El Salvador's Revulsion
El Salvador’s Revulsion During the time period of 1980-1992 El Salvador was going through their civil war which lasted roughly about 12 years. The conflict was between two groups from El Salvador which were the military who were led by the government from EL Salvador and the other group was known as FMLN which meant Farabundo Marti National Liberation which was formed by five guerilla groups. The author Horacio Castellanos Moya wrote a story “Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador” which was about himself the author having a conversation with childhood friend Edgardo Vega who came to visit since he was living in Canada now. The author used two characters to narrate the story which were Edgardo Vega and himself Horacio Castellanos Moya.
…show more content…
The history of the Salvadoran Civil War affected the story in many different types of ways.
The Salvadoran Civil war did affect the story because if it wasn’t for the civil war that occur Vega wouldn’t have fled the country and not visit till 18 years later.
Due to the civil war Vega left because there was so much killing happening and then groups started to form and then it was just causing more and more of a disaster than it was already was. I think this is significant because it shows people how the Salvadoran Civil War has impacted the people during the time of the war and after and how it has inspired some people to even write books about such as “Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador” by Horacio Castellanos Moya. The civil war also influenced the make of this story because they relate to the civil war due to how Vega had to flee the country and moved to Canada. As Vega says in the story about how he only came back to his country El Salvador was because his mother had passed away “I came because my mother died, Moya, the death of my mother is the only reason I felt obliged to returned…” (Moya, 7) Vega didn’t ever want to come back to El Salvador ever he fled the country because of the Civil War that had happen but the only thought he would get was that if his mother were to die soon then that is when he would have to come back into the country. Not only has the Civil War has affected the story this but as well as in people getting jobs where they see many people during their work but before they got this job they were involved a lot during the Civil War by either killing people or doing other
things.
The Civil War caused many people to lose their lives and as well as many got injured. After the Salvadoran Civil War had ended many people that where in the guerilla groups they became the local workers who were around many people such as civilians but these workers had a background that they would hurt people during Civil War. As Vega told Moya in the story that they don’t know if you got into a bus if that bus driver would hurt and kill people during the Civil War. As Vega says in the story about bus drivers and how he thinks they are “… the bus drivers have been pathological criminals since birth, criminals converted into salaried bus drivers, said Vega, they’re guys who were no doubt torturers and participated in massacres during the civil war and now they’re recycled as bus drivers…” (Moya, 29) the stories and the news that Vega has heard about the Salvadoran Civil War has made him think very differently about El Salvador in many ways. Vega doesn’t like taking the bus anywhere such as were Moya takes it very often and Vega explains to him how he thinks it is not safe to be able to take the bus since he thinks that a bus driver can be a criminal and out of nowhere do something to them because they are used to killing or torturing people. During this Civil War there were many people have been getting killed and injured throughout those 12 years of the war and it started when guerilla groups started to attack many little cities then attack the capital. In the article “El Salvador’s Civil War” written by Beth Nissen she talks about what was going on during the Salvadoran Civil War. The article says “Guerrillas attacked selected barrios in San Salvador, the capital, and in scattered areas of the country side.” (Nissen, 53) this can be a main reason for the Civil War has affected the story because if it wasn’t for the war that had started which was these groups were attacking many places was a reason that Vega had to flee the country and move to Canada and not only that but as well have the mentality to think that these people who were in these groups who would kill tons of people they were still living in the country and they can be anyone their without realizing what they have done in the past, a great example was when Vega was telling Moya about what he thought about bus drivers and how they were criminals. Vega has lots of hatred towards El Salvador now that he has been gone and came back to see and he disliked many things of the people from there. Throughout the story Vega is just talking bad about El Salvador and how everything is bad even their food isn’t good or their beer. Vega talks about how he doesn’t like the people very much from the country because they try to be “gringos”. He feels that everyone that is part of the country isn’t good because the news has only showed and focus on one attention of the war which was seeing many people getting killed or just causing trouble for innocent of people. In a story called “El Salvador in the Aftermath of Peace: Crime, Uncertainty, and the Transition to Democracy” by Moodie, Ellen where she talks about how everything happens after the war and was going on. In the book she talks about how all the attention of the media and everything only focuses on how many people are getting killed “public attention began to obsess on street crime…” (Moddie, 82) this shows that after everything that has happen after the war they only focus on the crimes that are happening in the streets instead of trying to help those in need that were affected a lot during the war and need that extra help. This is another great reason how the Civil War has affected the story because in the story it talks about how Vega think of people without knowing them. Vega tells Moya how he hates everything in El Salvador and what not but he also mainly focus on what is going on with politicians “And the worst are these miserable politicians on the left, Moya, those who were once guerrillas, the so-called comandantes…” (Moya, 14) Vega hates politicians because he thinks they are these people who are fancy and they know everything about everything but he sees them as lies and as bad people because he believes that these politicians are from guerrilla groups, but he also sees them as people who like to kill others and make them suffer since that’s what his idea is about towards these kind of people that are in these groups. After all, the Salvadoran Civil War did have a major affected towards this story that Moya wrote about. Not only did the Civil War caused many deaths and injuries but it caused a lot of property damage as well. The people that had to leave the country because of the war they now think very differently about El Salvador because they had to grow up or live somewhere else for a very long time before coming back to their country and not having to come back when the Civil War is still going on. The story talks and showed a lot how the war affected the character Edgardo Vega and the way he sees El Salvador is different as well as its people because he thinks the war has changed everyone differently such as many of them are still bad people who only want to hurt others or he doesn’t trust them as well thinking bad of them for the same reason of the war.
The history of the Salvadoran Civil War affected the story in many different types of ways.
The Salvadoran Civil war did affect the story because if it wasn’t for the civil war that occur Vega wouldn’t have fled the country and not visit till 18 years later.
Due to the civil war Vega left because there was so much killing happening and then groups started to form and then it was just causing more and more of a disaster than it was already was. I think this is significant because it shows people how the Salvadoran Civil War has impacted the people during the time of the war and after and how it has inspired some people to even write books about such as “Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador” by Horacio Castellanos Moya. The civil war also influenced the make of this story because they relate to the civil war due to how Vega had to flee the country and moved to Canada. As Vega says in the story about how he only came back to his country El Salvador was because his mother had passed away “I came because my mother died, Moya, the death of my mother is the only reason I felt obliged to returned…” (Moya, 7) Vega didn’t ever want to come back to El Salvador ever he fled the country because of the Civil War that had happen but the only thought he would get was that if his mother were to die soon then that is when he would have to come back into the country. Not only has the Civil War has affected the story this but as well as in people getting jobs where they see many people during their work but before they got this job they were involved a lot during the Civil War by either killing people or doing other
things.
The Civil War caused many people to lose their lives and as well as many got injured. After the Salvadoran Civil War had ended many people that where in the guerilla groups they became the local workers who were around many people such as civilians but these workers had a background that they would hurt people during Civil War. As Vega told Moya in the story that they don’t know if you got into a bus if that bus driver would hurt and kill people during the Civil War. As Vega says in the story about bus drivers and how he thinks they are “… the bus drivers have been pathological criminals since birth, criminals converted into salaried bus drivers, said Vega, they’re guys who were no doubt torturers and participated in massacres during the civil war and now they’re recycled as bus drivers…” (Moya, 29) the stories and the news that Vega has heard about the Salvadoran Civil War has made him think very differently about El Salvador in many ways. Vega doesn’t like taking the bus anywhere such as were Moya takes it very often and Vega explains to him how he thinks it is not safe to be able to take the bus since he thinks that a bus driver can be a criminal and out of nowhere do something to them because they are used to killing or torturing people. During this Civil War there were many people have been getting killed and injured throughout those 12 years of the war and it started when guerilla groups started to attack many little cities then attack the capital. In the article “El Salvador’s Civil War” written by Beth Nissen she talks about what was going on during the Salvadoran Civil War. The article says “Guerrillas attacked selected barrios in San Salvador, the capital, and in scattered areas of the country side.” (Nissen, 53) this can be a main reason for the Civil War has affected the story because if it wasn’t for the war that had started which was these groups were attacking many places was a reason that Vega had to flee the country and move to Canada and not only that but as well have the mentality to think that these people who were in these groups who would kill tons of people they were still living in the country and they can be anyone their without realizing what they have done in the past, a great example was when Vega was telling Moya about what he thought about bus drivers and how they were criminals. Vega has lots of hatred towards El Salvador now that he has been gone and came back to see and he disliked many things of the people from there. Throughout the story Vega is just talking bad about El Salvador and how everything is bad even their food isn’t good or their beer. Vega talks about how he doesn’t like the people very much from the country because they try to be “gringos”. He feels that everyone that is part of the country isn’t good because the news has only showed and focus on one attention of the war which was seeing many people getting killed or just causing trouble for innocent of people. In a story called “El Salvador in the Aftermath of Peace: Crime, Uncertainty, and the Transition to Democracy” by Moodie, Ellen where she talks about how everything happens after the war and was going on. In the book she talks about how all the attention of the media and everything only focuses on how many people are getting killed “public attention began to obsess on street crime…” (Moddie, 82) this shows that after everything that has happen after the war they only focus on the crimes that are happening in the streets instead of trying to help those in need that were affected a lot during the war and need that extra help. This is another great reason how the Civil War has affected the story because in the story it talks about how Vega think of people without knowing them. Vega tells Moya how he hates everything in El Salvador and what not but he also mainly focus on what is going on with politicians “And the worst are these miserable politicians on the left, Moya, those who were once guerrillas, the so-called comandantes…” (Moya, 14) Vega hates politicians because he thinks they are these people who are fancy and they know everything about everything but he sees them as lies and as bad people because he believes that these politicians are from guerrilla groups, but he also sees them as people who like to kill others and make them suffer since that’s what his idea is about towards these kind of people that are in these groups. After all, the Salvadoran Civil War did have a major affected towards this story that Moya wrote about. Not only did the Civil War caused many deaths and injuries but it caused a lot of property damage as well. The people that had to leave the country because of the war they now think very differently about El Salvador because they had to grow up or live somewhere else for a very long time before coming back to their country and not having to come back when the Civil War is still going on. The story talks and showed a lot how the war affected the character Edgardo Vega and the way he sees El Salvador is different as well as its people because he thinks the war has changed everyone differently such as many of them are still bad people who only want to hurt others or he doesn’t trust them as well thinking bad of them for the same reason of the war.