THE NEGRO IN THE COLOMBIAN NOVEL

Thesis for the Degree of Ph. D.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
BARRY D. AMIS
1970

 

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

The Negro in the Colombian Novel

presented by

Barry DeWayne Amis

has been accepted towards fulfillment

of the requirements for

Ph. D degree in Philosophy

   
 

  

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ABSTRACT

THE NEGRO IN THE COLOMBIAN NOVEL

BY

Barry D. Amis

The Negro has been in the New World since the
Spaniards first began the extensive importation of African
slaves in the early sixteenth century. However, very little
has been written about the participation of the Negro in
the development of Spanish American culture and society.

In the field of literature there has not been any compre-
hensive study of the role of the Negro in the prose fiction
of continental Spanish America even though he has appeared

in many historically important novels (El Periquillo Sar-

 

niento by José Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi, Amalia by José

Marmol, Maria by Jorge Isaacs, La vorégine by José Eustasio

 

Rivera) and figures as the protagonist or as a secondary
character in many others.

This study examines the theme of the Negro in the
prose fiction of Colombia. The Negro is a strong ethnic
factor in Colombia and many authors have chosen to assign a

broad and significant role to the black man in their works.

 

g;-.-e'-:er, the focus
gstorical or SOC5
:gzhe basis of ti
s;;r.ificantly wit?
sages in the dev
:reatnent of the
Manuela (
Istrbrista move
as a childlike cz
‘JPOlitical co:
:ylorge Isaacs 1‘
rich society is
3:5 stereotyped.
Ealacios represe.
iiSCIibes the hi
559“ largely fo
Q (1928) b
agiorical and c

“:St b‘E‘lanced ll

 

 

Barry D. Amis

However, the focus is essentially literary, rather than
historical or sociological. The novels examined were chosen
on the basis of their artistic merit and because they deal
significantly with the Negro. They also represent various
stages in the development of the Colombian novel and in the
treatment of the Negro as a literary figure.

Manuela (1866) by Eugenio Diaz is a landmark of the

costumbrista movement in which the author portrays the Negro

 

as a childlike creature and fails to penetrate the social
and political complexity of his characters. gagia (1867)
by Jorge Isaacs is a classic of the romantic movement in
which society is idealized and Negro and African characters
are stereotyped. El Alférez Real (1886) by Eustaquio
Palacios represents the historical-romantic novel and
describes the historical setting of slavery but employs the

Negro largely for descriptive background. La Marquesa de

 

Yolombé (1928) by Tomas Carrasquilla combines both the

historical and costumbrista techniques and represents the

 

first balanced portrayal of black and white characters in

Colombian fiction. Risaralda (1935) by Bernardo Arias

 

Trujillo is written in the realistic mood and fully exploits
the Negro as a literary subject and depicts him as a com-
plete personality. Naturalistic techniques are utilized in

Las estrellas son negras (1949) by Arnoldo Palacios, who

 

delves into the Negro's consciousness in order to discover.

what his true thoughts and feelings are. Sol en Tambalimbfi

 

 

7.949) by Diego <
'.3£3)represei‘xt
5255 to suggest
axial forces whi
:3: the black ma
nation and solic

These nox
- degree of lit
Negro underg:
:=:.i:eo‘ years whi
4' m and E
;.'iied by literaz
Krisd. Conseque
EireOtYPEd and s
3530 life is ids
32:16 War I Neqrc
lies: recently, E
“new of t:

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ag‘ '
Q
I
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9“ by whit

 

 

 

Barry D. Amis

(1949) by Diego Castrillén Arboleda and Corral de Negros

 

(1963) represent the novel of social protest. The former
seems to suggest that the Negro cannot overcome the alien
social forces which confront him while the latter urges
that the black man improve his lot through political organ-
ization and solidarity.

These novels present differences in theme, intent
and degree of literary craftsmanship and the portrayal of
the Negro undergoes radical changes during the nearly one
hundred years which they span. In the early novels-~flag:

uela, Maria and E1 Alférez Rea1--the authors appear to be

 

guided by literary conventions and the social mores of their
period. Consequently, the portrayal of the Negro is often

stereotyped and superficial. In Bisaralda the depiction of

 

Negro life is idealized in a manner reminiscent of the post
World War I Negro vogues in Harlem and in Caribbean poetry.

Most recently, Las etrellas son negras, Sol en Tambalimbfi

 

and Corral de negros have attempted to portray the conflict
and anxiety of the black man's existence in a society

dominated by whites.

.l‘t- '"

 

F3
:11
hi

in part1.

De

 

 

THE NEGRO IN THE COLOMBIAN NOVEL

BY

Barry D. Amis

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Romance Languages

1970

 

TO

 

To My Black Brothers and Sisters

ii

 

 

 

'weav'nm r \-
deuctli u

71-

“; .

Menus
Novel

Negr:
Novei

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La M

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 0 O I O O I O O O O O I O O O O 0

Chapter

I.

II.

III.

IV}

V}

VI.

VII.

Manuela and the Emergence of a National
Nove I O O I I I I I O O I O I O O O O O

Negro Characterization in the Romantic
Novel: Maria and El alférez real . . .

 

Tomas Carrasquilla and Literary Realism:
La Marquesa de Yolombé . . . . . . . . .

 

Risaralda: Una Novela Criolla . . . . .

 

A "Naturalistic" Portrayal of the Negro:
Las estrellas son negras . . . . . . . .

 

The Novel of Social Protest: Sol en
Tambalimbfi and Corral de negros .-. . .

 

 

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BIBLIOGRAPHY o o o o o o o e o o o o I o o o 0

iii

Page

24

53

88

111

142

162
195

210

 

 

 

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INTRODUCTION

The Negro has been in the New World since the
Spaniards first began the extensive importation of African
slaves in the early sixteenth century.1 During that time
he has had a profound effect upon the development of Spanish
America.2 However, no comprehensive history of his partic-
ipation in that development has yet been written. In the
field of literature, G. R. Coulthard has studied the theme
of race and color in the West Indies.3 Other studies con-
sist primarily of articles dealing with themes such as the
reference to Negroes in the poetry of Sor Juana Inés de la
Cruz, Alonso de Ercilla, Bernardo de Balbuena and, more
recently, Nicolas Guillén and Luis Palés Matos. Yet the

role of the Negro in the prose fiction of continental

1See David B. Davis, The Problem of Slavery in
Western Culture (Ithaca, New York} Cornell University
Press, 966 , p. 8, who says that "Negro slaves arrived
1n the:New World at least as early as 1502, and by 1513
the Sale of licenses for importing Negroes was a source
0“- Profit for the Spanish government."

2See James F. King, "Negro History in Continental
Spanish America," Journal of Negro History, XXIX (Jan.,
1344) . 7-23 for a discussion of the Negro's presence in
the Spanish colonies.

, 3G. R. Coulthard, Race and Colour in Caribbean
LiterSature (New York-London: Oxford University Press,

 

 

 

A

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Spanish America has not been investigated, even though, as
Professor Richard Jackson says, "an examination of the
Twentieth Century novel . . . would reveal not only Negroes
in secondary roles but also a number of outstanding Negro
protagonists."4 The Negro has also appeared in many of the
historically important novels of Spanish America including

El Periquillo Sarniento (1816) by José Joaquin Fernandez de

 

Lizardi, Amalia (1851) by José Marmol, Maria (1867) by Jorge

Isaacs and La vorégine (1924) by José Eustasio Rivera.

 

This study is essentially literary in its focus and
not historical or sociological. I have singled out for
examination the theme of the Negro in the prose fiction of
Colombia because many Colombian authors have chosen to
assign a broad and significant role to the black man in
their works. I intend to select for examination only those
novels which have literary merit and deal significantly
with the Negro. This is not to say that the socio-economic,
political and cultural aspects of Negro life are unimpor-
tant. We shall find, in fact, that they are closely inter-
woven into the literature to be discussed and cannot be
ignored. However, I believe that literature can offer a

dimension of understanding that the supposedly objective

 

4Richard L. Jackson, "Miscegenation and Personal
Choice in Two Twentieth-Century Novels of Continental
Spanish America," Hispania, L, No. 1 (Mar., 1967), 86.

 

_....,...J

 

5;:ial science:
:32 not fully
:3: indeed rew
;;::re.

Unlike
terica (Argen
::‘;:.:ries (Gua
11-3 Negro is a
are has been

that is the in:

"'93 Previous
filled to the

5.3 reflect th

.
~~~~~

.1e .
r with tfit
IE;

social sciences (sociology, political science, economics)
have not fully comprehended. An examination of these novels
may indeed reveal facets of life that other disciplines
ignore.

Unlike the predominantly white countries of Spanish
America (Argentina and Uruguay, for example) or the Indian
countries (Guatemala and Bolivia, to cite two) in Colombia
the Negro is a strong ethnic factor. Therefore, his pres-
ence has been eventually reflected in the Colombian novel.
What is the image of the Negro in the Colombian novel? A
complete understanding of the unique role that the black
man has played in the New World probably cannot be attained
until questions such as this have been answered. All too
often previous studies of the Negro in literature have been
limited to the "social value" of the work under discussion
and reflect the social bias of the critic. Certainly this
type of evaluation is legitimate and necessary, but it
sometimes occurs that supposedly literary studies are, in
fact, sociological in nature and their judgments should not
be taken as literary evaluations. The primary focus of
this study will be to examine novels of literary merit and
show how they depict the Negro artistically. Thus, the
literary craftsmanship of the author will be analyzed to-
gether with the apparent theme, intent and inevitable social

content of each novel.

 

The novel
geaccupation wit'f
land, the Ind:
ice novel of the I
:chlorbian lite:
:ace and color. .
Jesuit Alonso San.
.lirican Studies.
Peiro Claver, dev
African slaves.
S‘s-5.1 Bolivar we:

Dr. Felix
39553910 poet, c
3‘;l..lén and Langs
ftre recently the

.E.dSqd€Z haVe pl

91.: ..

uring C0

in did “Ot Prod

 

 

The novel in Spanish America has long exhibited a
preoccupation with social problems. Witness the novel of
the land, the Indianist novel, the novel of the Gaucho and
the novel of the Mexican revolution. Similarly, a perusal
of Colombian literature will reveal an abiding interest in
race and color. About 1650 in Cartagena de las Indias the
Jesuit Alonso Sandoval preposed the creation of a School of
African Studies. His disciple and Colombia's only saint,
Pedro Claver, devoted his life to ministering among the
African slaves. The rebel José Galan and the "Liberator"
Sim6n Bolivar were both concerned with the Negro.5

Dr. Felix Restrepo was an ardent abolitionist and
the Negro poet, Candelario Obeso, was a precursor of Nicolas
Guillén and Langston Hughes in his use of Negro themes.

More recently the Jesuit Jose Rafael Arboleda and Rogerio
Velasquez have published studies on the Negro. To many

this enduring concern will not seem manifest because Colom-

bia did not produce a vigorous and polemical anti-slavery

5See James F. King, "Negro Slavery in New Granada,"
<3reater America: Essays in Honor of H. E. Bolton (Berkeley:
‘Univ. of California, 1945), p. 314, who says that the rebel
leader José Galan was accused by the Spanish authorities,
in 1781, of "stirring up the slaves, promising and granting
them their liberty as if he were their legitimate owner;"
and also Harold Bierck, "The Struggle for Abolition in Gran
Colombia," His anic American Historical Review, XXXIII,
No. 3 (Aug., 1953), 365-386, who points out that as early
as 1816 Bolivar had made an agreement with Alexandre Pétion
OIf Haiti to free all slaves in Venezuela.

 

yer.

 

. 6 But t2".
:haracters in a
The exi
:azsidered as a
:5 an authentic
:c'enent toward
1:. evidence in
I; this respect
that 'literatur
zation, there i
:ation should '0
Twentieth Centu
preoccupation f
Spanish America
The population .
02' three racial
negro is, and h'
. .

:ation and his

E

(I,

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. 1”.) L! "" "I '
..

  
 

«JUIII, NEW:
8

Ibid
\'

novel.6 But the interest has been there and we find Negro
characters in a large number of Colombian novels.

The embodiment of the Negro in the novel may be
considered as a highly important step toward the development
of an authentically national literature in Colombia. A
movement toward national unity has, in fact, been very much
in evidence in Latin America during the Twentieth Century.
In this respect, Professor Seymour Menton has pointed out
that "literature being a reflection of a country's civili-

._.,.,

zation, there is no wonder that [the] anxious search for a
nation should be the prime motivating force behind the
Twentieth Century novel.7 He goes on to say that "the
preoccupation for his nation is also what distinguishes the
Spanish American novelist from his western contemporaries."8
The population of modern Colombia reflects the intermingling
of three racial stocks-kNegro, Indian and Caucasian.x The

Negro is, and has been, an important part of the Colombian

nation and his appearance in the literature of that country

 

6The anti-slavery novel predominated in the United
States, Cuba, and Brazil. The epitome of this type of lit-
erature is generally considered to be Uncle Tom's Cabin
(1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe which had great repercussion
in Latin America. Slavery had ended in Colombia in 1851,
however, and had been in a process of extinction since 1816.
Slavery was a dying institution and there was no need for
this type of novel.

7Seymour Menton, "In Search of a Nation," Hispania,
XXXVIII, NO. 4 (Dec., 1955), 432.

8

 

Ibid.

 

:3qu a signific
:ational identit

The late
:e Colombian pc
:iian, 20% mule
:2‘ Ilegro popule
:czal national ;
States and Brazi
C:L::hia.lo The
gresence of the
aprofound inf1~L
anew-ll The
Lie society is 5

3:55 IEflect a I

-=2.ish a natio:

5‘ ll .
a a Prime mot:

 

 

makes a significant contribution to the establishment of a
national identity.

The latest estimates on the racial composition of
the Colombian pOpulation find 25% white, 42% mestizo, 5%
Indian, 20% mulatto, and 8% Negro.9 The combined mulatto
and Negro population is thus more than one-fourth of the
total national population. In the New World only the United
States and Brazil have a larger Negro population than

Colombia.lo

These statistics are cited to emphasize the
presence of the Negro in Colombia. His presence has exerted
a profound influence upon the development of Colombian

11 The complete integration of all the people into

society.
the society is still a serious problem, and since literature
does reflect a nation's civilization, this attempt to es-
tablish a national unity is indeed going to be represented

as a "prime motivating force" within the novel.

 

9T. Lynn Smith, "The Racial Composition of the
POpulation of Colombia," Journal of Inter-American Studies,
VIII, No. 2 (April, 1966), 518.

10Aquiles Escalante, El Negro en Colombia (Bogota:
Imp. Nacional, 1964), 5-6. There are twenty-two million
Negroes in the United States. Forty percent of Brazil's
eighty-eight million people are Negro. Colombia's total
pOpulation is sixteen million.

llEscalante, assim, and José Rafael Arboleda, "La
historia y la antr0polog1a del negro en Colombia," America
Latina, Rio de Janeiro: Centro Latinoamericano de Pesquisas
en Ciencias Sociales, V, No. 3 (July-Sept., 1962), 3-16.

F“?

 

Firifl
5
45‘1““ . 1» “~“

Once SP3“:
:5.)- generallY f0:
:13: Spain and t‘
gland. The nov
::s:‘.::hrista move
is dependence 0
'search for a na:
5:3: European lit
:hewar of l9l4-l
.ernan historian
iecline and fail:
altern tive valu.
their own indige
'Iniianist" nove
Lionel identitie

no counterpart i

kg?
I“

Y Significant
«REG IEgiOns Of

The Neg}

 

 

 

Once Spanish American authors began to write novels
they generally followed the models of the authors of penin-
sular Spain and to a lesser degree those of France and
England. The novels of the romantic movement and of the

costumbrista movement in Spanish America especially reflect

 

this dependence on European literary themes. However, their
"search for a nation" led Spanish American authors to turn
from European literary themes and culture. Especially after
the war of 1914-1918 many writers were receptive to the
German historian Oswald Spengler's interpretation of the

12 In seeking

decline and failure of European culture.
alternative values these Spanish American authors turned to
their own indigenous cultures and to the land itself. The
"Indianist" novels which have helped to establish the na-
tional identities of Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador have
no counterpart in Colombia where the Indian element is not

13 On the other hand, the tropical back-

very significant.
land regions of Colombia have been excellently described in

José Eustasio Rivera's La vorégine (1924).

 

The Negro, however, has not been exploited as a
literary figure in Colombia as he has been in Cuba and

Brazil. His portrayal in the novel might, in a way,

 

12Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West (New
York: A. A. Kn0pf, 1926-1928Y.

13See Concha Meléndez, La novela indianista en
Hispanoamerica, 1832-1889 (Madrid: Monografias de la
Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1934).

 

 

 

::.::ribute towaJ
;ie:tity in COl<
'22:“. sc..olars a:
legro in Colon‘b;
:ellent studies
Elegro in Brazil
Briones, and otl

';c~esia negra . "'

-. . has withi;

q
I’a"'

“"1~e and Valbt
mom-bia has no‘.
‘l‘erary Subjec1

1’ The COaE

lena' At

 

contribute toward the creation of a national literature and
identity in Colombia. He has been generally overlooked by
both scholars and social scientists. With respect to the
Negro in Colombia, there are no counterparts for the ex-
cellent studies by Sayers, Rabassa, Freyre, et 31. on the
Negro in Brazil and the studies by Coulthard, Valbuena
Briones, and others on Caribbean literature, especially the

14

"poesia negra." Frank Tannenbaum stated that "the slave

. . . has within a relatively short period of time become
one of the leading cultural influences among his former
masters."15 This is certainly true in Brazil and Cuba as
Freyre and Valbuena Briones have demonstrated. However,
Colombia has not shown as much awareness of the Negro as a
literary subject as have these two nations.

The Negro population of Colombia is located pri-
marily in three geographical areas:

1. The coastal area of the Caribbean (Guajira, Magda-

lena, Atlantico, Bolivar, C6rdoba, Antioquia).

 

14Raymond Sayers, The Negro in Brazilian Literature
(New York: Hispanic Institute, 1956); Gregory L. Rabassa,
"The Negro in Brazilian Fiction since 1888" (unpublished
Ph. D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1955); Gilberto
Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves, trans. Samuel Putnam
(New York: KnOpf, 1946); G. R. Coulthard, Race and Colour
in Caribbean Literature (New York- London: Oxford Universrty

Ffess, 1962); AngeIIVaIbuena Briones, Literatura his ano-
§§ericana (3rd ed.; Barcelona: Edit. GiIi, I967), 313-451.

15Frank Tannenbaum, Ten Keys to Latin America (New
'York: Knopf, 1962), 47.

 

 

:_ -;J
y' n
l" I-
~ I
't
f
h‘

1

“eggs

2. The Pacifi
and Narihc
3, The inter-
rivers.
3-,: previously sta
Ezerica has not y
sesiological mono
15‘. countries . l6
zational historia
:::;letely avoids
decent in societ
:in that is ava:
tional libraries

2::asional brief

 

 

2. The Pacific Coast (Chocé, the Cauca Valley, Cauca
and Narifio).
3. The inter-Andean valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena
rivers.
As previously stated, the history of the Negro in Spanish
America has not yet been written, although a number of
sociological monographs are available for several individ—
ual countries.l6 Going further, it can be said that "the
national historians of Northern South America . . . have
completely avoided identifying the Negro as a separate

l7

element in society." Consequently, most of the informa-

tion that is available remains uncompiled in various na-
tional libraries and archives although there have been

occasional brief articles in scholarly journals.18

 

16See, for example, Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, La
oblacidn negra de México (México, D.F.: Fuente Cultural,
I933); Fernando Ortiz, LES negros esclavos (Habana: "La
Universal," 1916); and Ildefonso Pereda Valdes, El Negro en
el Uruguay, 1965). ’

17Randall 0. Hudson, "The Status of the Negro in
Northern South America, 1820-1860," Journal of Negro His-
tory, XLIX, No. 4 (Oct., 1964), 226.

18Three of the most informative of these articles
are: Jaime Jaramillo Uribe, "Esclavos y sefiores en la
sociedad colombiana del siglo XVIII," Anuario colombiano de
historia de la cultura, I, No. l (1963), 3-55; James F.
King, "The Colored Castes and American Representation in
the Cortes of Cadiz," Hispanic American Historical Review,
XXXIII, No. 1 (Feb., 1953), 33-64} and Arnold A. Sio,
"Interpretations of Slavery: The Slave Status in the
.Americas," Com arative Studies in Society and History, VII
(April, 1965), 589-308.

 

 

Slavery a
:»::‘.‘pied the atte
:etiegro in Spa;
efficient data
ue history of t

We know
sPilish explorer
:5 ban on bring
fire with Cortés
iEOlano, a Negr
Pailfic_ Pedro
Crsfia on the ex?

3...

M with Cabeza

excellent exert-pl
conquest and col

":95 no details

Negro $1

 

 

10

Slavery and its abolition have almost exclusively
occupied the attention of those scholars who have studied
the Negro in Spanish America. Nevertheless, there is
sufficient data available to sketch in a broad outline of
the history of the Negro in Colombia.

We know that Negroes accompanied many of the early
Spanish explorers to the New World and that Spain had lifted

19

its ban on bringing Negroes to America by 1501. Negroes

 

were with Cortés in Mexico and with Pizarro in Perfi. Nuflo
de Olano, a Negro, was with Balboa when he discovered the
Pacific. Pedro de Miranda, a mulatto, accompanied Pedro de
Orsfia on the expedition to El Dorado. Estevanico, a Negro,
went with Cabeza de Vaca in search of the Seven Cities of
Cibola. King says that "the provinces of New Granada offer
excellent examples of the Negro's role in exploration,
conquest and colonization throughout the Indies" but he
gives no details.20
Negro slavery was a predominant characteristic of
life in colonial Spanish America. Cartagena de las Indias'
was one of the great slave ports of America and from there

slaves were shipped to other parts of the Spanish empire.

The majority of the slaves came from the coastal areas of

 

19John Hope Franklin, From Slavery_to Freedom (3rd
ed.; New York: Knopf, 1967), 46-37.

20

 

King, Greater America: . . . , 301.

y.
5:1 ”Una r" d

«an»

awn -.' '

 

l1..-

Hestifrica but tht
#39, Among the :
Siéfara. FulupoS.
The uses c
izattly from slave
tnral and domestic
ice empire but in
gold and silver 1:
rated gold washer
ia‘. society."22
3Panish America V
enslavenent of ti
5.2mm} often r

The natu

‘
= :
~.~

Where in the
ne violation of
uCCdSiOnal mOde‘

...:anticide , th
II

I“,
s. ‘1
.5

~13

to p‘JrChaSe hi‘

\

. 7-1

A.‘
”'u‘

Dav‘
«It; 1
w
22
Kin:

11

West Africa but there was no predominance of any one tribal

.-~——. .

group. Among the many Africans enslaved were Wolofs,
Biafara, Fulupos, Mandingos, Bambaras, 20205, and Yalongos.2l
The uses of slaves in Colombia differed signif-
icantly from slavery in other Spanish dominions. Agricul-
tural and domestic service predominated in most parts of
the empire but in Colombia slaves were used mostly in the
gold and silver mines. King has said that the "black, half-
naked gold washers constituted a major foundation of colon-

22 The majority of the ore mined in colonial

ial society."
Spanish America was extracted by black slaves since the
enslavement of the Indian had not proved successful and the
Spaniard often refused to engage in physical labor.

The nature of slavery was the same in Colombia as
elsewhere in the Americas. The cruelties, the mistreatment,
the violation of the women were all present along with
occasional moderation in treatment. Slave revolts, suicide,
infanticide, the establishment of rebel outposts (palenques)
by "negros cimggdhes" were all frequent occurrences. Manu-

mission was possible, however, and a slave was often able

to purchase his own freedom (the "ley de coartacidn"). A

21David Pavy, "The Provenience of Colombian Negroes,"
figurnal of Negro History, LII, No. 1 (Jan., 1967), 35-58.

22King, Greater America . . . , 296.

 

 

sistaatial class
were often subject
:51: civil right;

The Wars

.‘-;erica at the be
erated the growt'z‘
eventual abolitic
armies and the 8;
freedom if they '.

steely. a sub.

parties were mad
ranking and most
flannel Piar and
revolutionary ha:

r

q
-
‘5

:l
“1 Slave-S in l
~L
We IEVOlution

\

23

a. I
95:3y‘were Pro:
hiya? the ch:‘
“531;: 11 the

.

 

 

 

12

substantial class of free Negroes began to grow but they
were often subjected to abuses and the restrictions of
their civil rights.23
The Wars of Independence which erupted in Spanish
America at the beginning of the nineteenth century accel-
erated the growth of the free Negro class and hastened the
eventual abolition of slavery. Both the revolutionary
armies and the Spanish troops offered the slaves their
freedom if they would join their respective forces. Con-
sequently, a substantial portion of the armies of both
parties were made up of Negroes. Two of Bolivar's highest
ranking and most capable officers were mulattoes: General
Manuel Piar and Admiral José Padilla, the commander of the
revolutionary naval forces. Finally, in order to obtain
the support of President Alexandre Pétion of the black
republic of Haiti, Bolivar promised the emancipation of
all slaves in 1816. King says that "the final triumph of
the revolution was firmly grounded on the support of the

colored population."24

 

23Irene Diggs, "Color in Colonial Spanish America,”
Journal of Negro History, XXXVIII (Oct., 1953) says that
“they were prohibited from being out at night; using car-
pets in the churches, carrying arms or umbrellas, having
Indians in their service; black women were prohibited from
wearing gold, silk and certain types of cloaks or pearls."
p. 418.

24James F. King, "A Royalist View of the Colored
Castes:m the Venezuelan War of Independence," His anic
American Historical Review, XXXIII, No. 4 (Nov., E§53$,
530. '

 

 

l)? {h VII '15” .‘rlf‘ ‘-~

Slave:
chlombia f
:::glete abol
2::ic limitat
:55 been obta
alarge neasu

.25

freedom.
f:<':d jobs as
Valley. But
':.as been esse
tion in the j
if successfu;
Cite-5.). Bec.
the lack of .
"Efe not pre

“are unable

SOCiety .

One
1' c

3
am

‘2}-
Nu. U
l

freedme

N~ '
aacln

St the

‘v
11.1

. 26.,
as.“ . _~
“Q ":‘VII ‘ N
v“. ‘H

13

Slavery underwent a gradual process of elimination
in Colombia from Bolivar's first proclamation until its
complete abolition in 1851. Legal restrictions and eco-
nomic limitations decreased for Negroes after independence
had been obtained, and by 1860 "the colored castes received
a large measure of political and economic, if not social,

25 After abolition, many of the former slaves

freedom."
found jobs as woodcutters and oarsmen in the Magdalena
Valley. But the history of the Negro since emancipation
has been essentially one of exclusion from full participa-
tion in the life of the nation (although individualexamples
of successful businessmen, politicians and writers can be
cited). Because of the degrading effects of slavery and
the lack of education and training many of the freedmen
were not prepared for the liberty suddenly given them and
were unable to assume the role of "productive" members of
society.

One of the most notable features of the Negro's
life from emancipation until the present is his status of
"economic marginality." "The marginal existence led by
many freedmen helped to strengthen the ethnic prejudice

26

against the Negro." The inconsistent nature of his

 

25Hudson, 239.

26Magnus M5rner, Race Mixture (Boston: Little,
Brown & Co., 1967), 130.

 

 

3:039 often lead:
scruggle to survi‘
-.':::e man who dom
:ust recur in 0rd
Lie Colombian Neg
:ztside the areas
_::actices African

At this r
here by the term
seemingly rigid t
white or non-whi
:eiiary categori.
never been recog
liblted legally.
black Slave woma
CCZdltiOn rattle:
father, Legal“

3.1: la l!
W and thi

E""3ided.28 It

halal Stratifi

 

li'fnl.

 

:11“. St
Up! 1963)

an‘
I

l4

income often leads the Negro to depend upon others in his
struggle to survive. The crucial factor in his life is the
white man who dominates the economic resources to which he

0 I O 27
must recur 1n order to earn a 11v1ng.

In other respects
the Colombian Negro has become highly acculturated and
outside the areas of music, dance, folklore and funerary
practices African retentions are not great.

At this point the question arises: what is meant
here by the term Negro? In the United States we have a
seemingly rigid black-white dichotomy. You are either
white or non-white. There is no recognition of any inter-
mediary categories such as mulatto. Interracial mixing has
never been recognized socially and for many years was pro-
hibited legally. The children of the white master and the
black slave woman had status according to the mother's
condition rather than the traditional condition of the
father. Legally, the father of the slave was "unknown to
,our law" and the creation of a free mulatto class was)”

28 It is difficult to assign a precise meaning to

avoided.
social stratification because of the numerous variables

involved (educational, economic, political, occupational)

 

27Norman E. Whitten and John Szwed, "Anthropologists
Look at Afro-Americans," Trans-action, V, No. 8 (July-Aug.,
1968), 51 and 54.

28Stanley M. Elkins, Slavery (New York: Grosset &
Dunlop, 1963), 55.

 

 

 

 

 

A ‘
e“
..o 1:} t“

." $

.
onfiflfi‘ A.

1 "misc
,...,uvu

3"5255 ra

racial mi

' "
Iocosy HI
oao§bb AAK

av Lin H

on v“ yr

a" "'11. d
-' 1 ‘
un- nuH‘ I

A

Lame ll
1‘: '

U. n‘W-n“ F

g
'A
A

v» |

‘31.};-
‘
IA‘V c
Uta A
§ I
IF

15

but in the United States we approximate a class system
economically (which allows vertical mobility) and a caste
system racially (which tends to prohibit horizontal inter-
racial mingling).29

In Colombia, as in the rest of Latin America, racial
differences have not been as accentuated as they have been
in the United States. There has always been recognition of
the mulatto (the child of one white parent and one black
parent), the zambo (the offspring of a Negro and an Indian)
and the mgstizo (the child of a white parent and an Indian).
In addition, there was an extensive nomenclature to cate-

30 Latin Amer—

gorize a person according to his skin color.
icans have always maintained that the difference between
social groups was class and not racial differences. It has
been said that "in contrast to the American ethnic caste
system, a much more fluid class system operates in Colombia

. . ."31 Yet racial egalitarianism is a myth which has

 

29For an analysis of American race relations as a
caste system see Norman D. Humphrey, "American Race and
Caste," Psychiatry, IV, No. 2 (May, 1941), 159-160; Norman
D. Humphrey, American Race Relations and the Caste System,"
Ps chiatr , VIII, No. 4 (Nov., 1945), 379-381; Kurt B.
Mayer, Class and Society (New York: Doubleday, 1955).

30M6rner, 58-59 and Diggs, 403-427.

31Norman D. Humphrey, "Race, Caste and Class in
Colombia," Ph lon, XIII, No. 2 (1952), 165. See also Ralph
Beals, "Social Stratification in Latin America," American
Journal of Sociology, LVIII, No. 4 (Jan., 1953), 327-539.

m1?

. 6
,; -._i‘

A?“ a

ojl
1——‘3‘“‘T_

 

:. J ,1

;:m up in the
:‘JiiapOSEd with

In a si
'gerhaps the em
'racial toleran
S'Iershadow soci
ale: nts a WEIC

SCIV,

0

There
Brazil and COlc
35"“ aPPlies e:
say that the p:
1: fight preju
has not been S
either affirm
1.“ COlombia.

zllatto share

.3.
m

ite Elite ti"

cannot my
accent 1:1 Se tC

l6

grown up in the face of the almost exclusively white elite
juxtaposed with the poverty stricken dark-skinned masses.32
In a similar context Magnus Morner has said that
"perhaps the emphasis that Freyre and others have put on
'racial tolerance' in the Brazilian environment has come to
overshadow socio-racial problems, offering reactionary
elements a welcome excuse for dismissing them as illu-
sory."33 There are enough socio-racial similarities between
Brazil and Colombia to lead me to believe that this state-
ment applies equally well to Colombia.34 M6rner goes on to
say that the problem of the Negro and the mulatto is "how
to fight prejudice and social degradation."35 As yet there
has not been sufficient investigation of race relations to
either affirm or to deny the existence of racial problems
in Colombia. AIt does appear that the Colombian Negro and

mulatto share similar problems and in comparison with the

white elite their social status is not very high.

 

32Tannenbaum, 50, says that in some countries (in-

cluding Colombia) "the pure black man has-not and perhaps
cannot rise to the highest political post or really be
accepted by the 'best' social set."

33Morner, 147.

34The Negro is a significant ethnic factor in both
Colombia and Brazil. The Negro p0pulation of Colombia is
28% of the total population and in Brazil it is 40%. The
socio-economic status of both groups is relatively low and
in both countries Negroes live mainly in limited geograph-
ical areas and are not dispersed throughout the entire
nation.

35M5rner, 147.

.4:

~; “Wat“ b " ‘

 

Contraste

3c the mulatto a
;:' the poor lower

fined as class d.

:esultant social

:12: in the Unit

arstantially di

utten and 52"”
“5&1..th SO a1
:eated as menb
:ae purposes 0f
:2 the man of <
his relation ’0
2:: his biolog
The fe
literary and e
lished in Run
painted out he
it. European a
'n'ar 37
- In 19

”‘4'" e
\IO Whi
“.3498 38

l7

Contrasted with the white upper class,the Negro

and the mulatto are grouped together to form a large portion
of the poor lower classes. (Although the situation is de—
fined as class difference rather than caste difference, the
resultant social stratification is analogous to the situa-
tion in the United States; that is, the white population is
substantially disassociated from the non-white population.
Whitten and Szwed say that "Negroes have a pronounced ethnic
identity, so all Negroes in a society are more likely to be

36 Therefore, for

treated as members of a single category."
the purposes of this study, the term Negro is used to refer
to the man of color whether he is Negro or mulatto. It is
his relation to the white man which defines his status and
not his biological derivation.

The feasibility of the Negro and the African as
literary and artistic subjects has long since been estab-
lished in Eur0pe and the United States. Coulthard has
pointed out how a "cult of the primitive" became the vogue
in European arts during the years following the First World
War.37 In 1910 Leo Frobenius published his Der Schwarze
Dekameron which helped to create an interest in African

38

themes. Yoruba and Congolese sculpture found admirers

 

36Whitten and Szwed, 51.

37Cou1thard, 27-29.

38Berlin-Ch., Vita, deutsches Verlaghaus, 1910.

 

:Berlin and Pa
Eirican art form
:ilatisse alsc
the poet Apollir

At the :
irthe United 5‘
rd most exciti:
:lues and Spiri
the Bohemian co
raterial in his
leiias used an
vgoogie-woog ie,
became Phrases
3419 Oliver we:
'“lCh would CU

hI-iteman Or th

I!

.3:
”y

t

m was later

the:
.-.es w‘3I‘e ac
the \:

fiand A11
\ \
e3“

85 anOt

39
33.“:3. LeRc
V], 1968) I

18

in Berlin and Paris. Picasso and the Cubists incorporated
African art forms in their work. Braque, Derain, Vlaminck
and Matisse also adapted the new material to their use and
the poet Apollinaire used these motifs in his poetry.

At the same time Negro music had become the vogue
in the United States. Jazz had literally become the newest
and most exciting musical form of the new century. The
blues and spirituals were equally emotive and evocative.
The Bohemian composer Anton Dvorak used Negro thematic
material in his symphony "From the New World" and Frederick
Delius used an old slave song for his "Appalachia."
"Boogie-woogie," "bebOp," "Dixieland," and "ragtime" all
became phrases of the day. In New Orleans Buddy Bolden and
King Oliver were laying the foundations for the movement
which would culminate in the big jazz bands like Paul
Whiteman or the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. And while
Bessie Smith was "causing riots" in Chicago, a young man
who was later to become internationally famous was just
beginning to perform--Louis Armstrong.39

However, music was not the only area where Negro
themes were accepted. In the theatre Eugene O'Neill used .
the Negro as the subject of serious drama in The Emperor
Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings. DuBose Heyward's

Porgy was another important contribution. But it was in

 

39LeRoi Jones, Blues Pe0ple (5th ed.; New York:
Morrow, 1968), 142-165.

 

 

 

:e field of lite
gave brilliant 824
find the literal
;':e Harlem Renais
gcets Claude McKa
star. Hughes; the
Sterling Brown.
:ent were seen i:
3.: Vachel Linds
:entioned.

In the C
also led to the
‘ie traditional
53115. the black
a‘ultation of tr
335. reiterate,
E"Pression in a
already laid a
L43 Then i

.15? -

§5€t3 a
VOCabu‘

 

wortant eXpov

.1‘ See
0D“tn m
an Eu.” 1968
SOCl l 90
a

19

the field of literature where a talented group of young men
gave brilliant expression to the Negro theme and helped to
found the literary movement which is often designated as

40 Among these young men were the

the Harlem Renaissance.
poets Claude McKay, Countée Cullen, Jean Toomer, and Lang-
ston Hughes; the historian Alain Locke; and the critic
Sterling Brown. The literary repercussions of this move-
ment were seen in the works of Carl Van Vechten, Waldo Frank
and Vachel Lindsay as well as those of writers already
mentioned.

In the Caribbean the search for new artistic forms
also led to the appr0priation of the Negro theme. Tired of
the traditional European modes of expression young authors
found the black cultures exciting and stimulating. An
exultation of the primitive became the new mode and tom-
toms, reiterated rhythms, sensuality, and dancing all obtain
expression in a new Afro-Cuban poetry. Fernando Ortiz had
already laid a foundation in 1906 with his book Los negros
brujos. Then in 1924 he published his Glosario de
Afronegrismos which helped to provide many of the Afro-Cuban
poets a vocabulary for their poetry.41 Among the most

important exponents of this "poesia negra" were the Cuban

 

40See Alain Locke, The New Negro (New York:
Atheneum, 1968), 3-16, for the statement of the artistic
and social goals of this movement.

41

 

Coulthard, 28-29.

 

P3515 Nicolas Gu.
gm Luis Palés
fro-Cuban novel
In Haiti
place in the lat
gar: by the Amer
:isenchanted wit
:perialists the
alright the signi
:ene of Africa
:5 Maurice Cass
School of Ethnol
taxist movement.
'63”; for the aes1

first used by t'
Ceiier d'un ret
is an attitude
African past an
is a statement

$9.:
told Sengho ‘

 

4: L.
“as flred my.

5.3" :-

 

20

poets Nicolas Guillén and Emilio Ballagos and the Puerto
Rican Luis Palés Matos. Also Alejo Carpentier wrote an

Afro-Cuban novel Ecué-Yamba-O (1933).

 

In Haiti important cultural changes were taking
place in the late 1920's and the early 1930's, caused in
part by the American occupation of the island in 1915.
Disenchanted with the French institutions and the American
imperialists they turned to their own folk culture and
sought the significance of their African heritage.42 The
theme of Africa was developed by poets such as Carl Brouard
and Maurice Casséus. Jean Price Mars founded the Haitian
School of Ethnology and was in the forefront of the Afri-
canist movement. This school of Haitian poets paved the
way for the aesthetic formulation of Negritude which was
first used by the Martinican poet Aimé Cesaire in his poem
Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (Paris, 1947). Negritude
is an attitude towards life. It is a reaffirmation of the
African past and a self-assertion of the black present. It
is a statement of cultural unity and in the writings of
Léopold Senghor, Langston Hughes, Franz Fanon, and Césaire
it has fired movements of national independence in Africa
and the struggle for Civil Rights in the United States.

While Negritude has not yet developed in Colombia

or the rest of continental Spanish America, at this point

 

42Coulthard, 62-70 and Richard A. Long, "Negritude,"
Negro Digest, XVIII, No. 7 (May, 1969), 13.

 

 

fete can be litt
:.j:ican themes in
Il‘Cllbar Haiti: B
35:11 racters ha
3.:es of each of
Asked the preser
intend to show a
3ti5tic achieve:
Lrthe novels to
next character.
izthe others hi
:‘zaracter develc

The nove
artistic rather
already stated,
erary questions
irescapable bec

I shall attempt

 

h" 5’
“‘ ~59- authors

b
.13"

131 0f Negrc

 

assess the dep:
meXMOI‘Ed by .1
I

These ~

    

“Tia. It

   

('1'

ferez RE

  

’n‘;
-~\d) ' It 11’;

 

21

there can be little doubt of the legitimacy of Negroid or
African themes in the development of a national literature.
In Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, and the United States Negroid themes
and characters have helped to build the distinctive litera-
tures of each of these countries. I have already estab-
lished the presence of the Negro in Colombian society. I
intend to show also that his presence is reflected in the
artistic achievements of a number of Colombian novelists.
In the novels to be examined here, the Negro is a signif-
icant character. In some of them he is the protagonist and
in the others his role is important enough that it shows
character development.

The novels under analysis have been chosen for their
artistic rather than their social content. As I have
already stated, this study will deal essentially with lit-
erary questions although some social considerations are
inescapable because of the nature of the works examined.

I shall attempt to analyze the literary techniques employed
by the authors in question. And I shall analyze the por-
trayal of Negro characters in each novel and attempt to
assess the depth of literary insight into an area still
unexplored by critics.

These novels present varying images of the Negro in
Colombia. It may be an historical depiction of slavery
(El Alferez Real) or an idealization of Negro life (Riga;

ralda). It may be the strident cry of naturalism (Las

my“.
I ..

 

we. 7' ~l

==+rellas son ne
vvv.

:est (Maria) or

gftefiuela). In a
:ran interest a
gersyective the
ids-Colombian m
Previous study <
Faerican novel;
is justified.
Various
:5 the Colombia
his; contain 2;

?v|A
R:

n)
{3'
(D
:1
fl
0
M
(1.
I

:C‘Z‘El M
' : anu
\ela.

 

22

estrellas son negras) or the romanticizing of the African
past (Magia) or it may simply be a "cuadro de costumbres"
(Manuela). In any case, these novels deal with subjects of
human interest and concern. I hope to bring into clearer
perspective the several images of the Negro that emerge in
the Colombian novels examined here. There has not been any
previous study of the Negro in the continental Spanish
American novel; therefore, I feel that this present effort
is justified.

Various stages can be discerned in the development
of the Colombian novel. Although there are many novels
which contain Negro characters, I have chosen the following
novels as representative of the various stages in the
treatment of the Negro as a literary figure. They span a
period of almost one hundred years: 1866-1963. The first
novel, Manuela (Bogota, 1866) by Eugenio Diaz is a landmark
of the costumbrista movement.43 M§££a_by Jorge Isaacs
(Bogota, 1867) is a classic of the romantic movement. The

historical—romantic novel is represented by El Alférez Real

 

(Cali, 1886) by Eustaquio Palacios. La Marquesa de Yolombo

(Medellin, 1928) by Tomas Carrasquilla combines both the

 

43Manuela appeared twenty-two years after the first
Colombian noveI, Ingermina o la hija de Calamar (1844) by
Juan José Nieto. See the following chapter,#“fianuela and
the Emergence of a National Novel," for an account of the
beginning of the novel in Colombia.

 

:jstorical and
frujillo calle
“pelicula de 17
in the realist
:3 Las estrel]
Palacios, whil
:estrillon Ari
flannel Zapata
test. Althou
grouth in lit
3e; chronolc
deve‘mpment c

course of the

23

historical and the costumbrista techniques. Bernardo Arias

 

Trujillo called his novel Risaralda (Manizales, 1935) a

 

"pelicula de negredumbre y de vaqueria" and it is written
in the realistic mood. The naturalist movement is reflected

in Las estrellas son negras (Bogota, 1949) by Arnoldo

 

Palacios, while Sol en Tambalimbfi (Bogota, 1949) by Diego

 

Castrillén Arboleda and Corral de Negros (Cuba, 1963) by

 

Manuel Zapata Olivella represent the novel of social pro-
test. Although the novels do not reflect a steady or even
growth in literary craftsmanship it seems advisable to treat
them chronologically in order to show more clearly the
development of the Negro as a literary subject over the

course of the evolution of the Colombian novel.

“Wm-s bV‘.‘¢-‘ '_ J

 

The fi
:entury ago.
:he trials suj
the indian prj
Iiieto also wr<
£345) Which <
in?“ Spain du:
Stiner early C

CHAPTER I

MANUELA AND THE EMERGENCE

OF A NATIONAL NOVEL

The first Colombian novel was written well over a
century ago. It was the historical novel Ingermina o la

hija de Calamar (1844) by Juan José Nieto which tells of

 

the trials suffered by the Spaniard, Alonso de Heredia, and
the indian princess, Ingermina, before their love triumphed.

Nieto also wrote another historical novel, Los moriscos

 

(1845) which deals with the expulsion of a Moorish family
from Spain during the epoch of Philip III (1589-1621).
Other early Colombian novels include El oidor (1848) by
José Antonio de Plaza and E1 doctor Temis (1851) by José
Maria Angel Gaitén. These early works do not exhibit a
great deal of artistic or literary ability and they are
mainly of historical interest. They do show, however, the
influence of the romantic movement on early Colombian lit-
erature. The Spanish authors of the romantic school were
very popular in Colombia during the first half of the nine-
teenthcentury. Antonio Curcio Altamar points out that

Angel de Saavedra, Francisco Martinez de la Rosa and José

24

. e;
. |.
I _ _. ‘Il-j—IL- V‘ml- q_ "Y

 

.m?‘

45.7,", .-..' -

1

is Espronceda We:

 

.m. de hesonerC
. , l
mine. He 9C

e1 ingreSO t:
Granada Se 1
rebelde O ser‘
conmovida PO1
supuesto 0 r'i
existente en
cion un tant:
onia, y. en
hasta filoso

The hist

ssenes reminisce

 

 

La Rosa (NietO'
Essa's drama, A'i
Yoriscos). 0th;
the historical ‘
:c-rical novels

S
P12

25

de Espronceda were read along with Mariano José de Larra,

Ramon de Mesonero Romanos, Breton de los Herreros and José

Zorrilla.l

He goes on to say that:

e1 ingreso triunfal del romanticismo en la Nueva
Granada2 se llevo a cabo no menos con la tonalidad
rebelde o sentimental de la lirica que con la simpatia
conmovida por una idea 'medieval' americana, por un
supuesto 0 real espiritu caballeresco y legendario
existente en la empresa conquistadora, por una concep-
cion un tanto 'feudalista' y aristocratica de la col-
onia, y, en fin, . . . por una sublimacion poética y
hasta filosofica del aborigen de America.3

The historical novel in Colombia has chapters and
scenes reminiscent of Saavedra, Espronceda and Martinez de
la Rosa (Nieto's Los moriscos is similar to Martinez de la

Rosa's drama, Abén Humeya 1830 about the revolt of the

 

Moriscos). Other Colombian authors also wrote novels in
the historical vein. Felipe Pérez wrote a series of his-

torical novels about Peru: Huayna Capac (1856), Atahualpa

 

(1856), Los Pizarros (1857), and Jilma (1858). Temistocles

 

Avella Mendoza published Los tres Pedros (1864) and Anacoana

 

(1865) in the historical genre. Dofia Soledad Acosta de

 

lAntonio Curcio Altamar, Evolucién de la novela en
Colombia (Bogota: Instituto Caro y Cuervo,l957), 62463.
This scholarly book is the only exhaustive study of the
novel in Colombia.

2Nueva Granada is the name that the discoverer
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada gave to the present day terri-
tory of Colombia around 1540. It was used throughout the
period of Spanish domination until it was changed to
Colombia in 1819. It was also used briefly between 1831
and 1858.

3

 

Curcio Altamar, 64.

 

    
  

:sing the works 0
Zeldds as modelS-

In contr
ice historical-r
the few novels t"
3.51am appeared
says that he was
figure, ni socia
Asignificant ex
“witch deals wit‘r

In this
evoked European
33.0 had discove
31359, about 18
Silper' JOSé An
itstaclllio Palac
ial life and ti"

Iriti

”*9 about

r
\

 

 

26

Samper also began her long series of novels in the 1860's
using the works of both Sir Walter Scott and Benito Pérez
Galdés as models.4

In contrast to other Spanish American countries,

the historical-romantic novel in Colombia is notable for

the few novels that deal with the indianista theme.5 The

 

indian appeared in only a few novels and Curcio Altamar
says that he was rejected as a literary symbol because "su
figura, ni social ni culturalmente, ha ganado prestigio."6

A significant exception is El ultimo rey de los muiscas

 

which deals with the Muisca indians.

In this early phase, the Colombian novel frequently
evoked European settings and related the exploits of those
who had discovered the New World. As this period drew to a
close, about 1865, writers like Dona Soledad Acosta de
Samper, José Antonio de Plaza, José Caicedo Rojas and
Eustaquio Palacios began to describe the customs of colon-
ial life and the manners of the people. This new way of

writing about one's own society was given the name of

 

4Among Dofia Soledad Acosta de Samper's many books
were Las dos reinas de Chipre (1878), Teresa la limefia
(1868), La holandesa en America (1876) and Episodios
novelescos de la historia patria. La insurreccion de los
comuneros.‘(l887).

5Concha Meléndez in her book La Novela Indianista
en Hispanoamericayg1832-1889 (Madrid, 1934Y'defines the
indianista theme as "todas las novelas en que los indios y
sus tradiciones estan presentadas con simpatia," p. 9.

 

 

 

 

6Curcio Altamar, 83.

 

--.=t‘;:brismo. It
adhdicative of
ssciety. The ma]
Spain was contras
farcio Altamar c1
se recibe la
espanolas se
sino la aris
parece asist
en clases a3
This cos

_'i

:ive in all of A
:elled it the n J
righlighted by 1

The most eminen

 

iZPCTtant liter

M AIHOng

were José Mari

 

27

costumbrismo. It was often an idealization of past values

 

and indicative of the social stratification of colonial
society. The "hidalgo" who brought his lofty deals from
Spain was contrasted with the lowly indian and Negro.
Curcio Altamar comments that:
se recibe 1a impresion . . . de que sobre las colonias
espafiolas se venia vertiendo . . . no el pueblo espafiol,
sino 1a aristocracia nobiliaria de la Peninsula, y nos
parece asistir a la formacion de una sociedad escalonada

en clases afin mas separadas que las europeas.7

This costumbrista epoch was one of the most genera-

 

tive in all of Colombian literature. José J. Ortega has
called it the "edad de oro“ of Colombian letters and it was
highlighted by the formation of several literary magazines.8
The most eminent of these magazines, and perhaps the most
important literary journal in Colombian history, was El
Mosaico. Among the collaborators in the El Mosaico group
were José Maria Vergara y Vergara, José Maria Quijano Otero,
Ricardo Carrasquilla, José Manuel Marroquin and, less fre-
quently, Salvador Camacho Roldan, Jorge Isaacs and José
Manuel Groot. José J. Ortega says that the writers of this
group "dieron impulso a la buena literatura; estimularon

las aficciones artisticas de muchos jovenes de talento, y

en los cuadros de costumbres regionales combinaron e1 mas

 

7Ibid., 85.

8José J. Ortega, Historia de la literatura colom-
biana (Bogota: Cromos, 1935), 195.

 

F.5d. r—- <—.

 

 

may auténtico
Elhosaico was it.
___.__—
t‘ariaVergara y ‘.
es the publicat;
gees). *
Eugenio
from Bogota. He
estate of Puerta
iteColegio de E
rable to complr;

returned to the

1

ieiicated t0 the

Liamajority of
:bserver of cur
sewatiOns Whic

10 and

:(Q‘n

whines

Man _
&1-
~'C‘Jlsmbiac It 1:

“.34A
. Dd
fi.“'

rgoing proe

no seventy Ye

”my had bee

 

 

28

sano y auténtico naturalismo con el idealismo mas noble."9

El Mosaico was founded in 1858 by Eugenio Diaz and José

 

Maria Vergara y Vergara. One of its major accomplishments

was the publication of Diaz's costumbrista novel, Manuela

 

(1866).

Eugenio Diaz was a member of an old and noble family
from Bogota. He was born in 1804 and raised on the family
estate of Puerta Grande in Soacha. He began his studies at
the Colegio de San Bartolomé in the capital but he was
unable to complete them because of his poor health. He
returned to the family estate where he spent several years
dedicated to the tasks of country life. Although he spent
the majority of his time in rural areas he was an astute
observer of current events. He kept a journal of his ob-
servations which resulted in a series of costumbrista
sketches10 and in Manuela.

Manuela is a cuadro of mid-nineteenth century
Colombia. It was a period when the youthful nation was
undergoing profound social changes. During the two hundred

and seventy years of Spanish rule the political life of the

colony had been characterized by a somnolent languor and

 

91bid., 196.

10In addition to Manuela Eugenio Diaz wrote: Una
ronda de don Ventura Ahumada (1858), Pio uinto, 0 e1 Valle
de Tenza (1873): E1 re'o de enlazar ( , Los aguinaldos
en CHap1nero (1873) and Bruna’la carbonera (1878).

 

 

 

 

ice only events t
“”11, death or r

JJJJ

:rizces. Politi;

 

|
I
:25 literary Clml
l
was to be change
|
Large la
cause were exile
ended to be 185
:::.:epts of the
engendered in pa
such men as Vol
:.:.stitution wa
Cf time newspapi
established, ro
:cre efficient I
5450, in 1851,
Villages and r

7':
«l. -

 

29

the only events that disturbed this atmosphere were the
birth, death or marriage of any in the series of royal
princes. Political activity, elections, books, magazines
and literary clubs were virtually unknown. This situation
was to be changed radically by the Wars of Independence.

Large landowners who had formed part of the Royalist
cause were exiled and their places were taken by men who
tended to be less aristocratic and more attuned to the
concepts of the Enlightenment. These new attitudes were
engendered in part by the circulation of the writings of
such men as Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau. A new
constitution was written in 1851 and in a very short period
of time newspapers were founded, a system of schools was
established, roads were improved, postal services were made
more efficient and general elections were established.
Also, in 1851, slavery was abolished. Life in the small
villages and rural areas became more animated and a feudal-
1ike existence was opened to outside influences.

The domination of the priest and of the political
boss (e1 gamonal) was challenged by the school teacher, 31
tinterillo,ll and by the newly elected officials, such as
the mayor and the elections officer. This is the atmosphere
in which Manuela was written; the setting was the period

1856-1857.

 

llEl tinterillo is a cheap lawyer who defends unjust
causes and botches up law suits.

 

 

Although
;;‘.oabia many or:
istinguished Chi
:at in Manuela
;:Lidos estilist
Curcio Altamar s
:3: aliento de
nuovimiento de
ecidas.'l3 Anti:
exzensa e imporr
:cviniento real
’n‘ade and Englek
segiridad que t
to:ela."15 Hon.
73155 Rueda Va:

95 no solo una

en el dia de h.

 

 

 

 

30

Although Manuela is not well known outside of
Colombia many critics have praised its literary value. The
distinguished Chilean critic, Mariano Latorre, has written

that in Manuela "hay algo que rara vez se encuentra en los

pulidos estilistas de la hora actual . . . hay una novela."12

Curcio Altamar says that Manuela "fue la primera gran novela
con aliento de Vida actual, con observacién directa, y con»

un movimiento de simpatia hacia las clases menos favor-

l3

ecidas." Antonio Gomez Restrepo has called it "1a mas

extensa e importante obra de imaginacion que produjo e1

14

movimiento realista de entonces." The American scholars

Wade and Englekirk write that "puede afirmarse con entera
seguridad que tiene muchos de los elementos de una buena

novela."15

However, the highest encomium has been that of
Tomas Rueda Vargas who, in 1942, affirmed that "la ‘Manuela'
es no 8610 una gran novela de costumbres, sino la obra
maxima en lo que toca a los problemas sociales que ocupan

en el dia de hoy la mente de sociologos y estadistas."16

 

12Mariano Latorre, "Primera glosa sobre la novela
americana," Atenea (Concepcion, Chile), XXXIV, 131 (mayo,
1936), 158.

13Curcio Altamar, 138.

14Antonio Gomez Restrepo, "La literatura colombiana,"
Revue Hispanique, XLIII (1918), 145.

15Gerald Wade and John E. Englekirk, "Introduccion
a la novela colombiana," Revista Iberoamericana, XV, No. 30
(enero, 1950), 234.

16Tomas Rueda Vargas, Escritos (Bogota: Antares,
1963), vol. III, 172.

 

 

This cri

rated. Diaz ' S

:5 nid-nineteentl
5i'5.e He depict
2:.ozbia and sym
:ers include a b
the poor and do
:25 vision on C
features that h
Czlczbian socie‘
Diaz ski
interesting eve|

elite and the

35759811 these

   

Epoch is embodj

Przest represei
bed .
a Vargas:

La alta po

17 I
Colombia iihilr
Ii 0 were main‘j
iii: libEral.

wthh tho
Serva ait

18
Ru:|

 

 

 

 

31

This critical approval of Manuela is not unwar-
ranted. Diaz's description of the customs and the manners
of mid-nineteenth century Colombia is detailed and exten-
sive. He depicted the ideological struggle going on within
Colombia and symbolized it in a small village. His charac-
ters include a broad spectrum of Colombian society, from
the poor and downtrodden to the socially elite. He focused
his vision on Colombian society and recorded the distinctive
features that he saw. He was the first author to describe
Colombian society realistically.

Diaz sketches a panorama of rural customs that is
interesting even today. He introduces characters from the
elite and the working classes so that we may see the gulf
between these two worlds. The political turbulence of the
epoch is embodied in the major characters. Don Demostenes
is a golgota: don Tadeo is a draconiano; and the village

17 As stated by

 

priest represents the retrogrado party.
Rueda Vargas:

La alta politica de aquellos dias agitados . . . esté
tratada por don Eugenio de mano maestra.18

 

17There were three major political parties in
Colombia in the 1850's: the gélgotas or the new liberals
who were mainly younger peOple; the draconianos or the
older liberals who Opposed the abolition of the death pen-
alty which the younger group favored; and the retrogrados
or conservatives.

l8

 

 

 

Rueda Vargas, 173.

32

Manuela is the story of a beautiful mulatto village
girl who spurns the advances of the local political boss,
don Tadeo. Angered, don Tadeo decides to exact vengeance
upon Manuela and her boyfriend Damaso. Manuela is unjustly
accused and jailed. Through the sympathetic interest of
don Demostenes she is set free but don Tadeo is persistent.
He sets fire to the church where Manuela and Damaso are
being married and Manuela dies shortly afterwards.

The story revolves around the protagonist, don
Demostenes, and his interaction with the other characters.
His friendship with Manuela is one of the key relationships
of the story because the two characters are juxtaposed in
order to satirize don Demostenes' political philosophy.

Don Demostenes is a caricature of the idealistic and well-
meaning liberal who is unable to achieve any realistic
goals. The author, whose political leanings were conserva-
tive, exploits don Demostenes as a social type and satirizes
his political position. The satire is made more forceful

by contrasting the urbane and sophisticated city dweller
with the ingenuous and sincere country girl. Thus, while
don Demostenes continually espouses "e1 dogma de la igualdad
entre todos los ciudadanos," it is actually Manuela who
practices this philOSOphy.

Don Demostenes is satirized most effectively in the
conversations that he has with Manuela and with the village

priest. The secondary characters often serve to rebut or

 

L ,

 

him his argum

.... by telling h

=‘ huevo. “19 Th

:saic position v:
the first is on

wolves the vi‘3
El cura rez.’
no quedo am:
de San Nicol
oracién del
por un mes

0n the

 

Blinding with h

Benistenes:

I
ha Vitupera
Pontifice :5
ha gustado
me ha Prohj

The sa1

“flu
:g I“

Mytimes Ove rl
namely Claims

Y0 Creia C
en el COn
conStituCi
c'g‘bildOs
eStOy ViEI‘
Ere hall prc
oonde hay;

 

33

refute his arguments. On several occasions they reprimand

him by telling him that "una cosa es cacarear y otra poner

19

e1 huevo." The following situations illustrate the phar-

isaic position which the author draws for don Demostenes.
The first is on the subject of religious tolerance and
involves the village priest:

E1 cura rezo una oracién en latin, de que don Demostenes~
no quedé amostazado, porque era tolerante, y en el hotel
de San Nicolas, de Nueva York, 1e habia soportado la
oracion del mediodia a un mahometano que vivia con él,
por un mes entero. (p. 87)

On the other hand, don Demostenes has a misunder-
standing with his fiancée and she reveals that don
Demostenes:

ha vituperado mi sumision al gobierno teocratico del
Pontifice de Roma, explicandose de una manera que no me
ha gustado con respecto a1 matrimonio catolico; en fin
me ha prohibido que me confiese. (pp. 147-148)

The satire is evident throughout the novel and is
sometimes overdrawn as on the occasion when don Demostenes
naively claims that:

Yo creia candidamente que todas esas leyes que se dan
en el congreso y todos esos bellisimos articulos de la
constitucion eran 1a norma de las parroquias, y que los
cabildos eran los guardianes de las instituciones; pero
estoy viendo que suceden cosas muy diversas de lo que
se han propuesto los legisladores; por lo menos, en
donde haya un don Tadeo. (p. 218)

 

fir

19For this study all of my references are to the
edition of Manuela published by the Editorial Bedout
(Medellin, 1965), 124. Hereafter all references to this
edition will consist of a page number in parentheses imme-
diately following the quoted material.

 

The reit.
what he does

reference to the

 

.. .1,“ no matt
I

cabins to detra
he cumulative e
iictions is the
personality. h.
Liberal and as i.
direct attack w:
have given bett
In addi

erals there are
of these is a p
people. T'r
between the hai
tion. This is
3laming to re
30?: Demostenes

QSCrupulOuS l

 

EC": '
‘d‘llty fOr a

  
 

Ilctions be tw I

34

The reiterated contradictions between what he says
and what he does, the overdrawn naivété and his constant
reference to the United States as "ila Repfiblica modelo
. . .1," no matter how inapproPriate the occasion, all
combine to detract from the portrayal of don Demostenes.
The cumulative effect of his constant bumblings and contra-
dictions is the negation of any belief in him as a real
personality. He is recognized as a caricature of the young
liberal and as the object of the author's satire. A less
direct attack would have made him more credible and would
have given better balance to the novel.

In addition to the satirization of political lib-
erals there are a number of related themes in Manuela. One
of these is a plea for equality and equal rights for all
the people. The differences between the rich and the poor,
between the haves and the have-nots are a fundamental ques-
tion. This is reflected in the contending forces both
claiming to represent the true interests of the people.

Don Demostenes and don Tadeo are caricatures of inept and
unscrupulous liberals who masquerade under a banner of
equality for all.

Don Tadeo's espousal of equality is patently false
because of his position as a gamonal. However, don Demos-
tenes, because of his semblance of true liberality, is not
unmasked until he is caught in the web of constant contra-

dictions between what he says and what he does. We have

already seen Mane.
seiner occasion
asks don Demoste

éY por qué n
caminos y se
digo yo mi a
Dimas? all p
como a sus d
105 descalzc
demandar a I
ricos se sa'
aveces, y a
najaderia?
no iguala c
241-242)

Manuela

Ya veré con

liberales,
(P- 325)

The qul

for all the pet

but the wistm

 

me“ Vargas

La 'Mc‘mue;
récibil‘la
tha COmo
pébafia de
nlSthia

 

35

already seen Manuela's rebuff of his pretensions. On
another occasion a hunter and guide, fior Dimas, pointedly
asks don Demostenes about the question of equality:

éY por qué no me saluda su persona primero en los
caminos y se espera a que yo le salude? aY por qué le
digo yo mi amo don Demostenes y sumercé me dice taita
Dimas? aY por que los duefios de tierras nos mandan
como a sus criados? aY por qué los de botas dominan a
los descalzos? aY por qué un estanciero no puede
demandar a los duefios de tierras? . . . aY por qué los
ricos se salen con lo que quieren, hasta con los delitos
a veces, y a los pobres nos meten a la carcel por una
majaderia? aY por qué los blancos dicen a un novio que
no iguala con la hija, cuando es indio o negro? (pp.
241-242)

Manuela admonishes don Demostenes that:

Ya vera Como ni usted . . . ni don Tadeo son tales
liberales, porque del decir al hacer hay mucho que ver.
(p. 325) '

The questions of equal right and equal Opportunities
for all the people still remain unanswered today in Colombia
but the wisdom of Diaz lies in the fact that he asked these
questions when most Colombian authors were still adhering
to the tenets of nineteenth century romanticism. Tomas
Rueda Vargas says that:

La 'Manuela' caida a un barbecho mejor preparado para
recibirla habria dado lugar a una revolucion tan defini-
tiva como la que determino en los Estados Unidos 'La
Cabafia del Tio Tom,‘ 0 habrfa abierto a lo largo de la
historia nacional un surco tan prolongado y hondo que
admitiera comparacion con el labrado por Tolstoi y sus
seguidores en la conciencia rusa.

This assessment is lavish and extreme but it has

the value of recognizing the social import of Manuela which

 

20Rueda Vargas, 172.

133*"

:irer critics ha

aim in the Co

 

 

ieserves credit

eithongh a provi
well aware of he
;::o his novel.
ieqnestions t]
1:31 stance of ‘
lezéstenes rais

Inn

"“395: and mod

  

1'? Ruede Varg

The del
Zeczed is anot
herself is the
Cider "Omen in
abuse by the 1
CffiCial Or b}

'5'

“guts and a1:

 

says to One o

 

 

COmadre ,
Catm’Ce
PGOnes ’
iSe Echa‘;
religién,
209-210)

 
   
   

D}

x k:

36

other critics have glossed over. This is the first appli-
cation in the Colombian novel of native material and Diaz
deserves credit for not reacting in a sentimental manner.
Although a provincial, Diaz was not a romantic. He was
well aware of national problems and he incorporated them
into his novel. This is done through the characters and
the questions they raise. We have already seen the polit-
ical stance of the various characters. In addition don
Demostenes raises questions about the nation's roads, guest
houses, and modernization of farming and industrial tech-
niques. Diaz has his characters raise and discuss questions
of national import and it was to this aspect of the novel
that Ruede Vargas reacted so enthusiastically.

The debasement and abuses to which women were sub-
jected is another question that Manuela raises. Manuela
herself is the victim of the persecution of don Tadeo.
Other women in rural areas were subject to seduction and
abuse by the landowner, by the gamonal, by the military

official or by the tinterillo. The women had few, if any,

 

rights and almost no one to protect them for her. She was
the constant prey of those invested with power. As Manuela
says to one of her friends:

Comadre, es muy dificil que se escape una muchacha de
catorce afios de las asechanzas de los amos, y de los
peones, y de los mayordomos . . . iPobres muchachas!
ISe echan a la peonada sin miramiento de salud, de
religion, de conveniencia de ninguna clase . . .1 (pp.
209-210)

 

aestion 0f prot
was raised becal
his time. NOt ‘
share of the di
Lens. An exam?
village but whe
ion Tadeo they
lo cual ind
en cuantas
pueblo es e
(p. 401)
In add
beds the poor a
rights, Diaz a
briefly dealt ‘
roads; the fai
id industrial
social classes

 

‘msr SUCh as

ell-a

II or the be
Child. I

 

The l
s. occasion :
Look

Ed Upon a

 

37

Manuela was one of the first novels to raise the
question of protection of women from the abuses of men. It
was raised because Diaz was sensitive to the problems of
his time. Not only sensitive, however, but also acutely
aware of the difficulty in correcting some of these prob-
lems. An example would be that of good government for the
village but when the townsmen were asked to help apprehend
don Tadeo they all refused:

lo cual indica que en aquella parroquia, y quién sabe

en cuantas otras, e1 medio mas aparente de gobernar al
pueblo es el terror y no la justicia y la moderacion.

(p. 401) '

In addition to the subjects of equal rights for
both the poor and the rich and the protection of women's
rights, Diaz also touches on other questions. Problems
briefly dealt with include: the condition of the nation's
roads; the failure to employ the most modern agricultural
and industrial techniques; the artificiality of the upper
social classes (represented by the young ladies of the
estates of "El Retiro" and "La Soledad"); and popular cus-
toms, such as the exciting and enjoyable holiday of San
Juan or the burial practices following the death of a young
child.

The latter is interesting because instead of being
an occasion for weeping and mourning the death of a baby is

looked upon as a happy occurrence. Happy because the child

is considered an angelito and it is believed that the child

 

sasborn to go t

:15 world. 905

siiers 3 meam

:5 the most inte

his book.
We have

zenes is stereC
characters. DC
:rnmt politic
‘iefensor de 1:
no reigns sup:
Elanuela and he:
novel and when
rejection of h
albeit a minor
Colombian poli
he will do to
ting fire to r

filler the ant

 

habia cal'
era otra l

la democr
9am onal,

“813103: I

The V
" Politica‘.

aState ,

 

 

He

‘
\l

of .-
hls Own he

38

was born to go to heaven without suffering the trials of
this world. Don Demostenes is scandalized at what he con-
siders a profanation of respect for the dead. This is one
of the most interesting customs that Diaz has recorded in
his book.

We have seen that the characterization of don Demos-
tenes is stereotyped. So too is that of the other major
characters. Don Tadeo is cast as the authoritarian and
corrupt political boss. Beneath the hypocritical banner of
"defensor de los derechos del pueblo" don Tadeo is a tyrant
who reigns supreme in the village. His persecution of
Manuela and her boyfriend provides most of the action of the
novel and when he finally exacts retribution for Manuela's
rejection of his advances, the novel ends. He is a symbol,
albeit a minor one, of the ruthless gamonal that has plagued
Colombian political history. There are no limits to what
he will do to impose his will, even to the extreme of set—
ting fire to a church. When he is finally removed from
power the author writes that:

habia caido la repfiblica ficticia de don Tadeo, que no
era otra cosa que la tirania encubierta con el velo de
la democracia, porque tal habia sido 1a astucia de aquel
gamonal, que por desgracia no es el finico en nuestros
pueblos. (p. 286)

The village priest is the embodiment of the author's
own political posture. He is discrete, forthright and

astute. He uses don Demostenes as a foil for the espousal

of his own beliefs and, because of the role given don

”2.0. 'Kam'r

 

My
4? "
til-F” 1-

:aéstenes, his
isle. For examp

2e. rits of "l
no seré mejd
nuestros leg
escuelas so:
tener e1 paf
progreso, es
tantas fuen‘

The priv

has“;

p-..“ However

 

that:
NO tOdO 5 1C

sentido e5
novela, 2]. .

L
The Che

.s those of qI

0n Deméste I

q
\

'te‘eotypea, b.

:05,

fish the othe

a; iIltelligent

“Se 0f B090.

.In
H.Q.‘ '

 

 

39

Demostenes, his arguments seem much more logical and feas-

ible. For example, when don Demostenes is prattling about

the merits of "la Repfiblica modelo" the priest retorts:
no sera mejor denunciar a la verguenza pfiblica a
nuestros legisladores, a los tribunos, a los jefes de
escuelas sociales, a nuestros politicos en general, por
tener el pais en postracion, a pesar de las loas de
progreso, estando pisando los metales preciosos, y
tantas fuentes de riqueza. . . . (p. 31)

The priest is exceptionally levelheaded and to the
point. However, Camacho Roldan has made the observation
that:

No todos los curas alientan la modestia y el buen
sentidoé estrecho a las veces, del que aparece en esta
novela.

The characterization of Manuela is better executed
than those of don Demostenes and don Tadeo. It is still
stereotyped, because she is intended to be the antithesis
to don Demostenes, but she has some life and substance
which the other characters do not have. She is depicted as
an intelligent, witty and proud person. When don Demostenes
suggests that the girls of the village are different from
those of Bogota and that possibly he wouldn't even speak to
them in the city, Manuela tells him:

Pues me alegro de saberlo, porque desde ahora debemos
tratarnos en la parroquia, como nos trataremos en
Bogota; y usted no debe tratarnos a las muchachas aqui,

para no tener vergfienza en Bogota, porque como dice e1
dicho, cada oveja con su pareja. (p. 39)

 

21Salvador‘Camacho Roldan, Estudios. Seleccién

Samper Ortega. vol. XLIV (Bogota: EdIET—Minerva, 1937),
90.

40

But, Manuela is more than witty and proud. She is
a cook and a nurse, she is a washerwoman and a dancing
partner, she is a confidante and an advisor:
Ella era compasiva en las desgracias, asi como era
burlona en las que se trataba de chanzas y palabras
ociosas. (p. 133)

or as don Demostenes tells her:
Hay en ti una mezcla de candor y malicia que mantiene
en perpetuo éxtasis a tus . . . amigos. Tienes el
abandono y la inocencia de una nifia junto con la
dignidad de una reina. (p. 439)

The portrait of Manuela contrasts vividly with that
of don Demostenes. Manuela is warm and generous and truly
friendly while don Demostenes is only able to speak of these
qualities, which he believes in in principle, but does not
exercise. Although this contrast is intentional it reveals
one of the author's few lapses into the romantic tradition.
It was part of that tradition that goodness and virtue were
more likely to be found in the country and in the so-called
common man than in the city with its sophisticated and
liberal inhabitants.

We know that Diaz did not have a very extensive
education. Neither is there any evidence that he read a

great deal or that he was familiar with the Spanish, French

or English costumbrista writers. Diaz's costumbrismo seems

 

to be predicated upon his own observations which he recorded
copiously and descriptively. Referring to the fact that
Diaz did not have an extensive education Antonio Gomez

Restrepo has said that Diaz:

 

‘LT' ‘
. ..
,_.

debio 11155 a
escribio en
cion imperi;
pero sin la
literato.

 

Charact
following descr

La edad de
conprobada I
brazos, he:
la firmeza
andamio, o
suspensa e:
logrado de:
y delicado-
por no hab

 

  
     
 
   
 

This a
throughout the
an intimate d
momentarily 1
Character del
Practically n
Simple and st)
or of a build

characters (E

 

 

41

debi6 mas a su ingenio nativo que a sus conocimientos y
escribio en medio de ocupaciones rfisticas, por inclina-
ci6n imperiosa de su talento perspicaz y observador,
pero sin la menor pretensién de obtener fama como
literato.22
Characteristic of his attention to details is the
following description of a chair:
La edad de la silla, hasta de ochenta afios, esta bien
comprobada por las muchas heridas que muestra en los
brazos, hecha con alevosia las mas (y con navaja) y por
la firmeza de su constitucion, pues sirviendo de
andamio, o puente, o receptaculo para pesados cuerpos,
suspensa entre el angulo de la pared y el suelo, no han
logrado desarmarla, como a muchos taburetes raquiticos
y delicados, que yacen en los zarzos 0 en los ceniceros
por no haber resistido a esa cruel operacion. (p. 16)
This attention to minor details is prevalent
throughout the novel. On more than one occasion Diaz gives
an intimate description of an insignificant object and
momentarily loses track of the story. Plot develOpment,
character delineation and psychological penetration are
practically nonexistent. The story, as we have seen, is
simple and straightforward. There is no element of suspense
or of a building to a climax. There are too many minor
characters (nor Dimas, Rosa, Cecilia, dofia Patrocinio, Pia,
Marta, José Fitaté, Clotilde, don Eloy, Matea and Paula)
who do not add substantially to the story. None the less,

on the subject of costumbrista literature José Manuel

Marroqufn, a contemporary of Diaz, wrote that:

 

22Gomez Restrepo, 146.

42

Un articulo de costumbres es la naracién de uno o mas
sucesos, de los comunes y ordinarios, hecha en tono
ligero, y salpicada de observaciones picantes y chistes
de todo género. De esta narraci6n ha de resultar o una
pintura viva y animada de la costumbre de que se trata,
o juntamente con esta pintura, la demostracion de lo
malo 0 de lo ridiculo que haya en ella: mas esta demo-
stracfin han de hacerla los hechos por si solos, sin que
el autor tenga que introducir reflexiones o diserta-
cines morales para advertir a1 lector cual es la con-
clusion que debe sacar de lo que ha leido.23

Manuela is in accord with this assessment in that
Diaz satirizes a political type which he considers ridic—
ulous. Also he allows the novel to reveal those qualities
which he considers bad or ridiculous in the various charac-
ters. The story is not animated but for a man of Diaz's
limited education it is an outstanding achievement. His
social and political insights are greater than his artistic
ability and in lieu of characterization he relies upon a
wealth of details to hold the reader's attention.

The novel is built around don Demostenes. As he
visits the various other characters or goes from one place
to another he records the things that he sees. Many of the
chapter headings point out the object to be described in
that chapter,.for example: Chapter I, La Posada de Mal—
Abrigo: Chapter II, La Parroquia: Chapter V, El Trapiche
del Retiro: Chapter VIII, La Casa de un Ciudadano; and

Chapter xx, Ambalema. Along with the description of houses

 

23José Manuel Marroquin, Retorica y_poética.
Seleccion Samper Ortega. vol. IV (Bogota: Edit. Minerva,
1935), 99.

43

and buildings and towns, Diaz also describes the dress of

the peOple, their jobs, holidays like San Juan, the forests

and flowers, and even includes a little history:
Les oia referir muchos casos que habian sucedido
durante la esclavitud, de esclavas muertas por venganza
de sus sefioras: de cadenas arrestradas por los esclavos:
de peones despedazados por los caballos de los mayor-
domos; de esclavitas perseguidas por sus amos; de
grillos, rejo, palizas. . . . (pp. 205—206)

The description of the peOple in Ambalema shows how
observant the author is and how he is able to make a passage
interesting as well as informative.

los proletarios y mercachifles de todos los cantones, y
de todos los colores, y de todas las razas, con excep-
cion de la anglosajona, y entre ellos los afamados
bogas, llenaban la calle . . . los rostros eran morenos
en la generalidad . . . es notable como se han cruzado
las razas en estos pueblos. Ya no se veia sino uno que
otro tipo de las tres razas madres, la blanca, la
indigena y la africana. (pp. 261 & 268)

The triple repetition of the pronoun todo has a
pleasing alliterative effect as well as accumulating mod-
ifiers for the two nouns, los proletarios and mercachifles.
After creating the accumulative effect of todos, todos,

todas he counteracts it with con excepcién. Then, instead

 

of going on to say that only a few pure whites, indians or
Negroes are seen in Ambalema, he expresses the same idea
more poetically by speaking of the "tres razas madres, la
blanca, la indigena y la africana."

Another passage which reveals the poetic capabil-
ities of the author is the scene where don Demostenes first

meets Manuela:

44

El sitio era pintoresco . . . las ondas azules matizadas
por la espuma de jabén, como el cielo por las estrellas
en una noche de diciembre, se movian en arcos paralelos
. . . se veian las sombras de las tupidas guaduas que
circundaban el chorro, con sus cogollos atados por las
bejucadas de gulupas y nechas, cuyas frutas y flores
colgaban prendidas de sus largos pedfinculos como lam-
parillas de iglesia en tiempo de aguinaldos. (p. 34)

This passage reveals the full sc0pe of Diaz's crea-
tive ability. Not only does he show originality in speaking
of the "ondas azules matizadas por la espuma de jabon"
(blue waves and soap suds are not a usual association) but
he goes on to complete the metaphor by comparing the ondas
azules with "el cielo por las estrellas en una noche de
diciembre." This is very expressive writing for a person
who had the limited education of Diaz. He speaks of the
"sombras de las tupidas guaduas" rather than the guaduas
themselves, thereby creating the illusion of the shadows on
the water. And he completes the passage with another
metaphor comparing the hanging frutas y flores to lampar-
illas de iglesia en tiempo de aguinaldos.

There are other passages which reveal the author as
humorous, sentimental, satirical and caustic. The metaphor.
is his most frequent figure of speech and it is used lib-
erally, as in this sentence:

Tal es el prestigio de los tiranos, que aturden la
cabeza de sus victimas con la astucia, e1 engafio y el
terror, como los gatos a las avecitas que persiguen y

como el boa a los cuadrfipedos que se ponen a su alcance.
(p. 223)

45

Here Diaz uses two similes to reenforce the triple
stratagems of astucia, engafio and terror which tyrants use
to bewilder their victims. And the allusion is enhanced by

comparing it with cats that attack avecitas rather than

 

pajaros, making the contrast greater, and it is skillfully
completed by conjuring up the crushing and inescapable power
of the boa. As these passages illustrate, Diaz was able to
write creative and artistic prose.

The tone of the novel is satirical in its treatment
of the protagonist don Demostenes but the author does not
become polemical. His approach to the novel is composed
and serious. The language is temperate. The narration is
straightforward and is a sober study of the author's envi-
ronment. It is a study which reveals a society in flux, a
society in which primitive and feudal ways were receding
before the encroaches of civilization. At times the picture
becomes animated (such as the description of the festival
of San Juan) and the description of nature, of the forests
and rivers, can be compared with the descriptions found in

Jorge Isaac's Maria (1867) and José E. Rivera's La voragine

 

(1924). For example:

Los cedros y nogales, los botundos y los ocobos de tan
bellas flores, levantandose a1 cielo daban a1 bosque un
aspecto de agradable melancolfa, que lejos de aterrar
embelesaba, porque es un hecho que entre la naturaleza
animal y la vegetal existen relaciones . . .‘en algunos
sitios se hallaban como almacenados los montones de la
fruta llamada castana, cubierta de una cascara parecida
a la del cacao, que tiene la consistencia y el sabor
del haba. (p. 66)

46

In this passage we again see that Diaz seldom relies
on just one noun and one modifier to make his point. He
often uses two or more subjects and modifiers to reénforce
his image. Here he writes of cedros and nogales and
botundos and ocobos in order to create the impression of
the forest. He then describes these trees as "levantandose
a1 cielo" which creates an image of great height and maj-
esty. He then furthers the impression of a forest by making

the unusual association of agradable and melancolia which

 

 

is a very effective conceit in this context. Another usage
of the author's is the juxtaposition of opposite ideas in
order to enhance the value of the thought that he is ex-
pressing. Thus, lejos de aterrar counteracts with embele-

saba thereby intensifying the significance of embelesaba.

 

He completes the passage with a description of other ob-
jects found in the forest.

Eugenio Diaz is important because he was one of the
first novelists in all of Spanish America to use autoch-
tonous material. When he wrote Manuela in 1866, other
Spanish American novelists had not yet begun to write about
the indigenous themes of the land, the forests, the people,
the political problems or about the civil wars. Only the
distinguished Chilean author, Alberto Blest Gana, had begun

a realistic portrayal of Spanish American society before

47

Diaz wrote Manuela.24 Other authors had written about the

South American indian in a largely romantic vein.(archetypa1
of this genre is Cumanda, 0 un drama entre salvajes, 1871,
by the Ecuadorian author Juan Leon Mera). Also the noted
Argentine statesman, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, had written
about the gaucho and the clash between what he called civ-
ilization and barbarism in his study of the tyrant Facundo
Quiroga (Vida de Juan Facundo Quiroga, o CiviliZacion y

barbarie, 1845) but he is not generally considered a novel-

 

ist. Thus, while Blest Gana was writing largely about
urban areas, Diaz focused his attention on rural life.
Curcio Altamar has stated that:

hay que abonarle a1 costumbrismo el haber puesto su

mira, con entusiasmo patridticoé en captar las notas

distintivas de la nac1onalidad.

Diaz does not dwell in the past or recreate legends.

He takes the society around him and describes it. It was
his dictum that "105 articulos de costumbres son e1 suple-
mento de la historia de los pueblos." (p. 314) Such an
approach to writing was completely new in Colombian litera-
ture. Consequently, many of the characters portrayed in
Manuela appear for the first time as literary subjects in
Colombia. For example, e1 gamonal, the plantation workers

and the Negro.

 

24Alberto Blest Gana, following the models of Balzac
and Stendhal, wrote his first novel, Una escena social, in
1853.

 

25Curcio Altamar, 129.

48

These are some of the elements which help to con-
stitute Colombian society and it is upon these elements,
along with the use of the land and the people's customs,
that Diaz builds his novel. It is a novel firmly based on
the realities of mid-nineteenth century Colombia. The
tinterillo and the priest, the peasant and the Negro were
all part of the national reality. It was the incorporation
of all of these elements into his novel which laid a foun-
dation for a national novel in Colombia. In this regard,
it is significant that Diaz chose a Negress as the heroine
of his story.

Yet, the theme of race and color is not seriously
developed in Manuela. The characterization of Manuela is
quite different from that which was customarily given to

Negroes in the nineteenth century.26

Except for an infre-
quent reference to her color there is nothing that would

make us suspect that Manuela is not white. The author has
portrayed Manuela just as he would portray any other char-

acter. He avoided the all-too-frequent stereotypes into'

which Negro characters were cast.

 

261n the American ante-bellum South the Negro had
already been stereotyped as faithful but lazy, happy-go-
lucky but prone to lying and to stealing by the first half
of the past century. See Swallow Barn (1832) by John P.
Kennedy, Recollections of a Southern Matron (1836) by
Caroline H. Gilman or Méllichampe (1836) by William Gilmore
Simms.

 

 

49

This is important because in writing a national

novel Diaz wanted to depict the reality of the nation and
not foster racial propaganda. He also wanted to emphasize
the similarity between people and not the differences.
From his point of View the Negro was so obviously a part of
Colombia that he did not need to be singled out for special
attention. It is equally-important that as a white author
writing about Colombia he did not overlook the Negro.

Diaz probably inherited the tendency to idealize
rural characters and landscapes from the romantic movement.
However, Manuela's role could just as easily have been
assigned to a white character; therefore, it is still lit-
erarily significant that he chose a Negress. She could
very easily have been portrayed as the "exotic primitive"
or especially as the "tragic mulatto" as a consequence of
her suffering. Fortunately, the author avoids these
pitfalls.

All too often the Negro character has been treated
from a polemical point of view, whether it be pro or con.
In this regard Diaz resisted the predominant trend of his
era--an era during which the Civil War was being fought in
the United States (with slavery as a key issue) and when
abolition was being hotly debated in both Cuba and Brazil.

Undoubtedly, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet

 

Beecher Stowe was the greatest anti-slavery novel ever

written but it had the unfortunate secondary effect of

50

strengthening the stereotyped roles assigned to Negroes.27

In Brazil, Pinheiro Guimaraes wrote 0 Comendador (1856),

 

Xavier Eyma published Francina (1861) and Vicente Felix.de

Castro authored Os Homens de Sangue ou os Sorimentos de

 

Escravidao (1873) all of which follow Mrs. Stowe's lead.

 

In Cuba, Francisco: The Plantation, or The Delights of

Country Life (1839, but not published until 1880) by Anselmo

 

Suarez Romero, E1 Negro Francisco (1873) by Mario Zambrana,

Cecilia Valdés (1839, 1882) by Cirilo Villaverde and Sab

 

(1841) by Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda are all in the same
tradition. In Colombia the novel was able to develop with-
out the polemical pro and anti-Negro controversy.

It is quite obvious that Diaz was attuned to his
times. We have already seen that the questions he raised
were all major problems of the day. Thus, historical cir-
cumstance and his political theses (equality) would make it
unlikely that he would dwell on racial differences but
rather the absence of the same. The Negro is there because
the themes of nationalism and localism call for him to be
there. Otherwise, there is no attempt to understand or to
explore the black psyche.

As a realistic portrayal of Negro life the absence

of racial differences is a shortcoming of the novel. The

 

27See, for example, Thomas Nelson Page's In Ole
VirginiaLfior Marse Chan and Other Stories (1887) or Thomas
Dixon‘s The Clansman (1905) which is the vicious culmination
of this racist literature.

 

51

realism of Manuela is not real by reason of omission of the
question of race relations. Equality as a central theme
loses most of its merit by the paradoxical evasion of the
most important area of potential equality—-that of whites
and non-whites. It is admirable that the author should.
want to present his Negro characters merely as constituent
members of the society, however, it is a fact that the
person of African descent is not merely another citizen.

He was brought to America to be a slave and for approx- g
imately three hundred years he was a slave. His presence

in Colombian society has been stigmatized by his past his-

 

tory. Manuela fails to deal with this important subject.

Just as don Demostenes fails to come to grips with
the central problems of the village and find a solution for
them, Diaz fails to come to grips with the fundamental
question of racial equality. There is a great deal of
potential in this theme that the.author could have devel-
Oped without turning his novel into a polemic or a pan-
egyric. Even the effectiveness of Manuela as a foil for
don Demostenes is lessened somewhat because it is obvious
that she too is a stereotype and that she does not reflect
the true position of the Colombian Negro.

Finally, Manuela is idealistic. Idealistic in the
sense that Diaz has portrayed a society in his novel that
Colombia has been unable to obtain in reality. That is, a

society in which a Negro can live and can be written about

52

without any special reference to the fact that he is a
Negro. In this regard Manuela differs radically from all
other Colombian novels in which a Negro is a major charac-
ter. Not only does it differ thematically from the contem-
porary novel but it also differs from the other novels of
the nineteenth century. We shall see this difference in

the novels of Jorge Isaacs and Eustaquio Palacios.

CHAPTER II

NEGRO CHARACTERIZATION IN THE ROMANTIC NOVEL:

MARIA AND EL ALFEREZ REAL

The romantic movement in Colombian literature did
not produce a novel with a major Negro character. However,
it is significant to this study to observe how this impor--
tant literary trend depicted the Negro. For this purpose I
have selected for examination two of the outstanding Colom-
bian novels of this tendency. They.are M3££3_(1867) by
Jorge Isaacs and El alférez real (1886) by Eustaquio
Palacios.

Jorge Isaacs was born in Cali, April 1, 1837. He
was the youngest of the nine children of Jorge Enrique
Isaacs, an English Jew, and dofia Manuela Ferrer y Scarpetta.
The elder Isaacs was a successful planter and, in 1855, had
acquired the estate of "El Paraiso" (which in later years
would serve as the focal point of the novel M3322). In
1848 young Jorge Isaacs went to Bogota to continue his
education and remained there five years. During this period
his father's business ventures went bad and the family's
financial situation deteriorated. The civil war of E1 Cauca

(1860) completed the financial ruin of the family and

53

 

 

54

Isaacs, in spite of the popularity of Maria, was never able
to recoup the lost fortune. He took an active part in
politics and fought in the civil wars. He served as a
diplomatic representative to Chile (1871-1872) and worked
intermittently as a superintendent of public education..
The critic Fernando Alegria sees in Isaac's life the sym-
bolization of that "liberalismo dinamico, de accién aris-
tocratica, inspirada . . . que caracteriza a los mas
ilustres roménticos de su época."1 Isaacs died on April
17, 1895 in Ibagfié.

M§££3_(1867) was written one year after Eugenio
Diaz's Manuela. This was a period during which the roman-
tic novel had begun to decline (as is perceived in Diaz's
Manuela and the novels of Alberto Blest Gana in Chile) and
was evolving toward the costumbrista novel. Curcio Altamar
classifies §E££2.1n the category of "La Novela del Post-
Romanticismo."2 Maria, however, contains many of the
elements of the typical romantic novel: sentimentalism,
melancholy, presentiments of tragedy, the introduction of
an exotic element (the story of the Africans Nay and Sinar),

the use of local color and popular customs and the sensitive

 

lFernando Alegria, Historia de la Novela Hispano-
americana (Mexico: Andrea, 1966), 42-43.

2

 

Curcio Altamar, Evolucion de la novela . . ., 97-
122.

 

55

depiction of the landscape. Arturo Torres-Rioseco calls
Maria "la verdadera obra maestra de la escuela romantica
sentimental."3

Isaacs was not, however, unaware of the new literary-

trend (costumbrismo) and Maria contains several costumbrista

 

sketches. Mario Carvajal says that after José Maria Vergara
y Vergara had introduced Isaacs to the Mosaico group, Isaacs
"salio . . . contagiado del fervor costumbrista de sus
padrinos y mecenas . . . y regreso, a1 Valle a hacer, él
también, su novela de costumbres."4 Carvajal hypothesizes

that Isaacs had set out to write another novel in the

 

costumbrista manner but that because of his poetic sensi-

 

bilities the work "se le escapé de las manos y se insta16

O I O 5
en alturas de dominio universal."

The source of inspiration for the figure of Maria
has never been ascertained and has been a subject of lit-

erary discussion since the novel was first published.6 It

 

3Arturo Torres Rioseco, Historia de la literatura
Iberoamericana (New York: Las Americas, 1965), 77.

4Mario Carvajal, introduction to Maria (Cali:
Biblioteca de la Universidad del Valle, 1967), xi-xii. All
references in the text will be from this edition.

5

 

Ibid., xiii.

6See Eduardo Posada, "Personajes de la novela
Maria," Boletin de Historia y Antigfiedades (Bogota), XIV
(I923), 506-509 and Luis DeIgado Martinez, "aQuién fue la
Maria que inspiré a Jorge Isaacs?," Revista de America,
XXI, Nos. 63-64 (abril-mayo, 1950), 65-80.

56

now seems certain that Isaacs had a cousin who was born in
Jamaica, who might have come to Colombia, and who died
quite young.7 Also the influence on M§££3_of the French
novels Paul et Virginie (1784) by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
and Atala (1801) by Francois René de Chateaubriand has been
a frequent subject of literary commentary.8 Literary crit-
ics have also discussed the possible existence of a real

9 10

the artistic value of the novel, and the theme of

11

Maria,
love in Maria.
One aspect of Maria which the critics have not dis-

cussed is the role and portrayal of the Negro characters.

 

7For a more complete study of the life of Isaacs
and the background of Maria see Enrique Anderson Imbert's..
introduction to Maria Mex1co: Fondo de Cultura Economica,
1951) and Mario Carvajal, Vida ypasion de Jorge Isaacs
(Santiago de Chile: Ercilla, 1937).

8Isaacs recognizes his debt to Chateaubriand within
the novel itself when he has Efrain read from Atala and the
Genio del cristianismo (Maria chaps. XII, XIII and XXXIV);
however, it has never been conclusively established whether
or not he was familiar with Paul et Virginie. See Anderson
Imbert, Maria, XIX, who says that "no hay pruebas de que
Isaacs leyera a Saint-Pierre; tampoco las hay de que no lo
leyera" and J. Warshaw, "Jorge Isaacs' library: Light on
two Maria problems," Romanic Review, XXXII, No. 4 (Dec.,

1941), 399-398.

9Enrique Martinez Delgado, "éQuién inspiré a don
Jorge Isaacs su novela Maria?," Revista Javeriana (Bogota),
XXXIII, No. 185 (junio, 1950), 284-287.

loConcha Meléndez, "El arte de Jorge Isaacs en
Maria," Asomante, I, No. 2 (1945), 69-86.

1lMaria J. Embieta, "El tema del amor imposible en
Maria de Jorge Isaacs," Revista Iberoamericana, XXXII, No.
61 (enero-junio, 1966), 109-112.

 

 

 

57

Negroes appear in two major settings in Maria. First, they
comprise the principal characters in the interpolated story
of Nay and Sinar and, secondly, they are the slaves and
freedmen who live on and around the estate of El Paraiso.12
The depiction of these characters reflects the romantic
sensibilities of the author. The description of their
lives is replete with stereotypes and is typical of the
romanticized picture of life often associated with the "Old

South" of the United States. We shall see that this pas-

toral setting in which masters and slaves live in complete

W-uuhnuh __.
s ' ' A ‘ a: ‘9‘“,
_ n

harmony is just as idealized as the love of Efrain and Maria.
Efrain and Maria are the principal characters of

the novel. Briefly the story tells of Efrain's return home,

after six years away at school, to find that love has

bloomed between him and Maria. The joy of their innocent.

love is disturbed by the news that Efrain will soon have to

depart for Europe to continue his studies and also by the

delicate condition of Maria's health. In view of his

father's insistence, Efrain unwillingly goes to London.

There he receives an urgent message calling him home but he

arrives too late. Maria has died. This brief outline of

 

12Donald F. Brown, "Chateaubriand and the Story of.
Feliciana in Jorge Isaacs' Maria," Modern Language Notes,
LXII, No. 5 (May, 1947), 326-329 has studied this inter-
polated story from the aspect of what he considers to be
Isaacs' own version of the tale of Atala. He does not
consider character portrayal.

 

58

the plot does not do the novel justice but most critics
agree that it is not the story but the telling of it which
makes M§£i2_a great novel.13

Interpolated into the story of Maria and Efrain is
the history of Nay and Sinar. This tale is completely
extraneous to the plot of Maria and is reminiscent of the
intercalated divagations that Cervantes made in his 223 .
Quijote. Nay is the African name of the ex-slave Feliciana.
Efrain uses the occasion of her illness and approaching
death to recount the unhappy story of her life.

Nay was the daughter of a successful and powerful
Ashanti general. She falls in love with Sinar who is a
prisoner and slave of her father, Magmahfi. Nay pleads for
the life of Sinar and after a defeat by the English army
Magmahfi pardons Sinar and the three of them flee to another
kingdom. Sinar is converted to Christianity by a missionary
and he in turn imparts his faith to Nay. A sumptuous wed-
ding is planned for them. However, on their wedding night
an enemy tribe attacks and, having caught them off guard,
they slay Magmahfi and take Nay and Sinar prisoners. The
two are taken to the coast and sold to a slave trader. .Nay

is separated from Sinar and brought to Colombia where she is

 

13See Curcio Altamar, 112, who says that "la novela
de Isaacs recogié artisticamente esta simpatia hacia la
melancolica sentimentalidad y escenificé en el Cauca un
idilio juvenil mas puro que el de Atala."

 

59

purchased and given her freedom by Efrain's father. She
never sees Sinar again.

This is only the outline of this short story but I
shall examine some parts of it more closely to see how
Isaacs depicts his African setting. One of the salient
features of the novel Maria is the excellent portrayal of
nature and its blending with the story of the two young
lovers. In this interpolated story the lack of geographic
description is notable. When Isaacs is describing the
Valley of the Cauca he gives an exact portrayal of the
scenery. For example:

De alli para adelante las selvas de las riberas fueron

ganando en majestad y galanura: los grupos de palmeras

se hicieron mas frecuentes: veiase la pambil de recta

columna manchada de pfirpura; 1a milpesos frondosa brin-
dando en sus raices el delicioso fruto: la chontadura y

guatle: distinguiéndose entre todas [sic] la naidi de

flexible tallo e inquieto plumaje, por un no sé qué de

coqueto y virginal que recuerda talles seductores y

esquivos. (p. 371)

On the other hand, the events in the episode about

Nay and Sinar occur without any direct relationship to the
physical environment. Isaacs tells us that the setting is
in West Africa and he mentions the names of some rivers
(Tando, Gambia) and tribes (Ashanti, Achimi, Kombu-Manez,
Cambez) but there is no elaboration as in the above quota-
tion. There is nothing that would distinguish the locale
of this story as being African. Furthermore, the dress,

the customs and the music are not described as they are in

the wedding scene for Bruno and Remigia or the episode of

“‘1-
If

_,_,._..__
N __ 4.. AMI"
.I h ‘
._-.
k...

A

 

60

the boatmen who carry Efrain up the river Dagua. Since
Isaacs cannot depend upon the fidelity of his descriptions
to convince the reader that this episode is true he adds a

footnote in which he quotes the well-known Historia Univer-

 

§21}4 of César Cantu to substantiate the veracity of what
he says.

If, however, this episode does not include a de-
tailed description of local customs what it does have is
movement and action. The story of the battles and of the
escape has an animation and verve that the idyll of Efrain
and Maria does not have. We are given a picture of Magmahfi
going to war and defeating his arch-enemy. We see him
capture slaves and become his king's premier general. But
then we witness a sudden reversal of fortune. The defeat,
the flight and the capture follow in rapid order.. This
quick—paced narrative of adventure and misfortune enlivens
the lethargic, foreboding main story.

The characters themselves lack any psychological
depth and their primary function is to add an exotic element
to the novel as we see in the description of Sinar. We are
told that he has "1a tez fivea," that he wears "1a guarnicién
de un sable turco cefiido con un chal rojo de Zerbi" (p. 247)
and that he bathes his body with sweet-smelling oils. This

description reveals an intermingling of Arab customs along

 

l4Madrid: Biblioteca Ilustrada de Gaspar Roig,

1856.

 

61

with the African which was not unusual in the African coun-
tries immediately south of the Sahara desert. It has also
led to the supposition by some critics that Sinar is not an

African but a Moor.15

However, an ignorance of African
history, culture and peoples gives a confused interpretation
of this point. Many Africans (and being African is not
synomous with being black as these critics would seem to
impute) south of the Sahara had adOpted Moslem customs and
practices and Sinar does not have to be a Moor in order to
exercise these customs.16
Nay and Sinar appear to be no more than the embod-
iment of "exotic primitive" stereotype. The exotic element
was a frequent feature of the romantic novel (for Chateau-
briand it was the North American indian) and, as the noted
critic Enrique Anderson Imbert says: "e1 exotismo era un
rasgo tan tipicamente romantico que Isaacs no quiso renun-
ciar a él: y nos dio el cuento de Nay y Sinar en marco

africano."l7

The story of Nay and Sinar is an exotic
African equivalent to the idyll of Maria and Efrain. We
have the same situation of the truncated love of a young

couple with one partner forever separated from the other.

 

15See Mario Carvajal, Maria, 245.

16See Donald L. Wiedner, A Historygof Africa South
of the Sahara (New York: Vintage, 1962), 32-40.

17Anderson Imbert, Maria (Mexico, 1951), xxi.

62

Nay is pictured as beautiful, charming and during
the wedding festivities as having "humillado durante seis
dias con sus galas y encantos a las mas bellas esposas y
esclavas de los Kombu-Manez" (p. 260). However, Isaacs
must not have conceived her as being too intelligent because
after she has been enslaved and brought to America she is
able to learn only a little Spanish "merced a la constancia
con que se empefiaba Gabriela (her mistress) en ensefiarle su
lengua." (p. 267) In contrast to this, however, is Nay's
almost complete understanding of the meaning of slavery and
the significance of being sent to North America as opposed
to, for example, going to a non-English speaking area, the
Spanish or Portuguese colonies where there was a possibility
of obtaining freedom.

In fact, it is Nay's intention to kill her baby
rather than have him raised as a slave. This is one of the
few scenes in the novel where sincere emotion appears to
conquer the author's romantic and idealistic tendencies.
When Nay is brought to America the slave trader does not
immediately sell her because she is expecting a baby and
"su senor esperaba realizarla major una vez que naciera e1
manumiso." (p. 268) Once the child has been born the trader
decides to sell Nay to a North American. Nay pleads with
the father of Efrain, who happened to be stopping at the
trader's inn, not to allow her to be sold away to the United

States where she knows that a legal and lifelong slavery

 

 

63

would await her and her child. The father buys her and
then tells her that she and her child are free.

Perhaps this gesture is less noble than it seems.
The father knows that according to the Constitution of

182118

the importation of slaves into Colombia was illegal
and that according to the law, if not in fact, Nay was
already free. Isaacs does not picture slavery as a cruel
and inhumane institution. He accepts the existence of
slavery and fails to see the moral injustice of it. He is
more shocked that the trader "negociaba . . . con sangre de
reyes" (p. 268) than with the fact that he "negociaba."
This view seems to be corroborated when the father states
that the trader's wife committed an "imprudencia" when she
let Nay know the date of her arrival in Colombia. This
implies that Nay might have been able to seek legal redress
if the father had wanted to keep her as a slave.

The interlude of Nay and Sinar appears to be no
more than a digression by the author to add color and move-
ment to the novel. It is an exotic tale with a lot of
action compressed into a few pages. As is the case with
Efrain and Maria the author has made no attempt to probe
the psychology of these secondary personages. It is doubt-

ful that Isaacs ever conceived of them as real, living

 

18Actually it was the Constitucién de Cartagena de
las Indias (June, 1812) which prohibited the importation of
slaves into Colombia as a commercial venture.

64

individuals. Nay and Sinar are used to embellish the action
and to add a dreamlike quality of "palacios de oro" (p. 274)
as Efrain says. This interpolated story contains most of
the aforementioned elements of the romantic novel.

The other Negro characters in Maria are portrayed
in much the same manner as Nay and Sinar. Their way of
life is depicted as one in which supposedly the slaves were
contented and gayly sang through the work day and gathered
around the campfire at night to exchange Uncle Remus tales.

One of the first reflections that Efrain makes is
that "103 esclavos, bien vestidos y contentos hasta donde
es posible estarlo en la servidumbre, eran sumisos y afec-
tuosos para con su amo."(p. 20) This acceptance of their
status by the slaves seems to be owing to the fact that the
father, "sin dejar de ser amo, daba un trato carifioso a sus
esclavos, se mostraba celoso por la buena conducta de sus
esposas y acariciaba a los nifios." (p. 21) Certainly not
all masters were cruel and disinterested in the welfare of
their bondsmen; however, the successive accumulation of
idyllic elements as pertains to slavery is absolutely con-

trary to the history of the "peculiar" institution.19

 

19The best history of how slaves lived and were
treated is Kenneth M. Stammp's The Peculiar Institution
(New York: KnOpf, 1956). See also Jaime Jaramillo Uribe,
"Esclavos y sefiores en la sociedad colombiana del siglo
XVIII," Anuariogglombiano de historiagy de la cultura, I,
No. l (1963), 3-55.

65

This picture is no more accurate for Colombia than
it was for our own Southland. The daily life of the slave
in Colombia was just as exacting as that of slaves in other
countries. Racial harmony did not exist and, although
slavery was ultimately abolished peacefully, full social

and political equality did not automatically accrue to the

former bondsmen.20

The description of the wedding of the slaves Bruno
and Remigia is the first costumbrista sketch that Isaacs
gives. The dance which accompanies the ceremony is lively
and colorful:

Cuando llegamos, Julian, e1 esclavo capitan de la
cuadrilla, salié a . . . recibir nuestros caballos.
Estaba lujoso con su vestido de domingo y le pendia de
la cintura e1 largo machete de guarnicién plateada

. . . No habia sino dos flautas de cafia, un tambor
improvisado, dos alfandoques y una pandereta; pero las
finas voces de los negritos entonaban los bambucos con
maestria tal; habia en sus cantos tan sentida combi-
nacion de melancélicos, alegres y ligeros acordes; los
versos que cantaban eran tan tiernamente sencillos, que
el mas culto dilettante hubiera escuchado en éxtasis
aquella mfisica semisalvaje . . . bailaban en ese momento
Remigia y Bruno; ella con follao de boleros azules,
tumbadillo de flores rojas, camisa blanca bordada de
negro y gargantilla y zarcillos de cristal color de
rubi . . . Bruno, doblados sobre los hombros los pafios
de su ruana de hilo, calzén de vistosa manta, camisa
blanca aplanchada y un cabiblanco nuevo a la cintura,
zapateaba con destreza admirable. (pp. 22-23)

 

 

20For a more complete treatment of slavery and its
aspects in Spanish America see David B. Davis, The Problem
of Slavery in Western Culture (Ithaca, New York: CorneII
Univ. Press, 1966), 224-243; James F. King, "Negro Slavery
in New Granada," Greater America: Essays in Honor of H. E.
Bolton (Berkeley: Univ. of California, 1945), 295-318; and
Jaramillo Uribe, Anuario colombiano de historia . . .,
(1963), 22-25.

 

66

In this description Isaacs captures the color
(azul, rubi, roja, blanca) and the mood (lujoso, alegres,
éxtasis) of the occasion. The description of the dancing
is intermingled with the stream of colors and music and we
are caught up in the atmosphere of the festivities. This
is the art of Isaacs. He captures the essence of a scene
rather than merely elaborating the objects that he sees.

Isaacs uses Negro characters to add variety and
color to the novel. The melancholy advance towards tragedy
is interspersed with a number of diversions in order to
lessen the gravity of the story. The story of Nay and Sinar
is an example of these interludes. Another of these epi-
sodes would be the encounter with the enticing and vibrant
Salomé:

. . . aquellos dientes de blancura inverosimil, com-
pafieros inseparables de hfimedos y amorosos labios: sus
mejillas mostraban aquel sonrosado que en las mestizas
de cierta tez escapa por su belleza a toda comparacion

. . . le temblaba la suelta cabellera sobre los hombros,
y se estiraban los pliegues de su camisa blanca y
bordada. (pp. 315-316)

This sensual description of Salomé by Efrain is
part of Isaac's insight. Even though Efrain is devoted to
Maria he still notices the appearance of other women. He
is a youth on whom "humedos y amorosos labios" and "1a
suelta caballera" would make an impression even if he is
immune to the "mil encantos" of Salomé.

The white characters in the novel display a great

deal of concern for the Negroes and an idyllic harmony

67

reigns between the two groups. The servants cry when Efrain
leaves for school and are happy when he returns. The
mulatto Lorenzo is "amado por toda la familia." (p. 359)

and Efrain states that Feliciana was "amada de mi madre,
quien la distinguié siempre con especial afecto y consid-
eracion." (p. 273) Finally, we have seen that the father
treated his slaves with a "trato carifioso."

All of these elements contrast with the prevailing
reality of nineteenth century Colombia. James F. King
states that "the common assumption that slaves passively
accepted servitude . . . is no truer in relation to the
mainland areas of Spanish America than elsewhere in the

21

New World." Even for Negroes who were not slaves full

equality was not a reality. In an article dealing with the
period of time encompassed in the novel Randall 0. Hudson
says:

The colored castes received a large measure of polit-
ical and economic, if not social, freedom by 1860.
These advances made them desire more freedom and
created conflict with the whites. The friction between
the whites and the Negroes, tended to limit this prog-
ress, and equality was often more apparent than real.2

 

21James F. King, "Negro History in Continental
Spanish America," Journal of Negro History, XXIX, No. 1
(Jan., 1944), 19.

22Randall 0. Hudson, "The Status of the Negro in
Northern South America, 1820-1860," Journal of Negro
History, XLIX (Oct., 1964), 239.

 

 

68

This side of the picture is evident in the treatment
of the boy, Juan Angel, for whom Efrain expresses "un carifio
especial." He is the son of Feliciana and, although he is
free, he is ordered about in much the same manner as a
slave:

Y tfi éque haces ahi que no te largas, negritico? . . .
Carga con la guambia y vete, para que vuelvas pronto,
porque mas tarde no te conviene andar solo por aqui.
No hay que decir nada allé abajo. ICuidado con no
volverl, 1e grité cuando estaba él del otro lado del
rio. Juan Angel desaparecié entre e1 carrizal como un
guatin asustado. (p. 100)

This treatment is probably typical of that given to
any servant but there is no doubt that he is cast as being
easily frightened and cowardly (even though we know that
his father and grandfather, Sinar and Magmahfi, were great
warriors). Isaacs anticipates the Stepin Fetchit stereo-
type of the Negro whose eyes pop out of his head merely
upon hearing of something dangerous:

Juan Angel dej6 de sudar a1 oir estos pormenores, y
. . . nos veia con ojos tales cual si estuviera oyendo
discutir un proyecto de asesinato. (p. 99)

Nevertheless, a poetic note is often discernible in

the costumbrista sketches. The description of the two Negro

 

boatmen who carry Efrain up the river Dagua shows how the
poetical tone is not lost even when Isaacs narrates the
handling of a canoe:
Tales evoluciones y portentos gimnésticos asombraban
ejecutados por Laurean, aunque él, por su estatura, con

cefiirse una guirnalda de pampanos, habria podido pasar
por el dios del rio. (p. 384)

69

Thus the labor of rowing the boat up the river
becomes "evoluciones y portentos gimnasticos" in the lan-
guage of Isaacs. Such a description makes the chore appear
less like work and more like a ritual, an impression which
is heightened with the comparison of Laurean with "e1 dios
del rio." It is this harmony between the characters and
their activities with the nature around them which the
author mastered. All the elements of the novel combine to
convey an elegiacal mood. In the following verses sung by
the boatmen we are told that the song "armonizaba doloro-
samente con la naturaleza." (p. 368)

Se no junde ya la luna;
Rema, rema.

aQué haré mi negra tan sola?
Llora, llora.

Me coge tu noche escura,
San Juan, San Juan.

Escura como mi negra,
Ni ma, ni ma.

La 16 de s'ojo mio
Der ma, der ma,

Lo relampago parecen,
Boga, boga. (p. 367)

_These verses have a striking similarity to the

"Cancién del Boga Ausente" by the Negro poet Candelario

23

Obeso. Obeso (1849-1884) was a contemporary of Isaacs

and his poetry was well known. The poem by Obeso goes:

Qué trite que eta la noche,
La noche qué trite eta;

No hay en er cielo una etrella
Rema, rema.

 

23See Mario Carvajal who refers to this similarity
in a footnote in Maria, 367.

70

Other stanzas end with the estribillos: éQué haré?

 

éQué hara? . . . iLlora! Llora! . . . Der ma, der ma! . . .
No hay ma, no hay ma! The last stanza is:

Qué ejcura que eta la noche,

La noche qué ejcura eta:
Asina ejcura é la ausencia
Boga, boga! . . .24
Although Isaacs verses are not c0pied from the
"Cancion" it seems likely that he took his inspiration from
Obeso's poem. This seems to be especially true when we
note the similarity in theme of the two poems, absence and
solitude. For example, "Se no junde ya la luna“ by Isaacs
is similar to the line "No hay en er cielo una etrella" by
Obeso. Also the verse "Qué hara mi negra tan sola?" by
Isaacs expresses the same idea as the second stanza of the
"Cancion" which begins "La negra re mi arma mia." Finally,
Isaacs uses almost the same refrains as the Negro poet:
Rema, rema . . . Llora, llora . . . Der ma, der ma . . .
Boga, boga.
It is in this episode involving the Negro boatmen

that the Negro receives the most accurate and artistic
treatment. The superstitions of the boatmen, their skill

as healers of snake bites and other diseases, the descrip-

tion of the home of Bibiano (raised on posts above the

 

24Candelario Obeso, Cantos 0 ul& es de mi tierra
(Bogota: Biblioteca Popular de CuItura COIombiana,~l950),
7. '

 

7l

waters of the Dagua), the danger from poisonous snakes and

the lush vegetation combine to make this one of the most

evocative chapters in the entire book.

Previously, at the funeral for Feliciana, the

mourners had sung the following song:

En oscuro calabozo

Cuya reja a1 sol ocultan
Negros y altos murallones
Que las prisiones circundan;

En que 3610 las cadenas

Que arrastro, e1 silencio turban

De esta soledad eterna

Donde ni el viento se escucha

Muero sin ver tus montafias
30h patrial, donde mi cuna
Se mecio bajos los bosques

Que no cubriran mi tumba. (p. 277)

These three stanzas presented by Isaacs as a slave

hymn are actually romances written by himself.

25 Slave

laments were not only melancholic but also structurally

simple. The subtle analogies (oscuro calabozo, esta

soledad eterna) are atypical of slave songs.

Also this

verse form (which was very popular with romantic poets)

belies the free flowing and melodic Negro verse. It is

ironic that these stanzas are actually less poetic than

many of the prose passages of the novel.

Isaacs is successful in reproducing the language of

the Negroes (as in the song by the boatmen) but he is not

k

25See Mario Carvajal, Maria, 277.

72

consistent. On occasion he omits the aberrations of speech
that Negroes made when they spoke Spanish. He also includes
such traditional forms of address as "mi amo," "sumercé,"
and "e1 nifio Efrain." Isaacs is very conscious of the
language of his characters and as with other aspects of the
novel (landscape, color) he has blended the language of his
personages with the setting.

In comparison with Eugenio Diaz, Isaacs undoubtedly
reflects a different temperament. Isaacs is a sentimental-
ist and injects the full tide of his emotion into Maria.
Diaz is more objective and narrates his story from a more
dispassionate point of View. Isaacs has infused his novel
with the full flow of his sentiment whereas Diaz remained
composed even when describing such painful scenes as the
burning of the church. Both authors achieved an excellent
rendering of the landscape.

In the treatment of its Negro characters Maria is
flawed, as it is throughout the novel, by a lack of psy-
chological depth. A number of the characters represent
stereotypes such as the "exotic primitive" (Nay and Sinar),
the tremulous Negro (Juan Angel) and the sensuous mulatto
(Salomé). Of course, Isaacs was writing a romantic novel
and not trying to portray an exact reality. Some of the
ggstumbrista sketches give very good pictures but, in

essence, "la realidad de la novela es . . . una realidad

73

dentro de la irrealidad de la obra de arte romantica,"26 as

the critic Fernando Alegria has written. We shall see this

combination of realism and romanticism in El alférez real

 

by Eustaquio Palacios.

El alférez real; cr6nicas de Cali en el siglo XVIII
(1886) by Eustaquio Palacios belongs to a group of Colombian
novels which might be designated as historical-romantic.
It is the foremost example of those novels which idealized
past values and were indicative of the social stratification
of Colombian society. The novel is a chronicle of life in
Cali during the latter part of the eighteenth century and
Curcio Altamar calls it "la novela histérica colombiana mas

leida boy."27

The presentation of the customs and tradi-
tions of that epoch is actually highly romanticized and
ennobled. However, the novel is still read today. It has
had eight Colombian editions and it has been adapted as a
reader for American students.28
The scholars Gerald Wade and John Englekirk omitted
an analysis of El alférez real from their study of the
Colombian novel because they considered it sufficiently

29

well known in the United States. Javier Arango Ferrer

 

26Fernando Alegria, Historia de la novela hispano-
americana, 3rd edition (Mexico: Ediciones Andrea, I966), 45.

27Curcio Altamar, 90.

28John L. Fisher edited an edition for American
students: New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1942.

29Wade and Englekirk, 235.

74

has called it "casi tan famosa como Maria de Isaacs."30

Finally, Mario Carvajal calls it "el otro gran libro valle-
caucano" (Jorge Isaacs, the author of Magia, is also from
the Valley of the Cauca and situates his novel there).31
The author, Eustaquio Palacios, was a lawyer, news-
paperman, educator and poet. He was born in Roldanillo in
1830 and died in Bogota in 1898. He studied successively
in Cali, Bogota and Popayan until he obtained a doctorate
in jurisprudence. He served as the rector of the Colegio

de Santa Librada and as a councilman of the city of Cali.

In 1878 he founded the weekly newspaper El Ferrocarril and

 

was its editor until his death. He was also the author of

Lecciones de gramatica y literatura castellana, Explicacion

 

de las oraciones latinas and Elementos de literatura

 

espafiola.

El alférez real was the only novel that Palacios

 

wrote. In it he introduces us to the historical figure of

don Manuel de Caicedo y Tenorio, the "Alférez Real y Regidor
Perpetuo de la muy noble y leal ciudad de Santiago de Cali."
Don Manuel is also the master of the estate of "Cafiasgordas"

where most of the story and the costumbrista descriptions

 

are centered. The portrait of don Manuel is well drawn and

 

30Javier Arango Ferrer, 29s horas de literatura
gglombiana (Medellin: Ediciones La Tertulia, 1963), 54.

31

 

Mario Carvajal, VidagyApasion . . ., 9.

 

75

we are given an analysis of his personality. However, the
unifying theme of the novel is the story of the unconfessed
and impossible love of Daniel for dofia Inés de Lara.

Daniel is secretary to don Manuel and a very bright
and industrious young man. However, he is an orphan and
poor. On the other hand, dofia Inés is also an orphan but
she is rich, and of noble lineage the protégée of don
Manuel. Daniel falls in love with dofia Inés even though he
knows that his love is futile because of the difference in
their social standing. After a series of episodes wherein
both protagonists become seriously ill (allowing the author
to describe the medical practices of the period), Daniel is
impressed into the army and disappears, and dofia Inés de-
cides to enter a convent, the true identity of Daniel is
finally revealed. It turns out that he is the nephew of
don Manuel and, consequently, wealthy and of noble birth.
He and dofia Inés are thereby able to marry and the story
ends happily.

Most of the novel has as its setting the estate of
Cafiasgordas with a few scenes in nearby Cali. It is the
description of life on the plantation and in Cali which
forms the "crénicas" of this novel. Intrinsic to this study
are the descriptions that the author gives of the slave
plantation and also the portrayal of the slaves Fermin,
Andrea and Martina. Andrea is the personal servant of dofia

Inés and Fermin is friendly with Daniel. Martina is

76

Fermin's mother and is also the cook for don Manuel. These
three slaves are more associated with the activities of the
house than with the chores of the field hands. This is
important because the hierarchical social stratification of
colonial Colombian society had its counterpart on the slave
plantation. The slaves who worked in the master's house
considered themselves superior to those who worked in the
fields and the fair complexioned mulatto offspring of the
master considered themselves better than the black Africans.
Consequently:

Martina no se confundia con los demés esclavos (y)
gozaba en la casa de ciertos privilegios.

 

Martina and Andrea "eran las finicas que trataban de
cerca a la sefiorita Inés" (p. 35) and Fermin "en vez de ir
a los trabajos con la cuadrilla, estaba consagrado a la
vaqueria, a servir de paje a sus sefioras, y a acompafiarlas
en los paseos a caballo, y a servirles de mandadero." (p.
35)

All of the activities on the plantation were cen-
tered around and directed from the Big House ("la casa

33

grande"). Don Manuel was the owner of more than two

hundred slaves and these slaves were:

 

32Eustaquio Palacios, El alférez real (Bogota:
Biblioteca de Autores Colombianos, 1954), 35. All refer-
ences are to this edition and the page number will be given
in the body of the text.

33The Big House in tropical Colombia was very sim-
ilar to the Big House in Brazil. Gilberto Freyre in The

 

77

divididos por familias, y cada familia tenia su casa
por separado. Los varones vestian calzones anchos y
cortos de lienzo de Quito, capisayo de lana basta y
sombrero de junco; no usaban camisa. Las mujeres en
vez de la basquifia . . ., se envolvian de la cintura
abajo un pedazo de bayeta de Pasto . . . y cubrian la
cabeza con monteras de pafio 0 de bayeta, hechas de
piezas de diferentes colores. (p. 22)

Many of these Negroes had been born on the planta-

tion but:

habia algunos naturales de Africa, que habian sido
traidos a Cartagena y de alli remitidos al interior _
para ser vendidos a los duefios de minas y haciendas. Fmfl
Estos eran llamados bozales, no entendian bien la lengua ~
castellana, y unos y otros la hablaban malisimamente.

A esa multitud de negros se daba el nombre de cuad-
rilla. . . . (p. 22)

 

Palacios also gives a description of the activities b
on the plantation:

Eran racionados todos los lunes, por familias, con una
cantidad de carne, plétanos y sal prOporcionada a1
nfimero de individuos de que constaba cada una de ellas:
con este fin se mataban cada ocho dias mas de veinte
reses.

Todos esos esclavos, hombres y mujeres, trabajaban
toda la semana en las plantacions de cafia: en el tra-
piche, moliendo la cafia, cociendo la miel y haciendo el
azficar; en los cacaotales y plantanares; en sacar madera
y guadua de los bosques: en hacer cercas y reparar los
edificios: en hacer rodeos cada mes, herrar los terneros
y curar los animales enfermos: y en todo lo demas que
se ocurria. (pp. 22-23)

 

Masters and the Slaves (New York: KnOpf, 1946) gives us
this description ofiit: "The Big House completed by the
slave shed represents an entire economic, social and polit-
ical system: a system of production (a latifundiary mono-
culture); a system of labor (slavery); a system of transport
(the ox cart . . . the horse): a system of religion (a
family Catholicism . . .); a system of sexual and family
life (polygamous patriarchialism): a system of bodily and
household hygiene . . .3 and a system of politics (compad-
rismo)," xxvii. This is almost exactly the structure of
"Cafiasgordas."

78

The contrast in style between Palacios and Isaacs
is immediately noticeable. Palacios rendition of the slave
plantation is a mere listing of the activities and a de-
scription of the slaves. He does not express any emotion
or see any beauty, color or poetry in the activities of
these slaves. His matter-of-fact listing of their activ-
ities is in stark contrast to Isaacs' description of Cortico
and Laurean working on the canoe. This realistic descrip- I
tion of the plantation chores also contrasts with the

romanticized and idealistic story of love between Daniel

 

and dofia Inés. £3
Fermin is aware of Daniel's infatuation and he
offers him whatever support that he can give him.Ie tells him
that "estoy dispuesto a dar por usted mi vida, aunque
ciertamente la vida de un esclavo vale bien poco." (p. 61)
He and Andna serve their masters faithfully and they aid in
the eventual union of the couple by acting as discreet
matchmakers and go-betweens. Fermin and Andrea also love
each other but on an occasion when Daniel asks Fermin if he
hasn't thought about getting married, Fermin responds:
éCasarme? iJamasl Mi madre me ha dicho que viva y
muera soltero: que a su merced 1e duele haberme dado la
vida; que es muy doloroso tener hijos esclavos en
quienes manda otro y no la madre y a quienes castiga
otro a pesar de la madre. (p. 61)
This revelation of what the feelings of a slave

might be towards his servitude is, unfortunately, not

developed further. Fermin continues:

79

Aunque usted no tiene confianza en mi para confesarme
su secreto, yo si la tengo en usted: la finica muchacha
que me gusta y con quien me casaria si ella y yo
fuéramos libres, es Andrea. (p. 62)

This conversation is as far as Palacios delves into
the personality of Fermin or into a discussion of the slaves
attitude toward slavery. It goes farther than Isaacs' stock
characters but as yet there is still no development of the
Negro personality. Fermin is a caricature of the faithful
slave-~an eighteenth century Uncle Tom. His devotion to
Daniel is paralleled by Andrea's loyalty to dofia Inés.

Their servility is rewarded when they are given their free-
dom at the end of the novel.

The other slaves are similar to the grateful and
humble slaves that we saw in Maria. We are told that they
"respetaban a don Juan Zamora (the mayordomo) y lo querian."
(p. 46) Even if he were not cruel it is unlikely that
slaves would "love" their driver. But life on Cafiasgordas
is virtually carefree and idyllic. There are scarcely any
crimes, disputes or misunderstandings. And for the slaves
life was not all work and toil because in addition to having
Sundays free:

se les daba libre el dia sébado para que trabajaran en
su provecho: algunos empleaban este dia en cazar
guaguas o guatines en el rio Lili 0 en los bosques de
Morga . . . otros tenian sus labranzas sembradas de
platano y maiz, y criaban marranos y aves de corral:
éstos, a la larga, solian lirarse dando a su amo el

precio en que él los estimaba. . . . (p. 23)

In addition there was also time for relaxation:

 

80

Los negros . . . sentados en las puertas de sus cabafias
fumaban tabaco en pipas de barro, a1 mismo tiempo que
conversaban; otros tocaban flauta de cafia 0 de carrizo
en los corredores de sus cabafias 0 en el gran edificio
del trapiche. (p. 19)

Curcio Altamar says that:

pertence esta sociedad a1 mundo mas dichoso, puro y
sencillo, en donde el hombre no parece concebido en
pecado, y en el cual hasta los esclavos son felices,
viven contentos con su suerte y salen a escena 3610
para mostrar que el amo es bueno.

The slave Matias deserves special mention. Matias
is a rogue. He likes to sneak into Cali at night and watch
the dances and have a drink and a cigar. Don Manuel and
don Zamora overlook his escapades until one night he is
picked up by the night watch and arrested. Don Manuel is
upset and decides to punish him because "ese negro es un
tunante." (p. 211) However, the priest intervenes and asks
don Manuel to forgive the delinquent because "la esclavitud
es en si misma una iniquidad; no la haga vuesa merced mas
grave, tratando con crueldad a los esclavos." (p. 211)

This recognition that slavery was an injustice and the
partly condemnatory attitude of the author marks a progres-
sion in the appraisal of social injustice in the Colombian
novel. Don Manuel accedes to the priest's request and
Matias escapes punishment although he receives "un serm6n
sobre la obediencia a sus amos y los resultados de la mala
conducta." (p. 212)

34Curcio Altamar, 91.

 

81

This is the picture that Palacios draws of slavery
as it existed in Cali in 1789. Although he alludes to the
existence of cruel masters the scene that he describes is
essentially benign. The slaves described here had a great
deal of freedom of movement, loved their masters, were
clothed and fed well in addition to not being overworked.
This depiction does not concur with the long history of
run—away slaves, the high rate of suicide and infanticide
among the slaves, the frequent revolts and the establishment

35 The Colombian scholar José

of outposts of former slaves.
Rafael Arboleda has written that:
Los esclavos resistieron a la esclavitud de la manera
mas efectiva que estuvo a su alcance. Las revueltas de
los negros esclavos son tan antiguas como la pérdida de
su libertad.36
Also, the statement that many of the slaves loved
their masters and would even die for them is probably more
reflective of the pervasiveness of slavery than of its
benign nature. We saw in Fermin's statement that the slave

didn't even have authority over his own children. The

father image in the slave family was very weak and the

 

35See José Rafael Arboleda, "La historia y la
antropologia del negro en Colombia," America Latina, Rio
de Janeiro: Centro Latinoamericano de Pesquisas en Cien-
cias Sociales, V, No. 3 (July-Sept., 1962), 13-14 and the
works under footnote 20 for more about slavery during this
period.

 

36Arboleda, 13.

82

slave often learned to identify with the master.37 The

Inaster's authority was so complete that he was not only
'the source of any cruelty which the slave might experience
Ibut also provided any positive reinforcement that the slave
Inight receive. John Dollard writes that "it may come to
jpass in the end that the unwelcome force is idealized, that
<one identifies with it and takes it into the personality;
it sometimes even happens that what is at first resented
and feared is finally loved.38
The slave Matias is considered a "tunante" because
he is not submissive, obedient and humble. However, slaves
did not benefit from working hard and, from their point of
view, there was really no reason why they should. The
contrast between Matias and Fermin is significant. While
the author draws Fermin sympathetically it is Matias who
reflects the slave's rebelliousness against the system.
The relative felicity of slave life as depicted here was
not a reality. Palacios purports to record the history of
an epoch. Insofar as slavery is concerned that picture is
distorted. The idealization of this period of history

caused Palacios to overlook the negative factors in it.

 

37See Stanley M. Elkins, Slavery (New York:

Grosset and Dunlop, 1963), 130.

38John Dollard, Caste and Class in a Southern Town,

2nd edition (New York: Harper, 1949), 255.

83

Palacios concentrates the action of the novel in
and around the Big House. This gives him good spatial
control of the novel. Most of the major events occur in
the house. The love of Daniel for dofia Inés is conceived
in the house and finally accepted there. Andrea and
.Martina are portrayed in their relationship to the Big
House and its members. Daniel works as don Manuel's sec-
retary in the house and, finally, all of the activities of
the plantation are directed from there. Certainly, the
estate of Cafiasgordas is the focal point of the novel.

In El alférez real there is not the poetic evocation
of the land that there is in Maria nor even the objective
appreciation of the beauty of nature found in Manuela.
Palacios' description of the landscape is confined almost
entirely to a bathing outing that the women make to the
Pance river. In describing the valley Palacios becomes
less objective and more subjective. His prose is more
imaginative and poetic than when he pictured the plantation.
For example:

Al ver esos verdes campos, y esos rebafios paciendo, y
esos arroyos murmurantes, y esos frescos bosquecillos,

y esos matices de luz y de sombras, y esas hermosas
doncellas, cualquiera creeria tener a la vista un cuadro
mitolégico: recordaria a Te6crito y el idilio de
Polifemo y buscaria con la vista a Ciclope,.que debia

de estar sentado en la cumbre del Pance vigilando sus
ovejas y enamorando a la desdefiosa Galatea con la mfisica
de su agreste flauta. (pp. 140-141)

In this passage Palacios abandons his sober and

scholastic style and presents a vignette of artistic merit.

84

His sentences are long and he makes use of learned refer-
ences (Polifemo, Ciclope, Galatea). Rather than metaphors,
he uses long sentences to create an image which frequently
has many comparative elements (campos, rebafios, arroyos,
bosquecillos, matices de luz y de sombras, doncellas).
Consequently, Palacios uses a longer sentence to create his.
:mood with images than Isaacs did with his use of metaphors.
His use of classical references harks back to the Golden
.Age when supposedly everyone was happy and the shepherd
leading his flock and playing his flute was the happiest
of all men. Here we see the full force of Palacios' roman-
ticism.

The language that Palacios uses is precise and
correct. He does not use gallicisms or neologisms. Since
his description of the land is not as intimate as that in
Maria neither does he use a great many Americanisms. He
does try to point out the peculiarity of speech of the
slaves and we learn that they:

suprimian siempre la r y la 5 finales, y aun la r en
medio de diccion, y se detenian mucho en la vocal final
acentuada: a esto se agregaba un dejo en la pronuncia-
ci6n, peculiar a todos ellos. (p. 50)

We have already seen a.number of similarities be-

tween Maria and E1 alférez real. Both novels depict the

 

Valley of the Cauca region. They both are romantic tales
about the vicissitudes of fortune for a pair of young

lovers. Each novel has two pairs of lovers--one white and

85

one Negro (although the story of Fermin and Andrea is not
as fully developed as that of Nay and Sinar). Daniel's
narration of what books he has read in El alférez real is
similar to the perusal of Efrain's library in Maria.
Finally, the absence of the protagonist for a period of
time in both stories precipitates a dramatic climax.

Palacios does not mention either Isaacs or Maria in
his dedication but it seems more than likely that he was
familiar with and influenced by this famous novel by his
contemporary and neighbor. Maria's impact on Palacios is
visible throughout E1 alférez real and the only significant
difference in the latter work is the omission of the exotic
element.

There is also a description of the city of Cali
which recalls Diaz's picture of Ambalema in Manuela. The
pOpulation of Cali is divided into three racial groups:

blancos, indios y negros, 0 sea: europeos, americanos
y africanos. . . . (p. 69)

After an explanation of the various mixtures of
these three groups (mestizo, mulatto and zambo) we learn
that:

Los blancos de la raza espafiola tenian para si todos
los privilegios y preeminencias; después de éstos, los
mas considerados eran los mestizos, que hacian alarde
de descender de espanoles . . . Los demas eran iguales
en la humildad de la categoria; pero la del esclavo
era, como es claro, 1a mas triste. (p. 69)

Slaves were brought to Cali from the port of Carta-

gena and Palacios tells us that:

86

Toda familia regularmente acomodada tenia una esclava,
por lo menos, para el servicio domestico; 1a cocinera
era siempre una negra. Estos esclavos ciudadanos lo
pasaban mucho mejor que los de las haciendas, que Vivian
a1 remo del trabajo y tratados en algunas de ellas con
crueldad. Habia amos de terrible fama, con los cuales
eran amenazados los criados que no querian portarse
bien. Conque un senor de esos bonachones dijera a su
sirviente: 'Te vendo a don Fulano,‘ bastaba que se
corrigiera en el instante. . . .

The picture of slavery is quite complete although
idealized. Undoubtedly, a great deal of research went into
Palacios' novel. He has accurately depicted the physical
environment of eighteenth century Cali. Unfortunately,
this is one of the shortcomings of the novel. Palacios'
style is more erudite than artistic. He has little of the
Exoetic and sentient prose of Isaacs. Yet this marks a
Jaiterary progression because the sentimentalism of the
searly romantic writers has given way to a more simplistic,
almost objective, rendering of the past (the physical envi-
rxonment in El alférez real is accurately depicted, it is
tflae story and the mood which are romanticized). As an
Ilistorical novel El alférez rea1.succeeds in its portrayal
(if don Manuel and of the city of Cali. However, the repre-
sentation of slavery clashes with the reality of that epoch.
AS in Maria, slavery has been idealized and distorted.
Jaime Jaramillo Uribe has written that:

todo indica que a1 finalizar e1 siglo XVIII 1a escla-
vitud se encontraba en una situacién critica.~ La

tension entre amos y esclavos debia ser muy grande, a
juzgar por la frecuencia de los conflictos, por las

87

rebeliones, las huidas, el cimarronismo39 y la organiza-.
ci6n de palenques que encontramos a todo lo largo de la
segunda mitad del siglo, y por los sentimientos de temor
e inseguridad que manifestaban los proprietarios.40
What we see in El alférez.real are the seeds of a
realism that bloom in the writings of the next author,

Tomas Carrasquilla .

 

39"Cimarronismo" refers to the flight of escaped
strves or of fugitive Negroes to the country and their
establishment of themselves as woodsmen or foresters.

40Jaramillo Uribe, 54—55.

 

CHAPTER I I I

TOMAS CARRASQUILLA AND LITERARY REALISM:

LA MARQUESA DE YOLOMBO

Tomas Carrasquilla Naranjo was born in Santodomingo,
Antioquia, January 17, 1858 and he died in Medellin, Decem-
ber 19, 1940. Except for his literary production, his long
life is virtually devoid of any notable accomplishments.

He never travelled outside of Colombia and he spent almost
his entire life within the confines of his native province,
Antioquia. He studied philosophy, law and history at the
University of Antioquia (1875-1876) but his program was
interrupted by the outbreak of the revolution of 1876. In
1891 he served briefly as a municipal judge and after that
his literary works were his only activities of consequence.
His biographer, Kurt L. Levy, has said that "la vida de
nuestro hombre fue de una singular carencia de
aconte cimientos . "1

For many years Carrasquilla's work was overlooked

by literary commentators.2 In recent years, however, it
\

(Med lKurt L. Levy, Vida y obras de Tomas Carrasquilla
ellin: Bedout, 1958), 19.

peca zLevy, 223-238, devotes an entire chapter, "Un
do de omisién," to the failure of literary critics to

d‘
lscuSS Carrasquilla.
88

89

has been the subject of several discerning studies. In the
introduction to the collected works of Carrasquilla, Fed—
erico de Onis has called him "un escritor de valor unico e
insustituible en nuestra literatura, cuya obra . . . tiene
todas las trazas de llegar a ser clasica e imperecedera."3
The critic and scholar Carlos Garcia Prada has called
Carrasquilla the "precursor de la novela moderna" in Spanish
America and goes on to say that he produced "algunas obras
que bien pueden figurar entre las mejores que en tiempos
modernos se han escrito en castellano."4 Wade and Englekirk
affirm that "sus obras mejor logradas le asignan un puesto
al lado de los mas destacados-novelistas latinoamericanos."5
Finally, Luis Alberto Sanchez calls Carrasquilla "uno de
los mas grandes y estéticos prosistas de la literatura
moderna sudamericana."6

Carrasquilla did not publish his first work until

he was thirty-eight years old. The short story Simén el

 

Mago (1890) was written in order to fulfill the requirements

of the literary club, El Casino Literario, which he had

 

3Federico de Onis, prologue to the Obras Completas
of Tomas Carrasquilla (Madrid: E.P.E.S.A., 1952), xiii.

4Carlos Garcia Prada, "Tomas Carrasquilla, clasico
antioquefio," Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, XXVII, No.
97 (1965), 332, 340.

 

5Wade and Englekirk, 236.

6Luis Alberto Sanchez, Escritores representativos
de América, vol. III (Madrid: Gredos, 1963), 33.

90

been invited to join. However, he began to write contin-

uously after the publication of his first novel, Frutos de

 

mi tierra, in 1896. His last novel, Hace tiempos (1936),

 

was dictated when he was more than seventy years old and
blind. Among his other works are: Blanca (1897), Salve,

Regina (1903), Homilias and Entrafias de nifio (1914), Domin-

 

icales (1915), Grandeza (1916) and E1 Zarco (1925).

Federico de Onis has attributed the long obscurity
of Carrasquilla's work to its coincidence with the modernist
movement in Spanish America.7 In the same year that Carras-

quilla published Frutos de mi tierra, Rubén Dario's Prosas

 

profanas also appeared. At the very moment when the Mod-
ernists were revolting against the limitations of costum-
brismo and provincialism, Carrasquilla's work was distinctly
regional and parochial. Whereas Modernism sought the
universal and the cosmOpolitan, Carrasquilla focused all of
his attention on the remote province of Antioquia.

Curcio Altamar points out, however, that Carras-
quilla "anduvo siempre tan convencido de haber atinado en
la eleccién de su forma novelistica, que su ultimo libro
seguia los mismos procedimientos y guardaba el mismo aire

del primero, publicado cuarenta afios antes."8

 

7Onis, xii.
8Curcio Altamar, 159. Garcia Prada, 332, says that
Carrasquilla "es quizas e1 finico novelista hispanoamericano

de su tiempo que tuvo conciencia plena de su arte y sus
intenciones."

91

Carrasquilla's style was a reaction to the previous costum-
brista novelists whom he found "sosos, superficiales y
decorativos" and to the romantic authors whom he considered
"insufribles"9 (Eugenio Diaz's Manuela "1e parecia imper-
fecto, por 'no ser estudio de caracteres'" and in Isaac's

10).

The authors that Carrasquilla had read and favored

Maria he found "un sentimentalismo empalagoso"

were mostly masters of the Spanish "Siglo de Oro" and of

 

the nineteenth century: Cervantes, Fernando de Rojas,
Quevedo, Pedro de Alarcén, Juan Valera, Armando Palacio

Valdés, Leopoldo Alas, Emilia Pardo Bazan and Benito Pérez
ll

)

Galdés. The Spanish master of realism, José Maria de
Pereda, has been mentioned as a possible model for Carras-
quilla because of the similarity in regionalism, character-
ization and descriptive quality of their work; however,
other commentators maintain that there is a greater proxim-
ity between Carrasquilla and Pérez Galdés.12
Pereda and Carrasquilla were both strictly regional.

writers and they both included in their novels the language

of the lower classes. However, Pereda's writing often

 

9Garcia Prada, 331.

lolbid.

llIbid.

12See Sanchez, 41; Wade and Englekirk, 236; and
Curcio Altamar, 156.

92

sustains a thesis (for example, the evil of the cities, the
glories of the monarchy and of the church and the advocacy
of a patriarchal way of life) whereas Carrasquilla's does
not. If we must speak of similarities, then Carrasquills ...

would be more akin to the Galdos of Fortunata y Jacinta

 

because both authors had the tendency to view the novel as
an image of life and as the depiction of people and their
idiosyncrasies. Q.

Carrasquilla was an original writer (inasmuch as

any creative artist can be said to be original). Ignoring

 

the aesthetic and cosmopolitan appeal of Modernism, dis- by
daining the vast human panorama of Balzac and severing all

ties with the naturalism of Zola, Carrasquilla embarked on

"una interpretacion estética de su pueblo y de su raza a

través de la descripcién de sus costumbres, de su habla, de

su idiosincrasia y de su geografia,"13 as Horacio Bejarano

Diaz succinctly states it. His first novel, Frutos de mi

 

tierra, was written with the express intention of proving
that his small world of Antioquia was as worthy of literary
depiction as any other area. This was of especial concern.
to Carrasquilla as he noticed many of the Spanish American
Modernists (Dario, Lugones, Valencia, Nervo) abandoning

autochthonous themes and espousing an admiration for the

 

l3Horacio Bejarano Diaz, "La novela en Antioquia,"
Universidad Pontificiana Bolivariana, XXVI, No. 94 (1964),

93

French masters (Stendhal, Flaubert, the Goncourt brothers,
Verlaine and Mallarmé).

La Marquesa de Yolombo (1928).is a continuation of
Carrasquilla's "interpretacion estética” of Antioquia. The
setting encompasses the final years of the colonial period
and the early years of independence, approximately 1760 to
1825. Through the life of the protagonist, Barbara Cab-
allero Alzate, Carrasquilla describes the life in the mining
regions of Yolombo. Carrasquilla avoids the romantic.tend-

ency that Eustaquio Palacio used in El alférez real in favor

 

of a realistic description of the people, the customs and

 

the geography.

The protagonist, dofia Barbara Caballero, by means
of hard work and perseverance is able to overcome the
handicaps of being a woman in a society where a woman had
few privileges. Through the expert management of a mine
given to her by her father she is able to accumulate a
personal fortune which she uses to establish schools and
to attempt the cultural improvement of the region. Kurt
Levy says that "ya era un poco radical la desviacion en una
mujer a1 hacerse cargo del manejo de una mina; pero lo de
nivelarse con el sexo fuerte, aprender a leer y a escribir
y abrir escuelas en el municipio eran cosas que llegaban a

la iconoclastia."14

 

l4Levy, 162.

94

Dofia Barbara is successful in her mining operations
and in almost everything that she undertakes. Yet, in spite
of her ability and intelligence, she has not attracted a
husband because she is not a physically beautiful woman.

She is a devoted servant of the king and her one hOpe is
that someday she will travel to Spain and meet His Majesty.
Her homage to Carlos IV wins for her the title of Marquesa
de Yolombo. Her money, her nobility of character and her
title make her famous throughout the region. These same
qualities also attract a charlatan who poses as a Spanish

nobleman, cognizant of dofia Barbara's inordinate admiration

lr-‘J n-dzm‘
‘11 7_'-.‘- .

for nobility, and who defrauds her of her money. This
imposter, Fernando de Orellana, successfully deceives dofia
Barbara and the entire community. He weds her, escapes
with her money and is never heard from again.

After the shock and disillusionment of Orellana's
deception dofia Barbara falls into a state of mental depres-
sion. She recovers many years later but only after revolu-
tions have occurred in France and in North America and
independence has been proclaimed in the Spanish colonies.
She becomes a saintly woman devoted to charitable deeds.
Levy sees dofia Barbara as a symbolization of the ancien
régime and he believes that she died spiritually with the

collapse of the old order.15

15Levy, 168.

95

Surrounding dofia Barbara are.a multitude of charac-
ters representing all the aspects of the community. There
are Spaniards, indians, creoles and Negroes. There are
miners, farmers, servants and slaves. Among these secondary
characters are many Negroes and Carrasquilla gives a lucid
description of their status and their treatment:

Ser esclavo de Dofia Barbara es una ganga: les da dos
dias libres por semana, buena alimentacion, buen aloja‘
miento, buena ropa y buenas medicinas. Cepo y latigo,
nunca jamas; trato franco y carihoso, siempre. A la
primera falta, amonestacion; a la segunda, medio ayuno;
a la tercera, venta . . . Con tal sistema mantiene sus
treinta y siete siervos, disciplinados y adictos, asi
en la mina como en el pueblo.1

"m". “_

F735? _‘iq firm—'7 _.
4 ' - j
6 en - .J

Instead of straightforward narration of the above
type much of the novel takes the form of a dialogue in order
to reveal the peculiarities of language of that area and
epoch. We see this in the following passage where the Negro.
servant Guadalupe explains one of the superstitions of the
people to dofia Barbara:

Pes es que Su Mercé y algotros tan creyendo que los
ayudaos no semos sino los negros y las pionadas. Pero
nu'es asina, amita, y perdone que yo se lo manifieste:
los ayudaos tan que no caben en la blanqueria: toitos
los amos de nosotros los negros . . . Porque habera de
saber, Su Mercé, que los sefiores de l'Espafia del Rey,
nuestro sefior, vinieron ayudaos dende alla. IAlla es
la mata de l'ayuda! (O.C., 468)

Carrasquilla's facility with language has been

pointed out as one of the major achievements of his

 

16Tomas Carrasquilla, Obras Com letas, 492. All
subsequent references to this edition are in the text.

 

96

writing17

and Garcia Prada affirms that "si e1 escenario y
los personajes de la novela carrasquillesca son convincen-
tes, por lo plastico y lo veridico, mucho mas lo son por el
lenguaje que los pinta y caracteriza."18 Levy analyzes the
language that Carrasquilla uses in a chapter of his book
and we find several of the linguistic features that he
describes in the above passage. For example, "pes" repre-
sents the reduction of the dipthong from pugs; "semos" sl
illustrates the substitution of one vowel for another
(somos) and "tan" shows the suppression of an entire

syllable from estan.19 k3

 

The mixture of diverse racial and cultural groups
(European, African and indigenous) and the substantial
illiteracy of the people led to a number of religious
superstitutions and syncretism. Carrasquilla describes the
following religious climate:

El alma yolombera . . . era un revoltijo, si muy raro y
estrafalario, muy explicable, por cierto. Media pobla-
cion era africana, y por mas que fuese bautizada y
metida en catolicismo, cada negro conservaba, por dentro
y hasta por fuera, por transmision o ancestralismo en
creencias, mucha parte de las salvajes de sus mayores.
Esta negreria, entreverada con esos espanoles de enton-
ces, mas supersticiosos y fantasticos que cristianos
genuinos, mas de milagros que de ética, coincidia y
empataba con africanos y aborigines en el dogma comfin

 

l7Sanchez, 39, says that "la riqueza verbal de
Carrasquilla demanda puesto en Academia."

18Garcia Prada, 336.

19See Levy, 207-222.

97

del diablo y sus legiones de espiritus medrosos. De
este empate vino una mezcolanza y un matalotaje, que
nadie sabia qué era lo catélico y romano, ni qué lo
barbaro y hotentote, ni que lo raizal. (O.C., 431)
In this passage Carrasquilla shows the religious
hodgepodge which had resulted from the intermingling of
Catholicism with African and indigenous cults. He ascer-
tains the essence of the situation by referring to the alma
yolombera rather than merely speaking of the gente or the '

pueblo. This passage also indicates certain characteristics

of his style. He describes this alma as a revoltijo which

 

 

is a strong qualifier, especially when applied to the soul, Li
and emphasizes the state of religious turmoil prevalent

throughout the area. He then juxtaposes the adverbs mgy_

and may in the phrase "si muy raro y estrafalario, muy

explicable." We see this same kind of juxtaposition with

pg£_(por déntro y hasta por fuera, por transmisién . . .)

and with Eéfi (mas supersticiosos . . ., mas de milagros

. . .) further down in the passage. The use of the adjec-

tive estrafalario adds an element which the author wants to

 

emphasize, that is, not only was this situation very rare
but also very outlandish. This description is reinforced

with the subsequent use of the adjectives supersticiosos,

 

fantasticos, mezcolanza (not just a mezcla because here the

 

use of the augmentative obviates the need for any further
qualification and accentuates the jumbled situation) and

matalotajg. The prevalence of these superstitions is

98

established by the reference to the dogma comfin del diablo

 

and to his legiones d3 espiritus medrosos where the adjec-
tive comfin and the noun legiones indicate the sc0pe of these
attitudes. Finally, he equates lg_cat61ico y_romano with

13 barbaro y hotentote in a striking comparison of dissim-

 

ilar entities (a conceit) to stress that no one knew one
from the other.

As much as one fourth of the population believed in
some form of cult worship. In the following passage the
author describes the make-up of this particular group.
These same lines, as we shall note, also reflect the precise
and elegant style of Carrasquilla.

componiala e1 baturrillo heteroclito y matizado, de
indios, negros y blancos, en que entraba mas e1 Congo
que todo. En esta clase era donde el diablo estaba mas
regado; donde era mas temido y prestigioso, por reunirse
en ella las tres versiones de su poderio: la catolica,
1a africana y la indigena. Muchos usaban escapularios
y amuletos de toda especie, rezaban a imagenes milagro-
sas, invocaban los angeles tutelares; pero esto no
contrarrestaba . . . las fechorias y travesuras de las
malignas legiones. Muchos, a1 salir de noche, iban
espantando espiritus, como quien espanta zancudos en el
Magdalena. (O.C., 431)

His choice of adjectives is pertinent and his verbs
are forceful. The selection has an overall unity of adjec-
tives, verbs, nouns and syntax which build the image of

religious fetishism. The baturillo is defined not only as

 

heteroclito but also as matizado because it is composed of

 

whites, Negroes and indians. The predominant African in-
fluence is emphasized by the use of the word Congo which

carries with it the mysteriousness and the exoticism

 

99

associated with the so-called Dark Continent. The devil is

described as being mas regado, mas temido and (mas) presti-

 

 

 

gioso among this group of people. These three modifiers
are paralleled by the three areas of the devil's poderio:

la catolica, 1a africana_y la indigena. Then the author

 

points out some of the idiosyncrasies of this group, such

as the use of escapglarios y_amuletos or the worship of

 

imagenes milagrosas or angeles tutelares. Carrasquilla

 

concludes the passage by referring to the fechorias and the

i:
1"

 

travesuras of these malignas legiones, thereby aggrandizing

 

their stature by denoting them as legions. In the 1ast~

 

sentence we see the alliterative use of the initial syllable

/es/ in espantando espiritus, como quien espanta. . . .

 

 

Religious superstition was not confined only to the
humble and illiterate. Dofia Barbara was "mas supersticiosa
que ellos" and she believed that her Negro servant Sacra-
mento had special powers. Sacramento "1e tiene prometido
no dejarla enfermar, de ningfin modo." (O.C., 394) Religious
orthodoxy and Catholic dogma were not only poorly understood
by the slaves and workers but also by the aristocracy.

Sacramento is one of the more important minor char-
acters. She enjoys a "gran renombre como curandera magica
o cosa tal" and

sea casualidad, sea que los males que no han de matar
tienen de aliviarse 0 de curarse del todo, es lo cierto
que la negra, con sus androminas y agfieros, levanta
enfermos muy postrados, prOpinandoles cualquier por-
queria de las suyas . . . Sobre sus filtros y enyerbos,

para producir amor volcanico u odio implacable, cuentan
y no acaban. (O.C., 389)

100

The occult powers of this female Cagliostro are the
subject of the town gossips who point to her strong, young
husband, Guadalupe, as evidence of her proficiency as an
enchantress. Supposedly she has him bewitched and "ni 1a
hembra mas linda y tremenda se lo ha quitado." (O.C., 389)
She also has a strong influence upon dofia Barbara who is so
confident of Sacramento's abilities that she "no tiene
porque temer a los enemigos del alma ni del cuerpo." (O.C.,
394) A current rumor is that dofia Barbara "esta aprendiendo
brujeria, por libros y por estudios practicos con Sacra-
mento" (O.C., 562) and that all of her success and good
fortune were the result of "estas artes demoniacas."

Sacramento also tells dofia Barbara that "cuando Su
Majesta, e1 Rey entual, 1'envi6 papel de Marquesa, es porque
1e v'a enviar e1 marqueso . . ." (O.C., 560) Consequently,
when Fernando de Orellana appears in town Sacramento tells
the Marquesa that:

si no le ha creido a su negra, en toito este tiempo,
agora tiene de crele, quiera que que no. iLo mesmito
que yo 1e dije una y otra vez! iAi 1e lleg6, a conjorme
lo tenia su negra en esta tusta, mandao por mi Amo e1
Rey! (O.C., 602)

The prognostication of Sacramento and the credulity
of the townspeOple help to mold dofia Barbara for her tragic
deception.

Another of the important Negro characters is Nar-

cisa, the personal maid of the Marquesa. Narcisa is very

devoted to her mistress and in several ways they complement

101

one another. She idolizes dofia Barbara and dofia Barbara
permits this idolization, thereby creating a strong bond
between the two of them. In contrast to dofia Barbara's
ugliness, Narcisa "es tipo acabado de hermosura." (O.C.,
495) The author suggests that in the Congo she would have
been a queen and he gives this sensitive description of her:
Es una criatura tan negra, de un negro tan fino y tan
lustroso, de formas tan perfectas, de facciones-tan
pulidas, que parece tallada en azabache por un artista
heleno. El blanco de esos ojos y los dientes rutilan
en esa obscuridad; andares y movimientos son cadencias;
veneno letal le recorre todo el cuerpo. (O.C., 495)
We also observe that this description of the Negro

servant is warm and expressive. The author refers to her

as una criatura, disdaining the more common noun mujer, and

 

creates a feeling of endearment and dependence appr0priate
to this character. He then uses the adjectival modifier
negra which he immediately inverts into a noun negro ob-

taining the effective juxtaposition of una criatura tan

 

negga with un negro tan fino. The quadruple repetition of
the adverb tan greatly enhances the qualities attributed to
her and the allusion to the magnificent craftsmanship of
the ancient Greek sculptors leaves an impression of classic

beauty. Finally, her movements are cadencias and the ref-

 

erence to veneno letal leaves the impression of a beautiful,
graceful, lethal jungle cat--a black panther.
The servant and the mistress also sing well togeth-

er. They consider this chance occurrence an act of God and

102

when "la sefiora toma la guitarra y la esclava e1 pandero
. . . se paran muchas gentes a oirlas." (O.C., 496)

Dofia Barbara is kind and understanding with her
slaves and has earned the nickname of "1a Madrecita de sus
negros." In addition the author refers to her as "este
Pedro Claver20 con enaguas" (O.C., 391) because of her
unselfish concern for the sick. However, life is not idyl-
lic for the Negroes in Yolomb6. In the mines they "cargaban
como animales" and if the grandfather, called Taita Moreno,
happened not to like a meal "hacia sentar las negras a la
mesa a comerse todo el condumio. Mientras mas llantos, mas
azotes." (O.C., 475)

Life is represented in Yolomb6 in both its good and
its bad aspects. The harsher and crueler elements of
slavery are mentioned along with its more benign features.
The slaves who were used in the mines worked hard and
dressed in rags. Some slaves were beaten when they erred
in their duties. Other slaves stole. A few were abused.

One incident involves Martin, the nephew of dofia
Barbara and a rapscallion of the first order. As a conse-
quence of one of his escapades (he ran off with the Negress
Bibiana) he has been confined to the mining area during the

Holy Week festivities while the rest of the family has gone

 

20It will be remembered that San Pedro Claver was
the Jesuit priest who worked in Cartagena de los Indios
ministering to the spiritual needs of the slaves.

103

into the town. Not to be frustrated by being excluded from
the festivities, Martin decides to hold a celebration at
the mine. He chooses the mulatto Crispin to play the role
of Christ in the crucifixion and ties him to a cross.
Crispin dies tragically after Martin ignores his pleas to
lower him from the cross. This irresponsible conduct is
forgiven by don Pedro, Martin's grandfather and the highest
authority in Yolombé, as a boyish prank. He dismisses
Martin's cruelty because "le viene de raza" (O.C., 584) and
sums up Martin's delinquency as "picardias bien hechas."
Martin's father, don Vicente, views his son's con-
duct differently. He considers Martin's behavior a crime
and a sacrilege. He does not feel that the killing of the

humble Crispin should be lightly dismissed as picardias

 

bien hechas. Carrasquilla presents both sides of the dis-
agreement between don Vicente and don Pedro and it is the
latter's sentiments which prevail. In the context of the
novel don Pedro's attitude is justified.- No matter what
our contemporary Opinion of that occurrence might be, in
the epoch that Carrasquilla is describing the death of a
slave, even though lamentable, was of no great consequence.
This is more than evident in the following affirmation by
dofia Barbara:

A muchos blancos que diz que son muy nobles, les parece

que matar a un negro es como matar una comadreja 0 un

alacran. Yo se 10 he oido, a muchos. Y, si tienen a

los negros como animales dafiinos, tienen que pensar
asina. (O.C., 611)

104

Nonetheless some of the slaves lived well and
received special attention and understanding from dofia
Barbara. Narcisa, for example, had been given her freedom
but chose to remain with dofia Barbara. The Negro Pacho
steals some gold in order to feed his hungry family. The
Marquesa listens to his excuse instead of immediately pun-
ishing him. After she has heard his story she gives him
the gold and promises to insure that his family will no
longer go hungry. Her fairness and charity win for her the
respect of her friends and servants alike. Among her most
devoted attendants are the free Negroes Pacho, Guadalupe
and Sacramento, "mas fieles y sumisos a Dofia Barbara, que
sus esclavos legales." (O.C., 462)

The slaves who worked in the house prepared the
meals for both the masters and the slaves. They gathered
firewood and they kept the house clean. After the evening
meal, they met on the patio for singing and dancing:

Negros y negras, frente a frente, los ojos en los ojos,
rutilos en lo blanco, igneos en las pfipilas, a1 aire
los tizones, danzan y danzan a1 redor de la fogata. Se
acercan, se apartan, para unirse luego; los brazos en
los brazos, cruzados los tizones, los senos oscilantes,
con remeneo de caderas, giran, a paso lento y subrayado
. . . En repentino y simultaneo impetu, se desprenden,
se vuelven del revés, espalda con espalda. Se acucli-
llan, saltan de un lado, saltan del opuesto, hacia
dentro, hacia fuera; pero siempre acuclillados y ras-
treros, cual si fuesen sapos posesos por el demonio.
(O.C., 498)

In this description of the dancers Carrasquilla

skillfully uses repetition to create an image of motion

105

back and forth. He juxtaposes the word groups to depict

the undulation of the dance: negros y negros; frente a

 

 

frente: gjos en ojos: brazos en brazos. The phrases also
show the interaction of the dancers along with the verbs
se acercan, se apartan. The climax of the dance is sudden
and different and the author likens the squatting dancers
to sapos_posesosgpor e1 demonio, an effective, if somewhat
contrived, image.

Various opinions about slavery are expressed
throughout the novel but the practice is not idealized or
rationalized. Dofia Barbara points out that there are no
cruel or inhuman masters in Yolombo but that, on occasion,
slaves are whipped. She, like don Pedro, considers Martin's
act "una cosa aislada" which occurred out of boyish prank-
ishness rather than cruelty. We have already seen that the
slaves are treated well although they are worked hard and
punished. However, this brings up the question of the mor—
ality of human bondage and there are several emphatic
statements on this subject. Dofia Barbara frankly declares
that "iYo no creo que haya un crimen mas grande, en todo el
mundo!" (O.C., 612) On another occasion, while insisting
upon the participation of Negroes in the religious festiv-
ities, she states that "aunque sean unos tristes esclavos,
estan, también, redimidos con la sangre de Nuestro Senor
Jesucristo, lo mismo que nosotros." (O.C., 503) For dofia
Barbara, then, the Negroes "mas que esclavos, son para ella

compafieros y camaradas a quienes sirve y complace."(O.C.,487)

106

There is also a comdemnation of the hypocrisy of

the slave trade by the Marquesa. She observes that:

Los blancos y los ricos se van al Africa . . . y engafian

y amarran y aporrean a hombres y mujeres y les quitan
1a libertad y los embarcan como cosa propia. Y esto,
en vez de ser un crimen, es un negocio. . . . (O.C.,
612)
Dona Barbara recognizes a double standard in the
judgment of the actions of whites and those of Negroes
and she disdains it. She realizes, however, that this
situation is the result of the failure of many whites even
to recognize Negroes as human beings: "no son personas ni
tienen alma; son unas cosas negras." (O.C., 612) There is

no doubt that this attitude was widespread among slave

masters and among apologists for slavery. In the United

States it led to the legal definition of slaves as chattel.

However, she is not blind to the shortcomings that Negroes
may have and when Fernando de Orellana questions her about

the morality of slaves, the Marquesa tells him that:

21

Habra malos, como en todo. Pero los negros son de mejor

entrafia que los blancos. . . . Ellos no roban gente ni
acosan ni esclavizan ni venden a nadie. Si fueran tan
malvados como los blancos, ya hubieran acabado con
ellos. (O.C., 613)

Of course, we know that historically this statement

is not entirely accurate. We have seen in Maria that
Africans did enslave one another and that they sometimes

sold their prisoners to European slave traders. Dona

 

21See Davis, 248-249.

107

Barbara's statement has some merit, however, because she is
speaking of the meekness and passivity of many of the
slaves. It was a humbleness which the masters preached but
did not practice. It was also a situation which they often
abused:

La religién de los blancos es muy c6moda: para ellos,
oprimir; para los negros, dejarse oprimir. (O.C., 613)

Carrasquilla does not moralize, yet through dofia
Barbara we are given a very strong indictment of slavery.
She exposes the absurdity of enslaving people under the

pretext of teaching them la religién de Nuestro Senor

 

Jesucristo. Carrasquilla harmonizes the criticism of

 

slavery with the rest of the novel. He does not harangue
or polemicize. Dofia Barbara's opinions about slavery de—
velop from the context of the story just as naturally as her
opinions about education, religion and the rights of women.
La Marquesa de Yolombé does not prOpound a thesis.
Rather through the expert use of dialogue and conversation
the author broaches the topics that preoccupied the people
of Yolomb6 at the end of the colonial period. Among these
topics were independence, education and the role of religion
as well as the question of slavery. These conversations
are more important than the plot and reveal a great deal
more about the society. We also learn about dofia Barbara's
personality through these discourses although the novel is
not psychological in the sense that it shows the psycholog-

ical development of the personage.

108

Dofia Barbara is very conscious of herself as "1a
mas noble, 1a mas sabia, la mas rica de Yolombé" and we see
the same type of class consciousness that we saw in El

gférez real. Curcio Altamar says that La Marquesa de

 

Yolomch:
interpreta y revive con mejor objetivismo y verdad la
mentalidad y los sentimientos de determinadas clases
sociales hispanoamericanas frente a la realeza espafiola
23.333213233333321.iispitiii'1““ ‘2‘”? 32"“? “”55
p emen e is rica.
Don Pedro Caballero reflects this awareness of class
differences when he dismisses the delinquency ofMartin
without punishing him. "Los castigos," he says, "3610 se
hicieron para los infelices." (O.C., 584) Dona Barbara is
a staunch royalist and she believes wholeheartedly in the
superiority of the aristocracy. She does not consider
herself an egotist but she dOgmatically asserts that "Dios
eligié a las familias que deben mandar en el mundo." (O.C.,
517) She does good deeds and she is concerned for those
leSS fortunate than she. However, this is not because she
has no faults but because, as she says, "me acuerdo que soy
noble y que debo dar ejemplo a mis esclavos." (O.C., 470)
Her very class consciousness makes her susceptible to the
challtlatan Fernando de Orellana who poses as a Spanish

nobleman .

\

22Curcio Altamar, 157.

109

Class consciousness.and the awareness of social
differences prevail throughout the novel. The Caballeros,
dofia Barbara and don Pedro represent the apex of society in
Yolombo along with the Morenos, don Vicente and Taita
Moreno. The two families are united by don Vicente's mar-
riage to dofia Luz, the daughter of don Pedro.- At the other
end of the social ladder are the Negroes. They too are
aware of class (and racial?) differences. During one of
his conversations with dofia Barbara, Guadalupe tells her
that "si los negros, que semos unos micos sin cola, apren—
demos, aqua nu' aprenderia Su Mercé?" (O.C., 470) Dona
Barbara is "admirada" at the extent of Guadalupe's under-
standing of matters. This frank narration of social and
class differences is an integral part of Carrasquilla's
recreation of the atmosphere of that epoch.

The Negro in La Marquesa de Yolombé is not the
nondescript Negro of Manuela nor is he the romanticized
figure of Magia and El alférez real. For the first time in
the Colombian novel the Negro begins to take on a distinct
personality (Sacramento, Guadalupe), albeit in embryonic,
form. The Negro character is not developed psychologically
but, then, neither is that of dofia Barbara. The conversa-
tions and dialogues are used to show the characteristics of
the various personalities. The settings, the descriptions
and the customs help to develop the characters rather than

any psychological probing. For example, Guadalupe and

110

Sacramento are characterized by their speeches and by their
own peculiarities of language. Illustrative of this would
be the following remark that Sacramento makes to dofia
Barbara: "aY sabe pa qué me sirvié la liberta? pa volverme
. . . Ini 1e digo qué!" (O.C., 464)

Carrasquilla's attachment to his native province
has enabled him to create, according to Garcia Prada, an

"imagen verdadera y precisa de la vida y del ambiente
23

.r r11

antioquefios." The author appears to be defining his own

miss-n.

literary credo when he says that:

m fill“.

1F“
1'
‘C *L'V I -

A

El hombre cosmopolita o genial-podra identificarse con
el universo mundo por el espiritu: por el corazén se
identificara siempre con un rincon cualquiera del
planeta, con las cuatro paredes en donde lo amolde el
habito y lo vincule el carifio. (O.C., 428)
Carrasquilla's little corner is Antioquia. The
idyllic Risaralda valley is the scene for the first Colom-
bian novel to enter wholly into the world of Negroes.
Bernardo Arias Trujillo's "pelicula de negredumbre y de

vaqueria," Risaralda.

 

23Garcia Prada, 334.

CHAPTER IV
RISARALDA: UNA NOVELA CRIOLLA

Luis Alberto Sanchez, in a statement calling atten-
tion to the relative lack of circulation of Colombian
novels, has written that "la literatura colombiana ha sido
bastante provincial . . ."1 The noted critic then proceeds
to give examples of how even the best Colombian novels have
failed to gain recognition beyond the national borders or
took a long time in doing so. We have just seen an example
of this provincialism in the preceeding chapter on Tomas

Carrasquilla. It now appears that Bernardo Arias Trujillo's

novel, Risaralda (1935), is an instance of this same ex-

 

tranational neglect. Various Colombian literary critics
have recognized its artistry, including Antonio Curcio

Altamar who says that "Risaralda tendra un sitio de pres-

 

tigio y de cuenta en la novelistica nacional."2 Javier
Arango Ferrer calls it "una excelente novela."3 Silvio

Villegas, in the prologue to the 1959 edition of the novel,

 

1Sanchez, p. 32.
2Curcio Altamar, p. 250.

3Arango Ferrer,.p. 65.

111

112

affirms that "Risaralda no es solo una gran novela colom-

 

biana, sino una de las adquisiciones definitivas de la

4

literatura en America." The American critic Gerald Wade

refers to Risaralda as "a near high in Colombian fiction,

 

and, indeed, in all Spanish American literature."5 Finally,
Ricardo Latcham calls it a work of "gran prosapia criolla,
que merece una difusién mas de acuerdo con su maestria y
con su dinamismo moderno."6
Bernardo Arias Trujillo was born in Manizales in
1905. His literary production is not extensive because-he

died at the age of thirty-four, in 1939. His literary

criticism is contained in Retablos Bolivarianos; and his

 

Diccionario de Emociones is a collection of love letters.
Both were compiled in 1938. In addition he published sev-
eral short stories in La Novela Semanal: Cuando cantan los

cisnes . . ., Luz and Muchacha sentimental (all three in

 

volume 3, 1924).

 

4Silvio Villegas, prologue to Risaralda (Medellin:
Editorial Bedout, 1959), IX. All references to Risaralda
given in the text will refer to this edition.

5Gerald Wade, "An Introduction to the Colombian
Novel," His ania, XXX, No. 4 (Nov., 1947), 481. This is
the English version of the article which was later published
in Spanish in collaboration with John Englekirk and to
which I have referred in previous chapters.

 

6Ricardo Latcham, "Perspectivas de la novela colom-
biana actual," Atenea, LXXXIII, No. 248 (1946), 214.

113

Risaralda is one of the numerous Colombian novels

 

that were inspired by José Eustasio Rivera's La voragine
(1924) and whose regionalism had a fundamentally social
basis. Their Americanism is based on the reality of the
nation--politica1, economic and social--but is not a cat-
alogue of details as the costumbrista novel often was. The
intent of these novels was to give a total and artistic
picture of man in his relationship to the land. The depic-
tion of this interaction of man and nature has almost none
of the idealization of the romantic novel and, in fact,
often shows nature as a brutal force that corrupts man (for

example, La voragine). Curcio Altamar has written that

 

leen nuestros narradores a Tomas Carrasquilla
y a Rivera, tomando del primero sus
procedimientos de objetividad transcriptiva

y de composicién, y del otro e1 afan de
mostrar una angustia nacional en un

panorama terrigeno.

Risaralda is a third person narrative which depicts

 

the lives of the Negro inhabitants of the Risaralda valley.
The author also shows the close relationship that existed
between the pe0p1e and the environment. Finally, he depicts
the passing away of this pristine mode of existence in face
of the forces of civilization represented by the white man.
Like his illustrious compatriot Rivera, and like the equally
famous interpreters of the pampa and the llanos, Ricardo

Gfiiraldes and Rémulo Gallegos, respectively, Arias Trujillo

 

7Curcio Altamar, 225.

114

belongs to the generation of post-World War I novelists who
depicted a new vision of America.‘ These authors were in—
fluenced particularly by the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and
the struggle for social reform. There was also widespread
disillusionment with European culture and society and these
authors turned to a more American type of expression. Some
of these writers discussed the problems of the city (Manuel
Galvez, Eduardo Barrios) while others depicted regional
problems (in addition to Gfiiraldes, Gallegos and Rivera, we
might include Gregorio Lépez y Fuentes of Mexico, Alcides
Arguedas of Bolivia, Ciro Alegria of Peru and Jorge Icaza
of Ecuador). Many of these authors were concerned with the
social problems of the illiterate masses. They assigned
previously minor characters primary roles; and the aristo-
cratic and bourgeois characters of the romantic novel and
of Tomas Carrasquilla were replaced by Negroes, indians,

and common people. Mariano Azuela's Los de abajo (1916)

 

and Gfiiraldes' Don Segundo Sombra are the embodiment of

this new concept of characters. Until the work of Carras-
quilla in the depiction of the Negro in the Colombian novel
rarely was comment made on his position in Colombian society.

The setting of La Marquesa de Yolombo is historical

 

but it gives the first indication that Negroes perhaps did
not live the romanticized lives depicted in Maria and El

alférez real. Risaralda depicts the Negro character, who

 

had previously been a secondary figure in the works of

115

Carrasquilla, Palacios and Isaacs, as a major figure and
gives him his first extensive development in the Colombian
novel.

Risaralda is divided into two parts. The first

 

part describes the idyllic Risaralda Valley and the customs
of its Negro inhabitants. The author introduces a cast of

characters which includes ex-slaves, outlaws, vaqueros or

 

cowboys, the store-keeper Pacha Duran and just plain loaf-
ers. We also learn about the customs of these people:

their dances, their music, their weapons, their social
habits and other idiosyncrasies. In the second part of the
novel the author relates the love story of the Negress, La
Canchelo, and of the white vaquero, Juan Manuel. The second
part is the description of the relations between the orig-
inal Negro inhabitants and the new white arrivals. These
whites impose their customs and practices upon the Negroes
thereby destroying the primitive culture of the valley.

Risaralda destroys the romantic myth. Negroes,

 

mulattoes and zambos flock to the idyllic Risaralda Valley
fleeing "los tiranos blancos." For the Negroes who came to
the Risaralda Valley to establish the all negro community

of Sopinga, the white man "era e1 blanco de sus odios,
persecuciones, rencores, celos y mendacidades." (p. 70)
Almost all of these fugitives from the white world "mostra-
ban cicatrices de padecer y herretes de servidumbre. Habian
servido a sefiores que no lo fueron, por que mas tenian de

hienas que de cristianos" (pp. 51-52).

116

The author explains that Negroes had been
eternamente perseguidos, llamados siempre a servir a1
amo 0 para jugarse e1 cuero en.las guerras civiles en
conquista de una libertad que nunca usufructuaron . . .
Alli (in Sopinga), lejos del terror de los amos, en ese
rinconzuelo criollo de soledosa paz, fueron a recostar

los fardos de su cautiverio para soliviarse de tantos
reveses. (p. 52)

But Risaralda is not polemic. Arias Trujillo en-
deavors to portray the valley as it once was. The descrip-
tion of nature and of the characters is written in a prose
which, at times, is almost poetic. The very beginning of
the book sets the tone that most of the novel is going to
follow:

En el principio era la selva. Era en el principio 1a
selva immensa, silenciosa, poblada de misterio y de
osadia. Los siglos rodaban sobre el lomo del rio a1
vaivén de las aguas y los robustos arboles tutelares,
coronados de orquideas, como dioses, presenciaban
taciturnos e1 desfile infinito de las centurias. (p. 1)

In the above passage we see an example of the
author's ability to evoke poetically a given situation.

The biblical allusion of the opening sentence is reinforced

by its repetition in the second sentence, era en elgprin-

 

cipio 1a selva. The prominent role that nature is going to
have is immediately emphasized in the quadruple adjectivi-
zation of the jungle, 1a selva immensa, silenciosa, poblada
de misterio y de osadia. And not only is the tremendous
impact of nature accented but also.its seeming immortality
as the trees presenciaban taciturnos e1 desfile infinito de

las centurias.

 

117

But the description of the valley is not entirely
abstract:

Valle anchuroso de Risaralda, valle lindo y macho que
se va regando entre dos cordilleras como una mancha de
tinta verde . . . llano esmeraldino y fanfarrén como un
cadete de primeras armas, prado caldense donde la vida
es sabrosa, e1 sol bueno, y el agua Clara; vallecito
que tiene la epidermis y las colinas acribilladas de
palmeras, mansos rios que acunan los guaduales sofio-
lientos, en cuyas orillas hay hembras sensuales de
ondulado caminar, como las samaritanas, y unos mocetones
pendencieros que echan a1 dado la vida, porque las
mujeres les digan guapos. (p. 1)

As does the poet, Arias Trujillo uses repetition to.

enhance the description of the valley: valle anchuroso,

 

valle lindo and vallecito. He personifies the description

 

 

of the valley by comparing it to a proud (fanfarrén) cadete

 

de primeras armas. He speaks of smiling groves of trees

(guaduales sofiolientos) and gentle rivers, and the intimacy .

of man and nature is shown by the hembras sensuales and the.
mocetones pendencieros who play on the banks of the river.

The jungle is described in all of its grandeur and
immensity:

Selva hirsuta, con arboles consulares de grandes rama-
zones que formaban naves extensos y oscuros. Por los
cuales erraban fieras y bichos de todo pelambre y
veneno, atrincheradas en su salvajia para Oponerse a1
zarpaso del hombre. Lo que no era montafia densa y
tupida, eran immenso esteros de agua putrefacta, sobre
los que anidaban millares de huevos de mosquitos tras-
misores de malaria y fiebres perniciosas y amarillas.
Las pampas humedas hervian de zancudos y anofeles y sus
profundidades incomensurables eran dificiles de domar,
porque estaban formadas por parches de greda pegajosa y
agua putrida de facil hundimiento y tragica salida,
pues frecuentemente se tragaban hombres enteros sin
dejar huellas de su antrOpofagia y ferocidad. La selva
era una encrucijada de bejucos y parasitos, ramas caidas

.- Arrm‘u- _
_ v I _ n
a . - ‘
l'

118

y doblados lefios que opilaban a cada paso, e1 transito
del hombre. Millares de orquideas de lujo, lucian sus
instalaciones cromaticas bajo arboles, y devengaban del
presupuesto de sus gajos fértiles, chorros de savia
vivificadora. (pp. 89-90)
The preceeding description of the jungle is realistic. It
is not the romantic interpretation of nature that Isaacs
transcribed in Maria but neither is it the omnipotent vortex
of Rivera's La voragine. It is a real jungle of dense trees

and stagnant pools of water. It is a jungle inhabited by

wild animals and malaria-carrying mosquitos. It is a jungle

5? PM.

composed of putrid vegetation and beautiful orchids. This

J."A ‘

is the jungle in which the natives of SOpinga are at home
but where the white man who comes later is an alien. This
is a world of primitive forces which seems to contaminate
the men around it with its primeval ferocity.

In the episode of the flood in the second half of
the novel the author again gives an intimate description of
nature. Arias Trujillo describes scenes and elements that
other authors have completely overlooked. First we have

the flood:

Era una inmensa montafia m6vi1 que se llevaba por delante
cuanto encontraba, como un tanque de guerra. La cor-
dillera, tenebrosa y oscura, encapotada de neblina,
seguia alimentando los cauces de los rios que bajaban

de sus cavernas, flancos y arrugas, con impetu sin freno
de aguas sucias. Casi todo el llano desaparecio por
fin, transformandose en un océano del que apenas
surgian, a flor de agua, pequefias islas que eran los
picachos de antiguos oteros o partes altas del valle

. . . (PP. 208-209)

119

The depiction of nature had been largely idyllic
and romantic in Colombian literature until Jose Eustasio
Rivera recorded the opposite aspect in his powerful epic
about the jungle, La voragine. In the above passage Arias
Trujillo continues Rivera's revelation of the more sobering
aspects of nature. This tremendous flood, metaphorically
called una mofitana movil, inundates the land and completely
dominates man, animals and insects. The author has an alert
eye to catch the reaction of the various animals:

Extraordinaria 1a fraternidad de todos estos animales
disimiles: las serpientes, trémulas de cobardia,
merodeaban a1 lado de los novillos que pasturaban con
mas recelo con las aguas que con sus vecinos. E1 miedo

mutuo desvanecia las diferencias y temores, y el ansia

de vivir los ayuntaba, sin tiempo para hacerse males.
(p. 209)

The power of the flood affects both the noble bulls
and the lowly snakes. The description of how the snakes

react to the flood is brilliant:

De los animales ruines, ninguno como la serpiente para
organizar su salvacién . . . Trepan, arrastrandose con
rapidez, por las colinas, escondense en las arrugas de
sus faldas, suben a1 vértice de los arboles, y se
destrozan unas a otras por disputarse e1 puesto mas
seguro. (p. 210)

Other snakes seek safety in abandoned huts but even
there the flood waters irrepressibly rise up and the

serpents

desesperadamente, huyen hacia los techos, y una vez

que la inundacién va llegando, se escapan a los caba-
lletes del rancho, instalan alli su terror, y cuando el
agua quiere tragerse ya la filtima prominencia del tambo,
todavia las culebras hacen esfuerzos desesperados por
escapar, y se yerguen, casi verticalmente, hasta que el

 

120

agua les llega ya a1 pescuezo. Y a1 verse asi acosados,
locas ante lo inevitable, frente a la muerte que abre
sus fauces, silban con desespero, se retuercen en con-
vulsiones de panico y con resolucién heroica de morir,
apresuran e1 martirio, arrojandose estoicamente a las
voraces aguas, afin con la esperanza de salir con vida.
(p. 213)

The author describes the reactions of other crea-
tures such as the herons who land on driftwood or on the
floating body of a dead bull when they need to rest, but he
does not overlook other elements associated with the flood.
For example, the smell, the hunger and the sickness:

se riega por la atmésfera una oleada putrida de
hediondez infecta que produce fiebres intermitentes y
vertigos enervantes. Los huracanes pasan untados de
epidemia y de podredumbre, y la peste empieza a

arrasar lo que la inundacién no pudo. Detras de las
enfermedades viene su comedido escudero: el hambre,
con su séquito de dolores y tragedias. La peste,
nacida de la putrefaccién de los arboles, peces y
animales que el agua corrompié recorre las zonas ilesas
para arruinar a los campesinos, y todo el valle toma
ahora, mas que nunca, un aspecto de escombros desolados.
(pp. 212-213)

wa‘u‘lfi- ‘
"I: ‘ u .

Nature is depicted in both its positive and negative
aspects. The valley can be verdant and bountiful but the.
ravages of the flood, disease and hunger are also realities
that the inhabitants of SOpinga must face.

The first part of Risaralda describes the arrival
of the Negroes to the idyllic valley and the establishment
of the all-black community of SOpinga. It is essentially a
description of the land and of the customs of the soEingos.
The second part of the novel narrates the arrival of the

vaquero or cowboy Juan Manuel Vallejo to the valley and his

121

love affair with the beautiful Carmelita Duran, popularly
anown as "La Canchelo." This second part of the novel is
primarily a description of the life of the vaquero and his
activities.

The first Negro who "desvirgé la pubertad de la
montafia“ was Salvador Rojas who came to the valley "huyendo
de la guerra civil." He and his companion, e1 Maestro
.Augustin Lépez, gathered together a group of Negroes and
established the colony of Sopinga. The description of
these first inhabitants is harshly realistic:

Eran todos ellos unos ginesillos sinvergfienzones, unos
avispados cojuelos de rompe y rasga, una alegre cana-
lluza<heguerras civiles, morralla de guerrillas,
contrabandistas de profesién, atorrantes y perdularios,
amigos de entreveros con autoridades y alguaciles,
aficionados a correrse sus vidrios y a hacer firuletes
con la "peinilla" a los préjimos que no les eran sim-
paticos. Menos habiles para el trabajo que para la
pesca y caza, curtidos por el sol con una briosa y
sélida arquitectura muscular, solian hacer sus faenas
con lentitud africana, porque mas confiaban en la
providencia de la tierra que en la fuerza de sus brazos,
brillantes de charol y de molicie. (pp. 2-3)

This description of the inhabitants of Sopinga is
starkly realistic, almost naturalistic, in its emphasis on

their negative qualities. They are described as sinver-

gfienzones, una alegre canalluza and morralla de guerrilla

 

among other derogations. They are quick to fight and slow
to work but they know how to enjoy life and trust in la
providencia de la tierra. The concepts of hard work and

getting ahead would be alien to these people whose happiness

 

122

in their earthly paradise is not based on the possession of.
:material goods. The author calls them "una erudita
barbarie."

The sopingos, as the inhabitants of Sopinga were
called, established their community and ran it according to
their own customs and idiosyncrasies. They rejected all
authority which emanated from white society. Consequently,
'when an official is sent to Sopinga from the nearby town of
Cartago (in order to make the Sopingos "respeta la autori-
da"), the author tells us that he is quickly run out of

the community which adamantly rejected "1a intromisién de

 

los blancos en sus asuntos." (p. 5)

One of the customs of the sopingos which disturbed
the whites was their marriage practice, or rather the lack
of it. Because, the author writes, "los negros risaralden-
ses tenian un concepto arabe de la prOpiedad de la mujer,
la cual era para ellos solamente una 'cosa.'" (p. 7) _The
sepingos did not believe in marriage vows or wedding cere-
monies and "el amor no era egoista." A woman belonged to
the man who was strong enough to take her and keep her. In
one of the more brutal and naturalistic scenes in the novel,
Juancho Marin, "e1 guapo entre los guapos," cuts off his
companion Cristobal's head and tosses it into the river.
This occurred because Juancho had become fond of Cristobal's
wife and decided he wanted her. Juancho won and the woman

then belonged to him.

123

This system worked well for the sopingos and the
‘women served their men and did not complain. On the other
hand, after the whites imposed their authority and reli-
gious practices on the community "se vio el caso de muchos
matrimonios que eran felices y habian vivido unidos hasta
antes de la intromisién clerical, desatarse malquistados,
desde el mismo momento en que la iglesia les formalizd e1
estado." (p. 79)

The harshest, and seemingly most unbelievable,
episode in the novel deals with the ill-tempered Negro
Esteban Rodas. One morning he leaves his house to go check
his fishing lines. His little six-year old daughter fol-
lows him crying. He tells the child to go back and she
pays him no attention. Since the child persists in follow-
ing him, Esteban "la agarr6 del cabello y despacio, exqui-
sitamente,con una finura florentina--refinamiento increible
en un negro malo--la fue haciendo tajaditas tan delgadas
como hostios y los iba tirando una por una, con lentitud, a
los pescados del rio." (p. 33) Such description goes far
beyond realism and enters the realm of the macabre (even if
the prologuist affirms the veracity of such episodess).

These gruesome events are only one aspect, a neg-
ative one, of life in the Risaralda valley. Life among the

Sopingos was unconstrained and the exhibition of one's

 

8Villegas, VI.

 

“in. ‘_‘n: “-
I A

‘ 1'11: :. 4

124

masculinity and courage was a virtue. The guapo or man of
courage was one of the most highly considered members of
the community:
Los que mas consideracién gozaban entre los juerguistas,
eran los guapos, quienes por cualquier nada se requin-
taban machete en mano a buscar camorra a1 pr6jimo. Las
gentes todas los temian, el hembraje les era d6cil y
los duefios de casa procuraban tenerlos contentos, por
lo cual extremaban sus adulaciones, zalemas y agasajos,
mas por temor que por pleitesia. (p. 30)
In consequence, a high value was placed on bravery
and manliness and "un hombre haciase despreciable si alguna

vez habia sido derrotado o no habia cometido siguiera un

homicidio." (p. 4)

 

The weekly Saturday night dances are bacchanalian
imbroglios for which the men prepare by sharpening their
machetes. Dancing and jesting are the major activities of
the evening fueled by the unsparing consumption of liquor.
The jesting (el trovar) represents a rivalry in which the
antagonists "hacian alusiones picarescas o intencionadas
sobre defectos y virtudes de cada quién, y casi siempre,
como resultados de esos tiroteos musicales, habia uno o
varios muertos. . . ." (p. 29) The first verse is thrown
out spontaneously by a member of the concurrence and is
answered by a second party or by the person to whom it
alluded. An example of this jesting is the verses ex-
changed by Victor Manuel and Saturnina. Victor begins by

affirming his prowess with the women:

125

Tengo amores en Cartago,

y queridas en Pereira,

una novia en Manizales

y dos mocitas en Neira. (p. 40)
to which Saturnina responds:

En San Pacho estan las sordas,

y en Aranzazu las feas;

las lindas en Manizales

y las pu . . . ras en la Aldea.
These verbal jousts have no set length and continue until
they are interrupted by another speaker, until they deter-
iorate into a conflict or until one of the participants

draws the contests to a close. An effective closing verse

 

is the one that the guapo Jauncho Marin sings to his com-

: -' LU

panion Vicentico:
Vamonés por un traguito,
corazén amable y santo,
no hablemos mas pendejados
y démosle fin a1 canto. (p. 43)
The entire concurrence answers with the standard closing

verse, which might reveal a clever pun (todos apuntan a1

 

blanco) on racial alienation between Negroes.and whites
(although the author gives no further explanation):

Angelés con carabinas,

todos apuntan a1 blanco:

gloria a1 Padre, gloria a1 Hijo,

gloria a1 Espiritu Santo. (p. 44)

Even in the midst of their social activities the

Negroes are aware of their estrangement from white society
--just as the very existence of Sopinga is testimony to the

fact that the Negroes believed that they could live better

in a community of their own.

126

Among the verses that the author includes to illus—
trate the music of the Negroes is the complete "Canci6n del
boga ausente" by Candelario Obeso. I have previously re—
ferred to this poem by Obeso in Chapter I and although
Arias Trujillo does not ascribe the poem to Obeso he does
say that it was written "por un negro de verdad." (p. 54)

The most popular dance is the bambuco which the
author describes thus:

Este bambuco nuestro tiene de.corrida de toros y de . .
rifias de gallos, los dos juegos predilectos del pueblo:
e1 poncho es a veces un capote para hacer suertes a las
hembras y ponerlas en su puesto, y tanto la ruana como
el pafiuelo son una reminiscencia primitiva del ala
conquistadora del gallo enamorado . . .vEl bambuco es
baile de pureza y es inocente y cordial como una de-
claracion deamor. (p. 37)

In its essence the bambuco is not a happy dance:

El traduce afios de esclavitud, ansia sin rumbo, bajel
sin duefio, hambre de patria . . . chasquido de latigo
sobre curvadas cervices, dolor hondo, desgarrador,
taciturno, que por dentro sin piedad y sin descanso,
aunque en veces se haga malicioso y ladino y trate de
expresar pasajeras alegrias. Ese contento es sélo un
truco para velar con suavidad hondos penares. (p. 53)

Another of the popular dances is the torbellino,

 

"e1 finico danzén alegre de los bozales." (p. 53) Many of
the Negro songs and airs reflect the sadness and the bit—
terness which has been their lot in the New World but the

torbellino is a complete expression of joy. The author

 

gives the following description of it:

El torbellino es aire nacional de abolengo africano y
expresa la euforia elemental del negro de Colombia.

Este, deliberadamente, echa en olvido la amargura que
dejé en el bambuco y suelta las riendas de la alegria,

127

de la Gorrachera sin control, en ese ritmo animado y
vital que incita a botar fuera la angustia ya mover e1
cuerpo con movimientes césmicos. (p. 52)
In contrast, the bambuco "es pena alegre, aire saudoso,
timido efusién, pero es siempre tristeza." (p. 53)

As the years pass by the inhabitants of Sopinga
moderate some of their worst vices but their free love
practices and tumultuous dances persist. There existed a
general antipathy towards outsiders and happily for the
Negroes "e1 blanco no habia podido penetrar en este recodo
rebelde en donde la negredumbre se establecié con anchuroso
independencia." (p. 68) In addition to chasing off the
periodic emissaries of the government, the inhabitants also
resisted any encroachment by the clergy. In one episode
they frighten off a priest by tying the naked body of a
dead old woman to the cords of the church bells. The spec-
tacle is sufficiently horrendous that the priest quickly
departs. Consequently, "con estas costumbres y en ese
valle de contento, el negro era feliz." (p. 71)

They were superstitious and in moments of anxiety
they recurred to their manicongos, "unos fetiches por ellos
mismos construidos, hechos a su imagen y semejanza, para
implorarles ayuda divina." (p. 71) Like the whites "ellos
fabricaban sus dioses para temerlos, pedirlos favores y
odorarlos." (p. 71) Their only fear was of the unknown and
of those things which, in their ignorance, they could not

explain. Otherwise, "eran libres, sefiores de cuanto se

128

extendia ante sus miradas, amos de rios, montes, animales
y esteros." (p. 72)

The sopingos knew that they were fugitives from
white society and they had the premonition that one day the
white man would come to the valley. When eventually he did
he came in force. A gunboat sailed up the Cauco and disem-
barked armed troops. The Negroes well knew what the arrival
of the white man signified and

los que pudieron emigrar, lo hicieron con mudo contento
de los conquistadores; y los que se quedaron, resignan-
dose aparentemente, buscando y no perdiendo nunca la
oportunidad de rebelarse contra la tirania forastera,
que sélo habia llegado a sembrar cizafia, servilismo,
odiosidad y desamor. (p. 79)
The white man arrived and imposed his laws and customs. He
took the best land. He conscripted the young men into the
army and even the priests used the civil authorities to
force the native inhabitants to get married "de acuerdo con
las normas de la iglesia." The whites had come to the
paradisiacal Risaralda valley because they had heard that:
Sopinga era tierra de buen clima, fructuosos llanos,
pr6vidas montafias y mansos rios y que por lo tanto en
ese rincén de cielo podrian establecer dehesas de
ganado, haciendas y estancias, pueblos y centros
comerciales. (p. 76)
The arrival of the whites also meant that life in the
valley, as the sopingos knew it, would no longer be the
same.
One of the first acts of the white conquerors is to

change the name of the community. They consider Sopinga

immoral, African and savage. They select the new name of

129

"La Virginia," "apodo feminado“ which has absolutely no
meaning or consequence for the original inhabitants.
Methodically, the newcomers impose an alien social order
and with it "un invisible cordén sanitario de jerarquia
entre las dos castas." (p. 83)

The arrival of the white man is the end of Sopinga
and the beginning of a new era. In poetic and nostalgic
phrases the author laments the passing of the old order

which, like Guiraldes in Don Segundo Sombra, he considers

 

the passing away of a way of life:

iPobre Sopinga, pobrecita tierra negruzca que ya no lo
eres del todo, porque cada dia te vas despercudiendo
mas y el virus de la civilizacion te llen6 de toxinas
que te palidecen y desfiguran! . . .

:Adios, Sopinga mulata, cachorrita tierra de bailongos,
de tiples y de bambucos, donde fueron libres los bozales
hasta que un dia llegaron los blancos a enturbiar sus
Vidas1 O O O

iAdiés, tierra buena para siempre y bandida a ratos,
nidal de negros guerrilleros y contrabandistas que
cantaban unas tonadas dulces y tristes, como las tris-
tezas dulces que se sienten por la tarde, a las orillas
de tu rio, en los rubios veranos. (p. 85)

In the preceeding lines the author evokes a feeling

of compassion for Sopinga: iPobre Sopinga . . .: Sopinga

 

mulata; tierra negruzca: tierra de bailongos; de tiples y

 

 

 

de bambucos; tonadas dulces y tristes. This sentiment he

contrasts with the whites who arrive a enturbiar sus vidas

 

and who spread el virus de la civilizacion. In this passage
we have the essence of the conflict between civilization

and barbarity, between progress and the status quo. The

130

author depicts negatively the coming of the whites and he
seems to be correct when he calls civilization a virus,
especially when it is not long before the whites, whom he
calls "la canalla blanca," destroy the natural beauty of
the valley and impose a caste system in which the Negroes
are considered inferior.
Thus, with a note of pain, the author says goodby
to Sopinga:
Ay, SOpinga de mis entretelas, que te prendias siempre
como yerba de potrero en el vestido del alma: estas
tan desfigurada, te han puesto los blancos tan foras-
tero y pretencioso, que ni Salvadorcillo (the founder
of the settlement) volviera a mirarte. . . . (p. 86)
With civilization, technology and the machete the
white man assumes authority. The verdant forest is cut
down to make way for new homes and businesses and what was
yesterday "fiera jungla" becomes today "suelo domesticado."
In this part of the novel the author singles out
the machete as another of the national elements that he
wants to praise. In the following passage we see the
praise that he renders to a seemingly commonplace
instrument:
iBendigamos a1 machete victorioso siempre, abajado
nunca, que lo mismo reluce con donaire en lo mejor.de
un baile de garrote, que se yergue altivo y libertador
en medio del combate! Bendigamos a1 machete criollo
porque es leal como nuestros paisanos, porque con su
punta se escribio la historia patria, y porque deberia

figurar por derecho prOpio en el escudo de armas de la
Repfiblica! (p. 92)

131

The victory of the machete over the jungle and.the

dominance of the white man over the Negro, that is, the

triumph of civilization over the uncultivated brings to a

close the first part of the novel- The second part of the

novel introduces us to the life of the vaquero and to the

love of Juan Manuel and La Canchelo.
The second half of the novel opens with a quote

from the Song of Solomon in the Bible: "No miréis en que

soy morena porque el Sol me besé. . . ." (p. 99) This
3

opportune quote introduces a. paean to the beautiful i

 

Negress, Canchelita Duran. In a series of stanzas that
I

follow the psalm structure of the Bible the author sings

the praises of this "Hija de la Selva" in almost biblical

terms:
--Morena eres porque e1 Sol te besé, y codiciable como
fruta en sazén, pues que tus carnes dan miel de cafia y
olor de trapiche criollo, y toda tfi, tienes e1 perfume
afrodisiaco de las leonas del Desierto . . .-

--Bendita seas, mozuela de manigua, talle de bambfi,
orquidea del tr6pico, retofio de la gleba, la de altivos
senos en boton, con lisuras de mangos bien maduros y

curvas aterciopeladas de entrega, redondos y suaves
como los flancos morenos de las tinajas donde guardas

el agua fresca de tu casa. (pp. 99-100)

Other biblical allusions in the description of La
Canchelo include references to the Old Testament, to Solomon

and the Temple of Solomon and the use of the phrases:

and Loado seas. The author also

Glorificada seas : Hosanna;

makes more mundane comparisons of her with Joan Crawford

and with the possibility that in Africa her "ilustre cuerpo"

IL

132
would be sacrificed to pacify the gods. The author com-
pletes the biblical tone of this passage with a final

'UUmen."

La Canchelo is the daughter of Pacha Duran who is

one of the more prominent members of the community. Pacha

is the owner of the inn where the Negroes hold their weekly

«dances. She is notorious for her greed and her escapades.

Her story is one of the most interesting and poignant in

 

the novel. She was born in Cartago but she did not know

who her father was because, "como ella decia, la engendraron

‘en fiestas.'"

_ II... -

Her mother treated her cruelly as a child

, ' m-mzn “Oh—5.-
r“

and she did not protest when a fisherman carried her off

when she was still a young girl. However, her lover also

mistreated her and she fled to SOpinga.

As a young woman Pacha was attractive and from her
first moment in SOpinga "fue tentacién de negros, apetito

de mulatos, ansia de zambos, suefio de mestizos y chifladura

de todos." (p. 26) An energetic and ambitious young woman,

she married a man for his general store and then cast him

aside for other husbands "que salian de su lecho tan exten-

uados de fuerzas corporales como de dinero." However, as

the years passed by, "su oro . . . dio en filtrarse hacia

los bolsillos de los muchachos que la cortejaban, mucho por

interés y nada por amor." La Canchelo was the fruit of one

oflmu'last affairs. She loved her only child dearly and

guarded her against the misfortunes that she had experienced

II 4

 

 

133

herself. Pacha was wealthy and her life and money were

devoted to seeing her daughter well married and established.

She wanted.to die "dejando a su Canchelo, casada con hombre
blanco y’de buenas maneras, no con un negro vulgar del
puerto, ordinario y despreciable." (p. 162)

La Canchelo is exceedingly attractive and vain.
She exhibits the airs and the feeling of superiority that
her mother has engendered in her. Although a virgin, she
has the satisfaction of knowing that she is coveted but
Pacha "cuidaba de su virtud como de algo propio, con sagac-
idad de eunuco." The young men describe her with such
interesting epithets as culiapretada and pispa (prudish).
La Canchelo's affectations and Pacha's desire to have her
wed a white man are the chagrin of the Negro community.

The white man designated as the suitor of La
Canchelo is the vaquero Juan Manuel Vallejo. He is as much

of a man as she is woman.

Era este Juan Manuel un mocet6n de buena estampa,
aventurero y sentimental, asaz poeta y mujerengo,
entendido y bizarro trotamundos, baquiano en domar
lo mismo a una arisca moza, que a una potranca
chficara. A la hembra 1a amansaba con lazos de amor
y a esta con sogas de valentia. (p. 107)

The love story of Juan Manuel and La Canchelo is
elementary. He views her as a beautiful, spirited young
filly that arouses his instincts of lover and horsebreaker.
He woos her and, aided by his skin color, wins her. His

love, it seems, is ephemeral because he can't bring himself

 

134

to marry her even though she is carrying his child. La
Canchelo is spared the anguish of having him leave her when
Ibe is killed in a freak accident (a bull that he had roped

pulled the. lasso around a hollow tree trunk which crashed

down on both horse and rider). The scorned Negress has the

consolation of knowing that, in death, Juan Manuel will

always be hers.

The introduction of Juan Manuel into the novel aqw
allows the author to describe the life and customs of the E 1
vaquero. This part of the novel has a spiritual alliance é

a:
with those great novels that grew out of the Spanish Amer- 5

 

ican soil: La voragine, Dofia Barbara and Don Segundo

 

Sombra. Juan Manuel, at times, seems to be a more sophis-

ticated and self-confident Arturo Cova because like the

protagonist of Rivera's novel he has fled the city and

struck out into the wilderness. Unlike him, however, he

learns the arts of survival and becomes an accomplished
vaquero. Like don Segundo Sombra he is a vagabond, a rest-
less wanderer who becomes uneasy when he is tied down in

one spot, because "tenia alma de vaquero que es tener alma

de extensién." In a passage that could have come from

Gfiiraldes' Don Segundo Sombra, Arias Trujillo writes that:

la llanura ejerce sobre el vaquero extrafios dominios
de dulce tirania. Cuando se amanceba con ella, que es
brujo y tiene filtros hechizantes, ya jamas podra

desasirse de sus brazos, ni evadir su grato imperio.
(p. 112)

135

Also like don Segundo, Juan Manuel is a skilled
horseman, an expert herdsman and a good storyteller. He
obtains a job on a neighboring hacienda and with his guitar
or Eipla he entertains his companions with songs and stor-
ies. The tiple is another of the national elements that

the author singles out for praise:

iTiple bonachén y montafiero tiple sentimental y macho,
camarada fidelisimo de nuestro pueblo humilde! El
campesino lo oye zurrunguear desde que su madre lo
acunaba sobre las rodillas, y no es todavia mozo cuando
ya lo ha aprendido a rasgar para ir a cantarle a la
novia . . . El tiple no puede faltar en ninguna casa
labriega, en el taller aldeano, en las cantinas del
pueblo, en las fondas de los caminos reales . . .
Tambien e1 tiple es patriota y por eso los reclutas lo
enrolan para la campafia, primero que sus encapillados

. .~. Evoquemos, pues, a1 tiple criollo, hermano y
compinche de todas nuestras desventuras y glorias. . . .
(pp. 134-135)

One of the verses that is sung in accompaniment
with the tiple is in praise of La Canchelo:
Por ser hija de la Pacha
y mas hermosa qui un cielo
le pusieron en Sopinga
e1 mote de La Canchelo. (p. 122)

Two of the most important elements in the life of
the vaquero are his horse and his saddle. Juan Manuel had
a good horse and an excellent saddle. His relationship to
his saddle was like a marriage because:

Mas que por su fidelidad, amabala por pundonor cabae
lleresco: jamas se habia caida de ella, nunca, por su
culpa, ni por fallo de sus correas, lo derribé a tierra

una potranca chficara, que es la suprema humillacién
para un vaquero de honor. (p. 140)

E.

Wmmnffi’flfin-
- n! J

136

The author describes many of the other interesting

activities of the vaquero, such as, the branding and disin-

fecting of the bulls, the castration of the old bulls, the
Sunday bath, dancing and drinking (brandy or el aguardiente

which has been "el mejor combustible para movilizar la vida

nacional") and the poncho:

Ruana se le llama en tierra fria y poncho en la
caliente. Desde nifios lo llevan con donaire, es el
mas ambicionado regalo de infancia junto con el
machete, y cuando ya se es mozo, sirve para todo:

de alfombra para montar e1 pelo en buena bestia, a
escondidas del padre; de defensa, cuando con un canto
1e hace quites y pespuntes a los toros en las ferias
del pueblo 0 en las corridas de la hacienda. En las
rifias domingueras es simbolo de honor y el que se
atreva a pisarlo tiene que pagar su atrevimiento con
pena de la vida, porque e1 poncho es la honra y como
ésta, no puede ser pisoteado por nadie, mientras haya
sangre en las venas y vergfienza en el alma. Cuando
estalla la pelea, e1 labriego envuelve su brazo con el
poncho para mejor resistir las cuchilladas del adver-
sario. La prenda familiar y fitil esta siempre lista a
servir a su duefio para todos los menesteres, aventuras

y percances. (p. 157)

In addition to the numerous material articles that
Arias Trujillo particularizes as indicative of Colombian

.nationality he also describes the social phenomenon of the

cuatrero or bandit. In the dashing figure of Victor Manuel

Restrepo the author drawsus a romanticized picture of a
Colombian Jesse James, a veritable (Robin Hood of the plains.

Nicknamed Victor Malo, this outlaw stole only from the rich

and shared his spoils with the poor. Cognizant of the

inequitable distribution of wealth in the country, Victor

Malo "creia obrar bien, quitaba a1 prepotente parte de sus

 

137

sobras, para darselos a1 pobre o a si mismo. . . ." He

enjoyed the admiration and aid of the people in his con—

stant encounters with the police.
The appearance of Victor Malo's gang in the Risa-

ralda valley gives occasion to a duel with machetes between

the fabled outlaw and the valiant Juan Manuel. The latter

challenges the bandit to a hand to hand combat in order to

spare the town an attack by the entire gang. The two

adversaries, "como dos gimnastas griegos educados para el

circo," wage an epic battle until Juan Manuel finally pre-

vails. The badly wounded vaquero has proven his courage

but this interlude serves the purpose of introducing another

aspect of Colombian society. Unfortunately, it is an aspect

which is still very real today--banditry.

The Negroes of La Virginia (formerly Sopinga) do

not accept or trust Juan Manuel. Although he is an excel-

lent vaguero, he is still white. They resent his courtship

of the prettiest of the Negro girls and "la negredumbre

zurcia conjuraciones contra el blanco entremetido." The

Negroes are always conscious of the verse which says:

Si ves a un negro comiendo
di un blanco en la compania,
0 el blanco le debe a1 negro,

0 es del negro la comio. . . . (p. 166)
They do not believe that a white man can sincerely love a

black woman. Consequently, when Juan Manuel tells his

fellow vaguero Desiderio, a Negro, that he loves La Canchelo

but not enough to marry her, Desiderio is not surprised and

calmly replies:

 

138

Claro: los pobres negros no servimos a ustedes, sino
pa que nos carguen como mulas y nos desgracien las
mujeres, nada ma. (p. 191)

La Canchelo suspects Juan Manuel's treachery but
she lovingly nurses him to a recovery from the wounds that
he suffered in the fight with Victor Malo. After he has
recovered from his delirium she does not hesitate to tell
him the truth as she sees it: "lo que pasa es que vos ya
no me querés, que tas jarto conmigo porque matates tus
antojos y te querés vola pa dejame a mi puay tirada com fin
cuero." (p. 202) Then, in what is perhaps the most sensi-
tive and disturbing statement about interracial relations
in all Colombian fiction, the aggrieved Negress states what
seems to be a universal truth about black-white understand-
ing:

Lo que pasa, es que vos no comprendés mi pena. Vos,
como sos blanco, no sabés de estos dolores de los
negros. Ustedes tan creyendo que $610 103 blancos son
cristianos. Pero nosotros también tenemos alma y nos
duele e1 corazén. . . . (p. 203)

All the anguish and tears of more than four-hundred
years of slavery and discrimination, of caste systems and
women wronged, of men castrated and spirits broken, go into
the above statement. Carmelita knows, Desiderio knows and
all the Negroes who fled to and founded Sopinga know that
the white does not see and, more importantly, does not

treat the Negro as a human being. In that declaration is

the raison d'étre of Sopinga and the tyranny of the white

 

conquerors. In those four sentences is the essence of the

 

139

Negro Colombian's struggle for equality in a predominantly

white society. In those lines are buried forever the world

of Maria and Manuela. Risaralda is only the gentle har-

binger of a new and more bitter realism that not only
destroys the myth of racial egalitarianism but damns it as

well. Waiting in the foyer to be heard are Diego Castrillon

Arboledo, Arnoldo Palacios and Manuel Zapata Olivella.

Juan Manuel's feeble response to this incident is:

"Mire mijita: vos sabés que yo no te engafio . . . Mire,

mija: por esta cruz que vuelvo y que me trague la tierra

si te toyengafiando . . ." Do we see poetic justice when

the hollow tree pulls up from the ground and smashes down

Juan Manuel? His rationale is once again reminiscent of

Don Segundo Sombra:

E1 no quiere vivir dias intrascendentes en un mismo
predio, hacerse viejo en un solo lugar, opacandose en
bregas cotidianos bajo un cielo igual. El desea vivir
en diario errabundaje, como la gota de agua que nunca
pasa por el mismo sitio. Quiere ser m6vil, buscar
distintas aventuras y diversos amores, con la emocién
a flor de alma, entre encrucijadas de peligros e

interrogaciones permanentes. (p. 220)
Symbolically Juan Manuel can be compared to Gal-

Legos' Santos Luzardo. Like the antagonist of Dofia Barbara

he represents the civilized man (it should be remembered
that” inflike don Segundo, Juan Manuel is city—bred and
educated, his life as a vaquero is an adaptation) who
journeys to the wild plains and overcomes both foes and

nature. It is the clash between what Domingo Faustino

 

 

140

Sarmiento called civilizacién y barbarie. It is progressive
white civilization contrasted with the pristine simplicity
of the Negroes. Villegas says that "La Canchelo es el Valle

9 That is,

de Risaralda humanizado por el hombre blanco."
just as it was difficult and represented a challenge to
Juan Manuel to win La Canchelo, so it was for the white man

to win, or dominate the valley.

Risaralda raises the implicit question of what is

 

civilization? Who is fooling whom? The Negro in SOpinga
had freedom and lived in unison with his environment.
Unhampered by social and religious conventions, he satisfied
his basic desires in the most elemental fashion. He worked
when he wanted to work. He sang, he danced, he fought and
he loved whenever it pleased him. He rowed his canoe under
the stars and he understood the beauty of the night. Con-
versely, the whites destroyed nature. They built factory-
like towns and destroyed the forests. Their lives were
governed by rigid ceremonies and pretensions and had none
of the spontaneity that the Negroes had previously
exhibited.

One final comparison with Don Segundo Sombra will
confirm the affinity of the two novels. As don Segundo

rides off, his young protegé remarks: "aquello que se

 

9Villegas, VIII.

 

 

141

 

alejaba era mas una idea que un hombre."10 The same senti-

ment can be applied to the Risaralda valley. That which

disappeared with SOpinga was more of an idea, more of a

possibility than a reality. It was a way of life which had

become incompatible with the technology and science of the

twentieth century.
I have elaborated upon Arias Trujillo's description

of many diverse elements, such as, the land, the guitar,

the poncho, the machete, the vaquero and other subjects.

This is pertinent because I wanted to establish the fact
It is a

 

that Risaralda is not a novel about Negroes.

 

national novel in which Negroes are an important element.
It is national in the same sense that La voragine is, that
is, it takes an inherently Colombian subject and depicts it

artistically. Risaralda is an outstanding novel and de-

 

serves greater recognition. More important than individual

problems are the questions of nationality that it discusses.

It stands on a par with that great trilogy of novels about

the Spanish American personality: La voragine, Don Segundo

Sombra and Dofia Barbara.
The naturalistic manner of depicting the lives of

the Negroes (such as Juancho Marin cutting off his compan-

ion's head or Esteban Rodas cutting up his daughter) will

 

receive a more extensive development in Las estrellas son

negras by Arnoldo Palacios, the next novel to be discussed.

 

loRicardo Giiiraldes, Don Segundo Sombra (Buenos

Aires: Editorial Losada, 1961), 184.

 

CHAPTER V

A "NATURALISTIC" PORTRAYAL OF THE NEGRO:

LAS ESTRELLAS SON NEGRAS

After the World War had ended in 1918 many authors

in Spanish America turned away from Europe as a source of

literary and intellectual leadership. They became inter-

ested in their own nations and cultures and especially in

the plight of the American Indian. A new wave of "Indian-

ist" novels was initiated, of a very distinct nature from

the romantic novels of the nineteenth-century. In Mexico,

Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, countries which have a large
indian pOpulation, this new type of novel depicted the in-
ferior social status of the indian and decried his mis-

treatment at the hands of the white majority. However,

in their zeal to publicize and redress the wrongs perpe-

trated upon the indian these authors overlooked the plight

of other minority groups, principally the Negro.

 

1The best known of these novels are: Raza de
Bronce (1919) by the Bolivian Alcides Arguedas; Huasi un O
by the Ecuatorian Jorge Icaza; El indio ( y
the Mexican Gregorio LOpez y Fuentes; and E1 mundo es
‘ ancho y ajeno (1941) by the‘Peruvian Ciro Alegria.

 

2A notable exception is the novel Pobre Negro
(1937) by the Venezuelan ROmulo Gallegos.

142

 

5
:9

143

In Chapter I we noted that the Indianist novel
never had much repercussion in Colombia, neither during
the romantic period nor in the subsequent period of social
protest. In Colombia the Negro takes the place of the
indian as a literary subject but it was not until after
the Second WOrld War that Colombian authors addressed
themselves to the social situation Of the Negro. gag
estrellas son negras (1949) by Arnoldo Palacios depicts A

the harshest aspects of the Negro's life in Colombia. t

This novel has been called by Curcio Altamar "la mejor y '

 

mas cumplida novela naturalista de Colombia, tanto en la
ejecucién como en la impasibilidad cruda del estilo y en

la preferencia por explotar e1 elemento sOrdido, rofioso

y cruel de la existencia humana."3 Néstor Madrid-Malo

supports this opinion by listing Palacios as one of the
"autores de primera linea" during the decade of the for-

ties.4 On the other hand, Humberto Bronx finds in this

novel "muestras de un naturalismo sOrdido y ruin, poco

comfin y casi finico en la literatura colombiana." This

 

3Curcio Altamar, 251.

4Néstor Madrid-Malo, "Estado actual de la novela
en Colombia," Rfevista Interamericana de Bibliografia,
XVIII, NO. 1 (Jan.-Mar., 1967), 72.

5Humberto Bronx, Veinte afios de novela colombiana
(Medellin: Editorial Granamérica, 1966), 20.

 

 

144

statement says nothing about the literary value of the

novellnuzimplies that its naturalism automatically in-

validates its worth.

Las estrellas son negras can be shocking and dis-
turbing in its emphasis on the negative, however, Jean
Paul Sartre has written that "concrete literature will
be a synthesis of Negativity, as a power of uprooting
from the given, and a Project, as an outline of a future

order; it will be the Festival, the flaming mirror which

burns everything reflected in it, and generosity, that

is, a free invention, a gift." Palacios has chosen to

reveal the world in a particular manner, naturalism, so
that the reader will not remain indifferent to it. It is

the task of the writer, to quote Sartre again, "to act in

such a way that nobody can be ignorant of the world and

that nobody may say that he is innocent of what it's all

about."7

Las estrellas son negras introduces us to a world

of hunger and social inequity. It cultivates a theme

which is reminiscent of that of John Steinbeck's The

Grapes of “Bath (1939). Like Steinbeck, Palacios shows

 

 

6Jean Paul Sartre, What is Literature? (New York:

Harper & Row, 1965), 153.

71bid., 18.

 

 

 

145

how dualife of the poor can become wretched and almost

unbearable. The portrayal contains all of the poignancy

of Steinbeck's novel and its naturalistic scenes are just

as forcefully drawn. Just as Steinbeck was able to ex-

puess artistically the courage of the Joad family in the
thee of the social hostility directed at them, Palacios
likewise depicts the determination of the boy Irra to

overcome the anguish and suffering of the Negro's life.

Both authors evoke the strength and goodness to be found

in the basic humanity of their characters. Palacios does

not over-exaggerate the sordid element (as did Jorge Icaza

whose style he appears to have emulated).

Palacios narrates approximately one day in the

life of a Negro youth, Irra, and during that time we learn

what it is like to be poor and black in Colombia. The

author narrates the novel but he frequently uses interior

monologue and dialogue so that we may see how the charac-

ters themselves respond to a situation. The novel shows

the protagonist reacting to and reflecting upon the social

circumstances in which he finds himself. The novel is

divided into>four parts entitled: (l) Hambre, (2) Irra,

(3) INive! and (4) Luz Interior. Palacios depicts the

psychological growth of Irra from reaction to reflection,

from anger to a determination to improve his economic

condition.

 

 

 

146

The language of the novel is often coarse and un—

refined in keeping with the level of society that the

audunris depicting. There is also frequent transcription
of the Choco dialect which the uneducated characters speak.
The prose style is reminiscent of that which Jorge Icaza

used in Huasipungo in which there is a disregard for stand-

 

A brief example of ths language

"12

ard grammar and syntax.

of Palacios' characters is the following sentence:

que jueron a fiama ar jué . . . Peo ta borracho" (p. 153).8

This dialect differs markedly from standard Spanish which

would read: Dicen que fueron a llamar a1 juez . . . Pero

esta borracho. This style has the advantage of showing

the correspondence between the language that people use
and their level of education, or rather, the lack of it.
we learn that the people are not fed, that they are not
educated and that public officials are negligent in their

duties.
Chapter I depicts the hunger and frustration of

the unemployed protagonist. Chapter II describes his re-

action to being hungry and being unable to find a job.
Chapter. III shows Irra as he begins to communicate with

other people and Chapter IV describes his arrival to a

level of self-understanding.

 

8See Curcio Altamar, 251, who refers to "La
exactitud fotografica del habla regional chocoana."

 

 

 

 

147

In the first chapter hunger is omnipresent: "Irra

sintio e1 aullido del hambre. E1 hambre aullé en todos los

agujeros de la casa. Y en el polvo de las calles. [Ham-

bre! .. ."9 Elena the younger sister of Irra picks at

the wall covering and in the following passage we see the

inmact of hunger upon the child and upon the emotions of

the protagonist:

Ella se habia dedicado a arrancar el pafiete de la
pared, echéndolo en el regazo. Miraba quien la
observaba y al sentirse sola se comia e1 pafiete.
En eso la vi6 Irra. Sobrecogiolo brutal sensacion

de odio, 0 de reproche, y le lanzé una patada . . .
La patada 1a golpe6 en el costado derecho. Al caer,
e1 vestido remendado de tela ordinaria se le arre-
mango y la nifia qued6 desnuda unos minutos . . .

Su carita negra quedo untada de polvo, y lo mismo
su cabello motoso en el cual se veian enredadas

algunas basuras (p. 39).
In the above passage we see the author's effective-

ness in describing what hunger will make a person do. A

child is reduced to eating the wall covering and Irra's
anger, not so much at his sister but at his inability to

ameliorate their poverty, causes him to react violently.

Palacio's style is almost reportorial. He describes what

happens with.very little elaboration on the details. The

child picked at the wall. She looked about her. Irra saw

her. Hatred overcame him. He kicked her. This is the

essence of Palacios' style and it gives the impression of

 

gArnoldo Palacios, Las
Editorial Iqueima, 1949), 168.
will refer to this edition.

All réTErences in the text

estrellas son negras (Bogota:

mfimcnm.
‘31 m ..
L

148

being telegraphic without actually being so. The author

uses this type of narration to give greater force to these

naturalistic scenes. The reader is presented with the

weight of a negative occurrence (for example, he kicked
her) without any elaboration that would detract from that

action. Throughout the novel the author refrains from

any commentary and allows the reader to draw his own con-

clusions.
The poor have their pride and even gnawing hunger

cannot bring Irra to humble himself and beg the grocer for

credit:

El estomago le ardia. Sintié mas hambre afin . . .
No habia comido nada, cierto. Y a pesar de ello,
ahora como un perro cobarde no habia tenido volun-
tad suficiente para proponerle al tendero, les
fiara una misera libra de arroz (p. 76).

Irra seems trapped by circumstances beyond his

control. He has ambitions. He wants to work and help

his family but he is frustrated in his efforts to change

his situation:

Como 1e gustaria ser mecanico. Pero por mas que
Irra caminaba durante todo el santo dia no logra-
lba . conseguir trabajo en ninguna parte. Ya
Ihabfa perdido la esperanza de que le dieran un
empleo de portero proque el era negro y casi todos
los puestos se los daban a los blancos, o a los
negros que le lamian los zapatos a1 intendente.

A Irra 1e dolian los pies de tanto ir y venir en

busca de trabajo (p. 42).

Education doesn't seem to offer a means of progress

either.

ful use of dialogue and his reproduction of the regional

In the following passage we see the author's skill-

 

 

 

149

dialect of ChoccS as Irra answers his mother's questions

about his studies:

Ar juin, aqué te contejté er direto d'erucacion,
mijo?--hablc3 la madre, voz cavernosa, doliente.
-Nada. Que no hay beca para estudiar fuera de

aqui . . .
-8.Y v6 no ganatei tu afio, pué? . . .

O é qué . . .
-Tampoco . . . Las becas se las repartieron a

los blancos . . . Que se vayan a1 diablo! . . .

Que se las metan por el j0po y se vayan a la porra!
. . . iPrefiero la tisis o la lepra, pero no ser
pobre! . . . iSer pobre es la peor desgracia!

iMaldita sea! . . . (pp. 42-43).
The above passage shows that obtaining an education

and learning well do not always help the Negro. Prejudice

still exists and although Irra was the top student in his

class the white students received the scholarships. Con-

sequently, we notice the beginning of anger and bitterness

as the youth becomes more aware of social inequity. The

selection also makes a subtle distinction between Irra,

who has attended school and uses good Spanish, and his

mother who uses a patois.
The mother is the sole support of the family and

she has grown old and tired. She admonishes Irra and re—

minds him of his responsibility:

Yo te lo tuve iciendo, Irraé, que no te metiérai
en su mardita politica . . . Qu'eso no t'fa tré
sino peljuico . . . Yo ya toy mfi vieja ya, y mi
enjelma; lo que gano loj arcanza ni pa 1a comira
. .. . Colmigo no contéi, no, Irraé . . . Tu mama
ya.ru3 resijte . . . Y tuj helmanitaj mujere nece-

s'itan tuapoyo . . . (p. 43).

In this passage we can now more fully distinguish

a number of features of the Choc6 dialect. Entire

 

 

 

150

syllables are suppressed in the verb estar and with the
preposition para: tuve for estuve, toy for estoy and pa
for para. Sometimes only the initial consonant is sup-

pressed: iciendo for diciendo. The /r/ and the /1/ are

mardita for maldita, peljuico for

 

used interchangeably :

perjuicio, enjelma for enferma and arcanza for alcanza.
There are other changes such as /s/ to /j/: resijte, tuj

comira for comida; and the

 

and helmanitaj; /d/ to /r/:

suppression of the /y/ in muy: 131:1."

Irra feels himself maturing and changing. He re-

 

 

calls the newspaper headline that the pe0ple of Barranquilla

had rioted and looted stores for food and clothing. And

why not? "El gobierno no hacia nada por remediar la suerte

de los pobres. Habian vivido de promesas toda la vida"

He feels himself a man and he makes a man's

He must kill the person

decision to change the situation.

whom he considers responsible for his poverty, the Mayor:

Hasta hace unos segundos Irra era solamente un
muchacho cualquiera, resignado a soportar e1
hambre, y a acostarse cuando ya habia agotado
toda esperanza de llevar e1 platano a las casa.
Hasta hace unos instantes Irra era uno de tantos
muchachos que soportaba con resignacion la mise-
ria de él y la miseria de toda la familia, dejando
su vida a merced de la voluntad Divina. Pero
ahora habia cambiado. El mismo no entendia que
fuerza exterior se habia infiltrado a su sangre
. . . Por fin Irra iba a hacer algo . . . Era un
hombre. Un hombre completo con responsabilidad

suficiente para matar (p. 44) .
Irra has identified the problem, poverty and hunger,

and he recognizes the need to do something about it. He

 

151

makes a decision. Part of the maturation process is learn-

ing how to make decisions but Irra also has another concern.

As he leaves the house he sees attractice girls swimming in

the river and he realizes that he has never possessed a

woman. He believes that a man his age should have a woman.

As he wanders, Irra meditates on the questions of

poverty and hunger--"todos hablan, pero nadie tiene coraje

. Nadie se conmueve hoy por la suerte de los pobres"

(p. 51). He thinks that if he could be a sailor he could

travel. He would earn money and spend it on liquor and

women. Or, if he were a mechanic, he could work at night

and go to school during the day. How nice it would be to

have a title: "éAquf esta e1 doctor Israel?"

Irra stops at the store. A man is reading the

newspaper to the peOple who are unable to read. When Irra

has a chance to see the paper he comes across an article

about a lynching in the United States:

Nueva York. Febrero 25. U.P.--Linchado un negro

en Macon, Ga. a eso de las cuatro de la tarde.
Horrenda carnicerfa hicieron de él. Parecian
(p. 73).

querersele comer la carne caliente"

Irra doesn't know what the word lynch means but he

realizes that "debia de ser que también alla e1 negro era

mal mirado por los blancos" (p. 75).

Out on the street again he looks about him:

Negros descalzos, ropas raIdas, arrinconados por
. . Negros indolentes; de-

allf sin itinerario .
IQué cantidad de desocupados!

masiado indolentes.
Y la vida carfsima; imposible mantenerse. Infamia

 

152

A 105 gobernantes de la naci6n no les importaba
tnxhdedo la tragedia del pueblo . . . Los pobres

tendrian que rebelarse . . . Pues si habian de
morir de hambre . . . por qué no jugarse el todo

por el todo?" (pp. 78-79).

The above passage is a typical example of Palacios'

He makes frequent use of interjections and repeti-

style.
Thus in

tion to reinforce the idea that he is expressing;

describing the unemployed Negroes he refers to them as

 

negros indolentes which he emphasizes with demasiado in-

dolentes. Then to drive home the entire idea of the large

number of unemployed people he reinforces the two previous

W71»? (.0 tfizmn no
”u: .._ .. -

statements with the interjection IQué cantidad de desocu-

Palacios also uses extreme statements and contrasts

padosl

to enhance his assertions. Life is not just expensive but

carisima, the superlative. The contrast with this expensive

life is the imposible mantenerse. The author uses this type

of exaggeration and contrast throughout the novel and it

makes his argument more forceful. The abuses done to the

poor loom so large that it is almost imposible for them to

survive. This, to the poor, is infamy and they would be

justified in rebelling.

The awareness of the poverty and misery around him
lead Irra to the decision to leave Choc6 and to go to a

larger city, Cartagena, where he would have a chance to

work and to earn money. He visits the cafe owner don José

to ask him for money so that he can make the trip. But

when he has received the money Irra feels more crushed

153

than ever. Even his resolution to leave and find work is

dependent upon others :

Irra huy6 de’ la trastienda, sintiéndose aplastado
por el mundo . . . Tembloroso, sudado, avergonsado
de 31', . . . Irra sentia su sér reducida a una
masa pastosa, gusanosa, bajo el cielo azul que
para él cobijaba solo hambre y humillacion . .
Irra empezé a llorar de rabia; lloraba de deses-
peracién; lloraba de ansiedad; lloraba a1 sentirse
tan miserable, tan empequefiecido, estropeado por
la vida a cada paso. éQue habia hecho el para

sufrir tanto? (pp. 89-90).

Again in this passage we see the author's use of

Irra is aplastado por el mundo.

exaggeration and contras t .

He is so crushed that he is reduced to una masa pastosa
which is further reduced to gusanosa and then, with this
worm-like image in mind, the author refers to the vastness

of the cielo azul which further enhances the description.
empezo a llo-

 

He then repeats the verb llorar four times:

rar de rabia, lloraba de deseperacion, lloraba de ansiedad

and lloraba a1 sentirse tan miserable. He then reemphasizes

the image of the entire paragraph and of the initial aplas-

 

tado with the adjectives empequefiecido and estropeado.

In his desperation, humiliation and anger Irra de-

cides to carry out his proposal to kill the mayor. All

men are born under the sign of a star and he was going to

find out why some were good stars and others were bad.

And his, as he says, "es una estrella negra . . . Negra

(p. 97. He decides to carry out his resolu-

como mi cara "

tion to take action. He gets an old axe and goes to the

 

m fifi 1mm:
‘ _.
‘1! -

 

 

154
He nervously waits outside the mayor's

mayor's office.

door not knowing whether to barge in or to knock politely.
After an hour of waiting he realizes that it is past the

working hours. He then leaves, frustrated once again.

The second half of Irra's day shows him in a closer

relationship to other individuals. We see him interacting

with his sisters: Elena, Aurora and Ana Clara. He mis-

treats and abuses them, as we saw when he kicked Elena,

but:

Las adoraba siempre, y aspiraba verlas bien, con
finos vestidos, perfumadas, las ufias esmaltadas;
aspiraba a que ellas pudieran asistir a bailes, y
al cine los domingos. Pero él mismo no se expli-
caba lo que sucedia. éPara qué tratar de justifi-
carse, cuando en el fondo de su corazon lo ator-
mentaba precisamente la tremenda situacién de su
familia, cosa que él deseaba remediar? Lo mejor

era irse (pp. 111-112).

We also see Irra in conversation with his friend

Ivan who helps to broaden Irra's perspective on social

conditions. Irra states that all whites live well but

Ivan tells him:

Toos no . . . Ahi onde los ve bailando, hay
.blancos que amancecen sin er desayuno . . .
Yo me doy cuenta, Irra, polque yo le hago
mandao a toos . . . (p. 156).

However, Irra's most important relationship is with
the girl Nive. With her Irra consummates his manhood but,
more importantly, she is the catalyst for his maturation
and self-identification. Nive is alone when Irra goes to

visit her and as he looks at the fourteen—year old girl

 

155

she begins to look like a woman to him. He decides to se-

duce her and he uses "e1 secreto para enamorar." This is

a.superstitious formula which guarantees success in love
making but which the educated Irra only half believes.

’_\
After satisfying his lust Irra is disgusted and mortified.

He hates Nive:

Ya no le importaba e1 hambre, no le importaba
la falta de rOpa, no le importaba la suerte de
su familia. 'éPor qué, Dios mio, 1e suceden a
uno estas cosas? . . . Ya no es el hambre lo
que me atormenta . . . B6rrame esta conciencia,
ieh, Dios! . . . No sé nada . . . No entiendo
mi propia vida . . .' Cada palabra de Nive,
cada suspiro suyo, lo hacian sentirse mas mis-
erable. El era un perro chandoso . . . acomo

habia él hecho eso? (pp. 144-145).

In this passage in addition to the usual repetition

 

of sentence elements (the triple repetition of no le im-

portaba, the double repetition of ya no and the complemen-
tary negatives of no se and no entiendo) we see Palacios'

use of rhetorical questions: aPor qué, Dios mio, 1e suce-

den a uno estas cosas? and £Como habia e1 hecho eso? The

sense of guilt is also reinforced by referring to Irra as

a perro chandoso.
Irra's post facto regrets are quite different from

.his earlier'sense of conquest and masculinity. The reali-

zation of the possible consequences of his actions over-

whelms him and, ignoring Nive's appeal to him, he flees

the house. He is now certain that he must leave the city,

not because he still wants to better himself but in order

to escape any recriminations from Nive's mother.

 

156

On his way home Irra meets his friend Ivan and
they see the results of a homicide. The description of
the dead man is graphic and I shall return to it later.
This naturalistic episode does not contribute to the main

story line and I want to describe without interruption

the psychological development of the protagonist. Irra

enters his house tormented by thoughtscf’Nive's mother
pursuing him but as he calms down he realizes that:

En verdad, Nive habia sido su finico amor, su
primer amor, mas o menos verdadero amor. Se
enamoraron sin darse cuenta . . . Debia lle—
varsela. Pero, écémo diablos? (p. 161).

Irra goes to bed and, in spite of the rats and

bedbugs, he falls asleep. He arises early the next morn—

ing, cold and hungry, to prepare his departure. This last

part of the novel describes Irra's maturation as a man and

his self-identification. As he bids farewell to his family

he is again aware of the social inequities which confront

the poor. He looks at his brother Jesfis:

Jesfis, cuyo porvenir era idéntico al de Irra.
Quiza peor. Porque la vida alli, a todo trance
rodaba hacia el aniquilamiento del hombre . . .
iY pensar que la tragedia habia sobrevivido
siglos! IPresentir que el destino de las gene-
raciones venideras, era el mismo destino! Irra
tomo la.resoluci6n definitiva de marcharse . . .
Irse lejos . . . Alla, mas allé, . . . No dete-
nerse ndentras le faltara e1 pan. Pan para su
:madre. Pan para sus hermanas. Pan para Jesfis.
Pan para él . . . Para todas las gentes: . . .

PAN . . . (p. 168).

This passage reflects the strong sense of social

consciousness that Irra possesses and his allegiance to

 

157

his family. He is leaving not only to improve his own

situation but also that of others. The author quotes the

Bible: "El Pan Neustro de cada dia, danosle hoy" because

although man may not be able to live by bread alone he

certainly cannot live without it. Irra tells his mother:

IEstoy jarto! . . . Ser pobre es la peor infamia!

. . . Prefiero la lepra, la tisis . . . Pero no

la pobreza, mama! . . . iMaldito sea el que echo

la pobreza al mundo . . . (p. 172). a
‘ I

Irra walks down to the docks and passes the old,

delapidated houses of the poor whites. The idea strikes

 

him that whites are also poor and he wonders if "éno seria 4
L

mas bién una miseria general?" (p. 178). He also sees the

necessity of convincing whites that they too lead wretched

lives and the inference is that they must join together to

improve their situation. He continues to the pier but the

thought occurs to him that perhaps the situation might not

be better in Cartagena and he might not be able to obtain

employment there. Then he is confronted by Nive's mother.

An impulse to flee strikes Irra when he sees the
old woman but he stays. The mother tells him that Nive
became ill and passed away during the night. She had called
the doctor but he was drunk at a dance and the child died
without medical care. Irra is struck by remorse and by

the impulse to stay for the burial. He also feels the con-

flicting desire to take the boat which is pulling away. He

runs for the boat, leaps the gap between the boat and the

dock and lands in the mud.

158

While sitting in the mud with the passers-by laugh-

ing at him Irra considers his life. He becomes a new and

confident person. He realizes that "él y Nive no habian

hecho nada malo. Habian sido capaces de amar, permaneci-

endo puros en el alma, cumpliendo el milagro de la creacion

del hombre por la naturaleza" (p. 191). He also realizes

that he doesn't really need to leave: "Cada cual hacia lo a
9

que podia. Irra también haria." And Irra "sinti6 su alma ;t1

invadida de confianza. Y si alguien hubiera observado de

cerca su rostro se hubiese contagiado de una humilde ale-
|

 

gria purisima . . . y ensanchando el pecho respiré libre. L

iLibre!" (p. 194).
This last word of the novel,libre, is very impor-

tant. Free! From what was Irra free? The society had

not changed. He was still unemployed. He and his family

were still hungry. But Irra was free. He had matured

psychologically throughout the book. He was free from the

anger, the self-pity and the lack of identity and motiva-

tion which often handicap the downtrodden. He was free

of any sense of guilt or uncertainty and he could face the

future with self-assurance and confidence. He was free,

in effect, to really begin his life.
In addition to the story of Irra there are other

elements which the author, includes. One of these is the

poignant description that he gives of the mother:

159

Su rostro sudoroso traslucia profundo cansancio,
acumulado durante una vida entera golpeada por
la miseria. Estropeada por la angustia de no
haber cumplido uno solo de sus deseos en bien
de sus hijos. Todo el dia lavando ropa a pleno
sol, sin comer. Y ahora el amasijo, que le em-
bargaria mas de media noche. No habia otro re-
medio: trabajar, luchar, no importa que el
organismo se abocara a estallar. Para el pobre,
iluchar! No desfallecer mientras hubiera res-
peracién y unos hijos necesitados de pan (p.

108).

mother who has worked so hard, an entire lifetime, only

.' fili~ '

to be golpeada por la miseria and without a single hope

fulfilled. The situation of the poor seems almost hope-

 

less with no recourse except to struggle until total col-
lapse. Palacios uses this type of passage to invoke the
compassion of the reader and to show him what poverty does
to the poor. He h0pes that by revealing the plight of the
poor he will encourage the public and the government to
initiate measures to improve the conditions under which
the poor live.

In the previously mentioned episode about the
homicide, Palacios uses another technique, shock, to
arouse the reader. The description of the dead man is
appalling:

Yacente el tronco de Ramon, extendido en un
catre de lona, empapado de sangre Cardena,
coagulandose. El brazo izquierdo estirado.
Las piernas rigidas, alargados un decimetro
mas alla del extremo del catre, colgantes.

aEl otro medio brazo? . . . éla cabeza? Tal
vez oculta bajo la almohada . . . (pp. 151-152).

Palacios skillfully arouses compassion for the a
3*
t

' r A ‘ .l I -
Io
W'Tolv 4 _

160

The description of the dead man is morbid and

actually extraneous to the story. The description of such

abeast'ial crime, with a dog eating part of the dead man's

flesh, adds nothing to the novel artistically and the only

reason for its inclusion is to disturb the reader. More

appropriate to the story and to the description of hOW’the

poor live is the scene where Irra is in bed:

De pronto Irra salto, encogiendo una pierna.
lMalhaya! . . . Las ratas no respetaban ni a
una persona despierta . . . Se acaba de acos-
tar y ya la rata lo roia . . . Se rasco luego
hacia el omoplato. Una rasquifia suave, de
cierto modo agradable . . . El extremo de su
indice toc6 una bolita esponjocita . . . quiza
una bolita de algodon . . . Pero la bolita
trataba de zafarsele, cuando la atrap6 entre
el pulgar y el indice. Claro que si. Una
chinche . . . Tambien ya venian las chinches
a comer . . . a chuparse su sangre . . . A
veces estos animalitos chupaban tanta sangre,
tanta, que caian desplomados 0 se reventaban

de por si (pp. 162-163).

[WV-nun I'll-arma“...
*5.- In“ ‘

This description of rats and bedbugs is more per-

tinent to the story, more credible and just as unsettling

to the reader. The bourgeois reader for whom the novel is

written (it should be remembered that most of the poor in
Spanish America are illiterate) will undoubtedly wonder
how a person can go to sleep when he knows that he may be
bitten by a rat and will undoubtedly be visited by bedbugs.

IPalacios is successful in depicting the more sordid

elements of the lives of the Negro poor. Like Jorge Icaza,

whose style he approximates, he has tried to anger the

reader and arouse him to action. He ends the novel on an

161

affirmative note and the young protagonist is sure of him-
self and ready to face the future. This Optimism is not
shared by the authors of the last two novels to be dis-

cussed, Sol en Tambalimbfi by Diego Castrillon Arboleda and

Corral de Negros by Manual Zapata Olivella. These novels

of social protest present a pessimistic picture of the

role of the Negro in Colombian society.

 

CHAPTER VI

THE NOVEL OF SOCIAL PROTEST: SOL EN

TAMBALIMBU AND CORRAL DE NEGROS

Sol en Tambalimbfi by Diego Castrillon Arboleda and
Corral de negros by Manuel Zapata Olivella belong to the
series of social protest novels initiated in Spanish Ameri-

ca by Manuel Galvez (La maestra normal, 1914) in Argentina

 

and continued by such authors as Jorge Icaza (Huasipungo,

1934), Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes (El indio, 1935) and Alcides

Arguedas (Raza de bronce, 1919). These authors often empha-

sized the negative and sordid elements of life in order to

make their protest more incisive. An aspect of this liter-

ary naturalism was discussed in the previous chapter on Las

estrellas son negras. Following the examples of these

authors, Castrillén and Zapata Olivella undertake the serious

examination of social issues. They examine the nature,

function and effect of the society in which the Negro lives

and how that.society acts upon him. They present the Negro

as an outcast and describe his struggle to become an equal
member of Colombian society.

Diego Castrillon Arboleda was born in Popayan in
1920. In addition to Sol en Tambalimbfi he is also the
author of José Tombé (1942) , which Curcio Altamar calls

162

 

163

an "ensayo valioso,"l and which is one of the few Colombian

novels to deal with the "Indianist" theme. It is a socio-

logical novel which desoribes the bitter struggles between
indians and white men. Wade and Englekirk mention Castril-

lcSn in their essay on the Colombian novel as a "digno dis-

cfpulo: of the novel of social protest. Néstor Madrid-

Malo refers to Castrillon as an author of "primera linea"

who shows us that he is "duefio de su propio estilo y de una

3
fresca manera de novelar."

Sol en Tambalimbu (1949) describes mainly the ef-

fects of caste and class in Colombian society. This theme

is analogous to the motif of Las estrellas son negras and

to the positions of social protest of other Spanish Ameri-

can novels. The novel is divided into three parts which

the author entitles (1) E1 Hombre, (2) La Tierra and (3)

La Angustia. The first chapter introduces the protagonist

Mario Salazar, a mulatto, who aspires to the social and

political prominence represented by the family of Susana

Puentes, a creole. The second chapter has a rural setting

and depicts Susana rebuilding her lost fortune with the aid

of the mestizo Gabriel del Camino. The final segment of

 

1Curcio Altamar, 82.
2Wade and Englekirk, 246.

3Madrid-Malo , 72 .

 

164

the novel describes the struggle for political hegemony

between Mario and Gabriel.
Mario Salazar is an ambitious and talented young

man who finds that society judges him not by his ability

but by the color of his skin. He hOpes to obtain both

social and political prominence and he considers himself

"un hombre destinado o los mayores honores y a los mas

firmes poderes." He wants to be "admirado por las damas

y envidiado por los hombres" but the stigma of being

colored in a society dominated by whites is evident: "en

su rostro moreno de mulato y en su origen humilde siente

e1 peso infamante de injustos prejuicios sociales y de

profundos desequilibrios economicos."

Mario is invited to a soirée where Susana Puentes

and other members of the aristocratic elite are in attend-
ance. This is the group to which Mario aspires. His ini-

tial satisfaction at having been invited is attenuated when

he suspects that the other guests, all of whom are white,

are talking about him. When he overhears one of them say-

ing that "cada cual debia ir donde sus iguales" he realizes
that he is being ridiculed and he experiences the chagrin

familiar to all social outcasts. Mario recognizes that:

 

4Diego Castrillon Arboleda, Sol en Tambalimbu ,
(Bogota: Kelly, 1949), 10. A1 references in the text will

be from this edition.

 

 

 

165

esa misma risa que escucha a sus espaldas es la
que viene oyendo desde la infancia, es el signo
del desprecio que le tienen, es la manera que
usan ellos para alejarlo de su mundo . . .

(p. 14).
His disillusionment is completed when Susana Puentes, for

whom he feels a strong attraction, rebuffs him after he
attempts to achieve a close social relationship with her.
Susana humiliates him by calling him a "mulato odioso" and
he leaves, embittered and determined to avenge himself.

Mario's political philosophy is based upon the be-

lief that the masses of the people should control the

government. He tells his friend Miguel Pinto that:

. . todos somos iguales. éPor qué vamos a

dejar a unos pocos lo que nos corresponde a
7 . Es e1 conjunto

todos por derecho . . . . .
de derechos, Miguel, lo que nos hace iguales

a todos; es el conjunto de ambiciones, de de-
seos, de energias y capacidades, lo que nos
diferencia . . . Si nos sometemos fatalmente a

ser esclavos, pues como esclavos nos quedamos. (p.49)

However, Mario's true motive for wanting to gain

political power is based upon a personal desire for re-

venge against the people who slighted him. The author

tells us that Mario:

. . . hace todo lo que pueda lastimar a esa
sociedad que lo rechaza . . . Dase a la tarea
de recoger todas las calumnias, todas las

lacras, todos los chismes que pesen sobre las
mas honorables families, y los va clasifican-
do . . . con el proposito de esgrimirlos como

armas en el momento oportuno. Nadie se le es-
capa . . . Es la obra fundamental de su vida!

(p. 27).
Castrillon's narration is very prosaic and there

is very little use of imagery. His primary intent is to

 

“1

166

develop the story. The enmity in social relations between

Negroes and whites is reflected in the lack of warmth in

his style. The above passage is undistinguished for its

language but Castrillén is capable of evocative prose. He

describes Mario standing before the house of Susana Puentes
and he depicts all of the emotions which perturb Mario:

Odia y ama ese lugar, la luz, e1 viento, e1 olor
a manzanilla y a eucaliptus que alli se respira.
Desea huir, alejarse de alli, y no obstante per-

manece inmévil en la esquina. Dijérase que un
encanto invisible mantiénelo embrujado, observan-
do como se esparcen dulcemente los contornos de

la lomita por la campifia. Y lejos, muy lejos,
casi en el horizonte tefiido de rosados palidos y

vellones de nubecillos blancos, el saucedal
crespo y triste, a la orilla del rio, bajo cuyas

sombras solia jugar de nifio (p. 25).

In this selection the author uses effectively the

techniques of contrast and an appeal to the sensory organs.

 

He contrasts ama with odia and desea huir with no obstante

permanece inmovil. He appeals to the olfactory organs when

he speaks of el olor a manzanilla y a eucaliptus and to the
tactile and visual senses with e1 viento and la luz re-

spectively. He uses the image of an encanto invisible

which has a bewitching effect and uses the affectionate

diminutive endings of -illo (nubecillos) and -ito (lomita)

He also uses lejos, muy

to create a sympathetic image.

lejos, casi en el horizonte to describe the spatial dis-
tance of the willow grove but it also has the effect of
evoking temporal distance when he speaks of his boyhood.

Finally, he uses the adjective triste to describe the

"7flfi'

"'1

 

167

willow grove but it would also apply to Mario's emotions
as he looks at the estate and remembers his youth.
Castrillon describes the chasm that separates

Mario from Susana. Mario envies the Negro servant of the

Puentes family because he, the servant, is able to be near

Susana. The author describes Mario's reaction to the

servant: a
Cuanto envidia, sélo lo sabe Dios, e1 derecho at
de entrar alli como Tomas lo hace, hablarle a 4
Susana, a todas horas verla, en su vida intima, F
en la alcoba, y sentir y palpar y admirar lo L
que ella siente, palpa y admiral (p. 25).

 

However, acceptance in the society which Susana
represents has been denied to Mario and he decides to use

politics as a ladder for political power and social ac-

ceptance. He uses his newspaper, "E1 Trabajo," to attack

the government which is controlled by an oligarchy of upper

class creoles. The father of Susana Puentes, don Ignacio,

is the mayor, and her sister, Carmen, is married to the

governor's son, Carlos del Castillo. Mario is presented

*with a golden opportunity when he discovers that Carlos

has embezzled government funds. He attacks the Puentes

family, incites a public outcry and demands the resignation

of the government.

The populace, spurred on by Mario's diatribe, holds
a demonstration against the government and calls for the
establishment of a government with a broader social base.

The mounting public pressure and the attempt to rectify

168

Carlos' theft break don Ignacio's health and he dies. The

government of the Del Castillos falls and is replaced by

the successful Mario Salazar:

La caida del gobierno de 103 Del Castillo es un
truinfo rotundo de la nueva corriente Salazaris-
ta que, encabezada por su caudillo, lanzase ferez sobre

todas las posiciones administrativas, sin respetar

nada, cual hambrienta horda de salvajes, dispuesta

a aplastar con su empuje brutal todo rescoldo que
le pueda recordar 1a ominosa dominacion fenecida

(p. 109) . a

l

The fall from power of the Del Castillo family

brings Mario political hegemony and a modicum of revenge
As Mario con- "
p ,‘I

 

for his humiliation by the upper society.

solidates his gains he looses any chance of a reconcilia-

For Susana, Mario's actions have only

tion with Susana.
II '
un Ole suave y

engendered a deep hatred toward him:
voluptuoso que casi 1e produce placer a1 extenderse como
un fluido por su cuerpo virginal. Delinea en su imagina-

ci6n 1a figura de Mario, asi moreno y fornido como es, y

mas odio 1e inspira" (p. 72).
Susana and her family (Carmen and Carlos) leave the

city where their confortable existence has come to an

abrupt end. They move to their country estate in Tambalimbu

and try to rebuild their lives. Gabriel del Camino, a for-

mer protegé of don Ignacio, accompanies them to their estate

and directs the activities of the ranch. Gabriel is a
mestizo, industrious and determined to help Susana. To-

gether they rebuild the estate and turn it into a profit

169

Gabriel feels the same social

When

making enterprise . However,

gulf between himself and Susana that Mario faced.

talking to the aristocratic Susana he is nervous and un-

sure of himself: "sonrié con desencanto ante su inferi-

oridad social frente a Susana, triste estado que no la

permite desearla, que lo hace indigno de aspirar a ella

como cualquier otro hombre. La ve . . . muy lejana de

sf, separada de él por los prejuicios, por la educaci6n y

hasta por la gratitud que debe a la memoria de su padre"

(pp. 146-147).
The same arbitrary class distinctions which kept

Mario and Susana apart also inhibit Gabriel and, like

Mario, he turns to politics as a means of enhancing his

personal stature. The author tells us that Gabriel:

Créese capacitado para enfrentarse a Mario
Salazar en formidable debate sobre prestaciones
sociales a los campesinos, sobre justicia
social, sobre amor a1 pueblo, destruyendo de

un tajo ese prestigio artificioso labrado sobre

la piedra del odio y el engafio demagégico . . .
(p. 154).

Gabriel expounds his political philosophy:

Yo creo'que lo malo son los hombres; las ideas
son las mismas de siempre . . . Es que el hombre
es hombre siempre y, para gobernarlo, hay que
comprenderlo y legislar de acuerdo con ello.
'Dratar de comprender lo que anhela nuestro
cuerpo, nuestro espiritu y nuestra inteligencia;
tratar de vivir de nuestros propios recursos,
con nuestro propio trabajo; . . . tratar de
despojarnos de influencias extrafias que ni son
fruto de nuestros problemas ni nacen de nuestros
inmnilsos afectivos. No se miden los zapatos cor-
tando lo que sobre del pie sino buscando un

nfimero mayor . . . (p. 128).

 

170

Gabriel's opposition is directed toward Mario and

he attacks the Salazar government through the newspaper

"La Idea." Mario ignores Gabriel's challenge but Gabriel

seizes an opening when he uncovers fiscal irregularities

vdthin the Salazar government. Public indignation is

aroused, an investigation is demanded and Mario is put on

the defensive. The denouement is rapid and melodramatic. a

Mario is trapped by his own misdoings and in des-

peration decides to have Gabriel killed. Instead he kills ,
a subordinate who refuses to carry out his orders. His

 

office building is burned by a mob and he wounds Gabriel

in a fight. Mario flees pursued by the enraged mob and

Gabriel remains to face the bright prospects of the future

with Susana at his side: "una luz purisima, un destello

luminoso brota en su conciencia y le descubre el porvenir,

en forma de paisaje, de paz, de justicia . . ." (p. 312).

Sol en Tambulimbfi is written in a very prosaic
style and lacks the inspiration of Maria, the sensitivity

of Risaralda, the eloquence of La Marquesa de Yolombo.

 

These novels extolled the land, the customs or the people

which they were describing whereas Castrillén has focused

upon a social problem. Consequently, the depiction of the

setting is secondary and, where the other authors excelled

in the description of the land, Castrillon's description

of Tambalimbu is uninspired:

171

Tambalimbu llega con el tiempo a transformarse
en un lugar feliz y prospero, en donde la acti-
vidad se funde con la ambicién y la esperana.
De entre las ruinas y malezas que invadieran
sus campos solitarios, vense hoy surgir fér-
tiles sementeras de trigo. El progreso ha po-

blado subitamente sus tierras. Las cercas de-
terioradas dias atrés, delineanse ahora a lo

largo de la falda, separando los cultivos de

la loma, en donde pacen gordas vacas de ordefio;

1a vieja y agrietada casona, despojado de su

desolado aspecto, hallase adornada con flores
a

y bonitos cuadros . . . (p. 117).
This is not the "valle anchuroso de Risaralda,

valle lindo y macho" but we know more about what happens
Castrillon does not

 

I? a z .
u
‘1' s'vr. ‘ .

to the land and how it prospers.

give a description of the land per se but we see that its

effective use changes Tambalimbu into "un lugar feliz y

prospero." The land is important because it helps Susana
to rebuild her fortune and it offers Gabriel an opportunity

to show his capabilities as a leader. Neither the pecu-

liarities of the urban environment nor those of Tambalimbu

are described. Politics and prejudice are the common de-

nominator of the two areas and the major characters remain
unchanged by the different environments. Susana is no less
haughty after she begins to work on the ranch than when she

was in the city. The rural setting serves only as a base

for the rebuilding of the political and economic fortunes

of the Puentes family.
Eugenio Diaz, Jorge Isaacs and José Eustasio Rivera
had already described the land brillantly and, perhaps, un-

surpassably. Castrillén unfalteringly engages the social

172

problems to which these authors only alluded. Certainly,

Mario Salazar, the embittered, angry, violent mulatto of

501 en Tambalimbu is far removed from Manuela, the mulatto

 

heroine of Diaz's novel. Manuela, the character, was sub-

stantially the literary equal of the other characters but

she accepted her assigned role of social inferiority to

don Deméstenes. Mario, the character, is also the literary

equal of the other characters but he rejects the allegation

of social inferiority attributed to Negroes and fights for

inclusion in the social organism.

Castrillén narrates a story that is in essence a

sociological study of Colombia's three largest racial

groups: the white (Susana Puentes), the mestizo (Gabriel)

and the mulatto (Mario). In a letter to Susana, Mario

sums up the black man's position in an alien society:

Sé que aunque me defienda, mas tarde, dentro de
poco tiempo, no me perdonaran mis enemigos este
maldito color con que naci y se uniran para des-
truirme. Por ello no tengo voluntad de luchar
mas ni de vivir, pues sé que usted tampoco se
detendra . . . Si, por Dios, saciese con este
mulato despreciable si le es necesario para ser
feliz! Yo debiera estar viviendo en el monte
como lo que soy, como un salvaje. El mayor mal
que se ha hecho a mi raza ha sido sacarla de su
estado de ignorancia. He cometido una falta
queriendo ser feliz en un medio extrafio. Sin
embargo, algun dia usted comprendera su error y,
aunque hoy me odie y me destruya, no se librara
de mi, de mi recuerdo, de lo que hay de mi en
usted, como ninguno de los Americanos se librara
de lo que hay en ellos de mi sangre . . . (p. 302).

This remorseful attitude reflects the pathos that

is often the lot of the Negro Colombian. The tragedy of

 

173

the black man's existence is revealed and yet, instead of
being vindictive, Mario is defeated, destroyed--"no tengo

voluntad de luchar mas ni de vivir"--by an oppressive

Thus even Mario comes to see himself as the

He calls him-

society.

whites see him--a "mulato despreciable."
self a savage and states that "e1 mayor mal que se ha

hecho a mi raza ha sido sacarla de su estado de ignorancia." %
In time, his treatment at the hands of highly placed people )5

has literally made a monomaniac out of Mario.

Mario realizes that his political dominance and 4
’ E

 

all of his pretensions have come to an end. In his heart

he blames Susana, the woman that he loved, for what has

happened and as he thinks about her "su fantasia se la

trae a ese mismo sitio. 'Negro, negro, negro . . . 6yela

exclamar. Instintivamente p6sase los dedos por la mejilla

y su semblante se torna melancolico, viéndola perdida para

siempre. Sus ojos pequefiitos se llenan de lagrimas .

iSe ha quedado solo! . . . Y en medio de la destruccion de

todo su ser y de toda su vida, ve a otro ser que vive,

piensa y quizé goza con perfidia su ruina." (p. 301)

Sol en Tambalimbu, however, is not only about Mario

Salazar. It speaks of all of Colombia and all of Spanish

America. Mario tells Susana, and the rest of white America

thatz'fiua se librara de mi, de mi recuerdo, de lo que hay

de mi en usted, como ninguno de los Americanos se librara

de lo que hay en ellos de mi sangre." White Colombia and

174

white America won't be able to disclaim the black brother
and pretend that prejudice doesn't exist.

Susana Puentes is a member of the dominant creole
class. This privileged minority (the mayor, don Ignacio,
and the governor, don Francisco del Castillo) remains

aloof to the problems of the poor and is only concerned

with maintaining its position of preeminence in the govern—

. '4
“sea!
I!

ment. However, this group is destined to be replaced by

men who represent the wider interests of all the people.

 

The author shows that the people themselves will overturn ,-
’ ".E

3"

this elite group when he has them march on don Ignacio's

house and demand his resignation. Only when.Susanaallies

herself with Gabriel is she able to survive. The inference

is clear that this class has been living like a leech off

of the people and is unable to survive on its own. The

description of Carlos, Susana's brother-in-law, gives an

idea of the attitude of this class:

Nacié de una raza superior, ya seleccionada, para

dedicarse al estudio, a los artes, a una vida
tranquila que le permita pensar y sentir . . . No,
no, no, él no puede entregarse a luchar contra

ibarbaros que no lo comprenden . . (p. 173).

Carlos becomes a drunkard and a misfit when the family

looses its money and power. He is unable to function pro-

ductively and finally commits suicide.

'Ehe mestizo, represented by Gabriel del Camino, is

depicted as the provident life-blood of the country. It

is implied that the mestizo can inject new energy, vitality

175

and ideas into the society and this portends a bright

future. Gabriel's political address to the people is an

example of the new current of thought:

Yo siempre he creido en una América unida y fuerte,
en una concordia continental que anule 'poder' como
fuerza de riqueza y exalte 'ser' como razon de jus-
ticia. Nuestro esfuerzo debe dirigirse contra
las luchas absurdas y fratricidas entre paises
hermanos que nos alejan, anarquizan e imposibilitan
nuestra marcha hacia el porvenir y nuestra mision ,
en el mundo como paises civilizados . . . Ya es 3
tiempo de que nos desliguemos de toda idea social
importada, venga de donde viniere, imposible de
adaptar sin perjuicio tremendo para nuestro liber-

l

tad, neustro temperamento y nuestra mision!
Nuestro finico fin es acabar con las normas arti-

 

ficiosas e injustas que nos arrastran por cauce .
extrano a nuestra raza y a nuestro suelo . . . L?
(p. 285).

This speech by Gabriel is very significant because

it reveals the insensitivity and one-sidedness of many

whites in a racially mixed society. Gabriel speaks of

one America "unida y fuerte" and of the necessity of cast-

ing away archaic social attitudes; however, he is not

above using divisive racial epithets, such as referring to

Mario as an insolent mulatto. The author depicts the mes-

tizo as injecting new blood into the society but apparently

the same racial prejudices and discrimination will prevail

as regards the Negro. The coalition of the mestizos and

the creoles will continue to bar the way to the Negro.
The portrait drawn of Mario is tragic. Anxious to
succeed, willing to work and well-educated, his path is

blocked constantly by the color of his skin, which he is

176

never allowed to forget. Gabriel's paper, La Idea, con-

stantly refers to him as "El Negro Salazar" and for Mario,

"este mote despectivo lo hiere hondamente." He is con-

stantly alone, "abandonado" as the author says, and he has

no close friends. This exclusion from society changes

Mario into an insensitive and revenge-seeking politician.

In a discussion with Susana, he shouts at her: "IEsto has

hecho de mi . . . Un loco élo oyes? iun loco!" (p. 273).
Castrillén depicts a society which not only in-
capacitates a black man as a productive citizen, unless,

of course, he is a lackey, but also strips him of every

shred of dignity. His portrayal of Mario is not very
charitable. He characterizes him as a weak individual who
is unable to cope with social adversity. He also describes

Mario as incapable of providing effective and cooperative

political leadership. He portrays Mario as a political
demagogue and alleges that better leadership can be pro-

vided by the non-black mestizo class. Never is Mario

treated with respect. On the other hand, Tomas, the Negro

servant of the Puentes family, is liked and respected--but

only because he "knows his place." Unlike Mario he is

meek, humble and subservient. On one occasion he is even

referred.to'as "Don Tomas." Not once is Mario referred to

as don Mario.

Sol en Tambalimbu portrays a new Negro. It is the

Negro who has reached maturity after the Second World War,

 

I
1"
7 Y

 

177

a war which was ostensibly fought for the cause of democ-
racy and human rights. Often, in the past, these rights
were primarily enjoyed by white citizens and not by the
Negro or the indian. However, the two decades following
the end of the war in 1945 have witnessed black men in
both Africa and America demanding their civil rights. The
Negro as depicted in the Colombian novel has acquired a
new dimension. He no longer accepts the prevalent social
order and he demands complete admittance into the life of
the country. In the last novel to be discussed, Corral de
negros by Manuel Zapata Olivella, the author calls for re-
bellion and revolution, if necessary, to gain equal rights
for the Negro.

Corral de negros (1963) by Manuel Zapata Olivella

 

is a thesis novel. Even though social pr0paganda is more
important than artistic creativity, its portrayal of Negro
character does render it significant to this study. Unlike
Castrillon Arboleda, Zapata Olivella does not depict the
Negro as an individual who is demoralized by alien social
forces. Rather, he urges the downtrodden on to action and
and political envolvement. He proposes civil disobedience
and revolution. His attitude toward the Negro's social
situation is expressed by one of his characters, Camilo,
who asks: "éPor qué los negros de aqui no podremos hacer

lo que hicieron los de Cuba?5

 

5Manuel Zapata Olivella, Corral de negros (Cuba:
Casa de las Americas, 1963), 223. All references in the
text will be from this edition.

I' .Vh'fh‘H-"I l' 1.1".-

 

1?;:1 .—..

178

Manuel Zapata Olivella (1920) has been one of the
most active of contemporary Colombian authors. A doctor
by training, he published his first novel, Tierra mojada,
in 1947. He subsequently wrote La Calle Diez (1960), En

Chima nace un santo (1963) and Detras del rostro (1964)

 

for which he was awarded the Premio Literario Esso of 1962.
He is also the author of two collections of short stories:

Cuentos de muerte y libertad (1961) and éQuién di6 el

 

fusil a Oswald? (1967). Pasién vagabunda (1949) is a book

 

of travel stories and Hotel de vagabundos which won the
Premio Espiral in 1954 is a drama. Zapata Olivella is also
the director of the literary magazine "Letras nacionales."
And, in 1968, he was a visiting lecturer at the University
of Toronto in Canada.

In addition to winning the 1962 Premio Literario
Esso, Zapata Olivella also received an honorable mention
in 1961, the first year of the awards, for his novel En

Chime nace un santo. The literary critic Néstor.Madrid

 

.Malo says that "desde Tierra mojada, el médico-novelista

6

ha realizado una curva ascencional." Several other critics,

including Javier Arango Ferrer, Humberto Bronx and Eduardo
Camacho Guizado, also have acknowledged Zapata Olivella's

.literary production.7

 

6Madrid-Malo, 76.

7See Arango Ferrer, 74 and 81; Bronx, 24; and
Eduardo Camacho Guizado, "Novela Colombiana, panorama

 

179

In his article on the contemporary Colombian novel
Camacho Guizado writes that "la novela comtemporanea en
Colombia tiene su punto de partida en la realidad nacional.
El escritor toma conciencia de su circumstancia historica
concreta y sus obras expresan su actitud ante ella."8
Zapata Olivella's novels depict the reality of present day
Colombian society and especially the problems of the prole-
tariat. However, not only is Zapata Olivella concerned
about social conditions, he is also combative. Unlike
Diego Castrillén Arboleda who denigrates the capabilities
of the Negro, or Arnoldo Palacios who describes the Negro's
position in society (without any propaganda), Zapata
Olivella calls for action. In Corral de negros he tells
the story of a Negro family living in Chambacfi, an all-
Negro community in the outskirts of the old fort city and
slave port, Cartagena. The family is composed of a mother,
La Cotena, and her five children. The author does not pro-
‘vide them with a family name. Possibly in order to suggest
that they may represent any poor Negro family. Consequent-
ly, he uses the lives of the children to indicate some of
the paths which the poor may follow. Clotilde, the only

girl, is the mother of an illegitimate child. The father,

 

<30ntemporaneo," Letras Nacionales, Bogota, IX (1965), 33.
(Zamacho Guizado is the author of Estudios sobre literatura
(colombiana, siglos XVI-XVII (Bogota: Ediciones Universidad
38 los Andes, 1965). He is professor of literature and
stylistics at the University of the Andes.

8Camacho Guizado, 47.

 

180

a white man, had refused to marry her. Maximo, the oldest
son, is the most important personage in the novel. He is
one of the few educated black men in the community. He is
a civil rights activist. He tries to organize the peOple

of Chambacfi into a political force and he leads the protest
Medialuna is a boxer and he has

 

against social inequities.
great potential. However, constant hunger weakens him and 1
impairs his ability. Eventually he is seriously injured in {1
a fight. Crispulo is a serious and industrious person. He .
raises and trains fighting cocks none of which are very J

good. The cocks, like the people of the community, are
José Raquel is the black sheep

undernourished and weak.
of the family. He works in the port and is alleged to be
involved with contrabandists. His activities force him to
join the army in order to escape the police. After the
war in KOrea.he returns home with a Caucasian wife. He

becomes an idler and a drunkard and, eventually, he aban-

dons both his wife and his family.
The novel describes a period of approximately ten

years duration, from the Korean War (1950-1953) to the
Alliance for Progress program (1961) . It is divided into
describes the con-

three sections: (1) "Los Reclutas"

scription of Colombian men into the army for participation

in the Korean War; (2) "El Botin" narrates the consequences
"La Batalla" depicts the progress that

of the war; and (3)
The author

the poor make as an active political group.

181

makes frequent use of dialogue but most of the novel is a
third person narrative.

The story begins with the depiction of the adamant
opposition of the poor to the participation of Colombia in
the Korean War. The men hide from the soldiers who come
looking for them. La Cotena is afraid that one or all of
her sons may be taken. Maximo paints anti-war slogans on
buildings and is pursued by the police. Opposition to the
war is combined with an anti-United States attitude because

it is believed that the war has nothing to do with Colombia

 

and is only to benefit the U.S.A. As the boxer Medialuna
says: "éQué carajo tenemos que ver con los coreanos?" (p.
37) or as his brother Crispulo says:

Matar cristianos es algo muy serio. Maximo asegura
que llenan de mentiras las cabezas de los soldados
antes de que vayan a las trincheras. Libertad.
Patria. Democracia. Vainas que nunca hemos cono-
cido. Ni el mismo Maximo que ha leido tantos lib-
ros, sabra qué quieren decir esas palabrejas . . .
Menos servir de burro de carga a los gringos. Si
ellos quieren matar chinos y coreanos, sera porque
algo ganaran. Money. Es lo finico que les interesa.
Esos misteres tampoco saben lo que es democracia.
YO'Sé que alla cuelgan negros. (pp. 50-51).

or as Maximo himself says:
Ni los gringos, ni las Naciones Unidas, a las que
mangonean, pueden imponernos una guerra injusta.
Ni ellos, ni nosotros, tenemos derecho para so-
juzgar un pueblo libre. Repito: Ino mas colom-
bianos a Corea! (p. 55).
Zapata Olivella's style is concise and almost tele-
graphic. It is suited to the subject that he is narrating.

The makes quick and incisive declarations. He is to the

182

point, intense and caustic. He appears to be in a hurry
to express his ideas, for he omits various grammatical

elements. Thus he frequently uses the infinitive in the
place of a longer element: matar cristianos es algo muy
serio. He uses single nouns in a manner similar to the

way a boxer uses a job: Libertad; Patria; Democracia. It

 

almost has the effect of making these ideals appear despic- 5|
able, especially when he classifies all of them as Vainas: {he

Vainas que nunca hemos conocido. He also uses the English

word "Money" to reinforce the self-interest of the North . .

 

Americans. He effectively juxtaposes a negative statement SJ
with a contrasting affirmative one: tampoco saben lo que

es democracia but yo segue alla cuelgan negros. He uses

 

the ni . . . ni construction in an alliterative combination:

 

Ni los gringos, ni las Naciones Unidas; Ni ellos, ni noso-

 

tros. Finally, he uses a short and direct declaration:
Repito: ino mas Colombianos a Corea! The description of
Chambacfi is didactic:

Chambacfi. Barrio de hambrientos para que siempre
fueran hijos de Chambacfi. Corral de negros escla-
vos. Jabon para lavar la ropa de los ricos de
Manga. Lefia que activaba los hornos de las fabri-
cas. Ladrillos para adoquinar las escaleras de
la universidad por donde los sefioritos subian al
palacio presidencial, a1 congreso. A legislar, a
planificar la reproduccion de esclavos. Los ricos
dando gracias a Dios y los pobres hufidiéndose en
los infiernos de la miseria (p. 16).

Again we notice the telegraphic effect of the author's

style. He frequently omits the verb in a sentence: Cambacfi;

183

Barrio de hambrientos Corral de negros esclavos. He also

leaves out the definite articles with some nouns: lefia;

 

jabon and ladrillos. And he will often use the infinitive,

 

leaving out a finite verb: a legislar, a planificar. Fi-
nally, he uses the present participle as a modifier (los

ricos dando_gracias and 103 pobres hundiéndose) in place

 

of an adjectival clause thereby emphasizing the active and
continuous participation of the rich in dando gracias a
Dios and the poor hundiéndose en . . . la miseria.

In order to obtain a sufficient number of men to
fill Colombia's quota, for the Korean War, the government
surrounds Chambacfi with soldiers and impresses all eligible
men into the army. The people are opposed to the war and
they remember Maximo's lectures telling them to "Organizarse.
Resistir. Luchar. Triunfar" (p. 19). However, they are
unorganized and when confronted with the power of the gov-
ernment, represented by the army and by the police, they
are afraid. The author describes the fear of the people:

E1 miedo. Nacieron con esa herencia de esclavitud.
Unos ni siquiera sospechaban su condicion de
esclavos. Otros tomaban aviesos caminos de re-
beldia: e1 vicio, e1 robo, e1 crimen. La mayoria,
sumisa, perdida le dignidad y esperanza, pagaba su
cobardia con la prostitucion, el analfabetismo y
las enfermedades. Estos resignados eran sus peores

enemigos (p. 15).

Again the author is didactic. He emphasizes the

.idea of fear, El miedo, by placing it by itself. He then

 

:relates fear to the heritage of slavery, esclavitud, that

 

184

the Negroes have, thereby invoking a somber image of the
negative aspects of slavery. In this passage he uses
triple substantives twice to reinforce the statement of

perverse paths to which the Negroes are led: e1 vicio,

 

e1 robo, e1 crimen or laprostitucion,el analfabetismo and

 

las enfermdades.

 

The existence of a community like Chambacfi and the
poverty of its inhabitants is not an accident. Maximo
tells us that:

No es ocasional que Chambacu, barrio de Negros,
haya nacido al pie de las murallas [de Cartagena].
Fueron traidos aqui para construirlas. Los barcos
negreros llegaban atestados de esclavos provenientes
de toda e1 Africa. Mandingos, yolofos, minas,
carabalies, biafaras, mas de cuarenta tribus. Para
diferenciarlos les marcaban las espaldas y pechos
con hierro candente . . . Los que huian se refugi-
aban en las selvas que rodeaban entonces a Carta-
gena . . . A los que aprehendian, les mutilaban
alguna parte del cuerpo . . . Después de nuestra
guerra de Independencia, los fugitivos cimarrones
regresaron a la ciudad. Encontraron a los nuevos
amos. Estos no tenian cadenas y latigos, pero
sabian esclavizar tanto como los otros. Les paga-
ban salarios de miseria. El hambre es un yugo mas
pesado que los grilletes (pp. 157-158).

This historical passage refers to a past different
frrnn that which Jorge Isaacs and Eustaquio Palacios des-
cribed in their novels. It also shows the intentional
ccurtinuation of a system of social abuses even after slav-
ery had ended. The use of hunger as a method of suppressing
the poor Negro is a theme which the author reiterates:

El hambre era un yugo impuesto por el enemigo

3para mejor explotarlo (the Negro) . . . Los
negros debian ser ignorantes, hambrientos,

 

185

prostituidos, sumisos . . . El hambre no era un

medio para ganarse el cielo, sino los grilletes

heredados de los antepasados (pp. 15-16).
The soldiers succeed in capturing Maximo during one of
their roundups of recruits but he refuses to submit to
their authority. He continues his protest against Colom-
bian participation in the war and he is tortured and later
jailed by the army. On the other hand, his brother José
Raquel joins the army in order to escape the customs of-
ficials who are looking for him because of his rumored
dealings with contraband goods. Crispulo hides success-
fully from the soldiers and Medialuna escapes induction by
participating in a boxing tournament. La Cotena expresses
the sentiments of the mothers of the conscripted men when

she says "no es nada tener hijos, sino lo que se sufre por

ellos" (p. 38).

The second part of the novel describes José Raquel's

return home after two years of participation in the war.

.Among the spoils with which he returns home is a white wife.

The residents of Chambacfi are amazed that a Negro would
Ibring a woman there to live and La Cotena wonders:
aQué humos se han metido en la cabeza de ese im-
bécil (Jose Raquel) para traer una gringa a
Chambacfi? "éSera una puta?" "aSabe Dios en qué
burdel la recogio?" (p. 73).
Jose Raquel's wife, Inge, is from Sweden where he

Inad met her after the war. He confides to his friends

tflnat:

_ o ' I'LO‘A‘fi'fninm. 311”" p
'.

1!;
in. "J h

 

186

Para mi 1a guerra no fue la guerra, sino un buen
negocio, que ademas de la moto me trajo una buena
hembra. Pero esto de la sueca, no fue en Corea,
sino en Suecia (p. 111).

The introduction of Inge into the novel adds the perspective
of a white character's reaction to Chambacfi and to the con-
ditions under which Negroes live. Inge's initial reaction
is that she must be in Africa:

Jamés estuvo en Africa, pero debia ser asi. Ahora
lo veia todo negro. Qué idea estupida haber veni-
do a America . . . No era Colombia lo que la desa-
gradaba, sino Cartagena, Cartagena de Indias . . .
Lo terrible habia sido aquel infierno llamado Cham-
bacfi. éPor qué José Raquel pertenecia a ese mundo?

(p. 88).

It is not long before Inge realizes that Chambacfi

 

_1-

is not the beautiful world that she had seen pictured on
Colombian postage stamps. She comes to know the poverty
of the poor and the filthiness of their living conditions.
The streets are unpaved, full of holes and a quagmire of
mud when it rains. José Raquel is unable to use a motor
scooter which he brought home and eventually sells it.
La Cotena tells Inge that "la vida de nosotros los pobres
es muy dolorosa, pero tambien tiene sus momentos de alegria"
(p. 103).

Zapata Olivella refrains from elaborating on any
(of these "momentos de alegria" as he continues to describe
-the adversities which confront his characters. It is evi-
<dently not his intention to point out the positive values

le the lives of the poor. Rather he wants to depict the

187

plight of the poor and seek social changes by enumerating
the inequities which confront them. The houses of the
poor are plagued by rats and mosquitoes. There are no
floors and when it rains the ground becomes a sea of mud.
Medialuna is injured in a fight and falls into a coma.
The doctor is called and diagnoses hunger as the primary
cause of the boxer's illness. Medialuna's companion El
Zurdo declares "no pasamos de ser unos boxeadores hambri-
entos" (p. 135).

The author also depicts a number of sordid occur—
rences from the Korean War. José Raquel is shown standing
next to a pyramid of human heads. The graft of some of
the officials is described (it was common to steal from
the dead and the dying) and the author draws a morbid pic-
ture of mentally disturbed soldiers:

Los locos eran los finicos que reian por que no
se daban cuenta de su situacion . . . habia un
bogotano que cagaba por el culo artificial que
le habian abierto en la espalda. Se sacaba la
mierda y se la comia, diciendo que tenia un moe
rral a1 hombro lleno de chorizos (p. 108).

The final portion of the novel describes Maximo
urging the poor to defend their rights. The Negroes have
been ordered to leave Chambacfi in order that a luxury
hotel for tourists may be built. However, Maximo exhorts
the pe0ple:

Nos defenderemos . . . Ni siquiera la nacion
tiene derecho sobre la tierra que pisamos. Bien

saben que bajo este basamento de cascara de arroz
y aserrin, sélo hay sudor de negros. No hemos

 

188

venido aca por nuestra propia voluntad. Nos han
echado de todas partes y ahora quieren arrebatar-
nos la fosa que hemos construido aqui para mal
morir . . . Confunden nuestra paciencia con la
resignacion. Basta. Resistiremos.Iremos mas
alla de la resistencia. Exigiremos justicia (p.

154).
Maximo, Inge, the school teacher Domitila and the

ex-boxer Camilo form a "Junta de Defensa del Barrio" which

is "una manera de poner en practica sus ideas sociales"

>5 :1 r j

(p. 199). Yet their efforts to organize the peOple are ;Lfl
unavailing. The government undermines the committee's

efforts to organize the people by spreading rumors about cy'

 

new houses, new roads and schools, and even money to be ii
had from a new "Alianzapara e1 Progreso" program. Since
a Peace Corps group is scheduled to visit the poverty-
stricken community, the government rescinds its eviction
order. The police captain appoints José Raquel to the
police force with the grade of sergeant and charges him
with maintaining order in Chambacfi. Ostensibly José Raquel
is given the position because he lives in the community
and because he was a non-commissioned officer in the army,
however, the captain knows that he can manipulate José
Raquel because of his (José Raquel's) previous involvement
with the custom's officials. He tells José Raquel:

Nadie como tfi para poner orden alli. Ante todo,

retiraré los policias que impiden la construc-

cion de mas ranchos en las orillas. Por e1

momento no es conveniente expulsarlos de alli.

Después de la visita de los miembros del Cuerpo

de Paz, veremos si se prosigue o no a la acci6n
contra ellos (p. 179).

189
The news of the impending visit of the Peace Corps

fills the people with hopes of an immediate improvement in
their living conditions. The author's commitment to social
justice and his awareness of the hypocritical actions of
the United States are once again iterated when Maximo warns
the peOple that the Americans "llegan con el sefiuelo de los
dolares para mejor esclavizarnos." He states that:

No necesitamos dinero sino instrumentos de tra- g5

bajo . . . Si realmente quisieran redimir a ;

nosotros los negros de Chambacu, habrian empe-

zado por reconocerles derechos a los de Norte-

américa . . . éPor qué si 1e niegan la cultura

a1 negro Meredith, cerrandoles las puertas de

las Universidades, vienen a hablarnos de
escuelas? (p. 199). !

 

“1

This is one of the most significant passages in the novel.
Here the author ties in the plight of the Colombian Negro
‘with his counterpart in the United States. He points out
the hypocrisy of the North Americans who promise to help
the poor Negroes of Chambacfi but deny basic civil rights
to their own black countrymen. Maximo realizes that money
.alone is not a panacea. The poor need jobs and education.
Itis attitude toward the United States is antagonistic. He
believes that the real reason for the formation of the
Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress program is that:

Los Estados Unidos temen que nosotros, toda

América Latina, imitemos la Revolucién Socialista

de Cuba . . . Afirman que la Alianza para el

Progreso es un plan para nuestro desarrollo.

Muy bonita manera de volver a ponernos los
grilletes (p. 200).

190

Inge doesn't agree with Maximo's constant talk
about revolution. She tells him that in Sweden they always
tried to resolve their problems one at a time. Maximo ex—
plains to her that:

Suecia se ha desarrollado en circunstancias dis-
tintas a las nuestras. Nosotros constituimos una
semicolonia imperialista. Nuestro progreso esta
frenado por multiples excusas, fuertements atran-

cadas por los intereses economicos de un pufiado I
de criollos y extranjeros (p. 195). q

The Peace Corps eventually arives and the people
are disillusioned when they do not immediately receive

money for new homes and schools, but, instead, they are

 

told that they must "elaborar 103 planes y empezarlos"
(p. 218) and that the Americans will investigate how they
can "ayudar en su financiacion." The people are embittered
and angry. "Qué planes?" "IEstamos cansados de promesas!"
"IMentirosos!" they shout at the Americans. A mob forms
and attacks the members of the community who had aided the
"gringos embusteros." These people were social outcasts.
.Arturo, "e1 loco," is depicted as the village idiot. La
Carioca is a prostitute. Constantino owns a saloon in
'which he maintains a brothel. The crowd breaks into the
saloon and plunders it. They pursue La Carioca and threaten
“to kill her. However, Maximo intercedes and exhorts the
czrowd to direct its anger toward the government:

éPor qué en vez de perseguir mujeres y asaltar

cantinas, no reclaman sus derechos? Ya les

decia yo que no esperaran limosnas de criollos
y gringos. Nadie vendra a redimirlos de su

191

miseria. Convénzanse que solo nosotros mismos,
con nuestra union y deseo de lucha, podremos
transformar a Chambacfi en un barrio digno de
vivir . . . Marcharemos sobre la ciudad. Exi-
giremos a1 gobernador trabajo y escuela. No
necesitaremos mas. Con nuestros propios es-
fuerzos ganaremos e1 pan y transformaremos a
Chambacfi (pP. 221, 223).

The people, led by Maximo, march toward the city.
A detachment of policemen awaits them. Among the police
is the sergeant Jose Raquel. In one of the best written a!
passages in the novel the author describes the ensuing
encounter:

Los cafiones de los fusiles temblaban. Los
policias sin poder dar un paso atras, esperaban
la orden del Sargento. Ya olian e1 sudor de
los negros. Ignoraban si era e1 miasma del
fango o sus propias cartucheras sudorosas.
Sono el disparo. "Sardinilla" crey6 que su
pistola se le habia disparado. Los fusiles
levantaron la mira. Se oyé nuevamente la de-
tonacion. Maximo dio una voltereta y cayo de
espalda. Una mancha roja le nacia en la cami—
sa. El Sargento no lo habia visto 0 se hacia
el ciego (p. 226).

 

 

~45! 'T’lbfh

ii...

The author skillfully creates a sensation of ir-
reality in the above passage. Specific subjects are re-
placed by the use of the indefinite or by an inanimate
subject, "los cafiones . . . temblaban," "sono e1 disparo"
and "se oyo . . . la detonacion." The nervousness of the
jpolice is described by the "cafiones . . . temblaban" and
the inability of the officers to tell whether they smelled
'their own sweaty gun belts of the fetid mire. The shot

-that.kills Maximo is not definitely attributed to anyone

192

but "'Sardinilla' creyo que su pistola se le habia dis-
parado." The final irony is that José Raquel, whose brother
has just been killed, "no lo habia visto 0 se hacia el
ciego."

Unfortunately, Zapata Olivella doesn't often use
this artistic and descriptive method of narration. His
dogmatism and directness in propounding his thesis detract ya
from the literary value of the novel. The novel ends with ! L1
the death of Maximo. However, at the point of his death

the people have been motivated to political action. There

 

 

is a Junta de Defensa del Barrio and its members (Inge,
Domitila, Camilo and others) are shown preparing for a
meeting immediately after Maximo's funeral. Maximo's long
and patient effort to politicize the community has finally
been achieved. The people no longer need him to lead their
struggle. They are prepared to carry on without him and
pursue the social justice for which he gave his life. This
is the optimistic prospect which the author portrays for
the Negroes of Chambacfi.

Zapata Olivella also includes a description of some
of the customs of the people. In adherence to the realistic
setting of the novel these practices generally demonstrated
a lack of education and a belief in superstition. When
lDominguito, Clotilde's son, has his leg infected from the
poisoned spur of a cock, La Cotena puts her trust in the

(zurandero or quack doctor to cure him rather than in the

 

193

physicians at the hospital. This curandero, Bonifacio,

also serves as a fortune-teller and the author writes that
he received his mysterious power "de las mismas manos del
diablo" (p. 31). The author also describes the excessive
drinking, prostitution and illiteracy of some of the Negroes.
However, Maximo has held out a ray of h0pe for everyone and
has even told the prostitutes "Qué las putas también [seran] h
liberadas" (p. 43). Paid

Corral de negros is, to paraphrase Jean-Paul Sartre,9 P

 

a synthesis of negativity designed to uproot from the pres-

 

ent and to project a new future. In this novel Zapata Oli-
vella is concerned with depicting a negative feature of
present-day Colombia. This aspect of his social awareness

is suggested in Eduardo Camacho Guizado's observation about

contemporary Colombian authors: "los novelistas . . . se
plantean 1a creacion literaria como una cierta responsabili-

10 Camacho Guizado goes on to say that "po-

dad historica."
dria ser que ello fuera e1 mas decisivo paso para la cimenta-
‘cion de una literatura auténticamente colombiana."ll Since
Cknmacho Guizado mentions both Zapata Olivella and Arnoldo

IPalacios in his discussion, this quote supports my initial

 

9See Chapter V, p. 144.

10Camacho Guizado, 37.

llIbid.

194

premise, as stated in the introduction, that the embodiment
of the Negro in the novel may be considered as a highly im-
portant step toward the development of an authentically

national literature in Colombia.

In 5.4" i ‘7':

 

‘.T
1Q; ‘nyt‘v.

CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSIONS

The novels examined in this study extend over a
period of almost one-hundred years (1866-1963). They re- Pa‘

flect differences in theme, intent and degree of literary }

 

‘Iu-fl

craftsmanship. Each is an important and representative

work, typical of one of the several phases which can be

In nu'-nan fr W
Va J'. - '

distinguished in the evolution of the Colombian novel.

Each author has depicted an aspect of Colombian society
which shows the participation, or the lack of it, of the
Negro in that society. The range of observation and the
breadth of treatment are as varied as the styles of the
individual authors; however, from our contemporary perspec-
tive, there are some observations which can be made about
the portrayal of the Negro in these works.

Manuela by Eugenio Diaz is an outstanding costum-
brista novel in which the author depicted Colombian life in
1866. The author's style is generally prosaic and unin-
spired. Although he does have a few very expressive and
creative passages, in general his narration is straight-
forward and sober. There is very little dramatic conflict.

'The use of satire is effective and the author is also

195

196

humorous, sentimental and caustic on occasion. He is not
very effective in presenting his characters, who turn out
to be caricatures. There is a lack of psychological depth.
This shortsightedness directly affects his treatment of
Manuela. Diaz fails to penetrate beyond the surface of his
heroine's physical beauty. He perceives none of the com-
plexities of a Negro's life in a country in which slavery
had ended only fifteen years before he wrote his novel.
Because he is more concerned with satirizing particular
political beliefs (the liberal philosophy), the author
loses sight of his characters as vital human beings.

From today's perspective it would seem that don
Tadeo's vehement reaction to Manuela's rejection of his
advances is caused in part because he, as a white man,
feels slighted by the fact that a humble mulatto girl would.
spurn his overtures. The autocratic political boss is
unaccustomed to having anyone Oppose him, especially a
woman and particularly a mulatto. Don Tadeo is the product
of a tradition in which the white master expects complete
obeisance from the Negro subordinate. Only under these
circumstances is his almost paranoiac thirst for revenge
comprehensible. The threat to his political dominance
comes from don Deméstenes, not from Manuela. A rational,
unprejudiced reaction would have been for him to confront

his liberal opponent.

 

n-\' .4 G. '1 ."-"o

197

Don Demostenes' attitude toward Manuela and her
cousin Rosa would also be open to question today. He re-
gards them as childlike creatures who are unable to cope
with the Machiavellian machinations of don Tadeo. He sets
himself up as Manuela's protector and intercedes in the
political affairs of the village on her behalf. His coop-
eration is beneficial as long as he is present. However,
his sudden return to Bogota leaves Manuela without protec-
tion from don Tadeo and precipitates the denouement. Don

Dem6stenes' patronizing regard for Manuela is based upon

 

 

the naive belief that Negroes were primitive and childlike

tmft’fi' r Jilma!- .
lkfmi

creatures and, consequently, were not sophisticated enough
to participate equally in a modern society.

Diaz's portrayal of Colombian society, in spite of
its accuracy in describing objects, is superficial. He
fails to penetrate the social and political complexity of
his characters and manages only to portray some poorly
developed caricatures.

Jorge Isaacs was also guilty of social myOpia. Not
only did he fail to see nineteenth-century Colombian society
as it really existed but, in Maria, he completely idealized
that society. His portrayal of Negroes and Africans is *
completely romantic. The black man for Isaacs is not a
personality but a stereotype--the happy slave and the exotic
.African. In keeping with the romantic tradition, Isaacs'

‘world is one of imagination oriented toward a sensuous

4

 

i

 

198

reaction to the world of experience. His writing represents
his personal conception of life rather than an objective
transcription of the society around him.

Ma££a_abounds with sentimentality and poetic evoca-
tion of the landscape. The author skillfully captures the
essence of a particular setting. He describes both colors
and sounds and he fully injects his emotions into the novel.
His description of the pastoral setting is both artistic
and enumerative. However, the novel is pure romance. It
is an idyll of love and death that has little to do with
social reality. Under these conditions it is not surprising
that Isaacs did not create a credible Negro character. He
was following the literary conventions of the romantic
movement and his portrayal of the Negro evidences the
idealization of characters that was typical of this genre.

In El alférez real there is a greater awareness of

 

social and historical reality than in Maria. Eustaquio
Palacios describes the historical setting of slavery and
the conditions under which the slaves lived. His Negro
characters are also more humane. They have petty vices and
they declaim against the injustices of human bondage.
Palacios comes close to seeing the Negro as a personality
but he uses him primarily to provide a descriptive back-
ground for his novel.

Palacios' style is sober and scholarly. He uses

learned references which allude to the Golden Age of Greece.

 

14".“ ”an, '57“: v.-
' ~.'l ‘

199

He generally avoids metaphors, Americanisms and neologisms.
There is no evocation of the landscape. He uses long
sentences with many descriptive elements and points out the
peculiarities of Speech of the slaves. His treatment of
characters generally follows the conventions of the romantic
movement. Daniel and dofia Inés are young, attractive,
wealthy and face the future hopefully. Their counterparts,
the Negro servant-slaves, Fermin and Andrea, are also young
and in love, however, they face only the prospects of life-
long bondage.

This novel also shows that sometimes the slaves try
to aid and understand their masters. Fermin and Andrea try
to help Daniel and dofia Inés overcome the barriers which
separate them. This characterization adheres to the
stereotype of the faithful and loyal house servant. On the
other hand, both Daniel and dofia Inés stand aloof from
their servants and keep them at a distance (and rightfully
so, according to the then prevalent social mores). Thus,
the characters who embody the greatest warmth, understanding
and fraternity are the Negro slaves. The white characters
are class conscious and materialistic. They help to main-
tain the barriers which have made Colombia a racially
divided society.

However, Palacios' treatment of the Negro evidences
a greater awareness of the complexity of this character

than the previous depictions of Diaz and Isaacs. This

 

“KY-or fax
l‘ILJLL-u .
I

(.8

200

growth in awareness continues in La Marquesa de Yolombé by

 

Tomas Carrasquilla. Carrasquilla's depiction of Colombian
society is not only artistic but it is also the first
balanced treatment of Negro and white characters in Colom-
bian fiction. He was able to capture the essence of char-
acters like Sacramento and Guadalupe and he represented
them as realistic personalities.

A great part of Carrasquilla's success as an author

 

is owing to his facility with language. He makes ample use

of dialogue in which the personages are characterized by ‘

 

the language that they use. He transcribes the peculiar- i;
ities of language of the late colonial epoch and of the
Negro servants. He occasionally uses alliteration, contrast
and imagery. His choice of adjectives is pertinent and his
verbs forceful. His style is precise and elegant.

The region Carrasquilla described, Antioquia, did
not have a large Negro or indian population. It is an area
that has been traditionally isolated from the rest of
Colombia. The population is more homogeneous than in other
regions. Perhaps this basic insularity and ethnic unity
allowed the inhabitants to take a less prejudiced view of
other racial groups. Carrasquilla reflects this unbiased
view in his novels. He portrays Negroes because they were
:members of the society. He does not romanticize them;
neither does he stereotype them. Carrasquilla takes the
essential step of depicting the Negro realistically rather

than idealizing or stereotyping him.

201

Bernardo Arias Trujillo fully exploits the Negro as
a literary subject. Previous authors had not developed the
broad range of the Negro's personality nor had they ventured
to depict his particular subculture. In Risaralda Arias
Trujillo portrays a variety of Negro characters and he
depicts their customs and idiosyncrasies. His Negro char-
acters are complete personalities. They embody both pos-
itive and negative values.

At times, his prose is almost poetic, especially in
his evocation of nature. He makes use of biblical allusions
and personification to describe the land but his description
is generally realistic and even naturalistic. He evokes a
feeling of compassion for the inhabitants and their way of
life. He has an alert eye for small details, and he fre-
quently uses metaphors. His style is a combination of
realistic description and inspired expression.

Arias Trujillo is also the first Colombian author
to show full cognizance of the Negro's position of social
and cultural marginality. His characters are people who
have fled to the Risaralda Valley in order to escape the
injustices of a white-dominated society. He elaborates the
particular social, religious and cultural practices of the
Negroes and shows how, ultimately, these are subsumed by
the white majority. On this plane, he is depicting the
Negro symbolically. He sees the Negro as the embodiment of
certain pristine values which are threatened by modern,

technological society.

 

202

Undoubtedly, Arias Trujillo exaggerated the idyllic
life in the Risaralda Valley. The lack of social conven-

tions and the uninhibited cordiality of the sopingos is

 

intended to contrast with the presumed restraints of white
society. The Negroes are shown as living in harmony with
their environment. On the other hand, the white man cuts

down the forests and destroys the natural environment in

order to build towns and factories. In reality, Negroes [Hy
are not as primitive and innocent as Arias Trujillo pic- * E
tures them nor are the manifestations of an industrial ;

society (introduced into the valley by the whites) neces- 3‘

 

sarily evil.

La Canchelo, Pacha Duran and Juancho Marin are
completely developed Negro characters. They are aware of
their social standing vis-a-vis the white population and
each reacts according to his or her own personality.
Juancho is embittered and anti-white. Pacha is ambitious
and accepts the social superiority of the whites. She
hopes that La Canchelo, who is disdainful of Negro suitors,
will marry a white man.

Arias Trujillo was successful in describing various
cultural and social practices of the Negro. However, he
‘was unable to capture the essence of the Negro's person—
ality. It is not sufficient to describe Negroes as out-
casts from the social mainstream and depict their reactions

to an Oppressive majority. It is necessary to delve into

203

the Negro's personality, into his consciousness, and dis-
cover what his true thoughts and feelings are. This is

what Arnoldo Palacios does in Las estrellas son negras.

 

In order to do this, Palacios makes extensive use
of interior monologue which suggests the flow of the pro-
tagonist's thoughts. He also uses dialogue which allows
him to reproduce the regional dialect of the Negroes. This
dialect is characterized by a disregard for standard syntax
and grammar. The prose style often seems reportorial. The
sentences are generally short and to the point. There are
no elaborate descriptions or colorful metaphors. Instead
the author uses interjections, repetition and exaggeration

to make his argument more forceful.

Arnoldo Palacios alone among these authors has truly v

attempted to explore the Negro's psyche. This approach is
unique and the results are singular. Instead of looking at
the Negro from the outside and trying to imagine what is
going on within him, he allows Irra to express exactly how
it feels to be a black and young youth in Colombia. Irra's
version of Colombian society, i.e., the society that we see
through his eyes, is brutal and naturalistic. It is, in
effect, a society whose elements seem to conspire against
the Negro.

In the portrayal of Irra can be found many of the
tenets of existential philOSOphy. He starts with himself.

He questions himself. His deepest feelings are his own

”if“

 

‘L"

204

personal feelings about his being, his history and his
consciousness. His predicament, and by extension the
Negro's predicament, fills him with horror. He constantly
questions his suffering. He does not philosophize and he
has no interest in abstract theories. His concern is for
his own, present day, here and now predicament. Conse-
quently, if he is to lead an honest life he has to make a
choice, an act of self-determination, with all of its
threats and all of its promises. The only meaning that
life can have for him is that which he gives it through his

act of self-determination.

The author portrays Irra passing through a spiritual

crisis. His self-questioning and his suffering are finally
resolved in his determination to act and, in effect, to
give his own meaning to life rather than to have life's
meaning assigned to him on the a priori basis of his skin

color. He refuses to allow external forces to dehumanize

him. He is determined to exert himself, to improve himself.

Palacios' characterization of Irra is, perhaps, the
most accomplished portrayal of the Negro in Colombian fic-
tion. This youth embodies all of the characteristics of an
authentic individual. In him are embodied the human pas-
sions--pain and joy, hope and despair. The author has
represented the Negro as an existential being rather than

as an object. On the other hand, Diego Castrillon Arboleda

 

fits-3'11. :tcro .74»
i
1'
W V“. P,

205

portrays the Negro as an individual who, perhaps, cannot
assert his existence and individuality and is overwhelmed
by society.

In Sol en Tambalimbu Castrillon presents a very

 

negative portrayal of the Negro. Mario is referred to and
depicted in a contemptuous manner. Castrillon represents
an evolution in the literary representation of the Negro.

No longer is he merely a figure to be employed sympathet-

 

ically to add color to the story or to be romanticized. In L
this novel Castrillén depicts the effects that an alien

society can have on a Negro. -i

 

This author seems to suggest that the Negro cannot
overcome the alien social forces which confront him. Mario
Salazar, like Irra, suffers and tries to redeem himself
through an act of self-determination. He desires those
things which an unjust society has denied him: fame,
wealth, power and social prestige. However, Mario is only
temporarily successful and, in the course of time, his
failure is absolute.

Mario's rise to power was built upon a base of

bribery, public defamation, vilification and incitement.
A desire for revenge is his only motivation. These qual-
ities do not represent a very stable basis for political
leadership and Mario's government falls. The industrious
Gabriel, a mestizo, finally defeats him. Consequently,

Mario's act of self-determination is a failure. But, not

206

only does he fail to establish his own consciousness, he is
completely shattered and accepts the negative identity that
society assigns him. Mario is a pathetic personality.

Castrillén achieves this representation with a style
that is prosaic and uninspired. He uses few metaphors or
images. He does occasionally make an appeal to the sensory
organs of sight, sound and smell when he depicts a locale.
However, the primary concern of this novel appears to be
the examination of the different modalities of Colombian
society. Consequently, the portrayal of Mario, Susana and
Gabriel as possibly representative members of three social
groups (Negro, creole and mestizo) seems to take precedence
over artistic creativity.

Corral de negros by Manuel Zapata Olivella develops

 

an entirely new role for the Negro in Colombian society.

The usually quiescent Negro of the previous novels, who
reacts to society's impact upon him, has evolved into a
social activist in this work. Maximo is not satisfied with
the status quo and is determined to change it. He believes
that the Negro can effect change through political organiza-
tion and solidarity.

The author achieves this different representation
of the Negro through a style that is telegraphic, concise
and caustic. Unlike Arnoldo Palacios, Zapata Olivella does
not let the story make its own point. Instead, as the

author, he inserts intense and declamatory statements.

rvo l) .3. gut-M “In!"
' I.

 

 

1 Mai). ‘x' <
1 ‘

‘3'" ‘v .‘

207

Grammar and syntax often seem to be impediments, so eager
is the author to make his point. He omits various gramma-
tical elements and uses single words to great effect. He
also uses contrast and irony to make his narration more
forceful. Finally, he uses an occasional English word to
ridicule the grinqos from the United States.

Zapata Olivella believes that the people can be

organized and educated politically. His portrayal of Maximo

shows this. At the beginning of the novel Maximo stands
virtually alone as a political activist. At the end of the
novel the people of Chambacfi are demonstrating against
civil injustices and, when Maximo is killed, the members of
the Junta de Defensa del Barrio (Inge, Camilo, Domitila and
others) are prepared to carry on his activities.

The author also relates the plight of the Colombian
Negro to the situation Of the Negro in the United States.
He condemns the North American hypocrisy which promises to
help the poor of Latin America (through the Alliance for
Progress and the Peace Corps) but abases the Negro American
with second class citizenship. He sees a common cause for
both North and South American Negroes in the fight against
"Yankee" imperialism. He is, perhaps, the only Colombian
author who has conceptualized the plight of the Colombian
Negro on an international plane. He relates the problem of
Negro Oppression to capitalistic domination and appears to

among the growing body of writers from various countries

 

208

who share the views about racism and colonialism that Franz

Fanon expostulated in his book The Wretched of the Earth

 

(Paris, 1961).

Each of these novels contains a significant depic-
tion of Negro characters. It is important to note that
while the works themselves do not represent a continual
growth in literary craftsmanship the development in the
portrayal of the Negro as a vital and complex personality ' Ei‘
does seem to follow the chronological order of the novels. §
The importance and complexity of the Negro characters of

the last three novels (Las estrellas son negras, Sol en

 

Tambalimbu and Corral de negros) is much greater than in
any of the earlier works.

This study also reveals that the portrayal of Negro WWI
characters has primarily been the concern of white authors
who generally subscribed to the social mores Of their
period. Owing to the peculiar circumstance of the Negro
Colombian (poverty and a lack of education), he seldom
followed a literary career. Today he is more educated and
’now we find Negroes (Arnoldo Palacios and Manuel Zapata
Olivella) writing about themselves. This factor is signif-
icant because it has been Negro authors who have achieved
the most sentient and understanding portrayal of black
characters. The situations that Arnoldo Palacios and Manuel
Zapata Olivella describe have added meaning and impact

because they grow out of experiences with which the authors

209

are familiar. The Negro for them is not a material object
to be viewed objectively (or romantically) but rather an
existential being. Finally, Zapata Olivella connects the
plight of the Negro Colombian to that of his counterpart in
the United States. This adds a dimension of international-
ism and fraternity which is unique in Colombian literature.
This bond of unity has become a frequent tOpic of discussion
of the so-called Third World powers during the 1960's.

The aim of this study has been to examine the role
of the Negro in the prose fiction of Colombia. It can be
said that the portrayal of the Negro has undergone radical
change during the nearly one-hundred years spanned by the
novels analyzed. Whereas his depiction began as a stereo-
type, essentially removing him from human consideration, it
progressed to a period of idealization of Negro life and,
most recently, the representation of the Negro depicts him
realistically as a sentient personality. It is the hope of
this author that eventually the image of the Negro will
find its imaginative consumafiion in the literature of
societies that are free of racism and color prejudice and

where one may read of the nature and impact of true inter-

racial fraternity.

 

 

 

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