Death

 Journey to the Seed by Alejo Carpentier is a story about a man named Marcial. It starts at the end of his life while he is on his death bed. "Don Marcial, Marquis of Capellanías lay on his deathbed, his breast clad with metal, and with an escort of four candles with long beards of melted wax" (Alejo Carpentier, Journey to the Seed). The story travels backward from his deathbed to when he was younger and born. It was interesting to see a story written this way because it gave the reader a new and different perspective of your life. It discusses the parties and dances with the girls he had, and his relationship with his wife. It also talks about how he had to sell everything, and his social class drops as well. It was interesting to read what he did in the past after you already read about how he turned out. "The world of ideas was slowly becoming empty" (Alejo Carpentier, Journey to the Seed). The more that the story travels backward Marcial's knowledge slowly becomes less and less as the story continues. By the end of the story, Marcial says that he only feels hunger, thirst, heat, pain, and cold. This is when he is very young, and this is all that he knows at this point in life. So, it was very interesting to see and understand a person from when they were on their deathbed to when they were born. 

 

The story starts at the end of his life, his death. Death is a very common theme among many stories in Caribbean literature. The story gives you a different perspective on life. When starting with death it gives the story a more beautiful ending with birth and life. The story allows you to see the mistakes Marcial made and what lead up to those mistakes prior. You can understand how Marcial turned out in the end before you can see how he got to that point. This story lets you appreciate life. It makes you think and slow down. Many people get caught up in life and wake up one morning and they are 60 years old. Death is inevitable, it is going to occur. This story gives you a different perspective on the way that death occurs first. You learn about Marcial dying and then he is reborn and becomes younger and younger. Death is common in Caribbean literature because death is the end of life and suffering. In many of these stories people suffer and are in bad living conditions. Death is the way out of these conditions for many people. This story is a positive story about death because it shows you what life can be like. Death doesn’t have to be all negative. You fill life with experiences and wisdom by the time you’re ready to die. To me, it seems like a bittersweet moment. On one hand, you’re dying, but on the only hand, you’re filled with life through the experiences and wisdom gained.