The Death of Artemio Cruz

The events of these chapters relate to the events of the Mexican Revolution, a series of battles that took place between 1910 and 1920. The war began with a coup d’état led by progressive politician Francisco Madero against the traditionalist president Porfirio Díaz, whose conservative policies favored the upper-class landowners. Madero himself was not able to unite the country after the deposition of President Díaz, and Victoriano Huerta, the former commander of the federales, assassinated Madero and took power. Mexico thereupon broke into factions led by unofficial strongmen called caudillos. The three major caudillos who led rebellions in support of the assassinated Madero were Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Venustiano Carranza, and Álvaro Obregón. In the south, Emiliano Zapata led the pro-revolution forces. While all in support of overthrowing the existing government, each of these caudillos had an agenda of his own. Pancho Villa was a charismatic leader who sought extreme redistribution of wealth. Carranza was more moderate and enjoyed the support of landowning progressives. Obregón, a renowned military strategist of humble origins, was a centrist. The landless peasants found support in Zapata. Huerta led the federales, the counterrevolutionary forces. In 1913, Cruz fights for Carranza, whose supporters were called Carrancistas, to repel the advances of the federales led by Huerta.

The fact that Fuentes presents Cruz’s first encounter with Regina as romantic and benign though it was violent rape reinforces the theme of memory as unreliable. In Cruz’s memory, Regina invents and perpetuates the story of their romantic meeting, and they both live as if that were the truth.

The unreliability of memory is also showcased in the mistaken circumstances surrounding Cruz’s abandonment of his fellow soldier. Cruz’s unwillingness to disabuse his battalion with respect to his perceived heroism presents an enduring character trait: Cruz’s duplicitousness. This third-person narration of Cruz’s unforthcoming nature (when he is greeted as a hero despite being a coward) is starkly at odds with Cruz’s self-justifying thoughts that close the chapter.

The opening section of Chapter 4 represents a departure from a third-person omniscient narration that privilege’s Cruz’s perspective. This change in perspective underscores the importance of subjectivity in the retelling of events. This section invites reader into Catalina’s perspective and shows her feelings about being forced into a loveless marriage while grappling with the death of her father.

In addition, these chapters contrast Cruz’s young love for Regina that was thwarted by fate and his forced attempt at love for Catalina. These two love affairs have in common only the circumstance that neither woman can protect herself from her involvement with Cruz; the very young Regina was forced to accept a forced encounter with a soldier when her rural town was besieged. The upper-class heiress, Catalina, was likewise obliged to marry Cruz at her father’s behest as was the custom in revolution-era Mexico.

These chapters establish the motif of priests and religion. Cruz’s brief mention of his discovery that Catalina has been hiding Father Paéz inspires Cruz to muse on religion. He contends that there can be no living without sinning: “[T]o live is to betray your God. Every act in life, every act that affirms us as living things, requires that the commandments of your God be broken” (116). From there, Cruz reasons that there can be no contrition without real sin. Thus, Cruz reasons, no one should feel guilty about any particular act, as nothing is inherently good or bad.