Too Many Names By Pablo Neruda

As Americans, various individuals may believe that all Latin American countries are the same as they do not have experience in their separate cultures. Although this is untrue, the average person living there often feels that they are not unique. Pablo Neruda is a famous Latin American poet and his poems “We Are Many” and “Too Many Names” show this feeling through just their titles. One theme that is pervasive in Latin American literature is the lack of individuality. A lack of individuality often causes stress and unease, resulting in some level of conflict. Latin American authors use person versus self, person versus person, and person versus society conflicts to develop their theme of lack of individuality. The most common type of conflict …show more content…
Initially, this type of conflict arises when an individual attempts to improve his culture. The author of “Too Many Names” attempts to help society by emphasizing that we are all the same. In the poem, Neruda says, “No one can claim the name of Pedro, nobody is Rosa or Maria, all of us are dust or sand, all of us are rain under rain. They have spoken to me about Venezuelas, of Chiles and of Paraguays, I have no idea what they are saying. I know only the skin of the earth and I know it is without a name” (347). This quote states that names and counties of origin are meaningless when it comes to understanding how people are. Person versus society conflict often leads to having low self esteem. The author of “We Are Many” seems as if he is trying to fit in with society, but he knows that he cannot. Neruda expresses this when he writes, “[A]ll the books I read lionize dazzling hero figures, always brimming with self assurance. I die with envy of them” (346). This quote represents how he compares himself to celebrities and wants to be like them even if he knows that their perfection is fake. As most commonly occurs with person versus society conflict, a sense of rebellion was shown in the selections. In “Too Many Names”, the author is telling the others not to do what society wants. He emphasizes to the people, “[L]et us not fill our mouths with so many faltering names, with so many sad formalities, with so many pompous letters, with so much of yours and mine, with so much signing of papers” (348). By stating, “let us not fill our mouths”, this quote displays how he does not want anyone to succumb in believing in and speaking about the negative parts of society. These three conflicts combine together to develop the central