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April
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This chapter, at the end, kind of scared me, but i saw it coming. Alba's heart was in the right place, and the army takeover in her country is a terrible thing to have when you are a caring person, such as Alba. I believe that this is the true point where Senator Trueba finally realizes that the new leaders of his country don't care that he's the senator, and that's sad to me. I can see the terror, in my head, of the realization that Trueba sees. This is a point where I wanted to reach out to the guys in the army and slap them or something severe! I got so emotionally involved in the people in the book that I was actually believing that they were real people!
ReplyDeleteAlthough this chapter seems like it should be mostly about how the "right side" came back into control and how everything went back to the way it was,it's actually more about how Esteban Trueba and his family changed to help those in need.
ReplyDeleteThe normally quiet and considerate Alba quickly became a rebellious woman who was either making love to her guerilla boyfriend or hiding "fugitives" in the back rooms of her house. She was often helping men, women,or children to sneak over the wall into the embassies.
Even Esteban Trueba orders his cook to always have warm food ready for the poor who otherwise wouldn't eat. He also sets up a band account for Alba to spend freely in any way she sees fit, which of course means it goes to the poor.
I am so confused! Why in the world was Jaime drug into that mess? I have read the beginning of this chapter over and over again and it still makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteOn page 366, it says "[The secretary] was calling from the Presidential Palace to inform him that he should present himself there as soon as possible ... she had simply been instructed to call all the President's doctors."
But, why? It gives no further explanation as to the reason behind the President asking for his attendance. In my opinion, Jaime should not have died.
It is apparent that the President is planning to die from the from the time "The President had to order his daughters to leave" on page 367. He surrounds himself with all of these innocent people and after they have been sitting in a drawing room being bombed and tortured on his behalf he decides "he did not want any martyrs or needless sacrifice; everyone had a family, and important tasks lay ahead." on page 369.
Well, by that time it seems a bit late. He drags all of these people into this mess and is not ever kind enough to thank them or apologize for putting them in the hands of death. I just can not make sense of it.
My favorite part the entire novel is after Jaime’s tragic death on page 371 when Esteban tries to celebrate the murder of the president and his comrades and Alba will hear nothing of it. “Alba snatched it from his hand (a goblet) and hurled it against the wall shattering it to bits”. This shows how Alba has grown and the relationship between Esteban and the rest of the world has shifted. Through the terror and despair, he is no longer in utter and undefiable control of his family and his surroundings. I also side with Alba because those deaths were obviously unjustified and amoral, and the fact that Esteban was ignorant and arrogant to think that the rebellion was in his favor shows his outdated mind set.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter scared me the most. Especially the mood whiplash from Jaime's capture and death to Trueba's celebration over the army's success. Although I was glad to see Alba stand up to her grandfather at the celebration. The dramatic irony on page 372 when Alba was thinking about how Jaime would react when he returns didn't really help things either. One thing that that I did like seeing was after Trueba's denial over Jaime's murder
ReplyDeletewas finished he realized what the army was really like and, like his wife and daughter, went through a BSOD. Although his was more of a villain type than a hero type and had some hints of 'what have I done' along with a heel face turn. This also shows when, despite his complaints about the 'communist priests' and his insistance that there was no hunger he insisted that Blanca always have warm food for anyone who came to their door (pg 381).
I was so sad and mad that Jaime died! As Darienne said there was no need for Jaime to die. I wasn't surprised at all that the military seized control for themselves. It took Trueba long enough to realize what had happened.
ReplyDelete(p.389) Thus the months went by, and it became clear to everyone, even Senator Trueba, that the military had seized power to keep it for themselves and not to hand the country over to the politicians of the right who had made the coup possible.
It is very ironic that Trueba has been fighting against communism but in the end basically is the reason the communists were able to take over. If he had just made the economy crash and make it look like the left wasn't adequate to lead the country and waited till next election the right most likely would have won.
I was happy to see that Esteban and Blanca finally made up and that he was willing to help save her beloved Pedro and forget his differences once and for all. Although he never had a good relationship with his daughter, he was able to do the right thing and be a good father by saving Pedro and finally allowing them to be together. He even apologizes for the past, "I haven't been a good father..."(p.393)
ReplyDeleteWhen I began reading this chapter I felt like I was reading another book. It kind of sounded like the Holocaust.
ReplyDelete"They made him walk in squatting position,...and led him into an enormous room filled with naked men who had been tied up in lines of ten, their hands bound behind their backs,...There were other prisoners in the same condition. They tied their hands and feet with barbed wire and threw them on their faces in the stalls. There Jaime and the others spent two days without food or water, rotting in their own excrement, blood, and fear..." (p.370,371)
Even after reading of those ghastly events, I found it amusing that Esteban Trueba, Jaime's father, was partying. "...Senator Trueba opened a bottle of French champagne to celebrate the overthrow of the regime that he had fought against so ferociously..." (p.371) Esteban is having a merry time because his enemies are now dead. Unsuspectingly, his son was one of those enemies.
Although throughout the novel, Esteban has been quite a villain, in this chapter I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
ReplyDeleteIn his old age and worn-in ways, he had pushed for the violent overthrow that ended up wrecking his life. Little did he know that his son and granddaughter were Socialist sympathizers, and that a military coup would lead to tyranny, not a restoration of democracy.
Even as a seasoned politician, Esteban showed naivety in his push for violence. He was unaware of the extent of the violence that would occur. The height of my pity for Esteban came when on p.377 he says, "I began to think I had been wrong to do as I had and that perhaps after all this was not the best way to overthrow Marxism." He inadvertently helped change the nation from an oligarchy to a dictatorship, and I think he ended up truly regretting that.
What sickened me in this chapter was the upper middle class' reaction to the coup. On p.384, they forgot all about individual or collective rights and only cared about free enterprise. So long as the shelves stayed stocked with exotic imported goods, they were completely brainwashed into believing that tyranny and international condemnation were somehow better than Marxism.
I agree with Tabitha, it definitely seemed like a totally different book, and I also related many of those visuals to the Holocaust. It was devastating to hear of Jaime's death, but it was also a moment of pride, since he gave his own life to remain honest of the president's death. What I thought was interesting was how Esteban Trueba did all he could to get Pedro Tercero to a safe location. I thought surely after the brawl in the mill that Esteban would NEVER forgive him. It was sad to see Blanca leave Alba behind, after she left not much more was said about Blanca which was somewhat of a dissappointment.
ReplyDelete