Solitude as a Key Factor to Formation of Characteristics and Mexican Identities in El laberinto de la soledad

Abstract

Studying Mexican identities in literary essays allows us to understand that solitude is a key factor creating different characteristics in Mexican identity and personality from the precolonial era through the first half of the twentieth century. The main objective was to examine the concept of solitude as an essential foundation for forming Mexican national characteristics and evaluate how solitude forms Mexican characteristics and identity in Octavio Paz’s book-length essay El laberinto de la soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude; 1950). Taken as a primary text, El laberinto de la soledad consists of eight sections.