Who narrates the story/How is the story narrated?
First Filiberto's friend is the one that narrates the story, but when the Filiberto's diary is found, he narrates his own story with the Chac Mool. Nonetheless there are changes between both narrators.
Who is Filiberto? What does he do? What class is he from? What might he represent?
He is the main character of the story, he is not the only person involved but the story surrounds him. He has a job in the government, and since he can buy an apartment, travel and purchase things just as a hobby, he might belong to middle or upper class.
He might represent the his socioeconomic class (upper-middle) and the relation withe the lower class represented by an indigenous figure such as the Chac Mool.
What is a Chac Mool? (internet investigation)
Auguste Le Plongeon named a sculpture that he found in ChichenItzá in 1975 as Garra Roja. Its origin is unknown since this figure, with the same characteristics, has been found in several countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Costa Rica and some cities in Mexico. It is also an enigma how this sculpture passed from culture to culture. It has always the same shape but mad e from different materials. It has different meanings depending on the culture, it might be a god or even a victim from the sacrifice.
by cultura colectiva
Who was the Le Plongeon referred to on pg 5?
Augustus Le Plongeon (May 4, 1826 – December 13, 1908) was a french-american archeologist, photographer, antiquarian and author that specialize in the study of the mayan civilization in Yucatan's Peninsula. He lived in several countries, but when he married Alice Dixon they moved to america and spent over 10 with their mayan ruins and central american studies.
How can we interpret Fuentes’ re-telling of Le Plongeon’s act?
Le plongeon named and discover Chac Mool and so did Filiberto when he found a replic of it so it is a symbolism of the Chac Mool (representing the lower class) not wanting to be found by anyone (or anyone from the upper class) and taking revenge on him.
Describe the Chac mool. What is he like physically? What is his personality like?
“A precious piece of natural size”
He is the antagonist or the villain of Filiberto's story. Physically he is described as “erect, smiley, ochre and with its big tummy”. He can be very angry or sympathetic sometimes which could be dangerous and tricky. He is selfish and never gets satisfied. He also seems to know how to control Filiberto. He has human emotions.
Do you find any relationship between this story and Paz’ essays?
Yes, because it represents the imperialistic or colonized society and culture that Mexico has, as well as the resentment that indigenous or lower class people might have towards the people in upper classes, since we think our country is great just because some of us seem great.
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