Facundo

I really, really don't think that Facundo is "the man", contrary to what some people were saying in class today. The description of him is very eery and intimidating. His rage was like a wild beast, he has thick and dark hair, black and fiery eyes which are shadowed by big black eyebrows! His gloomy and dark physical appearence symbolizes his vicious and mysterious interior. Facundo had a rebellious spirit and felt as though he needed to rule, but he would turn down a place in the army if he was offered one because he is too impatient to wait for a promotion to the leader.
Proof of his "evil nature, bad education, and fierce and bloody instincts" (pg 82) :
He kills people just for the sake of killing people. He is very harsh, revengul and irritated with civil authority. He is always ordering men to be lashed for pretty much no reason and he killed the spaniards who released him from jail. Also, he apparently tore off the ears of the woman he was going to marry, and violently beat a lady he tried to get involved with.

Ch.1 Focundo, thoughts on unification

We didn't really get a chance to discuss the texty part of the reading last night, so I just wanted to bring up some interesting points that I found. Sarmiento mentioned how the desire of all Argentines should be "union in civilization" (pg.13) and he believes that this unification will eventually take place. Do you think that Sarmiento is the only one that thinks this? At least for me, it seems as though the sense of community is pretty darn bad and will take a looong long time to recover into unity (I don't really know what Argentina is like right now though...sorry). The lower classes live far from society, the natives live in poverty, the pure Spanish race dominates in the rural districts and the African American's occupy the cities where progress occurs frequently. Since all of the major social classes and races are split apart from eachother, how is it that they can all of sudden come together and agree on certain guidelines to live by or ways to govern the country? The quote on page 20, "Everything civilized whioch...assaults upon himself" also clarifies my point.
Believe me, I wish they could all get along, put aside their differences and realize that the only way there country can become prosperous and powerful in the world is if they all communicate and unify. But people seemed to be very stubborn in those days.

Sab thoughts/possible essay questions

I loved having Nina Scott join our class on friday, it was an amazing experience hearing what she had to say about the novel. Since she read it so many times in order to translate it perfectly, she picked up so many little details that tied into the plot. For example, Sab wrote Carlota's name in the cave because it was a place of total darkness/secrecy and being in love with your master's daughter was unspoken of. Just little things like that make the novel so interesting. I would personally not go into the translating business, but I totally respect Nina Scott for doing such an excellent job on an incredibly difficult profession.
I bet there could be an interesting essay topic on the characters of the novel, since the four main characters are very different from eachother. One could argue about the two bachelor choices for Carlota, Enrique or Sab, and give reasons for which one woulf be a better match for her (forget about the end of the novel when Carlota finds out about "the real" Enrique). Another topic could be about how Sab and Teresa play such a pivitol roll in the novel, even though they are not the loudest characters of the bunch. Also, there could definetly be an essay written about three different characteristics that Sab has and give examples of how he portrays them throughout the novel.

Simon Bolivar video

I found this silly video of Somin Bolivar, but since it is exactly what we were talking about in class, I thought it would be a fast/funny recap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPHvhDtG8fU&feature=related

thoughts about Sab

I knew right from the beginning that Sab was in love with Carlota, so I was super excited when he finally confessed to Teresa his controllable feelings for her. I use the term controllable because Sab had so many oppurtunities to demolish Carlota and Enrique's relationship, but he never chose to. For example, he saved Enrique during the horrible storm, he gave Carlota the winning lottery ticket, he guided the entire the beloved couple through the dangerous caves, but he always put Carlota's happiness before his. 

Another neat part of the symbolism in the novel is Sab's unclear heritage/background. Enrique is unsure of the social status of Sab when he first encounters him in the open plains. This symbolizes how he has a very indistinctive character and personality. It appears as though he is just a slave who follows his masters orders, but underneath his skin he has a thousand emotions bottled up. 

to sum it up: Sab is an incredible, loyal, mysterious character who i would marry.