Recap
.As a result of his mourning, Chino’s subjectivity, professional commitment, and even socio-economic stability are put into question.
.Through Chino’s story, Alarcón addresses governmental corruption, (sub) urban decay, lack of economic opportunities, rural displacement, racism, and anti-blackness, and as a byproduct, general urban violence. As a whole, Lima is experiencing deteriorating circumstances and people are taking to the streets to demand social justice.
.This state of emergency points towards a national (and perhaps global) crisis, but it also lets us discover the inventive ways that people are using to survive, speak up to power, narrate their realities, and create spaces for achieving self-reliance and hope.
Unpacking the title/central concept of the story
Read the following paragraph and discuss your understanding of the title: City of Clowns
I thought about clowns. They had become, to my surprise, a kind of refuge. Once I’d started looking for them, I found them everywhere. They organized the city for me: buses, street corners, plazas. They suited my mood. Appropriating the absurd, embracing shame, they transformed it. Laugh at me. Humiliate me. And, when you do, I’ve won. Lima was, in fact, and in spirit, a city of clowns. (68)
How Sheila Alvarado represents this reflection and furthermore a vision of a city “organized” by clowns?
Reflecting on the images
Look and discuss the images created by Sheila Alvarado. How do they expand the following topics present in Alarcón’s story?
.Fatherless Realities/ Collapsing Patriarchy
.The city as an attractive menace
.Movement and migration
.Socio-economic struggles/disparities
.Uncovering repressed memories
Class Presentation (s)
Group Discussions
Elaborate on Chino’s transformations into a piraña. What are his motivations to assume this personality?
Elaborate on Chino’s transformations into a clown. What are his motivations to assume this personality?
Pick two different sections of the second half and discuss how Sheila Alvarado illustrates Chino’s fallout with his father and mother. How does she compose Chino’s conflicting states of mind?