For this entry, I wanted to elaborate on what Taylor and I
came up with in class on Monday, our connection between “The Heights of Macchu
Picchu” and Communism. As Neruda was a Communist, perhaps this connection was
intentional on his part. If not, I still think that it is an interesting similarity
between this poem and the ideals of Communism.
In verses X through XII, Neruda laments the plight of the slaves, servants, and workers who suffered in order to make Macchu Picchu the extraordinary place that it was:
Return to me the slave you buried!
Shake the suffering people’s hard bread
from these lands, show me the servants’
clothes and their windows.
He also says:
Macchu Picchu, did you place
stone on stone, and, at the base, rags?
Coal on top of coal, and tears at the bottom?
Fire atop gold, and, trembling in it, the giant red
raindrop of blood?
These sections
basically suggest that Macchu Picchu was built upon the blood and tears of the
lower classes that actually built Macchu Picchu and served the upper classes,
and in return suffered from hunger and were inadequately clothed.
The fact that these
people worked hard to maintain the upper classes’ standards of living and
received nothing but suffering in return can be related to Communism. In
Communism, the idea is that it is the large working class that keeps the
economy running, but the workers benefit very little from their hard work,
earning small wages while the business owners make huge profits. In a way,
then, the business owners can be seen as similar to the elites in Macchu Picchu.
They exploit the workers, just like the elites exploited the lower classes and
caused their suffering in order to live extravagant lives. In turn, the workers
suffer like the lower classes did because they earn very little and thus have very
little.
Just as clarification, are you saying that Macchu Picchu was built with a capitalistic view or a communistic view? To me it sounds like the elite of Macchu Picchu were like the businesses of a capitalist economy where businesses earn high profits and the people get very low wages. The people suffered for the satisfaction of the elites and were kept in a low position in society. It makes sense that because Neruda was communist that he would be saddened over the treatment of the lower classes during that time and encourage a more communistic view to the readers as an alternative to the harsh treatment in a capitalistic society. If the natives had lived in a time with a more communistic view then there would hopefully not be such a large gap between the elites and the lower classes.
ReplyDeleteOh sorry I see what you're saying! In my last paragraph, I am referring to Communist critiques/complaints of capitalism. Yes, Macchu Picchu was built in the context of an economy comparable to a capitalist one in which workers were exploited by the upper classes. So, in his poem, Neruda was critiquing capitalism, both in Inca society and in contemporary society.
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