Although he identifies himself with the past world of his statues, his statue makes it clear to him that he has no conception of the past. A footnote to the story introduces the Chac Mool as the ancient Mayan god of rain, an important deity for an area that frequently experiences drought. No, they no longer recognized me” (Fuentes 2). His connection to the past is manifested in his dislike of the modernized world he finds around him, “With the café that I almost didn’t recognize, with the city itself, they had been chiseling themselves out to a rhythm different than mine. ![]() ![]() These important characteristics make him a strong symbol for the conquering worldview of the Spaniards over the ‘indigenous’ Mexicans.However, it is clear from his early diary entries that Filibert envisions himself as a symbol of the past world like the statue he collects. This idea is also shown in his attitude about collecting “indigenous Mexican art” clearly not to worship them, as he is a professed Christian, but instead seems to be for the pride of ownership – he even makes reference to the need to keep the stone statue in his basement until “I reorganize my trophy room to make space for it” (Fuentes 3), demonstrating his power over the ancient gods in his choice of language. His connection to the conquerors is revealed in Pepe’s observation that Filibert is Christian because he is a product of the Spanish system. Further clues indicate that Filibert was a quiet, solitary man who preferred staying in his parents’ old home, itself a symbol of Spanish domination, rather than taking a more comfortably-sized apartment in town. He apparently had a decent job in an office with people working under him, taking a position of superiority in the world of European business. ![]() A conclusion to this study shows how both Fuentes and Poniatowska include Fantastic elements and phenomena as catalyzers that pave the way for the transmission of the aforementioned themes and messages in both of their short stories.Filibert is introduced in the story as a 40-year-old man who drowned while trying to swim across the Acapulco Bay at midnight but as his story is told, he becomes a symbol of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico. The conflicts that arise between both counterparts continues being of vast importance as they uncover matters that are still relevant in present-day society. Furthermore, this study aims to show how both authors use this genre to allow the gods, which are main character’s in both short stories, to represent the undeniable presence of Mexico’s Mesoamerican culture, and how the human characters represent the negation and discomfort felt by members of Mexican society when confronted by their past and the past of their country. Both literary works are short stories that belong to a literary genre known as the Fantastic, which is, in turn, a genre in which a reader will be met with a credible setting, not too different from their own, but in which various supernatural elements manifest themselves and disturb the stability and perception of the reader’s and/or the character’s reality. The following study compares Carlos Fuentes’ “Chac Mool” (1954) with Elena Poniatowska’s “Coatlicue” (2003).
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