Preservation of Life

This week's reading from A Beauty that Hurts supports the statement that Lovell made about the Maya being survivors, as opposed to “an assortment of relics” (114). Each profound and moving narrative adds to the “enormity of Maya survival” and their courage for “suffering, enduring and coming through” (24). The personal stories that the author details truly provide insight into a part of history that is difficult to grasp and understand as an outsider.

Lovell quotes one of his references, Merilyn Simonds, when she says “There can rarely be a definitive version of the past and rarely a particular truth; only larger truths of existence” (23). The reader should not bog himself down with the specifics and facts of the personal narratives that Lovell entails, but rather look at the broader image. The human memory is fallible, after all. What's most important is the depth of emotion that goes into these anecdotes and the powerful effect that these events had on a group of people, the Mayas in Guatemala in this case, and also the impact that it has on the reader. Does it leave a lingering after taste in one’s mouth, something to ponder more about? Whether the biography of Menchú is historically accurate or not, she still accomplishes to keep “her family alive by telling about the horror of their deaths” and expresses the “vital human trait” for survival (24). This is what Lovell aims to explore in A Beauty that Hurts: a meaningful portrayal of people who are often simplified and romanticized, as we saw in last week’s reading.

It’s hard for those who grew up in the U.S. to imagine life outside of one’s family, school, and community. When the disturbing image of Eugenia Beatriz Barrios Marroquín is brought to mind, the reader falters and takes a step back. Do horrors like this actually happen? he wonders with shock. What makes it so shocking is that it is his first time experiencing the devastating mutilation of a human body, though it is only through reading. If the reader is so unsettled, consider what it is like to personally experience such terrifying events. Since it is not possible to relive the circumstances under which Eugenia died, Lovell does his best to depict the same, petrifying feeling through the personal tales of others.

This brings to mind the question: Why do the aforementioned people feel the need to share their lives with us? Lovell explains to the reader how the remains of Doña Magdalena’s husband “have yet to be found” (34). Most of the people that died in these stories did not receive a proper burial. It is too late now to physically bury them; they are buried in the hearts of family and friends that managed to survive civil massacre. The highest honor that can be granted to these unfortunate souls and make their sacrifice more meaningful is to remember their names, hopes, and dreams through written accounts.