Foreign cultures, when compared to our own, often contain significant themes that make the culture interesting and meaningful. The people and history of Mexico present such a culture. Three major themes of Mexico and the Mexican people include duality, fatalism, and masks. These three issues are prevalent throughout the culture and history of the nation. They are represented and mentioned in two descriptive texts and a film. The two texts include Riding’s essay “The Mexicans” and a chapter of Octavio Paz’s book, The Labyrinth of Solitude entitled “Mexican Masks” . The film was presented by the National Geographic Society as an overview of Mexican culture entitled The Mexicans: Through Their Eyes . All three representations of Mexican culture describe or exemplify one of the three themes mentioned and each source illustrates how the themes are incorporated into Mexican history and life. The notion of duality is widespread in descriptions of the culture. It seems everything pertaining to Mexicans or their way of thinking has both a light side and a dark side, every notion has opposing facets. As this concept may be difficult to relate to American culture, similarly the Mexican notion of death and fatalism is quite different from our own. In North America, there is a fear of death and subsequent struggle for longevity. In the United States, people want to feel young and live a good life before beginning their afterlife. The Mexicans have quite a different notion derived from indigenous cultures. Age is respected and death is celebrated, as Mexicans believe that life is a continuous journey in which life on earth plays a small part. Perhaps the most prevalent Mexican theme may be the notion of masks. This notion is contained everywhere in the culture, in the way people act and in the language. These three themes represent a wide range of the Mexican culture and its various aspects.The co...
