Chac Mool

Juan Rulfo

Who narrates the story/How is the story narrated?
Filiberto’s friend. He then starts reading Filiberto’s diary.

Who is Filiberto? What does he do? What class is he from? What might he represent?
Filiberto has recently been fired from “La secretaría”. He liked collecting indigenous statues and artifacts. Filiberto inherited his parents' house which is described as big and from the “porfiriato”. The Porfiriato was a time of great inequalities and had a huge economic and social gap, so we can assume he came from a family with money. He also says something in his diary of being in a private college and of having a promising looking future as a young student but did not reach the expectations. So now, he is not struggling with money but needs to be more careful on what he spends his money, like mentioned when buying a coffee or an original artifact, as he isn’t rich at all.

What is a Chac Mool? (internet investigation)
Chac Mool is a pre-Columbian sculpture (the picture below) that to this day has many different interpretations. It is important to contrast that this figure is mostly found in sacred contexts such as altars. One of the most predominant interpretations is that he is the God of rain but to this day it represents a figure full of mystery.



Who was the Le Plongeon referred to on pg 5? How can we interpret Fuentes’ re-telling of Le Plongeon’s act?
This is a reference to Augustus Le Pongeon, a European archeologist from the XIX century. It is being cynical in a way, of Europeans “discovering” pre columbian reliques.

Describe the Chac Mool. What is he like physically? What is his personality like?
He if something scary and dark: “The room smelled of horror, of incense and blood.”
Described as something a normal person would not look like or adopt this position but is still alive:  “There was Chac Mool, upright, smiling, ocher, with his belly flesh-colored. Two eyes paralyzed me, almost cross-eyed, very close to the triangular nose. The bottom teeth, biting the upper lip, unmoving; only the luster of the square headpiece on the abnormally voluminous head suggested life…”
Chac Mool is invasive and is used to having what he wants: “He’s taken my clothes, and he puts on the nightgowns when he starts to shed green moss. The Chac Mool is accustomed to being obeyed, always;
He is wet and cold, it is like a fish, when he doesn’t have enough water it’s as if he dies: “...a little while ago, in the darkness, I ran into him on the stairs, I felt his icy arms, the scales of his renewed skin, and I wanted to scream…” “If it doesn’t rain soon, the Chac Mool is going to change into stone again.”

Do you find any relationship between this story and Paz’ essays?
I think it talks about our roots and why we are the way we are nowadays. Both talk and describe in some way the hypocresy in our day to day life and how we perceive things.