“She came back with her lipstick in her hand. She held it there, open, pointing upward, and stared at Lisandro. They spent several minutes looking at each other that way, in silence, separated by the crystal frontier” (188). This quote, in my opinion, provides one of the biggest and best examples of how Carlos Fuentes views love. This theme of love is present in ever chapter throughout his book. In each story Fuentes changes the characters and adds a slight twist to their love life, creating a broad spectrum of sexual preferences. To add more spice to the story, Carlos Fuentes adds this idea of a crystal frontier that has a lot of meaning in each of his characters love life. Mr. Fuentes view on love through this passage, and knowing the characters …show more content…
Lisandro and Audrey, two polar opposites, were literally standing in a crystal frontier; they saw each other and immediately fell in love but could not do a thing about it. So Fuentes suggests that the only reason true opposites attract is because of this glass, this crystal frontier, which allows their views of each other to be obscure leading them to become infatuated for the other. These two know they can’t have each other, their yearning for one another is a skewed by this crystal and the frontier is there imagination of the lives they could live with one another, something they can see but can not reach. Well for two opposite people falling in love like this seems very unrealistic but Carlos Fuentes uses this “crystal frontier”, an idea that things are vague and not always obtainable, to help establish his love stories, ultimately furthering his opinion about love in his book. Another example of this metaphoric crystal frontier is when Juan Ziamora realizes his homosexuality, he hopes and prays that he will be able to stay with his lover Jim regardless of all the cruelty and hatred towards the gay community. In its finality, their love had to come to an end; a prominent white man can’t marry a Mexican, let alone marry a Mexican man in these struggling times. This quote represents so much of the entire book as well as how Carlos Fuentes perceives