Boring Yet Satisfying

The first short work by José Martí attempts to intrigue the reader with its smattering of poetic devices such imagery, metaphors and personification, however despite these bits of colour that intermingle with the greyness of the text, I was overwhelmed with a sense of boredom.

That being said, I feel a bit torn in writing my blog this time...my first impression would be to continue with my “negativity” and be super critical of this “boring” read; and yet, while I was reading the text I will admit that I was in awe of how someone could be so descriptive about a bridge! So...instead of going on about the “tediousness” of this read, I’d like to write about a couple uses of the poetic devices I stumbled upon here.

First I want to discuss the following quotation:

“Oh! broche digno de estas dos ciudades maravilladoras! Oh! guión de hierro—de estas dos palabras del Nuevo Evangelio” (Martí, 1963 Pg. 424)

I thought this was a very interesting metaphor; using a clasp to signify that the bridge is more than just a man-made structure linking two municipalities. Martí develops the metaphor further by stating that the bridge is an iron script between the cities, and that the latter are words of the gospel message on that script. I think this metaphor explains the idea that the bridge is to be a kind of saving grace, providing new opportunities and new life to the towns’ inhabitants...whether or not they themselves would support this metaphor I am unsure of. (I didn’t understand some of the context of Martí’s writing).

The second quotation I’d like to identify is as follows:

“Los hombres pasan, graves y silenciosos a su entrada, fríos, ansiosos, blancos y lúgubres como fantasmas…” (Pg. 429)

I had to read this a couple times, because the imagery describing the “trabajadores” was so striking. I really appreciate when authors are able to describe images or scenarios so poignantly that you can picture exactly what the author is trying to portray. Martí is able to do this repeatedly throughout his work.

Well...I need to wrap this up, so I will conclude with saying that though my first impressions were quite negative in regards to Martí’s first essay, my thoughts after digesting it, have developed into more positive ones. Though I found the topic to be somewhat uninteresting, I enjoyed the style in which this text was written.

THE END ?!?

Well I am going to have to say that I agree with the “forewarning” given to us in regards to the end of this big pink non-tedious book! Although I thoroughly enjoyed most of the novel, the incredibly anticlimactic ending, I did not. I guess, in order to give Ruiz de Burton a bit of credit, it was somewhat appropriate for her to have ended this work in a discussion of politics as it is one of the larger themes here...but still...I couldn’t believe that the last pages were devoted to my least favourite part of the book. It was such a monotonous dialog between the ranting and raving Cackles, with only about a page given to wrap up the lives of Julian and Lola. (And on a side note I thought that the irony of their reunion was kind of cheesy with Julian needing to be by Lola’s side in order to cure her love sick heart. It was obviously a parallel to the time when she left Washington to come to Julian’s bedside so as to also save his love sick heart.)

Anyways, I had been looking forward to reading about whether or not there was going to be any resolution between the Dr. and Mrs. Norval. Instead however, Mrs. Norval is able to avoid the whole confrontational mess by simply checking out, and giving in to her insanity. In the meantime we aren’t given any details as to what becomes of the Doctor after he arrives back from Africa, nor do we learn of his reactions to the entire escapade...including those toward the abominable actions of his old “friend” Hackwell.

Despite all of my critique towards the latter portion of this book, I will mention one thing that I was quite amused with: the punishment of shame and embarrassment met by the ex-reverend after realizing his defeat and that his chances of being with Lola were eliminated. This important and entertaining victory, in my opinion, gave some aid in ameliorating Ruiz de Burton’s ending, but it definitely was not enough to prevent the utter boredom that was inflicted upon the reader in the final pages of this book.

I thought so...

Ruiz de Burton, author of the novel, Who Would Have Thought It?, introduces through the character Rev. Mr. Hackwell, her notion that the world is in need of rogues and social delinquents in order to prevent “the good and proper people of this world...from perish[ing] of sheer inanity” (R. de Burton, pg. 9). Throughout this book, the author’s idea of the necessity of rogues becomes an all encompassing theme; one which at times is quite ironic and satirical.

It is no secret that the true rogues of “this world”, the one pertaining to that of R. de Burton’s work, consist of but are definitely not limited to Rev. Mr. Hackwell, Mr. Hammerhard, and the infamous Mrs. Norval. However the irony is that all the characters, save Lola, Julian, Lavina and perhaps a couple of others, view Dr. Norval as their token rogue, regardless of the fact that he goes to extraordinary lengths to help his family, friends and even his country. I think the author is illustrating the point that although there are good people in this world with true and pure motives, there will always be others who will try to suppress their efforts, and destroy the good because we live in a corrupted world where truth and purity are hard to come by.

Let me leave this topic now and move to that of Mrs. Norval and her “roguish” type character. This lady, if we can even call her that, fits the definition of a rogue in that she is dishonest, immoral and mischievous (Oxford dictionary) but contradicts the notion of a rogue in that she fits in with almost everyone around her. (In my opinion this is because the majority of characters in this book could be described as rogues!) An example of her immorality and dishonesty can be found on pg. 134. When she learns that Mr. Hackwell is in the hospital she connives a plan to be able to see her new love. Even though Emma and Lavvy are taking care of him quite capably on their own, Mrs. Norval decides that she needs to be there for Emma’s sake, who though an adult, is considered by Mrs. Norval to be an orphan. It is ironic that in order to see Mr. Hackwell, Mrs. Norval uses the excuse that she needs to take care of this “orphan girl” yet she despises caring for Lola, the orphan entrusted to her care.

stay tuned for more...

Hey, my name is Jacqui and I'm a 4th year UBC arts student majoring in french and minoring in spanish. I hope to continue with the education program at UBC next year....and afterwards would love to move overseas to teach...New Zealand perhaps?


Ciao