I
really enjoyed Jack London’s short story, “The Mexican.” It reminded me of many
of the modern day boxing movies. While the story does have some racist undertones,
as we discussed in class today, I think that, overall, London portrays Rivera
as the good guy in the story. Against all odds, Rivera fights for what he
believes in and succeeds. After learning that Jack London was a firm believer
in socialism, it is apparent why he makes Rivera out to be the hero in the
story. The people fighting against Diaz in the revolution were fighting for a socialist
reform. London purposely puts Danny and Rivera against each other to show the
differences between American capitalism and socialism and to show that in the
end, socialism will triumph. While many people may think that London himself is
racist because of many of the things said about Rivera in the story, I think he
writes these things only to make the story more believable for the time period.
If London was truly racist, he would have wrote the story about an American
capitalist and an American socialist to make the issue less racially imbued.
However, the fact that he chooses to write about a Mexican man beating a white
man shows that he really isn’t racist, but rather wants to keep things
realistic.
Agreed, I definitely don't think London is a racist. But I do think there's a general implication that race is an issue within the story, and defines their roles and stereotypical hate towards each other.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely reminded me of modern day boxing movies where the under-dog, and even the one everyone is rooting against wins despite all odds.
I like your assessment of the Mexican socialist against the American capitalist. I can definitely see that his point was that socialism would triumph. I am not sure if I could argue that he was definitely not racist from this story, but I would say that "The Mexican" is not a racist story, if that makes sense. I think you are probably right about the realistic aspect though. Since he was a considered a writer of naturalism and naturalism is just an extension off of realism, I would have to agree that he likes to keep thins realistic.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree. London uses race here to create a protagonist who's actually more admirable than those around him, especially the white fight promoters.
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