88 pages • 2 hours read
Tomás RiveraAnd The Earth Did Not Devour Him
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1971A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
Define stream-of-consciousness narrative technique, and explain how Rivera uses that technique in And the Earth Did Not Devour Him.
What does the portrait in Chapter 12 represent, and how does Rivera indicate its symbolic meaning?
In Chapter 13, Rivera describes the inner thoughts of the workers on the truck and concludes the chapter with a vignette about Bartolo’s poems. Discuss how the two are connected and how they relate to the book’s overall structure and purpose.
Explain the relationship between the first and last chapters.
The book has been described as both a novel and a short story collection. Using specific examples from the book, explain why it can be called either or both.
The poet Bartolo’s describes the spoken word as “the seed of love in the darkness” (138). Explain what he means by this and how it relates to the narrator’s stories and vignettes.
How does the theme of storytelling’s power tie together the book’s various motifs?
What does religious faith mean to the Mexican migrant community, and when and why does the narrator reject it?
The Mexican migrant workers and their families experience racial discrimination at work, during their leisure time, and at school. Explain how the narrator uses paradox to disrupt stereotyping and discrimination.
In the book, the narrator is never given a name and neither is the mother (or mothers) of the soldier (or soldiers). Discuss the significance and impact of naming some but not all of the characters.
