In Units 1 through 12 of Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, we are first introduced to an American tutor named Harriet Wilson who is remembering the deceased Old Gringo in a flashback. The Old Gringo is a retired American writer and Calvinist with a death wish, who comes to Chihuahua on a horse, falls for Harriet, and gets caught in the middle of the Mexican revolution. So far we've learn the old gringo's main reasons for wanting to die are because "everything he loved had died before him" and he goes to Mexico because he doesn't "have any frontiers left to cross in his own country." He fights along side "General" Tomas Arroyo, who insists on burning the haciendas and gorilla warfare, because the old gringo thinks the United States is the "sweet land of felony" and "corruption."
The characters in these units talk a lot about bravery and how brave the old gringo is for helping them fight. They call him everything from a "saint," a "holy man." He was described as "too brave for his own good" and he says "it's not difficult to be brave when you're not afraid to die." Is the old gringo brave for wanting to die by his own terms? Or is it cowardice to run away and want to die in life's difficulties?
There is also a lot of references to mirrors. Why are the old gringo and Harriet obsessed with avoiding mirrors? Harriet doesn't like them, because "mirrors were beginning to tell a story that didn't please her," leading us to wonder if she is ashamed of her age or her American heritage. She is haunted by the old gringo asking her, "Did you look at yourself in the mirror?" The old man didn't see the mirrors, "because he had eyes only for Miss Harriet."
The characters in these units talk a lot about bravery and how brave the old gringo is for helping them fight. They call him everything from a "saint," a "holy man." He was described as "too brave for his own good" and he says "it's not difficult to be brave when you're not afraid to die." Is the old gringo brave for wanting to die by his own terms? Or is it cowardice to run away and want to die in life's difficulties?
There is also a lot of references to mirrors. Why are the old gringo and Harriet obsessed with avoiding mirrors? Harriet doesn't like them, because "mirrors were beginning to tell a story that didn't please her," leading us to wonder if she is ashamed of her age or her American heritage. She is haunted by the old gringo asking her, "Did you look at yourself in the mirror?" The old man didn't see the mirrors, "because he had eyes only for Miss Harriet."
In Units 13 through 23 of Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, Harriet offers herself to Arroyo in exchange for the protection of Old Gringo. La Luna tells Harriet about her life in an abusive marriage and how the rebels killed her husband. The Old Gringo tells Harriet, "you haven't saved me from anything." He tells her he wants to "be killed by Pancho Villa himself." The Old Gringo kisses Harriet, with both of them using each other as a replacement. The Old Gringo is shot in the back by Arroyo and killed. Harriet scorns Arroyo, revealing he is really the child of "Miranda," and telling him she will never forgive him.
When Pancho Villa comes to Camargo, Harriet claims the Old Gringo as her father, wanting to take his body back to America for "a Christian burial." Villa has Arroyo bring the body to Camargo, where they prop the body up, shooting it in the front and then Villa orders Arroyo to give the body a "coup de grace". Afterwards, Villa executes Arroyo and La Luna buries him in the desert, "where nothing more would ever be heard of him." Incencio Mansalvo escorts the body of the Old Gringo with Harriet to the U.S. border in Juarez, where Incencio tells Harriet, "Why didn't you fall in love with me? My General would still be alive today." Harriet is interviewed by a reporter from an American newspaper, asking her if she wants to save Mexico, and she says, "I want to learn to live with Mexico. I don't want to save it." The book ends the way it begins, with Harriet remembering these events.
The characters talk a lot of home, trying to define it, why they left home, and why they did or did not want to return. It seems like each of the main characters are stuck in the past, with death as the only escape. They don't look in the mirror, for fear of seeing their faces getting older. They don't seem happier, even though they are running away from their pasts.
The Old Gringo believes leaving America, was a liberation from all his problems back in the states and he feels "young again, when lack of experience had prevented comparisons." It almost seems like he left his past at the border, even though he keeps bringing it up with Harriet. Old Gringo tells Harriet, he once wrote, "Events have been matching themselves since the beginning of Time so that I may die here," knowing the only reason Mexico goes to war "was always the Gringos."
Arroyo resents the U.S. for evolving, and breaking "all tradition just for the sake of it, as if there were good things only in the future . . ." Yet he is trying to change his destiny. Arroyo comes back "to destroy" his forced destiny "so that no one ever again has the choice that was mine in Mexico." Arroyo says, "Pancho Villa hates anyone who thinks about going home," as a setup for Villa killing him.
Harriet believes her home "is a memory. The only true memory: for memory is our home," allowing us to know why she is caught up in remembering. She feels "condemned" having to escort the Old Gringo's back to the states, telling herself "she had to show Arroyo that no one has the right to go home again." She is only one who cannot escape.
When Pancho Villa comes to Camargo, Harriet claims the Old Gringo as her father, wanting to take his body back to America for "a Christian burial." Villa has Arroyo bring the body to Camargo, where they prop the body up, shooting it in the front and then Villa orders Arroyo to give the body a "coup de grace". Afterwards, Villa executes Arroyo and La Luna buries him in the desert, "where nothing more would ever be heard of him." Incencio Mansalvo escorts the body of the Old Gringo with Harriet to the U.S. border in Juarez, where Incencio tells Harriet, "Why didn't you fall in love with me? My General would still be alive today." Harriet is interviewed by a reporter from an American newspaper, asking her if she wants to save Mexico, and she says, "I want to learn to live with Mexico. I don't want to save it." The book ends the way it begins, with Harriet remembering these events.
The characters talk a lot of home, trying to define it, why they left home, and why they did or did not want to return. It seems like each of the main characters are stuck in the past, with death as the only escape. They don't look in the mirror, for fear of seeing their faces getting older. They don't seem happier, even though they are running away from their pasts.
The Old Gringo believes leaving America, was a liberation from all his problems back in the states and he feels "young again, when lack of experience had prevented comparisons." It almost seems like he left his past at the border, even though he keeps bringing it up with Harriet. Old Gringo tells Harriet, he once wrote, "Events have been matching themselves since the beginning of Time so that I may die here," knowing the only reason Mexico goes to war "was always the Gringos."
Arroyo resents the U.S. for evolving, and breaking "all tradition just for the sake of it, as if there were good things only in the future . . ." Yet he is trying to change his destiny. Arroyo comes back "to destroy" his forced destiny "so that no one ever again has the choice that was mine in Mexico." Arroyo says, "Pancho Villa hates anyone who thinks about going home," as a setup for Villa killing him.
Harriet believes her home "is a memory. The only true memory: for memory is our home," allowing us to know why she is caught up in remembering. She feels "condemned" having to escort the Old Gringo's back to the states, telling herself "she had to show Arroyo that no one has the right to go home again." She is only one who cannot escape.
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