Love, Confinement, and Structural Violence: An Intersectional and Decolonial Reading of Guillermo Arriaga’s Salvar el fuego

Abstract

This article offers a critical reading of Salvar el fuego (2020) by Guillermo Arriaga through the lenses of intersectional feminist theory, decolonial feminism, and structural violence. Winner of the Alfaguara Prize, the novel exposes the deep entanglement of gender, class, and race in contemporary Mexican society. Drawing on the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw, Rita Segato, and Gloria Anzaldúa, the analysis examines how the narrative reveals institutionalized forms of racism, classism, and sexism that normalize femicide and domestic violence. The study also interrogates the ideology of mestizaje, demonstrating how national narratives of racial integration obscure persistent hierarchies of pigmentocracy and social exclusion. Furthermore, it explores constructions of masculinity within contexts of state abandonment and systemic oppression, highlighting how violence emerges as both learned behavior and structural condition. Through its polyphonic structure, the novel becomes a testimonial space where love and survival unfold within a necropolitical order. Ultimately, this article argues that Salvar el fuego articulates a decolonial critique of the Mexican nation-state by exposing how affect, confinement, and punishment are shaped by enduring colonial power structures.