El Laberinto de la Soledad

Paz observes that solitude is responsible for the Mexican’s perspective on death, fiesta, and identity. Death is celebrated but at the same time repelled because of the uncertainty behind it. As for the fiestas, they express a sense of communality, crucially emphasizing the idea of not being alone and in doing so, help to bring out the true Mexican that is usually hidden behind a mask of self-denial. This represents the way in which the Mexicans have inherited two distinct cultures, the Spanish and the Indigenous, but by denying one part of their identity, they become stuck in a world of solitude.

This book is a profoundly insightful view into the Mexican condition as one that stands in perpetual syncretism with European colonialism.