Writing Under Shadows: Is the Mad Toy a Fiction, or a "Traumatic Biography"?

Hi, everyone. 

I would like to share my opinions about the Mad Toy by Roberto Arlt.

When I was reading, I did search a little. The Mad Toy was published in 1926, and the author, Roberto Arlt, was 26 years old. When he was 19 years old, he started writing this fiction. I was so shocked because I am 21 years old now and I can't even write a fiction with deep thoughts. So, I read many of his background stories.

                                                       

                                                                                                 by Biblioteca Nacional Argentina via Pinterest

His dad is a violent and tyrannical Prussian. He used to always punish Arlt so I would say Arlt's intense fear, every time he got punished, might lead to higher anxiety, emotional numbing to relationships, and even higher sensitivity towards “authority”. When Arlt was 16 years old, he left home and tried many jobs, like a bookseller, and a blacksmith. It is really similar to the protagonist Silvio in the Mad Toy! Also, he loved to read, especially Russian literature. Well, the Russian literature in the 19^th century is full of criticism, suffering, and moral questioning. I think this influenced him greatly in the way he sees life and society. He went through patriarchal suppression, poverty, and many cheap labor works at a young age. With that great talent of thinking and writing, this book could be published in 1926!

                                             

In the Mad Toy, Chapter 2 was the hardest for me to get through. The owners of the secondhand bookstore kept fighting, using ugly language. And the environment is poor and dirty. Watching Silvio stuck in that environment just hurts me. 

                                                                                                                     By sms00644 via pixabay

Moreover, in Chapter 3, Silvio got discharged from the school, with redundancy as an excuse. It is like when I just have the hope, just as I reach the peak of my happiness, and you suddenly tell me the hope is gone. That is really enough to cause me fall apart! So I’ve started to feel bad for the author because I couldn’t help but wonder how much this actually reflects his real life. When he started working at the age of 16, how much pain did he experience?

My question is: do you like this book?

Personally, I dislike it because Arlt writes too well and all those stories still stay in my mind, which make me feel depressed. Even though the ending is not a failure for Silvio, I feel deeply sad after finishing this book. I would say, based on Arlt's real life experiences, that vibe is more similar to his main emotions in everyday life, and therefore, it is understandable that he was able to write Silvio's hard life so well and vividly.