Friday, November 13, 2009

Here Comes The Sun

As I alluded in class on Tuesday, I was really interested in the significance of all the references to the Sun and light in Letters from a Peruvian Woman.

-Zilia often refers to Aza as her "light" or her "Sun". I think this not only refers to him being the Sun King, or the representative of her people's worship (god) on Earth, but also of quite literally, how he brightens her life and makes her life worth living. After all, what is a day without light? How miserable do all of South Bend gets when the permi-cloud again descends on the city for those morbid winter days.

-She speaks of the Sun as though it is unique to her world in Peru. I understand the comfort she would receive from seeing this celestial body in the sky, something familiar when everything else in her life was foreign and frightening.

-She references the enlightened philosophers she learns from in her studies, how they are the "lights of learning and all the help I need"

I did notice that this "light language", so prevalent in the first half of the book, is not used nearly as much in the second half of the novel. I wonder if that is another sign of Zilia becoming more "European" - relying more and more on her newly acquired French customs and lifestyle, less and less on her Incan heritage?

1 comment:

  1. love it! it's so weird how "light" has been such a big theme for multiple works we have encountered this semester. also props to you for coming up with another good title for the light/sun/gold reference. that's a really good one! [:

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