Antigone Essay

This essay was written by me in Social Studies as the final project some months ago. We were studying Greek civilization so I decided to pick Antigone as my topic simply because one can understand better a people through their litrature.

Antigone Essay

Historical background

Antigone is an ancient Greek tragedy play written by Sophocles, one of the three tragedians in Ancient Greece that their plays have survived, in or before 441 BC. It is the third play of the three Theban plays written by Sophocles, even though it was the first one written. It was written during a time of imperialism; even after the first performance was done, Sophocles was “one of the ten generals to lead a military expedition against Samos”, a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea. Even though it was written during a period of national favor for conquering, the play contains little political propaganda. It does, however, show the perils of an absolute ruler, or tyrant, in the character of Creon. Athenians would identify the folly of tyranny.

Plot summary

There are twelve characters in Antigone: Antigone, the main character, the heroine of the plot who is against her docile sister Ismene; Creon, Antigone’s uncle, epitome of the dangers of a tyrant; Ismene, Antigone’s sister, the good girl of the family, radiantly beautiful and docile, Antigone’s foil; Haemon, Antigone’s betrothed and son of Creon (yes, it means that Antigone has as fiance his cousin); Nurse, a traditional figure in Greek drama, she represents a maternal element; Chorus of Theban Elders, narrators and commentators of the plot, in Greek tragedy, the chorus was a group of between 12 and 50 players, who perform as death messengers, dancers, singers,commentators, or narrators of the actions of the play; Eurydice, Creon’s wife and Haemon's sister, her only function, according to the Chorus, “is to knit in her room until it is her time to die”; Tiresias, he is a cranky old person, and a blind prophet of Apollo, famous for his clairvoyance; Sentry or Watchman, brings the news that Polyneices was buried for Antigone, and he captures Antigone for breaking the King’s decree burying him; Page, he is Creon’s attendant, symbol of young innocence; First Messenger and Second Messenger, their role in the play is to inform the suicides of certain characters (some characters were not mentioned in this list because of their almost trifling roles in the play). It is worth highlighting that the characters vary according to the version of the play. For example, in the Harvard Classics’ version, the first translation into English, compared to the Jean Anouilh’s version, it does not appear Nurse, nor Page, instead of being the Chorus a group of people is only one person, there are two messengers, not only one, there are two guards, not three, the Sentry does not appear in Jean Anouilh’s version, and there’s a mute character together with the guards who is a boy that does not appear in Jean Anouilh’s version. There are a lot of differences between both plays, like the chronological order and there is no satire in Anouilh’s version, but in this essay it is only going to be analyzed Sophocles’ version (except for the list of characters). Clarifying, there were no negative critics about Anouilh’s version, he did those changes for several reasons, and it can be mentioned three of them: Anouilh wanted to give a “fuller and more varied picture of Antigone’s character,” he wanted to give more focus to the war because while he was writing his Antigone version, France was occupied by the Nazis, and the most important one is that he wanted to put his own creativity into Sophocles’ version.   

In the beginning, there were two brothers “leading opposite sides in Thebes' civil war”, and “they died fighting each other for the throne”. The tyrant Creon of Thebes has dictated that Eteocles shall be burial with honor and Polyneices shall not, and his corpse will be in public disgrace. “Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of the dead Polyneices and Eteocles”. But in spite of Creon’s edict, Antigone wills to bury Polyneices' corpse. Ismene abnegates to help her, and she tries to convince her that it is a really bad idea what she wants to do, but she cannot stop Antigone.

A sentry informs Creon about someone who has gave to Polyneices’ corpse funeral rites and a symbolic burial, but no one saw who had committed it. Creon sends the Sentry to find the culpable, and after a brief absence he returns, with Antigone. Creon interrogates her, and without fear nor remorse she incredibly does not deny what she has done. She argues strongly with Creon about the morality of his edict. Creon gets angry, and thinking that Ismene could have known about Antigone's plan, he makes that she be present in the trial. Ismene lied and said that she did know about Antigone’s plan because she wills to die next to her sister, but finally Creon’s verdict is not the death. Creon sends the two sisters to be in prison for a temporary time.

Haemon enters to promise loyalty to his father, even though he is committed to Antigone. He initially wants to forsake Antigone, but when Haemon kindly tries to persuade his father to forgive Antigone, demanding that “under cover of darkness the city mourns for the girl”, the discussion aggravates and father and son are soon acrimoniously insulting each other. “When Creon threatens to execute Antigone in front of him, Haemon leaves, vowing never to see Creon again.”

Creon decides to forgive Ismene, but he wants to bury Antigone, our heroine, alive in a cave. She is taken out of her house, and now she is feeling regretful instead of defiant. She’s sorrowful about not having married and having to die for “following the laws of the gods.”

 Tiresias warns Creon that Polyneices should be buried because the gods are angry, “refusing to accept any sacrifices or prayers from Thebes.” Creon gets angry and accuses him of being corrupt. Tiresias responds that due to Creon's mistakes, he will lose "a son of [his] own loins". Clarifying, Tiresias does not care that Antigone is condemned to death, he says that Creon’s mistake in that matter is keeping a living body underneath the earth is an improper act. All the Greeks will despise Creon, and the gods will not accept the sacrifices from Thebes. The leader of the Chorus of Theban Elders asks to bury Polyneices and free Antigone. Creon agrees, leaving with a entourage of men. A Messenger appears in the play telling the Leader of the Chorus of Theban Elders that Antigone has committed suicide. Eurydice asks the Messenger to tell her everything. Creon reaches at Antigone's cave, and the tyrant found Haemon crying over Antigone because she had hanged herself. After fruitlessly trying to stab Creon, Haemon stabs himself and dies. Eurydice listens to the Messenger’s information, and she disappears into the palace.

Creon takes Haemon's body. He understands that for his fault the prior unfortunate events have happened, and blames himself. The Second Messenger comes to tell Creon and the Chorus of Theban Elders that Eurydice has committed suicide too. Before Eurydice dies, she takes a last breath, and then she curses her husband. Being Creon is really mournful for his actions, the people from Thebes despise him, and Tiresias laughs at him. After Creon condemns himself, the Leader of the Chorus finishes the play by saying that “although the gods punish the proud, punishment brings wisdom, as a moral.”

There are five themes exposed by Sophocles in this play: civil disobedience, what is the natural law according to his religion and the legal institutions during that time in Greece, fidelity, representation of the gods, and love for family. According to Sophocles’ philosophy, it is right that a person rejects society’s laws if these ones prevent you from doing what is correct in accordance to moral and ethics principles, maybe from a religious perspective, or more from rational thought. Antigone says to his sister Ismene concerning to his bad critique to Creon’s edict of not burying Polyneices’ corpse, "He has no right to keep me from my own." With respect to the divine law and the legal institutions, Sophocles makes you think which law has more importance and is greater: the god’s or men’s, and one can see in the play that his personal opinion is to vote for the laws of the gods; even Sophocles ended the tragedy warning that human arrogance is punished by the gods. Antigone epitomizes what is fidelity with her determination to bury the mistreated Polyneices’ cadaver because she wants to return his honor, the one of her family, and the sacred laws of the gods. In Antigone there are few mentions to the gods, the only ones referenced are Hades, Zeus and Apollo, Sophocles tries to represent the tragic occurrences in the play as the fault of the human error, and not a god intervention; he portrays the gods as chthonic (“in, under, or beneath the earth”), because near the beginning of the frame there is a mention to "Justice who dwells with the gods beneath the earth", and Olympus is mentioned only twice, while there are a lot of references to the chthonic world.  Love of Family is represented by Antigone’s desire of burying his brother Polyneices.

Why should one read it?

Even though it is difficile to read Sophocles’ master piece due to its complexity of language, it is a really engaging and interesting play, more for a person who enjoys reading classics and learning History. For someone from these modern times it would be interesting to know how the ancient Greeks were and how they perceive the things, like to venture to another humanity. For a person who is accustomed to read writings from these ages, to take a look to the ones coming from the antiquity like Antigone would give, in my opinion, a bigger panorama of the literature. After reading this classic it is guaranteed that one is going to learn more about archaic English and all those fancy terms that are going to enrich your vocabulary. As a work of satirical tragedy, it is recommended to read this play if one wants to know the origins of these two literary genres. Finally it can be said that you are going to have a nice time reading Antigone, either Sophocles’ version, Anouilh’s, or whichever, but you are going to have it, and you are going to be able to presume that you read one of the greatest works of literature in antiquity.                 

Fancy Vocab

Fancy Vocab

 In this blog I am going to mention a lot of old vocabulary that can make you look illustrated if you write them in a work, and most importantly, it is going to enrich your speech. Many of this words came from Old English or Anglo-Saxon, the earliest form of the English language brought by the Anglo-Saxon settlers to Great Britain; it is consider a separate language from Modern English because they are not intelligible between one another. My purpose in bringing Old English terms is to rescue them from the oblivion, and resurrect them so that at least they can be used in literature. But the majority of the words that I am going to present are from diverse origins, such as Latin, French, and Middle English.

 Sweven: (Old English) vision or dream.

 In my last sweven, I could see how our kingdom is going to turn into an empire after my son is going to be named king.

 Puissant: (Latin) having puissance (power).

 Roman's rule was undoubtedly puissant over the Mediterranean after they defeated the Carthaginians.

 Ambodexter: (Old English) a cheat or a crook. Note: it really means ambidextrous, but the word was used to define someone untrustworthy.

 Never give your money to the bankers, they are ambodexters.

 Contumelious: (Old French) scornful, humiliating, or arrogantly rude.

 He has been the worst king ever: he was contumelious with lower classes, he applied contumelious laws to those who could not pay the taxes, and he was contumelious with the senate when they tried to tell him in a tactful way how obtuse were his new laws and ambitions.

  Excogitate: (Latin) to devise, plot or plan.

 We could just excogitate the coup d'état in one month before they could find our den in the jungle.

  Gallimaufry: (Middle French) a hodgepodge or a jumble of things.

 This new fashion collection is a gallimaufry of styles for all types of likes.

 Septentrional: (Latin) from the north or related to it.

 Apollo goes in his float every nineteen years to Hyperborea, a region in the most septentrional lands, to rejuvenate himself.

 Cozen: (Italian) to swindle, deceive, or induce to do something by artful deception.

 They cozened us with the idea that banks are places to maintain safely our money.

 Hugger-mugger: (Middle English) a muddle, something confused or disorderly, secret or clandestine action.

 "Thus is the talkyng of one and of oder As men dare speke it hugger-mugger."

John Skelton's Magnyfycence, 1520

 Welkin: (Old English) the firmament or celestial vault, or heaven.

 "Make the welkin ring", phrase used to describe when something is so loud that makes the heavens reverberate. 

 Equipollent: (Anglo-Norman) "equal in force, power, or validity."

 Both arguments in the debate seemed to be equipollent about what to do with child soldiers.

 Apricity: (Latin) "the warmth of the sun in winter".

 We felt happy in my old town when the apricity came, since almost all winter days were cloudy, and therefore colder.

 Dwimmer-crafty: (Old English and Tolkien) skilled in the magical arts. 

 Gandalf and Dumbledore are the most dwimmer-crafty people that I know in literature.

 Sanguinolent: (Latin) "of or related to blood", or someone "...with a passion for bloodshed."

  Vlad Drăculea and Ivan the Terrible were one of the most sanguinolent rulers in history.

 Uhtceare: (Old English) "lying awake before dawn and worrying".

 I had Uhtceare today because of the final test.

 Expergefactor: (Old English) something that wakes one up.

 I don't need an expergefactor, I just wake up naturally minutes before the sunrise.

 Rawgabbit: (Old English) "person who speaks self-assuredly about a subject of which they know nothing."

 Most of the people who comment about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the media are rawgabbits.

 Bedward: (Middle English) toward bed or towards bedtime.

 Brabble: (Middle Dutch) argue loudly about a matter of no importance.

 The student was brabbling with the Choir teacher about why he had to wear a tie instead of a bow tie for the concert.

 Crapulous: (Latin) "marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking" or "sick from excessive indulgence in liquor".

 While we are starving, those in the elite are being crapulous, even going to vomitoriums to continue eating.

 Elflock: (Middle English) hair that is tangled in such a way that seems to have been matted by elves (I know this is a weird term).

 She looked so beautiful that night, and her hair was elflock.

 Erstwhile: (Middle English) in the past.

 There are know computers to do your homework easier and quicker, while erstwhile we had to write it by hand using books.

 Fudgel: (Old English) "pretending to work when you're not actually doing anything at all."

 I was fudgeling during class during the dictation because I didn't want to interrupt it asking for a sharpener.

 Groke: (Old English) to stare at someone while he is eating in hopes that he will give you some food.

 Always when I groke, I receive what I wanted; the trick is to stare at the person the whole time while he is eating.

 Grubble: (Old English) "to feel or grope in the dark."

 He literally grubbled my ass when there was no light in the corridor.

 Jargogle: (Old English) to jumble or confuse.

 You are jargogling the yogurt with the milk; you should have added milk to the mixture.

 Mumpsimus: (Latin) "...is an action by a person who adheres to a routine, idea, custom, set of beliefs, or a certain use of language that has been shown to be unreasonable or incorrect." "A person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice." The opposed of this term is sumpsimus.

 ‘‘A young priest once corrected an old priest for saying mumpsimus instead of sumpsimus in the first prayer after Communion in the Latin Mass. ‘Son,’ said the old priest, ‘I've been saying mumpsimus for thirty years and I'm not going to change my old mumpsimus for your new sumpsimus.'’’

 Snottor, snotor, or snoter: (Old English) wise and clever.

 Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy are really snottor writers.

 Trumpery: (Middle English) worthless nonsense, useless articles, or tawdry finery. 

 The National Enquirer is trumpery, saying bad stuff about George Michael without evidence.

 Ultracrepidarian: (Latin) someone that gives opinions and advice on things outside of his knowledge (rawgabbit).

 Many social media places of information are Ultracrepidarian.

 Zwodder: (Old English) in a drowsy, fuzzy or foolish state of mind.

 That guy is always zwodder in the early morning; better to give him more chance to sleep.

Arcaísmos, términos coloquiales de antaño, palabras antiguas en desuso y voces poéticas

Arcaísmos, términos coloquiales de antaño, palabras antiguas en desuso y voces poéticas

 En este post te daré vocabulario que de seguro cuando vayas a mencionar alguna de esas palabras en alguna ocasión la gente te va a preguntar qué significa esa palabra tan rara, y de seguro va a hacer que parezcas más ilustre, culto, y inteligente. La mayoría de las palabras que te daré están casi o en desuso, es decir, que de broma que están en el diccionario de la RAE o el Diccionario de autoridades por lo antiguas que son, y muchas fueron en antaño términos coloquiales pero que ahora se les considera cultas. Son usadas meramente en el campo de la poesía y de lo literario (mayormente antiguo), incluso algunas palabras también son raramente usados en esos campos, lo que me motivo a hacer este post, porque además de que no quiero que se extingan pienso que muchos de estos términos no deberían estar en desuso, se pueden seguir usando perfectamente en condiciones de la vida moderna, y para mí son palabras muy finas. Te daré las palabras, sus definiciones, y ejemplos de uso.

 Raspamonedas: ladrón de guante blanco.

 La mayoría de los políticos que están en el gobierno de mi país son unos raspamonedas.

 Tragavirotes: (coloquial) persona seria y erguida en demasía. Persona que sin fundamento siempre está seria y erguida. 

 Por favor, no sean unos tragavirotes, estamos en la fiesta de graduación.

 Lechuguino: muchacho que se preocupa en exceso de su aspecto y de vestir según la moda. (Coloquial) Muchacho imberbe que se mete a galantear aparentando ser hombre. 

 Ese muchacho nuevo es lechuguino. Para ir a la escuela va con una bufanda, una camisa y unos pantalones Hugo Boss, unos clarks, y unos lentes de sol.

 Mira lo que está haciendo tu hermano menor en esta fiesta. Jaja que lechuguino, está tratando de cortejar a la hija de tu jefe, y eso que tiene como 25 años, vestido súper elegante, con un peinado que jamás lo había visto en él, unos modales de caballero, y por lo que puedo escuchar hablando con un tono de voz más grave y educado de lo normal. Pero al parecer le está funcionando.

 Zurumbático: (proveniente del portugués sorumbático) Una persona que comete tonterías. Atolondrado, principalmente por efectos del alcohol. Triste, sombrío, melancólico, persona de mal temperamento, de mala suerte, o alguien enigmático.

 Dejé de ser zurumbático, ahora voy a ser más serio en la casa y en mi trabajo.

 Ese señor de allá siempre viene al bar por las noches, y siempre acaba zurumbático, peleándose con casi todos como a la medianoche afuera del bar. Creo que siempre viene acá porque se divorcio. 

 La persona nueva en nuestra escuela siempre está zurumbática, ya sabes, siempre anda triste, de mal temperamento, y es muy enigmática. Yo creo que es así porque tuvo que romper con su novia al tener que mudarse a este país y ya no podrá ver a sus amigos.

 Trapisondista: (coloquial) individuo que origina trapisondas o anda en éstas. Una trapisonda es una riña (discusión entre dos personas en que generalmente se reprochan algo y se insultan), una bulla, o una gritería entre dos o más personas. Realmente fue una forma coloquial antigua y no una palabra culta, pero actualmente se le puede considerar una palabra que alguien ilustre sabría.

 Mis padres son trapisondistas, si no están discutiendo entre ellos gritando y armando todo un escándalo, lo hacen conmigo por cualquier estupidez o con mi hermano mayor.

 Pisaverde: (coloquial) hombre presumido y afeminado. El origen del término lo explica Covarrubias en el Tesoro de la lengua: "La metáfora está formada del que atraviesa en algún jardín (...) que por no hoxar los lazos va pisando de puntillas".

 Cristiano Ronaldo es pisaverde.

 Estafermo: persona que está obnubilada, embobada.

 Se quedo estafermo cuando le presente a mi novia; fue embarazoso. 

 Malquisto/Malquistar: la persona que está mal considerada por los demás, que a la gente no le agrada/enemistar a una persona con otra.

 Tú eres un malquisto, ya todos saben como has tratado de malquistar a un montón de gente en la escuela haciendo cosas ruines sólo por diversión.

 Viceversa: una persona contradictoria o indecisa.

 Un día me habla y me dice que soy su mejor amigo, al otro día me dice que no quiere hablar conmigo porque está enojada conmigo si ningún motivo, después me dice que vaya para su casa, pero al otro día me rechaza en la escuela; ella sí que se puso viceversa últimamente.

 Espejarse: el que tiene mucho amor y se complace en las gracias o virtudes de otro, el que admira las cualidades de otro.

 Yo me espejo en Stephen Hawking.

 Rusticar: ir al campo, ya sea por diversión o por recobrar la paz o la salud.

 Estoy enfermo debido a esta ciudad, por eso voy a rusticar durante las vacaciones, para mejorar mi salud, y porque va a ser divertido.

 Himeneo: boda o casamiento (la palabra proviene del dios griego de las bodas). Poema en el cual se celebra una boda.

 Ella quiere que su himeneo sea simple y no lujoso, y quiere que en las tarjetas de invitación diga "Estás invitado a nuestro himeneo" para que suene más clásico y elegante. Y quiere que un escritor profesional haga un himeneo de su casamiento para tenerlo como recuerdo.

 Pelafustán: (término coloquial) persona holgazana, despreciable, insignificante, perdida o pobretona.

 Deja de ser tan pelafustán y ponte a estudiar.

 Adamar: (amo esta palabra) según la RAE en su acepción más antigua es "amar con pasión y vehemencia". Cortejar.

 No, no es solamente amor lo que siento por ella, es algo más profundo; yo la adamo.

 Juzgamundos: (coloquial) persona murmuradora o criticona.

 Ese supuesto amigo tuyo es un juzgamundos, cuando tú no estás con él habla peste de ti, sólo está contigo por puro interés.

 Fililí: (término coloquial de la palabra de origen árabe filelí) según el Diccionario de Autoridades "delicadeza, sutileza, o primor de alguna cosa". (Andalucía) Persona débil y delgada.

 Ser de, o de la, cáscara amarga: (coloquial) ser travieso y valiente. (Coloquial) Término muchas veces usado como insulto para referirse a una persona de ideas muy avanzadas, principalmente liberales y progresistas. (Coloquial) Homosexual.

 Él era de cáscara amarga, en sus tres definiciones: valiente como un guerrero, de ideas liberales y progresistas, y era homosexual.

 Badulaque: persona necia, de corto entendimiento, inconsistente. Actualmente esta palabra es usada en Ecuador para describir a una persona que no cumple sus compromisos.

 No me entendiste bien, cuando mencioné la palabra badulaque para describir a nuestro presidente no me refería a su definición ecuatoriana (aunque él también encaja en ese significado), sino a la antigua en desuso que prácticamente significa estúpido.

 Ahora te voy a presentar una aclamación de una escritora como una especie de repaso donde usa muchos de los insultos antiguos que te he explicado:

 «Aquellos raspamonedas, badulaques de cáscara amarga quienes sólo tienen seguidores viceversas, han dejado al país en la miseria. ¡Malquistos por un pueblo humillado!»

Mara Guzmán 

 Incontinenti: (del latín in continenti, en seguida) prontamente, al instante.

 Desantañarse: según el Diccionario de Autoridades "quitarse los años disimulándolos, y ocultarlos".

 Espera esposo, me estoy desantañando para el evento.

 Rompegalas: (coloquial. Yo creo que ya se puede saber la definición) según la RAE "persona desaliñada y mal vestida".

 Mira como vino tu hermano a la graduación, el propio rompegalas, con sandalias, el pelo desordenado, la camisa manchada con salsa de pasta, los pantalones con tierra, y se nota que salió corriendo de su casa porque está todo sudado.

 Cordojo: (del latín cordolium dolor de corazón) congoja que es una fatiga o angustia, o una aflicción grande.

 Cuando me despedí de ella y vi como el carro se alejaba en dirección a su nuevo hogar, sentí un gran cordojo, porque sabía que más nunca la podré ver otra vez.

 Gaznápiro: torpe, ignorante, que se queda embobado con cualquier cosa.

 Yo tengo un estudiante gaznápiro, porque o se pone a mirar al infinito a pensar en no sé qué, o se queda embobado con cualquier objeto cerca de su escritorio en vez de concentrarse en la clase.

 Celícola: habitante del cielo.

  No entiendo como los ángeles podrían ser celícolas, ¿en qué se apoyan para poder dormir? ¿En una nube?

 Zangolotear: (coloquial) mover continua y violentamente algo. (Coloquial) Una persona que se mueve de un lugar a otro "sin concierto ni propósito".

 Mientras el niño zangoloteaba en su cuarto, zangoloteaba unos lápices en un pote de plástico con su mano izquierda pensando y pensando en algo que desconozco. 

 Madrigalizar: componer o versificar un madrigal (un madrigal es un poema breve intenso, delicado y acerca del amor, y según Wikipedia «...,que utiliza una combinación libre de versos endecasílabos y heptasílabos rimados en consonante». Se versifica especialmente cantándola y fue muy popular durante el Renacimiento. Según la RAE «...,alabar o ensalzar poéticamente a una mujer o a su belleza».

 Yo la madrigalicé a través de un mensaje en Facebook.

 Esplín: (Del inglés spleen) Según la RAE «melancolía, tedio de la vida».

 La universidad es un esplín para mí.

 Adonado: según la RAE «colmado de dones».

 Lo amo por lo adonado que es: es bueno en muchos deportes, es una de los mejores estudiantes, es inteligente, guapo, y lo más importante es que él es una de las personas más buenas y amables que he conocido.

 Penante: el que sufre pena. Según el Diccionario de Autoridades «amante o galanteador».

 Puedo describir a mi amigo como un penante en estos momentos por dos razones: la primera es que sufre mucha pena, y la segunda es que precisamente está sufriendo esta pena en demasía por ser el amante de tú sabes quien.

 Doñear: «cortejar a una mujer», definición de la RAE. (Coloquial) «andar entre mujeres y tener trato y conversación con ellas» según la querida RAE.

 Reinaldo doñea mucho, incluso tiene más amigas que amigos, y de entre sus amigas hay una muchacha que se llama Nahomy que la trata de doñear - doñear en está situación significa cortejar - pero le da pena.

 Alcanzar: (eufemismo) coito, este uso de la palabra alcanzar se puede encontrar en «La Celestina». Aquí está un ejemplo sacado del famoso libro del siglo de oro español:

 Pármeno: «¿Pues qué es todo el placer que traigo, sino haberla alcanzado?»

 Fruir:  según el Diccionario de Autoridades «gozar del bien que se ha deseado».

 Yo fruyo con su amor.

 Deliquio: éxtasis o arrobamiento.

 Cuando la besé, sentí un deliquio como ningún otro.

 Barragán/Barragana: (todas las definiciones vienen de la RAE) «esforzado, fuerte o valiente». «Compañero». «Joven soltero». «Concubina». «Esposa legítima, aunque de condición inferior a la del marido y a la que las leyes no reconocían los mismos derechos civiles que a la esposa principal». 

 Yo tenía un amigo barragán porque no le tenía miedo a nada, y este amigo era el barragán de un hombre muy rico, que era un barragán puesto que era joven y estaba soltero. Mi amigo tiene una barragana, porque viven juntos sin estar cansados, pronto se casará con ella.

The history of my first book, or rather, e-book

The history of my first book, or rather, e-book

 I began my book a few days before my 14th birthday (now I am fifiteen years old), and I was very enthusiastic about writing a book. Inicially I wanted it to be totally about horror, because I was knowing the literature of Edgar Allan Poe, Howards Phillips Lovecraft (I am reading The Mound; I have not finished it) and Stephen King, but I haven't read a book written by any of them, I know that it could be humorous to you and you may be wondering "from where did you get the inspiration?" Simply from documentaries or articles on Internet about their lifes and works.

 When I set out to write my first book, I was in vacations, so it was from that moment where my first stories were created, but the truth is that I didn't do very much during that time, because you know the friends, hanging out with them, it was the normal because I had very good friends that lived in the same neighbourhood as me, and besides that, I did other things like surfing the Internet, reading... I was not working very much in my book.

 After those vacationes I didn't write very much, there were weeks where I did not do anything in my book, but I was developing it over time. Originally I wanted to do my book with more pages than what is ended up having; I had thought about 80 pages. It was during that time that I decided for sure that the book should not be only terror, I had to add more fruits into the beverage.

 When my little book was already somewhat developed, I asked to a very good friend of mine if she wanted to read it and check it, and if she could give me her personal opinions about it. I asked her to do that favour because I know that she likes to read a lot, much more than me. She said that she liked it very much. The funny part is that there was a story that I was not sure if it was decent, and before I gave to her the document I informed her that there was going to be a story that was not going to be very good or even she could consider it bad. I didn't tell her the name to see if after she have read all the underdeveloped draft she will tell me that she didn't like the same story, and guess what? The story that she liked most was that one. Knowing that I decided to not change the story so I left it just like that. It was a helpful feedback because now I would regret it if in that moment I would have changed the story or if I would have deleted it.

 Like I've said before, nothing happened very much after vacations. I did the stories with the motive of entertaining, and the readers, having finished a story, learn new things, and what better branch of the knowledge to put in some stories and makes them even better than History. I placed them a lot of historical data, but the stories remained as works of ficcion. Besides the historical theme, I decided to beautify it with some lessons of ethics, moral, bravery, and things like that. I don't like how a lot of literature books, mainly actual ones, don't teach you nothing good or noble, put it in some way.

 After approximately one month going to classes after vacations, I moved to another country. It was quite strange, because all was new, another life, leave your good friends, but I wasn't melodramatic, I knew that it was going to open me a lot of doors for me. In my new school my Language Arts teacher read my first story and she said she liked it very much. If you have watched Bates Motel no, it was not the same like when Blaire Watson tried to help Norman Bates to check and polish a story that he had to do in his English class to publish it in an editorial because she had loved it, I have proposed to my teacher that she reads my first story at least and that she gaves me her personal opinion after have read it, and she accepted it, and I thanked her a lot. She also told me that she felt that surprise element which makes that story very good, and that she felt scared after reading it. Having told me all of that I got happy. Thanks teacher.

 I knew from the beginning that my work should be in an e-book and not in a traditional book that you can find in the shelves of bookstores or libraries, because I knew that in the previous place where I lived and the actual one it is very difficult the process that you have to do with an editorial so that the book can be in the market in material.

 After that I was still in the period of the poor development of my book. It wasn't but until vacations of the end of school year when another time the motor was powerful. One of my motivations to write was thinking that a lot of people was going to read it, and I did it the best that I could thinking in that, mainly. My goal was for the people have a good time while reading it, enjoying it a lot, and that they learn a lot from it. It was, roughly speaking, during the beginnings of this productive period when I realized I didn't want to sell it and I still do not want to receive money for my book, it is totally free. Lovecraft influenced me principally, because he did not see noble the fact that a writer earns money making books, he said that the motivation of a writer should be totally the love to write and the want of others enjoying your works, that nobleness to not be stained wih a feeling of happiness of the writer knowing that it is going to make money for his or her works, I agree with that, even I am thinking in being an amateur writer, but I do not have nothing against the writers who make a lot of money for their books, like J. K. Rowling, I love Harry Potter and I like her books who are not from that world (like The Casual Vacancy). I don't have any problem with her decision of earning money in writing, it's normal, and even I think that for educative books where you had to do researchings (serious ones obviously, not getting the information from Internet, or inventing things like Zecharia Sitchin. I'm going to talk about him in a future post) to do them you do deserve money. Well, I have to admit with frankness that I knew that if I put it free more people was going to read it, and I could send it to my friends.

 I focused a lot in the book with the motivation that it had to be ready and published before my 15th birthday. I researched on Internet the best places to publish e-books, I saw a list of 20 places, I researched the recommendations, and the only one that appeared promising in making my work well known was Smashwords; however, I discovered with sadness that you have to read and do each step of a guide of more than 100 pages that they give you free in PDF to format the book correctly so that they can distribute it to a lot of e-book platforms so that the book does not stay only in Smashwords. The advantage of that place was that, they can help you to distribute your e-book to a lot of places, some very famous like Amazon, and it's totally free, but you have to follow that tortuous guide. It takes so long to do what the guide says that there are people on Smashwords that in exchange of money they do all the work so that the book will be formatted  professionally so that it goes out into the world, and they earn as minimum 40 dollars for each book. A promising hobby for the ones who like to work with computers. After having finished my draft, I spent a few arduous days (in a good way) in which I dedicated myself a lot to check my book and polish it.

 I have to give thanks to a friend of mine who recommended me to publish it on Wattpad. I wasn't convinced in the beginning, but finally I accepted, and it was on Wattpad where I published my first book on 7th July 2016, at 11 pm, I don't remember in what minute exactly. Then I published it on Lulu, it seemed a decent place, and then on Megustaescribir (Iliketowrite) or MGE, I heard about this one thanks to YouTube.

 After all of that, only like eight people have read my book, and I realized that if you want to become famous in the e-book platforms you have to pay up. If you don't pay so that the place makes propaganda to your book bealive me that you're not going to succeed in that place, unless some important person reads it and realizes your talent, those kind of occasions where the ignored at last succeed thanks to the appreciation of a person who can help you. From all the people the majority are friends of mine that I asked them to read my book and when they will finish it they were not going to disappoint themselves. My Language Arts teacher is in the list too, at least I know that she read one story, I don't know if she read the other ones that I gave to her, and I know that a friend of my mother have read it too. The only person that I know for sure that has read all my book is a friend that I met in a group of conspiracies, I haven't saw her in real life, and her opinions after having finished my book got me very happy. She told me she loved it, that she really had a great time reading it, and that she is already waiting the second part, she even helped me by sharing on Facebook a link of my book that I had published in my biography via Wattpad, and she mentioned to me a mistake that there was in a story, which I really thank her very much for having told me. I really thank her very much for all those commentaries so positive. 

 I deleted my book from Lulu and Megustaescribir because the only place that I feel that my book can be comfortable actually is on Wattpad. I know that I will not get very far recommending to the people by massages that read my book, thinking in that got me a bit sad, which is one of the reasons I write this post, to make my book better known. 

 The truth is that I loved to write it, even if only one person reads my book, I keep doing it. I am free to let my imagination flows through the words alongside to put into practice the organisation of ideas, the drafting and the orthography. One really feels liberated while writing, even you can discover yourself, and that creation is free for posterity. I love to write.

 My book is called Historias Para no Dormir (Stories to not Sleep) (I promise I am going to try to translate it into Spanish), and if you want to find it on Wattpad (if you know Spanish) I recommend that you do it by my username, which is DavidRamos616. I hope you enjoy it.