Blog #3 - Cartucho

    Cartucho by Nellie Campobello was quite a jarring book. The first story that I found quite jarring was “El ‘Kirilí”. The contrast between that story and the one before was extraordinary. Due to the writing being so blunt and young, I wasn’t expecting to be hit with something so brutal and honest. The imagery is horrifying. The next story right after that, about how after they found their dove dead, they “roasted bit over a cow dung fire”. I cannot even begin to imagine the trauma and desperation they must have been in to do that. 

    I also find the concept of slowly learning about a story and environment through single page stories revolving around certain people. It almost feels as though you are sitting down with a friend, who is telling you all about the people around her and what they mean to her. 

    When I began to read part 2, The Executed, I felt dread once I saw how short the passage was, and as I began to read about the first peer Nellie really introduced to us. The abrupt end to a blossoming friendship that nobody, especially not a child, should ever have to experience. 

    In some points of the story, it almost seems as though Nellie has more of a grip on reality and its consequences than some of the characters. Babi, for example, carried a sense of pride in terms of going to war. He looked forward to the chaps he would purchase. The child could only see the reality of the situation, and the likelihood of his death. 

    In the story The Dead Man, I noticed a shift in Nellie and noticed the aspect of “play” becoming relevant. It almost seemed as though the girls were become numb to the reality of the world around them. It was shocking to read that the bullets that once killed her friends now “seemed like lots of fun”, and that they regretted not seeing a single body when they looked outside. It is interesting too, seeing the dissociation that the writer exhibits in terms of referring to these dead people as just bodies. She also seems to use her doll as a way of expressing emotions that she is feeling but are much too intense to process herself. She allows her doll to grieve the loss of José Díaz, but doesn’t allow herself to. 

    I feel like I would have had a better understanding of the book if I had had more knowledge about the Mexican Revolution. Does anyone recommend any other sources that provide information about the Mexican Revolution?