Character
|
DescriptionThe protagonist of the novel. His personality throughout the story is serious, thoughtful, apt for moral inquisition, and intelligent. He believes in both pagan and Catholic faiths, but is doubtful about them. With the help of Ultima, he makes the transition from childhood to adolescence and learns to make his own choices and take responsibility for his actions.
The father of Antonio. He is very free-spirited, and contains the spirit and wildness of the llano, his home, within him. He was raised by vaqueros, or cowboys, and wants his children to follow his example of restless wandering and adventure across the llano.
The mother of Antonio. She is very ethical, loving, emotional, virtuous, and a devout Catholic, praying regularly during the day. She was the daughter of farmers, the Lunas, and wants Antonio to become either a farmer or a priest when he gets older.
She is the second most important character in the novel. She is a curandera, a person who practices curing and healing through the use of herbs and other earthly implements. In the story she has a wise, complex, and mysterious personality, and teaches Antonio the value of tolerance and understanding. The community fears her, calling her a witch, and misunderstands the power and capabilities she has.
By the majority of Las Pasturas, he is known as the town drunk. He is friends with Gabriel Márez, because they both share a passion for the llano, but also realizes the fertility of the earth, growing an elaborate garden filled with all types of vegetables and fruits. He appreciates Ultima dearly, and this costs him his life in the end, when Tenorio shoots him.
He is the main antagonist of the story, who runs a saloon and barber shop in El Puerto. When his daughters slowly start to die, he blames Ultima for witchcraft, and wants to kill her. This is his main goal, as he won't stop until she is dead and his daughters have been avenged. In the end, he shoots Ultima's owl, her spirit, and this causes Ultima to slowly die.
The witches who put a curse on Antonio's uncle Lucas, and make him incredibly ill. They are seen practicing a Black Mass, in which they worship and dance for the devil himself.
He was one of Antonio's closer friends, who is quiet and gentle towards him. He is the one who exposes Antonio to yet another belief system that will help him to understand the world better. He shows him the golden carp, a pagan god that lives in the river.
He is another one of Antonio's friends who does not believe in God. He attends catechism with all the other boys, but his questioning of Catholic orthodoxy was partly because of his difficult past life; his father and mother dying, and his two sisters becoming prostitutes. He reveals the impurities of the Catholic church and that religion can fail.
An energetic and enthusiastic group of boys who frequently curse and fight. Horse is a wrestler-type of boy, Bones is feared because he is brash and sometimes crazy, Ernie is a blusterer who likes teasing Antonio, Vitamin Kid is the fastest runner in Guadalupe, Red is Protestant, being teased by the others, Lloyd continuously tells others that they can be sued for even minor offenses, and Abel is the smallest boy that often pees in inappropriate places.
A war veteran who is deeply impacted by the war. In the beginning, he gets drunk and shoots a man named Chávez. Gabriel and a group of men go to hunt him down, and end up killing him. Lupito's death instigates Antonio's moral and religious inquisition.
Antonio's three older brothers, who were drafted to fight in the Second World War. When they return home, they are changed, and they appear to be restless and depressed. They eventually leave their home to pursue independent lives, crushing their father's dreams of moving to California.
Antonio's two sisters. For the most part, they play an almost insignificant part in the events of the story, and they spend the most of their time speaking English and playing dolls.
Antonio's uncles are farmers who live in the valley of the Lunas and are the brothers of Antonio's mother. They also support her dreams of him becoming a farmer or priest, but this opposes Gabriel's dreams for him to become a vaquero of the llano.
He is the local Catholic priest of Antonio's village, who gives catechism lessons to Antonio and his friends. He is very stern, punishing Florence for even the smallest offenses due to his disbelief of the Catholic orthodoxy, but he fails to notice, or perhaps even ignores, the misbehavior of the other boys. He is contradictory in the eyes of devout Catholics, because rather than teaching the children to understand God, he teaches them to fear him instead.
The woman who operates the local brothel. Antonio has a fear of her, because the brothel she runs, in a way, represents sinfulness. He becomes very upset when he hears that his brother Andrew visits the place often to visit a girl whom he lies about that he doesn't have to his mother.
Samuel is another one of Antonio's close friends, who is also the brother of the Vitamin Kid. Similar to Cico, he is also gentle and quiet. He explains to Antonio the legend of the golden carp, and it is Cico who actually brings him to see it in person.
He is another one of Gabriel's friends. He is the one who challenges Tenorio when Tenorio speaks badly against Ultima, but soon enough, his home is cursed. Ultima performs a Comanche funeral ceremony to get rid of the "ghosts," and explains that Telléz's grandfather once hung three Comanche Indians for raiding his flocks.
|