Signs Preceding the End of the World illustrate the journey of Makina in search of her brother. Signs Preceding the End of the World Character Analysis | LitCharts. Her Mexican … Our, "Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. After Makina manages to outrun the sinkhole, she reveals the motivation behind her lengthy journey to come: her mother Cora has asked her to hand-deliver a message to her brother, who left the Village where they live a few years before to migrate north and try his luck in a country that is never named, but is clearly the United States. She has passed the cold night in an ATM booth and continues searching for her brother in the morning. While all three of these men are powerful, well-connected, and somehow involved in the local criminal underworld, all of them respect Makina because she plays a crucial function in their Village: she operates the telephone switchboard, connecting locals with faraway friends and family members, all in three languages—“latin tongue” (Spanish), the “new tongue” from the north or “anglo tongue” (English), and “native tongue” (the area’s local Indigenous language). Signs Preceding the End of the World Introduction + Context. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. In return, Makina must deliver a mysterious package to a contact in the United States. “Sometimes, more and more these days, they called from the North: these were the ones who’d often already forgotten the local lingo, so she responded to them in their own new tongue. New Signs Preceding The End Of The World Summary. It soon becomes clear that she is predicting a death she manages to narrowly avoid, as she watches a large sinkhole open up before her and take an old man and his dog down with it. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. The policeman tears a page out of the book and asks the man to confess his crimes, but Makina takes the pen and paper from him and writes a long note in English. Signs Preceding the End of the World Yuri Herrera. The novel Signs Preceding the End of the World by Mexican author Yuri Herrera was translated by Lisa Dillman and published in 2015. In the early morning, Makina sees a man signaling to her from across the river that separates the two countries. In Chapter Two, “The Water Crossing,” Makina travels to the Big Chilango (Mexico City) in order to catch her bus north. Indeed, symbolism has been used extensively in the book. Before setting out on her journey, Makina visits three men, Mr. Double-U, Mr. Aitch, and Mr. Q, who are in search of assistance. I was enamored by the story and the prose. Signs Preceding the End of the World study guide contains a biography of Yuri Herrera, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. This scene symbolizes the first major test of the mythological journey to Mictlán: crossing a raging river (Apanohuaia) with the help of a Xoloitzcuintle dog. During the long bus ride, she contemplates the future and the unknown world across the border, and at its end she checks into a cheap hotel full of migrants “of many tongues,” to whom she tells the little she knows about the United States. Chucho manages to hold the anglo off for long enough that Makina can run away, and she heads for the two mountains in the distance, not realizing for some time that she has been shot—but her wound is so insignificant that it does not even bleed. 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