not completed: "Neither the Mexican nor the North American has achieved this reconciliation" (27).
The solitude of the human being should lead to reconciliation with nature, but it has not done so: "If the solitude of the Mexican is like a stagnant pool, that of the North American is like a mirror. We have ceased to be springs of water" (27).
Paz writes about what it is like to be a complete and real human being, and how the Mexican fails to be real and complete. He blames this falseness, or "mask," on colonial oppressors, but also puts part of the blame on the Mexican himself or herself, for not breaking the chains of past oppression:
The Mexican excels at the dissimulation of his passions and himself. He is afraid of others' looks and therefore he withdraws, cont
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