Hopscotch is a children's game.
Hopscotch is the name given to different children's games . The most common consists of throwing a stone into a diagram drawn on the ground and then, while jumping while supporting the body on one leg, pick it up without stepping on the lines that separate the different parts of the diagram and respecting a series of stipulated rules.
To play hopscotch it is first necessary to draw the diagram on the ground; Depending on each culture, this drawing may vary, but the most popular is made up of eight squares distributed vertically, each with a number written inside. These boxes are distributed as follows: three squares drawn in a vertical row that represent the numbers 1 , 2 and 3 ; In the following space, two boxes, each located in the middle of the number 3 and corresponding to the numbers 4 and 5 . Above them a new square aligned with the first three (number 6) and then another two aligned with 4 and 5.
Play hopscotch
Once you have the drawing, the game begins. On each turn a player must throw a stone into square 1 , trying not to let it touch the border lines . Once this is done, you will have to travel the entire hopscotch jumping on one leg and without stepping on the lines. That is, you can only step inside each square with one leg. When you reach square 8 , you must turn your entire body following the same rules and return in the same way to the beginning. When you reach square 2 you must pick up the stone that was in square 1 and jump off the hopscotch.
If the player touches any of the lines, he will have lost his turn and must pass it on to the next player (when he touches it again, he will have to continue from the square he left); If you manage to complete the entire journey without problems, you will be able to continue playing. Each player has to throw the stone at all the squares and the first one to complete the entire hopscotch wins.
The hopscotch scheme can have different characteristics.
A book by Julio Cortazar
“Hopscotch” , on the other hand, is the name of a famous book by author Julio Cortázar . Published in 1963 , this novel is an introspective monologue that tells the story of a man named Horacio Oliveira in a curious way: through an authentic style, Cortázar manages to conquer the reader and lead him to believe that he is the protagonist.
It is important to mention that raising the argument of "Hopscotch" is an unintelligent attitude that distances us considerably from the meaning of the work . Since Cortázar 's true objective, his search, was to impose an emotional universe of characters that could speak to different types of readers and allow them to introspect on their own lives. However, we could say that it is a novel that talks about love , death, creation and loneliness , fundamentally.
This book has a particularity that makes it unique and that has made it one of the iconic books of Latin American literature . This characteristic is that it can be read in different ways, alternating the order of the chapters if the reader so wishes and that is why Cortázar wanted to give it that name. In any case, you can also do a normal reading: reading each chapter in the order of their appearance. And in each type of reading that the reader chooses, they will be able to have a different story in their hands.
For this reason, rather than referring to it, it should be labeled, as Julio did, as an anti-novel since instead of telling a story and nothing else it tries to reach the subjectivity of the reader and lead him to write his own version of this work.
"Hopscotch" is, without a doubt, one of the great geniuses not only of Latin American literature but also of universal letters.