Post one...

            Seeing as the “blog” format here allows for a certain level of honesty I will approach this project with this in mind. I will admit to being severely bored with the beginning of the book, finding myself at times skimming ahead, or even throwing the it down in frustration; it did however, after a while, begin to grow on me, at least once I was able to get into the swing of its stiff prose (albeit most likely caused by the translation from what is likely more poetic and fluid sounding Spanish). From the very beginning I see the author clearly drawing a line between us and them, civilization and barbarism, the cultured vs. the animalistic savage. Sarmiento describes the savages as descending from the night like hyenas on defenseless populations, denoting, in his mind, their less than human status. As apposed to the refinement and culture of the “Spanish race,” Sarmiento describes the peoples of the Americas as being inherently lazy with incapacity for industry, unless put into their place by Europeans.

In this world brute force rules, individuals most survive on their own cleverness and abilities to avoid danger. This near lawless that Sarmiento describes seems almost a Hobbesian “state of nature,” where one can do as they please but live their life in constant state of fear. In this sense the situation is ripe for someone to assert complete control with the promise of some protection from harm.

Sarmiento displays a kind of love-hate relationship with the gauchos, criticizing and passing judgment on them while at the same time romanticizing. Sarmiento seems to look down on the guacho for his lack of culture, intelligence, and his implanting of barbarism into society, while at the same time expressing a kind of admiration for what the guacho is able to accomplish. The guacho’s animal like survival, without the need intelligence and refinement seems both criticism and complement. Sarmiento calls the traditions of the guacho as crude, while romanticizing them with his language, even deifying the guacho himself.

            Sarmiento describes the pre-revolution Argentina as a world split between two incompatible societies: the civilized and the barbarous. Post revolution these worlds are combined as to break down any semblance of “civilization,” descending the country into chaos. It is in this chaotic changing environment that Sarmiento places his protagonist – an individual who’s personality is born of this tenuous clash of “civilizations.”