Representación social del campo y la ciudad en la Guerra Cristera: Entre las patas de los caballos de Luis Rivero del Val y Rescoldo, los últimos cristeros de Antonio Estrada

ABSTRACT Representación social del campo y la ciudad en la Guerra Cristera: Entre las patas de los caballos de Luis Rivero del Val y Rescoldo, los últimos cristeros de Antonio Estrada (May 2015) Velia Dávila Toscano, B.A., Texas A&M International University, 2012; Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Lola O. Norris Dr. Irma L. Cantú This thesis focuses in the study of two testimonial novels about the Cristero Rebellion in México. Each novel is analyzed from the perspective of its own geographical space: the city and the countryside, respectively. These spaces determine the creation of different circumstances and behaviors, all typical of a devastated environment by the religious conflict. Certainly, the difference between the political, economical and social circumstances is crucial in the analysis of both spaces. In addition, each space represents a Cristero Rebellion phase, which exposes a reliable closeness to the true facts as they occurred during this historical Mexican period. The dichotomy of urban-rural spaces represents itself as a divergence of circumstances, which is possible to observe in the reading of both texts. Also, the characters of each novel show their own organization, culture, fighting motivations and, of course, their peculiar degree of religiosity and fanaticism. It is a fanaticism that has influenced these characters’ lives and transformed them into martyrs willing to die for their religious freedom. Each space, either urban or rural, is represented in all above mentioned. Finally, taking into account both narrative voices, it is evident the urban-rural antithesis existed in the real world of the Cristero Rebellion