As I read the last half of the book, a small part of me actually thought the story would end with a happily ever after. Just because Camila recovered, which was said to be quite a miracle, and that they got married, I just thought that maybe, just maybe it would end happy (or at least not as brutally cruel and torturous as it did). But I now see how naïve I was; I should have seen it coming since it was a novel about a dictator..
One thing that I noticed was the way Asturias had written the novel to be, so that in someway or another, the characters lives intertwined. I remember reading and thinking to myself that it reminded me a lot like the movie Crash, in which all the characters lived separate lives but one incident immediately meshes their lives together.
The first thing I want to blog about is Angel Face. I think I may have mentioned this last time, but it is neat how both Facundo and The President are titled as such, and yet the majority of the novel does not seem to be about these two characters. I suppose both authors are trying to describe to the reader the way life is under the dictatorships by utilizing the other characters. I couldn’t help but notice that throughout the last half of the book, the statement, “He was as beautiful and wicked as Satan” was only mentioned once (unless I missed the others) as opposed the numerous times during the first half. I am inclined to infer that at the beginning, Asturias was trying to remind readers that despite Angel Face’s name, he was as “wicked as Satan” because of the things he did for the President. However, as things progressed and Angel Face fell in love with Camila, he seemed to have gone through a transformation and perhaps actually became an angel. I think this transformation was most clear when Angel Face advises Major Farfan about what he should do to get back on the President’s good side (175).
Secondly, Chapter XLI: Nothing to Report. How ironic and significant this title is. Ironic because though it is titled “Nothing to Report,” the chapter contains probably the most important event of the novel – the death of Angel Face. But at the same time, Asturias may be intentionally attempting to portray life under a dictatorship, whereby death, even of the President’s favourite, is only a minor incident, of barely any importance at all.
All and all, I quite enjoyed this book. It was quite interesting that the entire novel –full of lies, secrets, and betrayals – was sparked simply by one person shouting,
“Mother!”
2 comments:
Hi!
I have the same ideas about Angel Face, don't you think that the character has a dichotomy between what he feels, what he thinks, and what he does? It is very interesting how Asturial connect the time and the place with the story. As you said, the Angel's Face death was maybe the most important part of the book for us, but for the president, that was a normal day!
The final also surprised me, I was thinking that with the victory of Angel Face, it would be the symbol of the end of the dictatorship, but if you think on the time (all the story is developed in one week) and the place (a big part of the stoy is developed in the jail) you can think that the story was only one normal week in a dictatorship.
It was a terribly tragic book, but I agree, that he was intending that because he was making a social statement about dictatorships. This is especially prevalent and I think he didn't want to end the book on a hopeful note because he wanted to evoke anger and passion in the reader, and get the reader mad about the injustice that so much of Latin America has experienced and continues to experience. He realizes that there's no direct way out, but he wants to make people generally more aware and less afraid.
Post a Comment