A Critical Essay on a Text Critical of the United States The Crystal Frontier
The title of Carlos Fuentes' The Crystal Frontier may seem on itssurface quite difficult to understand-how can a frontier, even the greatAmerican frontier, be crystal, even crystal-clear' The title refers to acrystal and beautiful office building cleaned by Mexican workers in one ofthe tales that make up the book, but the title also takes on a metaphoricalsignificance beyond that of the story of the illegal, imported officeworkers. The title is a metaphor in fact, highlights the strangeness anduncertainty, the lack of clarity and the lies of the border between theUnited States and Mexico both in terms of geography (that is, in physicalspace) and in personal relationships that are at the heart of the book. Even the structure of the book is meant to challenge the reader'ssense of reality. The nine short stories that make up the book are allinterlinked loosely. They suggest that the true border between Mexico andthe United States, which at times seems more like a fault line than afrontier is both elusive and ambiguous. The central thesis of this ``Novelin Nine Stories,'' if nine linked short stories may be said to have acentral thesis or theme is that there will always be a tragic clash
Forinstance, the story "Pain'' tells the tale of a poor but ambitious medicalstudent named Juan Zamora. Barroso, the story makes clear, deals in human traffic evenin his family life. The title story shows how Barroso has taken to importing of cheaplabor to clean Manhattan office buildings on weekends. let thewords fly, poor Mexico, poor United States, so far from God, so near to oneanother,'" writes Fuentes in the story that ends the collection. As the protagonist sits and stares outside places likePizza Hut and Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken in California, thereader can only wish that the connections between others over emotional andphysical borders were as easy to transgress. He is involved in the media, as he is an owner ofan oppressive television assembly plant right across the river from ElPaso, which many of the characters attempt to cross. Barroso is a former governmentminister. However, the fact that so many different cuisines havebeen incorporated into the American fold, and the commonality of obesityand difficulties with consumption exhibited by both peoples on both sidesof the border provides a perverse kind of hope of connection that isachieved only through kisses through solid glass and rage in the moreserious tales. Now Barroso lives near the border so many individuals seek tocross, seeking paradise. The borders between the two nations thus are in the lies that existbetween individuals, in the divisions between cultures and classes, as wellas a physical barrier of barbed wire between two nations. Ultimately, his vision oflife on both sides of the border inspires him to do the one true andselfless act of all the nine stories, founding a "walking hospital'" forthe Mexican immigrants now denied health care in California and elsewhere. The main connecting figure between all of the attempts at crossing thefrontier is that of Leonardo Barroso. "The Line of Oblivion" shows the lies of Barroso's own family. Barroso's brother Emiliano is a blacklisted union organizer who denies hispast as a socialist, and instead engages in corruption that, unlike hisbrother, makes him hate himself.
Common topics in this essay:
Rio Bravo'',
Barroso's Emiliano,
Michelina Laborde,
Italian Spanish,
Crystal Frontier,
Barroso Barroso's,
Frequently Fuentes,
El Paso,
United Mexico,
Mexico United,
personal relationships,
short stories,
story makes,
mexico united,
crystal frontier,
central thesis,
corrupt barroso,
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Acceptance Essays
