Víctor Hugo Hernández-Fuentes
POSI 4349E
María de la Luz Valverde
The Death of Artemio Cruz
While the Mexico of the beginning of the 20th century was removing itself from an old society and destroying the old regime that Diaz had created, many ideals and intentions of real revolucionarios were being left behind and forgotten. Thousands of soldiers, Indians and peasants sacrificed their lives for an utopia that never came. The Mexican Revolution had not accomplished its main purpose of establishing an equal society among the peoples of Mexico, and sadly nothing changed.
Carlos Fuentes offers us, in his work The Death of Artemio Cruz, a picture of what the Mexican Revolution was, and how it could be reflected in the life of a Caudillo de la Revolución, Artemio Cruz. This character depicts the life of a successful business man who remembers and regrets the most important events of his life, while he is on his death bed. The book describes how Cruz climbed up to where he is today; how he stepped on many people, caring only for a lost love and himself.
Artemio Cruz is the owner of a newspaper in Mexico City. He became rich by scamming campesinos, taking land away from other powerful landlords, and using the revolution as a justification to attain more power. Artemio holds a relationship with US investors, with whom he has become business partners, and he uses his corrupt career and networking experience to economically benefit them and him self. All that investment opportunities are being taken away from the Mexican investors and from the Mexican people. Artemio Cruz is selling his country in order to gain more money, and therefore, more power. He has gone to the other side of the revolution, he contributes to keep Mexico where he was before, to keep it from equality and opportunity for everyone, to keep it from what once was his dream.
As many of the people who rise to the top of the social brackets, Artemio Cruz despises...