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How did Juan Rulfo depict the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution in The Burning Plain?
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Latin American literature
Francisco Javier Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo, statue at Central Station, Sydney, Austl.
In The Burning Plain, Juan Rulfo depicts the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution as a bleak, stagnant reality for the rural poor. Rather than celebrating the conflict, Rulfo portrays the peasantry as victims of those who claimed to fight for their liberation.12
His stories illustrate a world defined by:
- Moral and Physical Stagnation: Characters are often depicted as "already dead" or roaming without purpose across an infertile, rainless landscape that serves as a literal and metaphorical hell on earth.13
- Cycles of Violence and Betrayal: The narrative explores the corruption inherent in political power and the weary resignation of ordinary people who, knowing they cannot change their circumstances, accommodate the violence and dominance imposed upon them.1
- Primal Human Conditions: By utilizing laconic narrators and stark, violent situations, Rulfo reduces the human experience to primal struggles that approach the level of myth.2
Through these depictions, Rulfo highlights the disillusionment following the revolution, focusing on the enduring suffering of those left behind in the wake of political upheaval.12