Theme In By Night In Chile Essay

PAGES
5
WORDS
1489
Cite

Robert Bolano is the writer of the novel "By Night in Chile" published in 2000. Urrutia is the narrator of the novel and entire novel is narrated in the first person. Starting lines of the novel are "I am dying now, but I still have many things to say," and from this point the novel starts describing how Urrutia was able to enter the Chilean literary world. The narrator of the novel, Urrutia Lacroix used the image of "the wizened youth," for himself which showed how much he struggled with his conscience, during the time when he was trapped in Opus Dei. The narrator has described his life as distorted because of the struggle he made throughout his life.

Narrator has used different styles to engage the readers. At time it was simple, lofty, intense, and believable however on occasion the narrator used harsh and imposing style to describe the story. This novel has criticized the time Urrutia spent before and during Pinochet's regime.

By Night in Chile is a bravado performance by Bolano in which he had unwrapped and delivered each of the priest's clear and sometimes vague recollection.

The narrator keeps dodging the main issue by using in excess the words which add little or nothing to main idea of the story. Urrutia is trying to evade the moral implications of his own actions because he did not want to admit his relationship with the political actors of that time.

Church played a big role during Pinochet's regime. During that time, torture was used as a "state procedure" to obtain information and form an environment of dread for the prisoners as well as for the ones who knew them. People were tortured in different ways and some of them were suspending them from a ceiling or a wall, beating people, giving people electric shock and asking people to eat waste of animals and humans. Even women suffered from sexual violence and the whole time church was aware of this injustice being done and the conspiracy by Church was flagrant but nobody did anything. Around 3,000 people were killed under General Pinochet's regime.

The novel is an epitome of Urrutia's guilt and his deathbed confessions. Throughout the novel, he had tried to wipe out his guilt in order to get salvation but all the confessions seemed to be his half-hearted attempts to get one more chance to live the life of "the wizened youth."

Because he was a priest, Urrutia lived a life in which his only concern was to make it to the literary world as a wealth and luxury his friend had. At this point of the novel, Urrutia's contrasting nature is reflected. When he visited Farewell at his estate, he met Pablo Neruda, the greatest poet in Chilean's history and a lifelong Communist. He was in awe of Neruda. The next day, while he was strolling Farewell's property, he came across a boy and a girl who were naked and felt an overwhelming nausea. This showed Urrutia's inability to focus on mundane issues rather than on the moon and the stars, as explained By Neruda's poetry. He liked being in Neruda's company but he did not like to be in poor children's company. He did not even try to stop Farewell's sexual advances on him because he did not want to be in his bad books. This was a serious offense to the vow of chastity he took and also to the Church's strict teachings. To become a part of literary elite, he was prepared to forsake the callings of his own profession, to love others, to serve the poor, and to fight for justice and peace.
The novel represents Bolano's falcon/pigeon illustration. The scene where father Paul's falcon killed the dove, represents the Church's conspiracy with the cruel dictators, their deceit and their negligence in that era. Here, the falcon also represents the priest, who himself was a victim of Church's association with the dictators and their socialist agenda at the time. Also, the scene where children asked the priests about falcon killing the dove, is used as a symbol for the future where children will have to learn the brutal,…

Cite this Document:

"Theme In By Night In Chile" (2011, June 16) Retrieved April 19, 2024, from
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/theme-in-by-night-in-chile-118446

"Theme In By Night In Chile" 16 June 2011. Web.19 April. 2024. <
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/theme-in-by-night-in-chile-118446>

"Theme In By Night In Chile", 16 June 2011, Accessed.19 April. 2024,
https://www.paperdue.com/essay/theme-in-by-night-in-chile-118446

Related Documents

Pablo Neruda's Search For Identity The theme of the insubstantial nature of identity in Pablo Neruda's poem "Too many names" calls to mind a popular song that is still listened to even by many members of my generation, that of "Imagine," by John Lennon. Neruda's words summon up a vision of a world in which conventional notions of identity, such as nationality and ethnicity, have no meaning. The vision of the

Death and the Maiden, by
PAGES 6 WORDS 1818

The story investigates justice from different standpoints. Gerardo and Paulina have similar perceptions on how the military rule in the past had treated their society wrongly. However their perspectives vary in terms of how justice should be served. According to Gerardo, the efficiency of the commission he led was the best way to proceed. This would involve assessing all related human rights and letting the courts decide on a solution.

The one-time immigration lawyer moonlighted as an editor at the Latin American Review Press and was impressed with her boss, a 90-year-old woman. This experience has inspired Mahler, who eventually wants to have her own journal or press. This independent streak dates to her upbringing. "I was a very latchkey kid," she explains, and was raised by her siblings. As a result, she was a bit of a neighborhood terror

Furthermore, Steelworker leader travel to Venezuela U.S. Cuba Labor Exchange, the backers of their employee to worker visit with Venezuela trade unionists. Venezuela has merely 25 million people as well as third main supplier of oil to the United States. It should be noted that administrators of the state owned oil corporation ran the business like mount streams, set off mud slide so in result thousands of citizens tranquil in

For instance the World Trade Organization reports having "allowed First World countries to raise trade barriers protecting their companies, even as we have served as their forum for insisting that Third World countries lower their trade barriers more and more." (WTO, The truth is that if richer nations were to open their markets to the LDC countries for increase opportunities of export, generated would be approximately $700 billion in additional

Visitor Attraction Management (LO 1) Legoland, Denmark and the Sydney Opera House LEGOLAND® Billund is Denmark's most famous and popular amusement park for families and children of all ages (Legoland Billund Resort, 2012). Legoland Billund opened on June 7, 1968 in Billund, Denmark. The park is located next to the original Lego factory which has been a primary economic driver for the entire community since Ole Kirk Christansen began manufacturing Legos mid-century.