"Ruben Dario, like all the other great poets, considered woman to be not only an instrument of knowledge but also knowledge itself. It is a knowledge we [men] will never possess, the sum of our definitive ignorance: the supreme mystery."
The Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz, 66
There are so many apparent truths in what is said here. And while I really agreed with a few things that were said, I also found Paz's writings on women hard to read. I obviously am not a woman, and I still had a hard time reading literature about the objectivity and indifference toward the greatest creation of all. The woman was compared to or referred to as:
an alien,
the image of death,
and the goddess of destruction.
Paz also questioned what she thinks. Or whether she even thinks. He even wondered if she had feelings. To me, these are the strangest things one could ever think about a woman. I think it's pretty obvious that women think. I would also assume that most everyone knows that women, of all people, definitely have feelings. And those feelings are some of the most sincere and righteous feelings of anyone. When I think of my wife while reading this passage, her valuable thoughts and meaningful feelings and opinions come flooding to my mind. I value these feelings above my own.
However, even though Paz says some peculiar things about women, I have to realize that we come from different cultural, religious, and family backgrounds. He is just relaying thoughts that many people share with him. And to be honest, there was much of the content in this passage that I agreed with. The quote listed above, for example, seems to be the perfect description of the woman. In my opinion, she IS knowledge. And it IS a knowledge that I will never possess. At the same time, however, she is such a mystery. Sometimes that innate knowledge befuddles the mind of the man. That is fine. She is knowledge. Just go with it, man.
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