This is definitely going to be my most negative blog yet. Whatever was going on in Arlt’s mind when he wrote Los siete locos must have been some strange stuff because this book is ridiculous. First of all, there is only so much existential musing a person can take. Pages on end are Erdosain’s thoughts about the meaning of life and his anguish at everything in the world. It is incredibly boring and he is an insufferably whiny. Second of all the way the characters’ minds work are disturbing. This does not necessarily make a book bad, but when there are barely any characters with decent qualities it becomes a little bit much. Erdosain ends up deciding that it is ok to become a killer, and as long as he is happy it is alright. The fact that he also wants to kill solely out of curiosity is a tad disconcerting. The Rufián thinks all women are inferior to men and basically seems to think no woman is above a prostitute. He and the Astrólogo both discuss the Klu Klux Klan and how powerful they are in the
United States. Finally the Astrólogo’s idea for a secret society is basically a dictatorship as far as I can tell. The whole idea of the novel is desolate, somewhat anarchist and eerie. I have read literature where there are negative portrayals of life and what it means, but the way they are written creates a more thought-provoking idea of the plight of humanity. The existential philosophies within Los siete locos just bore me.
