Final Blog

Overall, I found Spanish 365 to be an interesting and useful class. After reading the wide range of texts, I have gained new knowledge of Spanish literature and appreciate it much more. As I had never used a blog before I was quite hesitant at first, but I soon realized that it helped with my understanding of the studied texts and was to my advantage. Group discussions in class further developed my understanding of the pieces and exposed me to different thoughts and opinions of others.

I appreciate the wide range of pieces presented to us by Jon; not only the type (such as poems, short stories and novels) but various regions, periods and themes were portrayed throughout the literature. Cumanda was a great novel to choose to examine interracial/ cultural relationships and since it is highly recognized in Ecuador. Neruda was one of my favorites since it was in poetic form, easy to understand and played heavily on descriptions. Mama Blanca was extremely boring, but it was good to see a different style of writing and observe what the introduction of modernization brought to the family. On the other hand, Piedra Callada was action filled and destructive, while the loss of modernization went together with devastation.

I definitely liked Cien Años de Soledad the most out of all the literary pieces. Even though the character list was numerous and hard to keep up with, themes presented were very intriguing. Family, solitude and incest were shown in a very creative and unique manner and the magic realism of the book kept my interest. Moreover, I liked how this was a more contemporary piece in comparison to the others which were more difficult to understand.