Artemio Cruz and the Question of Choice

Abstract

Carlos Fuentes’s 1962 novel La muerte de Artemio Cruz is a fundamental work in twentieth century fiction. The theme of choice permeates and complicates the novel’s plot. Behind these choices is what appears to be a win-or-lose mentality, as Artemio seems to perceive the world as divided between chingones and chingados. This dichotomy is one that echoes the discourse of Mexican intellectual, writer, and diplomat Octavio Paz (1914–1998) in his well-known book on Mexican identity, El laberinto de la soledad (1950). Building on previous criticism that studies the intertextual relationship between the two works, this paper argues that Fuentes’s protagonist embodies Paz’s theoretical description of un hijo de la Chingada, simultaneously paying tribute to Paz’s book while also questioning and problematizing its dichotomous thinking. Artemio’s individuality, highlighted by the novel’s opening (“Yo despierto…”) and its closing (“moriré”), is something often overlooked by criticism that views Artemio Cruz as a trope, more than a man. Throughout the novel Artemio encounters doubles of himself that force moments of reflection. These doubles haunt him on his deathbed, creating a crisis of conscience that complicates the reader’s interpretation of Cruz as protagonist. To presume that Artemio Cruz is merely a literary manifestation of Paz’s theory is to overlook the craftsmanship behind his construction as a complex character who reflects on how the choices he has made have shaped his life and legacy.