Romanticism vs. Survival in The Death of Artemio Cruz

An important theme in The Death of Artemio Cruz, by Calrlos Fuentes, was the comparison of romanticism and survival. This is shown through two important characters: Artemio Cruz, and his son Lorenzo. A romantic (Lorenzo) is a being that has ideals and fights for them. They know their goals and try to achieve them, while survivors have an only goal of keeping themselves alive. The survivors live through their choices and the romantics die as …

…Artemio Cruz is the survivor, but Lorenzo was Artemio’s other half. The twin brother he never had. The world today is full of survivors, but very little romantics. People do not have to die for others in order to become a romantic, all they have to do is to stop “fuck[ing] up other people” (PAGE 137) and try to help them instead. That would make the world a much better place to live in.