Response 1
Aspects of magic and the supernatural play a key role in both “The Fourth Century” and “Death in the Andes." The use of magic and the supernatural however differs in the two books. The Fourth Century by Edouard Glissant tells the story of a young boy named Mathieu Beluse, who seeks to discover to country’s long lost history. The common expectation would be for him to look for information literature texts or other recorded materials, but the young boy is aware that the recorded versions are hugely distorted and are, therefore, not accurate. Here, aspects of magic and supernatural come into play whereby the young boy turns to an old traditional healer named Papa Longoue, who knows a lot about the oral traditions and forces of nature of the land. Magic is used sparingly in the retelling of the history of the Martinique country, for instance, to show the role it played in the emancipation of slaves. One of the distinctive elements of magic is the curse that Longoue places on a white planter named La Rouche. This element forms the core of the entire book as it brings together slave and master who are trying to uphold the slave system status quo.
Death in the Andes also incorporates aspects of magic. The novel adopts a missing persons investigation approach as two government officials arrive in a small Andean community to investigate the disappearance of three men. However, the two investigators are overwhelmed by the superstitious and brutal ways of the village. It gets particularly interesting when the villagers attribute the men’s disappearance to supernatural elements. The supernatural beliefs form the premise of the plot as the investigators try to discredit the superstitious beliefs and prove that actual human beings are responsible for the disappearance of the three men and not the said mystical elements.
Response 2
The Milk of Sorrow explores the life of Fausta who suffers a rare disease known as the “Milk of Sorrow” whose mode of transmission is via breast milk of women who were abused raped and abused during the period in Peru when there was much chaos and terrorism. The girl lives in great fear and confusion due to the disease, and this is made even worse when her mother dies. She cannot even afford the burial expenses. The final sequence of the film is however the strongest and most consequential part of the entire film. This is where retribution finally arrives for the young Fausta, and she redeems herself. The final sequence features Fausta together with the rest of the family members travelling in a pickup, which is also carrying their mother’s corpse to the countryside. They come across the Pacific Ocean and at this point, Fausta yells for the car to be stopped. Fausta carries her mother’s dead body to the shores of the sea, and as she stares at the ocean’s infiniteness, she realizes that she has at last been able to liberate herself from her tormented past. She stands there looking at the oceans to admire them. Fausta’s escape from her past is also reinforced by actual scene of the film where she spots a potted plant with beautiful flowers outside her door. She kneels down to smell the beautiful fragrance and smell of the flowers.
Response 3
Death in the Andes can see summed as story of fear, ignorance and brutality. The novel is very graphic in terms of violence, brutality as well as vulgar and coarse language. The novel’s ending is an enigma and poses the question of the slenderness of the boundary between tenebrous horror and civilization.
Throughout the novel are exposed to various aspects of death and destruction, and it is unrealistic to think that the ending of the novel would be nothing short of graphic. The reader does not expect the novel to end on a happy note given the stupendous amount of death and destruction aspects that characterize this novel.
Lituma, who is the novel's main protagonist, tries to understand and come to terms with the Andean culture, customs and superstitions as he seeks to understand the disappearance so the three men throughout the novel. The brutality of this culture is overwhelming, and it is a bit ironical that at the end of the novel, Lituma is able to find some bit of comfort in the romantic escapades of his deputy Thomas who falls in love with a local whore named Mercedes. The story of Mercedes and Tomas is a backdrop to a romantic escape from the terrifying and bizarre world that the novel is based on and that the protagonist of the novel, Lituma is investigating. This issue of romance serves to dilute the exhibited conflict of the present and the past. The Senderista guerrillas are the initial suspects but as the novel unfolds, it is slowly realized that the deaths are actually attributable to the Serrucho mountain people who have reverted to old cannibalistic habits and who have started offering human sacrifices. Lituma is however able to find comfort in the love tribulations of Tomas and Mercede
