Bel Canto Imperialism

1547 Words7 Pages
This literary analysis will define the use of kidnapping, violence, and international blackmail as a method of counteracting American imperialism by criminal syndicates in Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and The News of A Kidnapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez’s story of nine kidnappings in Colombia during the early 1990s is a commentary on the power of drug cartels, such as the Medellin, to use kidnapping and violence to blackmail to stop the extradition of leaders, such as Pablo Escobar. The lawless nature of the Medellin cartel define the use of international blackmail through kidnapping to force the U.S. to negotiate the terms of criminal and illegal punishment for terrorism and drug dealing. Similarly, Patchett’s Bel Canto defines the…show more content…
Her program came on in the Afternoons from Monday to Friday, with a special episode on Tuesday (Patchett 26). This aspect of General Benjamin’s terrorist tactics makes a focus on famous politicians and celebrities, which is utilized to force the international community to acknowledge their political objectives as a terrorist group. These aspects of Patchett’s novel define the importance of kidnapping and violence as a form of coercion to get the international community to accede to their political demands. The terrorist group that Patchett utilizes from a leftist point of view, however, differs greatly from the criminal view of Escobar and the Medellin Cartel in Marquez’s novel. In a contrasting point of view, Patchett’s depiction of the General Benjamin’s terrorist organization shows a divergent sense of political justice for the oppressed, which has been transformed into a terrorist kidnapping incident to get the group more public exposure at the international level. After all, the famous American opera singer, Roxanne Cross, is amongst the primarily Japanese kidnapping victims. This celebrity shows the power of terrorism to bring attention to their causes, especially since Cross is an American that will bring lots of media attention to the incident. The power of American imperialism is found in Roxane Cross’s unusual ability to threaten the terrorist group if anyone is killed or
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