Review Of the City Of Mexico In The Age Of Diaz Essays -- essays res

The Great DivideUniversity of California-Berkley geographer and condition Michael Johns argues in his novel, The City of Mexico in the Age of Diaz, that the central Zocalo of Mexico City does more(prenominal) than geographically segregate the East from the West, but Mexicos national psyche as well. During the years of Diazs democratic faade, the upper classes thrived upon plantation exports, feudalist economic science and the iron fist of Diazs rurales while struggling to maintain European social likeness. East of the Zocalo, shantytowns housed thousands of poor pelados that served as societal blemishes of a suburbanites experience. In Johnss work, the penniless and indigenous serve as the scapegoats for the priviledged and their regression with grooming Mexico City to be a little Europe.A development affluent class called upon the Diaz regime and imported architects to construct buildings in the Zocalo to contemplate a proper image that drew on influences from Europe and the join States. Johns recognizes the architectural dependence of the influential Mexicans constructing Mexico City when he states, Mexican architecture, on the other hand, was an expression of a city run by a people who were looking to create their own culture while totally dependent on the industry and ideas of Europe and America (22). The same social organisation that the elite felt was a celebration of a newfound self-respect in the Mexican people was criticized, by visitors and locals alike, as grandiose and a futile effort to shield the native roots of a stage set of imposters. Johnss argues that the Mexicans knew little of their adopted European tradition, had acquired even less of its taste, and enjoyed n star of its tranquility (23). While the influence on the west led to development, the despicableness and lack of authority of the peasants on the Eastside created mesones, or as Johns describe them, a little more than a bare spot to inhabit down in, a grass mat, company with (the) vermin that squalor breeds (48). political science on the Westside of the Zocalo were concerned little with the living conditions of the majority. No one would undertake the unglamorous task of assisting the poor, but rather they attempted to wipe out the masses in the shadow of their refined buildings and recent assumption of culture. another(prenominal) shield of the upper classes was t... ...rural hamlets, many in the big city drowned their sorrows in pulque it accounted for over 90 percent of all the alcohol drunk in the capital The suggestive power of a bright scene or an exotic name painted on the faade was at times enhanced by a slogan like Drink Pulque, Be Happy (50-51). The little solace the masses gained from their wages was usually merrily wasted in one night after the paycheck had arrived. aim to drown their social inferiority, pulque crippled the east sides population. In essence, both rich and poor yearned to gain acceptance, at conscious or subcon scious levels. Mexico City in the Age of Diaz is a literary allegory of one countrys struggle to define itself as a modern, cultured nation. Written mainly in the upper class purpose of view, the poor masses are defamed as lesser, indigenous beings. This anxiety of the Westside population and President Diaz lead not to reform but to using and ignorance of social dilemmas. Europe and the United States served as a model for these citizens who coveted status and acceptance due to the inherent inferiority complex gained by a historically conquered people.