Latin American Short Stories

13 responses so far ↓

•   jimminkc // Sep 11th 2014 at 8:44 pm

  While reading “Gate No. 12” my so what question was, how could a father bring his son into the mine knowing the danger? I understand that the mine was many times the only place for employment but, the idea of an 8 year old in a mine still makes me sad. If a child was not in school today and instead working to earn a living for the family it would be considered illegal. I read the story before watching the movie and I got an image of a scared child crying for dear life. Pablo knew the dangers of the mine and he dreaded every moment of it. I think the author showed the father’s emotion very well. Although the father didn’t want his child in the mine he knew what had to be done. It hurt him twice as bad as it hurt Pablo to have him in there working. During the movie I found it very strange that the mother had no say in whether or not the child goes to school or goes to the mine. When the teacher, Miss. Virginia came to Pablo house asking why he wasn’t in school and why instead he was in the mine, the wife couldn’t say anything except for that the father is the boss. It seemed as if every day the teacher would lose one more student to the mine. Many times it was more common for the boys to leave school at ages 8 or 9 to go to the mine. The mine was the only way of life. In the story the author says that the father had been working at the mine for about 40 years. The boss or overseer also mentioned to him that he wasn’t producing as much as he should be and that if he doesn’t start producing more that he would be laid off. At the beginning of the movie there was a big connection with the “Devil’s Pit”. It seemed as if the “gringo” was the company that we talked about that ran everyone’s life. When the old lady bought the contraband the gringo was the first one to come and punish her. I think that the gringo man was a symbolization that the mining company dictates everything the people do. When the old lady jumps into the pit it was a sign of freedom for her. Although she committed suicide she was finally out of the devil’s harm. She had lost so many family members to the pit that she couldn’t take it anymore and she took her own life. I find it strange and very heartbreaking that for some people that was their only choice. Life was so bad that they’d rather take their own life than life the life of the devil.

•   jacobsoh // Sep 11th 2014 at 9:51 pm

  The “so what ” in “Gate 12” that stuck out the most to me was the mine’s control over the cycle of life. The mine would take young boys in and use them up then spit them out only when they taken everything from them. Pablo was only 8 when the mines took him in. He wanted to “get out of this place. He wanted to see his mother and his brothers and sisters, to be in daylight again.” Pablo was still young and still had his innocence because the mines had yet to take it all. Due to the fact that Pablo was “a miner’s son, [he had] to follow in the footsteps of his elders whose only school was the mine.” The mine is a cycle that seems impossible to get out of. Even before birth Pablo was destined to be a miner. We can see from the old man that years in the mines have destroyed the old man, taking away all his energy. The mine becomes his only way to survive and he must be “a more active man” or get fired. The mine takes young boys and spits them out as old men, lifeless and empty.

  While watching the film Sub Terra I really enjoyed seeing Lillo’s stories come to life. It was also hard to watch because we got a visual of the horrific tragedies and wreckage the mines have caused. It made the readings same a lot more vivid and real. It was interesting to see the short stories in the films. I could clearly identify both the “Devil’s Pit” and “Gate 12” in the film. In the film I also really enjoyed seeing that in the end there was a resistance movement and it was successful. An allusion to the resistance movement is seen in “Gate 12” when “the spark of rebellion” is mentioned, but neither story ever tells of the resistance movement. In the movie it was also interesting to see that there were some children that could go to school, but often times the children of miners were taken out to go continue the destitute cycle of working in the mines.

•   Aden // Sep 11th 2014 at 10:57 pm

  The story “Gate No. 12” displays a father’s difficult choice is sending his son into the mine at eight years old in order to support his family. This story is similar to the “Devil’s Pit” in that Lillo is criticizing the greedy for the atrocious ways in which they make their money. Pablo’s father recognizes that he is condemning his son to “languish miserably in damp galleries” and to a “tenacious, ceaseless unyielding struggle” that “never freed those whom it had caught.” His justification was the “hungry, unclad beings for whom he was the only provider.” Lillo is exploring the human experience at its most desperate level, asking the question; what does a man do when his back is against the wall? When his only options are to let his family starve or give up his son’s childhood and vitality to feed them. He is also asking; why does our society put people in this kind of situation? Why must men put each other is such compromising positions simply for financial gain and power?

  The movie was very interesting due to the fact that a Gringo was in charge of the mine and the greediness that was so stressed in the “Gate No. 12” and “The Devil’s Pit” was personified. The social critique underlying Lillo’s stories was a major part of the movie and the characters’ were outspoken about their loathing of the greed and horrible conditions, while in Lillo’s written stories the criticizing was largely done through narration. The movie also featured the protagonist Fernando, while the stories we read completely lacked hope and were devoid of a hero.

•   Estiven // Sep 12th 2014 at 1:43 am

  In “Gate NO. 12” by Baldomero Lillo there is an endless cycle of poverty and hunger; the men working in the mines lose their lives, deteriorating and ending as worthless old men due to the harsh conditions in the mines. There seems to be no solution for the poor; avoiding the mine after a family member is involved is impossible because the whole family becomes trapped in the poverty cycle and cannot make enough money to support their families. After the workers realize that they have been sold a foolish dream. A miner clearly can’t move up the social ladder; it is not the type of work that allows a worker to get significantly better pay or comfortable a job in order to live a better life. The mine uses the workers; it beats them down mentally and physically and traps them in a job they detest and are unwilling to give up because for the poor is the best job available and what will keep food on the table for the family. And as they age their bodies becomes worthless because their bodies are exhausted so they can no longer contribute to the mine and become replaceable. They are “thrown out of the mine and relegated to the waste pile.” The miners realize that there is a cycle that never allows these miners and poor men to be freed from the mine so instead of sending their 8 year old son to the mine while they are “small and weak” they should probably leave their kids far away from the mine or at school so that they can progress and not suffer. It is clear that the mines keep the men in chains and doesn’t allow them to prosper. Their dreams and aspiration never turned into reachable goals.

  In Subterra I found it interesting that even though many of the scenes followed the structure of the story in the movie it was a lot more dramatic than how it was portrayed in the story. In the stories “The Devil’s Pit” and “Gate NO.12” there were no love stories; everything was dark, people suffer and fear was all around the mine. In the movie, the characters spoke much more. In Subterra there was the same element of fear but the story revolved around the love life of Fernando and other romantic stories. The narrator in the written stories mainly did the speaking.

•   danona // Sep 12th 2014 at 2:01 am

  While reading Gate No. 12, I found it interesting how often Pablo’s father would almost have a change of heart. Throughout the story, there are about three or four times when the father either questions his decision to bring Pablo down in the mine or thinks about going back to him. After I noticed this, it seemed to stick with me and I realized this to be the “So what?” question.

  Through these two characters, Lillo depicts how difficult the life of a miner is. Not only is the work terrifying and dangerous, but the living conditions require the miner to make extremely difficult decisions, such as sending his son to work in the mine. Whenever Pablo begins to protest, the father’s “paternal love so long suppressed in him suddenly flood[s] his whole being.” However, the father quickly snaps back to reality and remembers “his poor home and the hungry, unclad beings for whom he was the only provider.” This fluctuation between wanting to love and treat Pablo as a child goes hand in hand with the problem of Pablo losing his childhood to the mine. These problems are both connected and describe the mine as “never free[ing] those whom it had caught.” By presenting the mine and the miners in this manner, Lillo establishes how unsafe and troubled a miner’s life was.

  I enjoyed watching the movie and making connections with Lillo’s work; seeing the characters and their stories come to life was very interesting. I especially enjoyed the incorporation of the character Fernando as a hero. Bringing Fernando into the story gave all of the miners the ability to hope and eventually achieve a better way of working and living. It was interesting to compare the inclusion of a hero in the movie to the lack of a hero in Lillo’s stories. The lack of a hero emphasizes the reality of the situation and how dire it was.

•   applegsa // Sep 12th 2014 at 2:10 am

  In “Gate No. 12” I thought, the father is sad and angry at himself when his child is separated from him in the mine, so what? Since this was mostly shown at the end of the story, I would’ve liked to have seen how he continued to cope with this and how it would affect both of their jobs and the mine in general.

  “Subterra” and “Gate No. 12” were similar in that they were both focused on child labor in mines. I thought that the film and the story both showed the character’s experiencing similar emotions due to their difficult jobs.

•   medinaeg // Sep 12th 2014 at 2:21 am

  The reading of “Gate No. 12” by Baldomero Lillo, adds on to Lillo’s protest of mining. The story gives an emotional connection to the reader. The connection comes from Pablo who only eight years old and will end up “emaciated” just as the other child they passed by going to work. There are many negative words though the words do fulfill life under the mine. The miners work “interminable hours” ending up with “calloused hands” and children who will end up being “swallowed up by [darkness].” The so what question for me is, so what if people don’t have an education? Miners live their lives only being taught by the mine. But the conditions for mining do present a danger and education does give opportunities for having a better life.

  The film Subterra was interesting giving the viewer many stories in one. Though the main theme from his literary work was universal, mining is bad and conditions need to be enhanced. The strangeness for me was the combination of all the stories and how they coexist with each other. Maria de los Angeles was named only once and we did not get to see her in the film. Having read all stories the Gringo through me off a bit; as for me he was new to the stories. In the readings we would have the Company who was in charge but in the film he was in charge. The nice thought in the movie was the electric turbine, which could replace coal in that area as the main energy. Baldomero did not get his one goal in the movie, which was to go and see the mine with his own eyes.

•   chicasi // Sep 12th 2014 at 2:40 am

  Reading both “The Devil’s Pit” and “Gate No. 12” and watching “Subterra” made me think about some similarities and differences. Subterra was practically the two short stories combined with more notable characters and a love story. The film depicts Maria de los Angeles and Pablo from the stories, but they have slightly more development to their characters. Maria de las Angeles was more fearful in the film than what is depicted in the story. She didn’t want Copperhead to die since she lost everyone in her family in the mines, which is similar in the film and . However, the scene in the film that has her drinking something the leader of the miners tried to punish her for expressed her hopelessness and broken spirit. Pablo, in the other hand, was depicted in the film as a normal 8 year old who went to school before going to the mine. He was afraid, did not want to leave his mother, and struggled working in the mine, something that wasn’t shown in the stories.

  My “So What?” question in “Gate No. 12” is the old man’s significance. Why does the old man remember when he first went to work in a mine after seeing Pablo? Also, why would Pablo’s father make his 8 year old son work to earn his food? “So What” if Pablo’s father needs money to feed his family if he’s willing to risk his own son’s life by working in a dangerous mine?

•   Madeleine // Sep 12th 2014 at 2:53 am

  a) The overseer in “Gate No. 12” seemed to distance himself from the ability to have pity on his workers. So what? The overseer’s illusion of pity in this story struck me immediately and bothered me because of its hypocracy. Upon meeting the miner’s son, the foreman said, “…this child is still too weak to work…you should have pity on him and rather than bury him in here, you should be sending him to school for a while.” I thought this was cruel and a slap in the face to the father, because he has no choice in forcing his son to work in the mine. Through a thoughtless and inconsiderate remark, the overseer told the father to have pity on his son, when he had no pity himself.

  b) After watching “Subterra,” I am very curious about the other short stories that led to the development of the full movie. I thought “The Devil’s Pit” was portrayed mostly accurately, although briefly, and I am curious to know if some stories were given more emphasis than others.

  One of the most dramatic parts of the movie was María de los Angeles’ suicide. It was startling and moving as she calmly yet resolutely walked off the edge of the entrance to the mine. However, I wish that the movie focused more on María de los Angeles because she was such a central character in Lillo’s short story. In class, we talked about how she compared to the Virgin Mary, and it was significant that she lost all her family members to accidents in the mine. But, in the movie, the viewer does not get that background.

  I also thought it was interesting that while the movie did not give as much information about María de los Angeles, there was more time devoted to Pablo. In the story “Gate No. 12,” the reader is introduced to Pablo when he is taken to work with his dad. In contrast, I first saw Pablo still as a unburdened school boy.

  In addition, one thing that stood out to me from “Subterra” was the community’s reaction to the bell signaling a mining accident. Everyone dropped what they were doing and rushed to the entrance to the mine. The mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and grandparents reacted as one and consoled each other. They all treated each injured or dead worker as one of their own and it showed the unity of the townspeople, and how they took responsibility to look out for one another. I thought this was important, especially as several characters referred to friends or distant relatives as “brother” or “Mother” to María de los Angeles. They felt a kinship that I think probably contributed to their ability to work together to fight for their rights as miners and helped them cope with the struggles and tragedies that accompanied coal mining.

•   Hannah // Sep 12th 2014 at 3:03 am

  In “Gate No. 12”, I identify the “So what?” question to be: “So what if children were forced to enter mines at very young age?”. In “Gate No. 12”, Pablo begins as an innocent. He is imaginative and optimistic. When he descends into the mine, he has been “yanked from his childish games” (107) and still has “wide-open shining eyes”(107), almost animal-like, vulnerable, and completely unprotected from the outside world. However, when he realizes his “condemn[ation]” (107), he is “frightened to death” (112) and becomes the “tender victim” (112). The child is no longer innocent and free from the bondage of the mines, but a creature filled with fear. He has become another victim of the mine. He has become a prisoner and lost all of his previous freedom.

  I found Subterra to be interesting because of its heightened drama. There was a lot more of a backstory added, which is to be expected since the film makers wanted to draw the viewer in. I thought it was also interesting how the filmmakers exchanged internal thoughts (like Copperhead’s) for dialogue. It was an effective method of allowing the viewer to get inside the character’s head. I also thought it was interesting how the scene changes and character’s actions were so abrupt. This was, perhaps, just a cultural difference in American films and Latin American films, but I thought that many of the scenes were shorter and got to the point very quickly. In addition, many of the characters in the film would finish their conversations very quickly and then leave. I found it strange that Pablo said he had worms and no one seemed very concerned.

•   Cailin // Sep 12th 2014 at 3:30 am

  The “So what?” question I find most revealing in Lillo’s “Gate No. 12” is this: A miner is bringing his son to the mine to work for the first time. So what?
  Lillo describes the sheer terror Pablo feels about descending into the mine, seeing how dark it truly is, and then being left by himself in this place. Growing up, he has heard of the dangers of the mine, how the men go to work there because there is no other choice, and knows that sometimes the miners don’t come home. In a child’s mind, they think about their dreams for the future, but can’t fathom how fast time will pass until they arrive there. Children live in the present, and see their adulthood as a far-off fantasy. So when Pablo is brought into the mine to work for the first time, his real childhood has ended. Like his father, he will spend the rest of his life working in the mine.
  So what?
  The mining companies in Chile and the rest of the world subject their workers to dangerous conditions with little pay. They mine not only the physical resources, but the physical work that can be given by the miners. The greed of the mine exists in a cycle. Once a miner can no longer work, there is always a new person ready to take their place because of the poverty that often exists in mining villages, and the engineers of the mines can get away with paying their workers as little as possible because of this cycle, knowing that they will always have a supply of workers. Greed drives the cycle of the mine, and tragedies happen daily because of them- not only mining accidents, but in the case of Pablo, ending childhoods too early just to help feed the families.
  The film Subterra was very powerful, especially after reading Lillo’s stories. The characters really came to life, and even though “The Devil’s Pit” and “Gate No. 12” made up only small portions of the movie plot-wise, their themes carried over throughout the whole movie. For example, the tragedy of the children being taken into the mine is made more poignant through the school scenes, seeing their innocence and how they should be living. The teacher’s passion for keeping them out of the mine also heightens this fear, as a viewer, of seeing them being forced to work. Also, in “The Devil’s Pit” portion, Maria de Los Angeles is portrayed as a mother to all in the village, so her suicide affects everyone. This shows the universality of the pain all mothers felt if they lost a child, husband, or other family member to the mine, and how connected the entire village is. The main story reflects the love people have for one another and the sacrifices made, and these ideas do not apply only to them. Every character from the village fought for the same things, and were united together because of their passionate spirits and desire to fix their situations and lives.

•   Kienan // Sep 12th 2014 at 4:39 am

  Greek mythology contains a tragic hero that falls fatally from their pedestal of the “hero” figure. In the two stories “Gate No. 12” and “The Devil’s Pit” written by Baldomero Lillo, there is no hero figure. However, in the movie Subterra, there is a clear hero, and we see his rise to leadership and his tragic ending. So what? In other books and stories that have been turned into movies, there tends to be something that has been added to satisfy the viewer. In a story like “The Devil’s Pit” where it ends with death, it would be unsettling to end a movie in that manner and it would not sell. The Natural was a book then a movie that kept the general storyline of the book but instead of making the main character fail like he did in the book, he was made a hero. It is interesting that Fernando was not the hero in the stories, but he was added in as the classic Greek tragic hero. The only reason that Fernando dies in the movie is because of his hubris. He was too prideful to let the explosion kill Davis and run out of the cave when everyone else did, and therefore he ended up as the tragic hero.

•   grandam // Sep 12th 2014 at 4:57 am

  In his short story Gate No. 12, Lillo shows that the individual is eternally powerless against the mass. Because of the threat of starvation, the Old Man brings his son, Pablo, to the mines at the age of eight. The young boy is scared and bewildered by the strange, new soundings but his is put to work in the same way that young children have been economically forced into labor for generations before him. One of the most surprising parts of the story was the compassion displayed by Pablo’s father and foreman. The men, both hardened by years underground and the constant stress of providing for an always needy family, feel for the young boy. The foreman stops the boy at the entrance and admonishes his father for bringing such a small child into the mine. This man is in charge of turning a profit but he is still struck by the sad fate of the young boy enough to pause in his day and try to delay the boy’s sentencing. The father later shows the compassion and fatherly love that has been hidden from his son the last eight years. He is reminded of his own beginning in the mine and is saddened by the lack of progression in his life. As a response, he shows affection towards his first-born son who is about to encounter the same ending. Both men are touched by the boy’s story and feel moved to help him but the mine has the higher authority, calling them back to their jobs and Pablo, underground. Lillo emphasized the extraordinarily compassionate behavior of the two men but the larger context of the problem doesn’t change. The greed of the mine owner and the company in general overwhelms the small act of defiance, causing the seemingly important shift in characterization to be deemed insignificant and temporary. This theme continues in Subterra when the abusive overseer tries to make the miners stay subservient. The men, bound together by their dream of a better life, are able to defeat his power, eventually killing him as well. Lillo does not have individual heroes in his stories, instead change is only accomplished by the ‘mass’.

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