Rosena on the Mountain

 This story is very different from the other short stories that we have read. Rosena on the Mountain is a short story about a young Haitian boy who wants to join the sainthood. He grew up from nothing in the slums of his town. He feels that God has to lead him to become closer to him. "I felt destined to rise at two o'clock each morning of my life and to utter only three words a week" (Rosena on the Mountain, René Despestre). The boy went to the mountains to start his journey in sainthood. There he met a girl that helps with the sainthood that is called Rosena. She would help in the kitchen, making food, and gathering water.  Rosena has her eye on the boy and the boy starts to feel a certain way with Rosena. The boy knows that he cannot sin with Rosena because it does against her beliefs. The temptation becomes too strong and Rosena and the boy sin together. The boy is in love but is distraught at the same time because he has gone against everything that he has learned. The priest knows what they have done together and makes the boy confess the sins that he committed. The boy feels ashamed but cannot stop thinking about Rosena. In the end, the priest finds the boy and Rosena together in bed. The priest is beside himself and was extremely upset that he started beating on the boy. Rosena runs to the kitchen and grabs a machete and takes a swipe at the priest. The priest tells them to leave and never come back, and that was the last time they saw him.    

Comments

  1. JP RicheyOctober 3, 2020 at 1:45 PM

    This is a good summary of the relationship between Alain and Rosena. I agree he is both in love and distraught at the same time, which would be emotionally conflicting. But I also believe Father Mulligan’s relationship to Rosena is just as important as Alain’s in this story. He too is committing sin because of his lust for her and is not only upset with Alain for sleeping with her, but is jealous of him as well. It may be that the bad guy in all of this is the institution of Catholicism and it’s regulation of individual’s bodies. I think the father recognizes this as well when the Alain shared that Father Mulligan “was accepting his condition philosophically” (Rosena of the Mountain, Despestre p137).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christopher Columbus Documentary

     In the documentary Christopher Columbus, researchers believe that Columbus's had landed on the island of San Salvador. The island matches the description from Columbus’ logs, and there have been remnants found on the island from Spain. “It looks like I have found what appears to be a coin” (Clark’s History Reels. “Christopher Columbus”). Almost all of the natives of the island died from European disease and exploitation. Columbus was convinced that he had landed somewhere on the coast of China. He was originally looking to land on Japan, but he thought he was landing on the islands surrounding Japan. “Along with finding a new route to the Orient, spreading Christianity was one of Columbus’ primary intentions” (Clark’s History Reels. “Christopher Columbus”). Columbus left crosses along the coast, he did this for Spain and to Christen the land. Any natives who did not conform to Christianity were burned at the stake. They told the natives that only Christians can find ...
Read more

Haiti: Land of Tragedy, Land of Hope

  Haiti has over eight million people in the country with a life expectancy of fifty years, seventy percent of the population below the poverty line, and sixty-five percent of the population can read. This is crazy to think about that in today’s age a county can fall behind so much with the rest of society. In 1994 the country finally instilled a democratic institution to allow the country to hopefully thrive in the near future. The leaders of Haiti understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will Haiti. They understand it is going to take time to fix the country, but they know they are moving in the correct direction. There is now hope in the people of Haiti, hope of the people and of the national level. Some people of Haiti believe that the political leaders enjoy the power they have and do not want to give up that power. So, they decide to stay in power and people in Haiti want them out of power so the country can move forwards and be given more freedoms. The birthpl...
Read more