Mexico | Lecturia

Juan Rulfo: Remember

“Remember” (Acuérdate) is a short story by Juan Rulfo, published in 1953 in the collection El llano en llamas. It tells the story of Urbano Gómez, a cunning and resourceful boy raised in an environment marked by poverty and neighborhood gossip. Through memories of his childhood—his quarrelsome mother, his sister with hiccup attacks, his sales and petty tricks to earn a living—the story reconstructs the years in which Urbano roams the village, depicting a lively atmosphere in which his figure becomes inseparable from the daily hustle and bustle, until an embarrassing incident at school alters that routine forever.

Elena Garro: The Day We Were Dogs. Summary and analysis

In Elena Garro’s The Day We Were Dogs, two girls, Eva and Leli, are left alone in a large house in the countryside while their family flees the summer heat. Amid abandonment and boredom, they decide to symbolically transform themselves into dogs and join the world of Toni, the house dog chained up in the garden. They adopt the names Cristo and Buda and live a day in a parallel time, alien to the human order. There, they witness a scene of violence: two men fight, and one kills the other. Soldiers interrogate the dog-girls, who respond with barks, and the murderer is arrested. The crime, however, marks them; the game is broken, and when they return home, they can no longer maintain the animal fiction. The night is filled with ghostly presences, and the girls realize that they have crossed a line: the experience of crime has expelled them from innocence and any possible heaven, even the one imagined for dogs.

Juan Rulfo: Paso del Norte. Summary and analysis

Plot summary: in “Paso del Norte,” an impoverished man who has failed in his pig-selling business decides to emigrate to the North in search of work to feed his wife and five children. Before leaving, he visits his father to ask him to look after his family. Still, the conversation becomes an exchange of recriminations for a life of abandonment, poverty, and family resentment. The son finally sets off on his journey, and after being guided to the border by contacts, he tries to cross the river into the United States with other migrants, but they are ambushed by gunfire in the darkness. Although injured, he and his friend Estanislado manage to get out of the water, but the latter dies shortly afterward. The protagonist, battered and defeated, is returned to Mexico. Upon returning to the village, his father coldly informs him that his wife has left him for a muleteer and that he has sold the house to pay for the grandchildren’s expenses. Without a family or a home, the man resigns to start over and searches for his wife. The story portrays the desolation of the migrant, the failure of the dream of the North, and the breaking of family ties amid misery.

Juan Rulfo: Paso del Norte

“Paso del Norte” is a story by Juan Rulfo published in 1953 in the El llano en llamas collection. It tells of a man’s determination to abandon his impoverished life in Mexico to seek better opportunities in El Norte. Despite the risks and family opposition, his desperation to escape misery drives him to set out on a dangerous journey, symbolizing the universal struggle for survival and the search for a dignified life.

Amparo Dávila: The Last Summer. Summary and analysis

The Last Summer (El último verano) is a short story by Amparo Dávila, published in 1977 in the book Árboles petrificados (Petrified Trees). It tells of the anguish of a middle-aged woman who, after having raised six children and feeling the wear and tear of the years, unexpectedly discovers that she is pregnant again. Far from joyfully receiving the news, she experiences a deep despair as her body and spirit are exhausted. As the sweltering summer progresses, her fatigue and sense of confinement intensify, plunging her into growing hopelessness. Soon, her everyday world begins to turn into a nightmare.

Juan Rulfo: They Have Given Us the Land. Summary and analysis

They Have Given Us the Land (Nos han dado la tierra), a story by Juan Rulfo published in El llano en llamas in 1953, narrates the journey of four peasants walking under a scorching sun after receiving land from the government. Across an arid and desolate landscape, the story shows their tiredness, silence, and uncertainty about the future that awaits them. With simple prose, Rulfo portrays the harshness of the countryside and the frustration of those who the system has forgotten. The story, full of symbolism and social criticism, exposes the silent struggle of the dispossessed in an unjust world.