaving prejudices behind, but the number of children who are a victim of exploitation has only been increasing, becoming more than 21% according to the INEI. It is important to highlight that many of these children are in a situation of poverty or extreme poverty and therefore it is easier for the mafias to manipulate them and turn them into slaves, and, although we neglect it, this only continues to demonstrate that we have not changed our mentality.We continue taking advantage of those who believe inferior to us.
It is important to emphas. One more reason to highlight the sovereignty of El Sexto, for
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