Latin American Writers' themes (Term Paper Sample)

Name: College: Course: Tutor: Date: Latin American Writers' themes Latin American writers were the most notable in the writing fraternity since time immemorial. Most of their writings consisted of written and oral literature. This was done in several languages that included Portuguese, Spanish and other indigenous languages of the Americas. Such writing gained so much popularity especially in the 20th century, thanks to magical realism which was their main theme. Literature in Latin America is rich and involves a complex tradition of literary production that can be dated back to many centuries ago. This paper will therefore be looking at two main Latin American writers in terms of their main themes. It will look at why the writer chose the theme, how he developed it and the result of his choice. Gabriel García Márquez This is one of the most prominent Latin American authors. According to Pelayo (29), he is known to resist predetermined plot structures and he tends to force readers to engage actively with it to provide the essential details. As much as he is known to be a prominent writer in regard to magical realism, the central theme in his works is reality. He claims that most of his works, especially the earlier ones reflects the reality that is the life in Colombia. I this regard, the theme determine the rational structure in his books. In his later works he tries to writer from a different angle by addressing reality in a different way. One of the methods that Gabriel used was to give a description of the bizarre and unsettling details of a given story using the "deadspan expression”. In most of his works, Gabriel would make the theme look mutable in a true epic fashion by melding together the past, present and future in order to formulate a statement about his cultural, political and social beliefs. Based on his main theme of reality, he was more inclined on politics. In this regard, his works Gabriel Garcia Margues would tackle the whole aspect of retelling and restructuring of history (Pelayo 47). This is because most of his stories were fused with real events and historical truths. Apart from acting as a form of entertainment to the narratives, these real events it also acted as a way of thinking about and reacting to the Latin American history. Based on the fact that most of his books were political in nature, it makes sense to discern that Gabriel Garcia Margues aimed to make two main statements; he wanted to let his fellow countrymen know what has passed and also make them think about their reactions to history. Since he uses magical realism, folk culture, history and the outside world does come together, making his fiction a seamless blend of a culture that is indigenous as well as the influences that colonialism has come with (Martin, 74). By presenting these tales Gabriel Garcia Margues is able to balance modernity and history with reverence to his social values and indigenous culture. Before one understands the reality that is the main theme in his works through political connotations, it is important to look into the political climate that influenced his writing. He was born in Aracataca which is a rural town in Northern Colombia (Pelayo 50). He was able to witness various internal struggles in the country. This is probably what inspired his popular works like One hundred years of Solitude. As a result of this internal struggle, the country that Gabriel Garcia Margues was raised in was characterized by harsh violence Gabriel Garcia Margues would transform a real event that happened in his native country into a work of fiction in order to depict his main theme in a much liberal means. The whole theme of reality was seen in most of his other books like Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Death Constant Beyond Love (Pelayo 86). In all these, past is fictionalized but in the real sense, it is based on true historical events. So basically it only makes sense to realize that Gabriel Garcia Margues has given writing magic and dignity through his works. This is because he has incorporated the real and surreal in order to inform the present and the future through history. His works are full of connotations that show reality like social and political reality. Pablo Neruda He was a Chilean poet famously known for his numerous poems that touches on everyday life in the society. In fact, he is one of the most famous poets in Latin American history. His poems did exerted enormous influence in Latin America. He was always willing to experiment on various topics (Neruda and Ilan 12). Throughout his exciting existence, it was notable that he went through some highs and lows. This was also reflected in his poetry. However, the main these that Pablo tackles in his works is love. He is known to have written hundreds of love poems, booth for his fellow humans and for his country. However, his muses tend to vary from the three wives he had to other love affairs (Neruda and Ilan 25). His third wife called Matilde Urrutia gave him the inspiration to come up with some of the most prominent love poems he ever did. Even with the illness that Matilde had, his sunset years while in his country were full of joy. It is this feeling of happiness that can be seen even in his collection of poems "Twenty love poems and song of Despair" which were written in 1924. As much as Neruda was known to have the notoriety of writing about just anything, the theme of love seemed to one of the most written about. This is even evident in his "One Hundred Love Sonnets" of 1960. Most of Neruda's poetry was filled with anguish and harmony. Even when he wrote about the political topics, his writing exploded with love for everything. It was evident that he was in pursuit of simplicity as evidenced from his poetry where he talked about everyday objects like in "Odas elementales”. His life basically is a reflection of his life and his fervent love affairs. The thematic essence of his poems came from nature and everything else around him. His readers know him with his sensuous songs of love, his melancholy lyrics of love and his tender odes to the sea. However, despite the popularity that was seen in his native country, his works were only available in small volumes. This was an indication that his was a complicated life especially based on the topics he chose to go by which would sometimes elicit sharp political reactions. The fact that he chose to deal with the theme for love is an indication that he wanted his works to transcend generations. Love is a topic that never seems to evade mankind. True to that, most of the work that he did during that time still has the same relevance to today(Neruda and Ilan 63). While, some of the works that he did on political issues have lost relevance, his love poems still elicit the same feelings like it was done the other day. Through his willingness to experiment and his love for simplicity, we are able to follow through his works through the years. Most of his earlier works brought in a sen...