The President is a book almost without redemption. On Saturday I woke up and read about a women being forced to work with ulcerating chemicals while listening to the cries of her starving child, who dies at her breasts unable to drink because of the chemical that coats them. On Sunday I went to bed having read the last half of the book and proceeded to have the most disturbing dreams and restless sleep I can remember. The image of Fedina entombing her baby in her body, clinging to her dead baby who has begun to rot in the midst of a brothel is simultaneously so tender and brutal. That image will stick in my mind for a long time. Maybe this is the redeeming moment of the book. It is only among among Dona Chon's prostitutes, among women, that we find an outpouring of humanity; humans acting compassionately together. The concern of the prostitutes and the lavish funeral and wake that are given to Fedina's son is a question mark that remains at the end of The President.
When I say that there is no redemption in this book it is because nothing good happens to anyone good. Camilla ends up heart broken and half crazy, perhaps the concubine of the President. Fedina is rewarded for trying to save General Canales with the death of her son. Angel who is "as beautiful and wicked as Satan" does not live up to this oft repeated line. He saves the Zany, Camilla, General Canales and later major Farfan. While it is true that only the former was selfless in that the others were motivated by his desire to save Camilla from her death, it is my belief that there are few truly selfless acts in the world. Much of what we do to help others is self-gratifying in some way. My point? Angel is the story's protagonist, and moved by love he does not live up to his description as Satan. His good deeds, his metamorphosis from the President's errand boy to a compassionate citizen of the republic is rewarded with a brutal death sentence carried out by a man he saved.
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2 comments:
i agree with what you're saying, it was so hard to read of the death of the baby boy. it just reminds me that there are actually people out there that would do the cruel acts that lead to the baby's death.
also, i really wanted angel face to "win"! so escape, to lead a revolution or something, but however you look at it, you're right, he is no where near close to being like the devil.
I disagree completely. Angel Face is a jackass who finds himself a pretty wife, something to redeem his pitiful and awful life. To me, Angel Face is a self-satisfied spoiled pig. He marries a girl, who has no family, no means for support, no other option, while shes on her death bed? real charming love story. He deserves his fate in the end because he helped so many other people end up there. And I dont think Camilla comes out so bad. She has a child who lives, giving the sense of hope and future that the story leaves us with.
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