Silencio is an unusual and mysterious Hispanic boy who first appeared in chapter 6 with Raton and Playboy. There are few descriptions given about Silencio, and little dialogues and conversations that occur between him and other characters until the end of the story where the readers discover more meaning of his existence and purpose.
In chapter 6 when Silencio is introduced, the language, diction and style writing suddenly changes into simpler, straightforward, short, and non-complex sentences. This style of writing and language perhaps corresponds to his character. His name immediately signifies who he is: a silent boy. He appears very absent-minded from the world and is seized by only one thing: his imagination and obsession for watches, a particular watch known as the “Futurematic”. Sometimes it even seems like Silencio does not exist in the world, and has little significance or importance to the world and this is due to his strange silence and absences in his eyes and lack of facial expression and gestures. One of the few descriptions states him as “[t]here is nothing between the boys gaze and his being: no mask. No personality.” and “[n]othing. Nothing moves in the brown eyes. The boy regards [the man in the coat] as calmly as might some placid dog” (41). “Nothing moves in the brown eyes” gives an impression that he’s not physically present, but instead he’s somewhere else in his mysterious imaginative world, ignorant and naïve about what is currently infront of him. The “only absence behind the brown eyes, staring back at [Fontaine], either infinitely deep or of no depth at all, he couldn’t tell” (132) describes Silencio as very difficult to read or understand, especially when there is no emotion and “life” in his eyes.
Nevertheless, Silencio’s curious silence and absences continually plays an important role in the story and “the end of the world”. Just like the other characters, Silencio’s story line is a fragmentation that intertwines and comes together for one purpose.
In chapter 6 when Silencio is introduced, the language, diction and style writing suddenly changes into simpler, straightforward, short, and non-complex sentences. This style of writing and language perhaps corresponds to his character. His name immediately signifies who he is: a silent boy. He appears very absent-minded from the world and is seized by only one thing: his imagination and obsession for watches, a particular watch known as the “Futurematic”. Sometimes it even seems like Silencio does not exist in the world, and has little significance or importance to the world and this is due to his strange silence and absences in his eyes and lack of facial expression and gestures. One of the few descriptions states him as “[t]here is nothing between the boys gaze and his being: no mask. No personality.” and “[n]othing. Nothing moves in the brown eyes. The boy regards [the man in the coat] as calmly as might some placid dog” (41). “Nothing moves in the brown eyes” gives an impression that he’s not physically present, but instead he’s somewhere else in his mysterious imaginative world, ignorant and naïve about what is currently infront of him. The “only absence behind the brown eyes, staring back at [Fontaine], either infinitely deep or of no depth at all, he couldn’t tell” (132) describes Silencio as very difficult to read or understand, especially when there is no emotion and “life” in his eyes.
Nevertheless, Silencio’s curious silence and absences continually plays an important role in the story and “the end of the world”. Just like the other characters, Silencio’s story line is a fragmentation that intertwines and comes together for one purpose.
Side note: I never knew the watch, LeCoultre “Futurematic” actually really does exist in real life! I was searching the internet for some pictures and coincidently, I landed upon the Futurematic! Here’s the website: www.jaeger-lecoultre.com if you’re interested in it’s collection, history and manufacture! The watches they have are very nice!
By: Rosalie Pham
2 comments:
What a great blog Rosalie! I thought it was very insightful. I definitely agree with all that you said, how Silencio is a strange character who seems to have no real emotion. While I was reading this book, I couldn't figure out what part Silencio had to play. He was a very mysterious character who didn't add much to the story. In fact, although I did like him, he seemed to detract from the story because he didn't seem to fit in. It felt sort of like those sentences in an essay that you don't want because they have nothing to do with your main point! Once I got to the end and found out that Silencio did have a crucial part to play, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I liked that the ending depended on such a seemingly-minor character. On the other hand, I felt like maybe he should've had more of a role throughout the entire book instead of being in the background and then directly in the action right at the end. However, I overall quite liked Silencio and I definitely see how he fits into the nodal system that Gibson was trying to create within the book.
Oops! That comment was by Brianne Coffey.
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