A Death in the Sánchez FamilyThis volume takes a look at the death of Guadalupe, the maternal aunt and the closest blood relative of the Sa?nchez children, the family that the author/anthropologist made central to his vivid depictions of the lives of slum dwellers. Guadalupe played a central role in the Sa?nchez family. This book is based upon interviews with her nephews and niece, Manuel, Roberto, and Consuelo Sa?nchez. It presents three views of their aunt's death, wake, and burial. Their stories highlight the difficulties encountered by the poor in disposing of their dead. For the poor, death is almost as great a hardship as life itself. Guadalupe died as she had lived, without medical care, in unrelieved pain, in hunger, worrying about how to pay the rent or raise money for the bus fare for a trip to the hospital, working up to the last day of her life at various pathetic jobs, leaving nothing of value but a few old religious objects and the tiny rented space she had occupied. Both her life and death reflected the culture of poverty in which Guadalupe lived. Her life was a story of deprivation and trauma. Born into a poor family in Le?on, Guanajuato, in 1900, she was ten years old when the Mexican Revolution began and twenty when it ended. Thus she lived through some of the most difficult years in the history of Mexico, when bloodshed, violence, hunger, and much suffering occurred. Her sad experiences, not unusual for those times, help the reader to understand her situation at the time of her death. |
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alcohol angry arrived asked aunt's house began bitch bought brassiere candles Casa Casa Grande Catarina centavos Children of Sánchez Chita clothing coffee coffin compadrazgo compadres crying culture of poverty dead death door dressed drink drunk eyes father feel felt floor flowers four friends funeral Gaspar gave give Guadalupe and Ignacio Guadalupe's Guanajuato hand happened head hearse hombre hundred pesos husband Jaime Jesús Jesús Sánchez little mother lived look Lupe Lupita mamá María married Matilde Mexican Mexico City morning move National Book Award neighbor never Nuevo Laredo OSCAR LEWIS Panaderos vecindad Pancho papá Pedro Martínez percent poor praying priest Prudencia pulque rest saints sell Señor Manuel Señora Laura shoes sister stay talking tears tell things thought Tlalnepantla told took tortillas Uncle Ignacio walked wife woman women