Post #5

I'm doubling up on posts this week, since I haven't written in a couple of weeks.

This week’s reading for Almanac of the Dead continued to focus on the Mexican characters Menardo, his wife Iliana, his lover and later wife (after Iliana’s death) Alegría, and the revolutionary Bartolomeo. I found the fictionalized account of the Marxist revolution in Cuba that took place in this section of the book to be particularly engaging. On a stylistic note, I thought it was interesting how after it was noted that villagers were calling Bartolomeo’s lover Angelita “Comrade la Escapía” (309) the narrator began referring to her by that title as well, almost as if that public sentiment shaped her identity on a fundamental level. On a broader level, it seems that Silko is using the idea of Marxist revolution in the Americas as a parallel to the idea or goal of total reclamation of Indian tribal lands. Just as in Marxist theory the eventual uprising of the proletariat against those who control the means of production is inevitable, Silko seems to be saying that an Indian uprising is inevitable. However, she undercuts this message by saying that “irreparable harm had been done by the immense crimes of [Marx’s] followers, Stalin and Mao.” She is drawing the parallel between both the positive theory of Marxism, as well as the negative aspects that come out in practice. She seems to be arguing, via this fictional account, that revolution, no matter the gain, is not worth it if one allows “some human beings to starve while others ate, especially not one’s own brothers and sisters” (316).