Reader's Diary #988- Giovanna Rivero: Lava

Run for your lives, it's gonna blow!

In most evacuation stories that I've read, the women and children are the ones expected to go first. So I was surprised to read in Giovanna Rivero's "Lava" (click on the writing sample), that the women of this particular village stay behind, while the men leave with the children after a volcano threatens to destroy them all.

Rivero offers a justification for the women's behaviour, but I don't buy it. I'm not sure if it's intentionally unsatisfactory or not. Was there a historical precedent where such a thing happened in real life? Was Rivero making a symbolic point, does the lava represent something else? How am I supposed to feel about these women that stayed? Are they brave or stupid? So much to decide! Fortunately it's flash fiction so I can read it over and over to work out some theories.

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