https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7 Alterity: the state of being different en-us 2021-03-19 20:48:16 UTC 2025-11-18 06:51:22 UTC hello@padlet.com saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331816254 One of the things our protagonist has that is different from others is that he interacts and sees the women in his life through a very literal and objectifying way. As he goes about his day to day, he sees his colleagues through the male gaze. The male gaze is "the perspective of a [...] heterosexual man [...] characterized by a tendency to objectify or sexualize women" (Oxford Languages). When making a decision on which lab to work from, he describes the workers' "steely abdominals and pristine, flat belly button", another colleagues "smooth, sculpted column." He also talks about one of her "jet-black breasts, [..] slender thighs". He does not recognize that his decision to be in Laboratory 3 was because of his objectification of the women working there, but says at the end of the chapter it was due to "the simple impulse to take better advantage of underutilized laboratory space." Although his objectification is merely literal, he tends to see the women only for how his senses perceive them and not as actual people, although that might be part of his affliction. It seems to me like an intense objectification without the motivation of sexual reciprocation with him, so it is to me incredibly interesting to read about.]]> 2021-03-20 01:13:40 UTC https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331816254 saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331897320 Our undead protagonist has many conversations with himself about his sense of self. He questions his qualia, his connection to self. The reason he gives us is that he is undead, and therefore must find a cure. The last few chapters, we discover that he suffers from a disease which disconnects his sense of self, and instead of seeing this as a disease or even knowing, he assumes there must be more to this. His lack of self makes him feel numb and assumes that it is what a zombie, emotionally undead, would feel like. ]]> 2021-03-20 02:42:28 UTC https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331897320 saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331912766 When reading this book, we start in the introduction as an acknowledgement that this is Isadore's scrapbook. A collection of short stories, experiences, field notes, plant information, all put together in a nonchronological order. Isadore is not only the final editor of the story, she is also a main voice. Her field work stories about Valerie, Papa Vincent, and her neighboring village's cashew farmer story makes for interesting storytelling. Do we consider her a reliable narrator when telling stories about her village and how does that tend to her beliefs in what our undead protagonist believes himself to be? I don't think there is a right answer to these questions, nor should there be. The belief in magic and the supernatural is beautiful, terrifying and absolutely human and to determine an absolute answer would be, in my opinion, a loss of beauty in the experience as a reader, but it is lovely to think about.]]> 2021-03-20 03:00:38 UTC https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331912766 saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331916060 Although our undead protagonist does not feel connected to his own experiences emotionally, when going out to eat and party with his three female coworkers, he experiences qualia very fleetingly. With each one, in a different way, all through a physical connection. With Mathilde, they kiss and she cries and does not understand. It scares him and he flees that barge of unknown emotion. With Patricia Julia, he touches her lower body and fingers her butthole (I mean what an unexpected scene), and gets scared off by his own hand. However, the most impacting scene is when he holds Isadore's hand. He feels something, he understands himself, everything and nothing all at once, and although the feeling is fleeting, that jumpstart of feelings is enough to realize that it's possible to be alive, even if for a tiny, beautiful moment.]]> 2021-03-20 03:04:41 UTC https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331916060 saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331921009 As the oldest zombie in the bar, this character is the one that perplexes me the most. Our undead character describes him in such a macabre way that it seems to me that there is no option but for him to be undead. His eyeballs are sunken, his fingers are fleshless, and he has no mobility or ability to hold himself together, being pulled and kept tightly by levers, leathers and buckles. Dionisio has such a specific character description that unless our main protagonist is such an unreliable character to make what he sees up, it is a big factor in the sense that he is the oldest zombie. My opinion about this otherness, this thing that sets him apart from all the other people in the bar, is so interesting to me. Wether he has a gruesome and supernatural appearance, or he is physically disabled and made fantastic through our undead protagonist's eyes, he stands out to me as an other.]]> 2021-03-20 03:10:44 UTC https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331921009 saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331925944 As the oldest zombie in the bar, his interactions with our undead protagonist are the most interesting to me. His search or wisdom for qualia compares to our protagonist and he is the only truly connected person to our main protagonist. He knows his search, his true self and his motivation for everything: to feel and to feel in a personal way. The brutally honest camaraderie between him and our protagonist is unlike any other connection our protagonist has with anyone else. They truly confide in each other (as much as they emotionally can) and their interactions have a certain plain beauty to them. The lack of alterior motives, secondary motivations, and blunt truths is refreshing, undressed. Beautiful. ]]> 2021-03-20 03:16:38 UTC https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331925944 saraosoriorestrepo https://padlet.com/saraosoriorestrepo/pedbze1zx1ks7wx7/wish/1331930190 Wicked Weeds, Pedro Cabiya 2016


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