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The Feast of the Goat

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The Feast of the Goat
AuthorMario Vargas Llosa
Original titleLa Fiesta del Chivo
TranslatorEdith Grossman
LanguageSpanish
GenreNovel
PublisherAlfaguara
Publication date
2000
Publication placePeru
Published in English
2001
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBNISBN 978-9505115846 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

The Feast of the Goat (Template:Lang-es, 2000) is a novel by the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa. The book is set during the regime of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. The novel follows two interwoven storylines, both revealing the political and social environment in the Dominican Republic, past and present.

Title

The novel's title is taken from the popular Dominican merengue Mataron al Chivo ("They Killed the Goat") which has its roots in the assassination [of whom?] of May 30, 1961. It is cited at the beginning of the novel:

"The people celebrate
With great enthusiasm
the feast of the Goat
the thirtieth of May"

Plot summary

The novel's first story is that of the present-day return of Urania, the daughter of a disgraced crony of Trujillo to the city of her birth, Santo Domingo. It narrates Urania's odyssey in the present tense through the city she last saw as Ciudad Trujillo, renamed in honor of Generalísimo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, nicknamed el Chivo ("The Goat"). Urania has left the Dominican and become a successful New York lawyer. Urania's return to the homeland and family, which she had sworn off forever is symbolic of the Dominican (and Latin American) political reality — the desire to confront the past and the complicity which made the horrors of Trujillo's reign possible. With each step, Urania remembers more of her past; with each person she encounters, the reader gains a window into the mentality of a people who have tried all but to wipe thirty-one years of tyranny from their collective memories.

The second story is set in the days and months surrounding Trujillo's 1961 assassination. Vargas Llosa uses this segment to meticulously examine the thoughts and lives of the most important political actors of the era: Trujillo himself, then-figurehead president Joaquín Balaguer, intelligence chief Johnny Abbes García, and each of the general's assassins, as well as a variety of fictional and composite characters. Each of these figures makes for a fascinating character study; the motivations and philosophy of the Goat and his cronies provide valuable insight into the mind of a dictatorship. The moral and rational justifications presented for the iron-fisted governance of Trujillo, the torture and persecution, the terror and assassination campaigns against Dominican exiles, and Trujillo's 1937 massacre of tens of thousands of Haitians on the Haitian-Dominican border are as informative as they are shocking. The story furnishes a real perspective on the mind of the Dominican people, and indeed, any people living under oppression, as well as allowing a glimpse into the machinations of global and hemispheric politics during the Cold War. Vargas Llosa examines Trujillo's attitudes towards communist Cuba's Castro, Venezuela's Betancourt, and of course John F. Kennedy and the "Yanqui meddlers" who eventually brought him down.

Vargas Llosa dedicates a large portion of the novel to narrating the eventual sad fates of Trujillo's assassins. Principal among these stories is that of the ex-Secretary of the Armed Forces José René "Pupo" Román, who had a minor role in the conspiracy to kill the dictator. Román was tortured in the most brutal and horrendous manner possible for several months before dying at the hand of Trujillo's son Ramfis. Some of the tortures described in The Feast of the Goat are horrific to the point of incrediblity; nevertheless, the writer insists that he had to tone down descriptions of some of the procedures used in the La Cuarenta prison in order to make them more believable, which is not to say more palatable.

Characters

Urania Cabral: the protagonist, who escapes from the Dominican as a child and returns in adulthood to confront her past.

El Senor Cabral: the father of Urania and the president of the Senate under Trujillo's rule.

Rafael Trujillo: "The Goat", "The Chief", the dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 and official President of the Republic from 1930 to 1938 and 1943 to 1952 (Delpar, p 597). Trujillo assumes power after the U.S. military occupation of the Dominican, during which time he rises to the rank of Commander in Chief of the Dominican Armed Forces. In 1930 he becomes President of the Republic through electoral fraud (Balderston, p 1501). During his "thirty-one years of horrendous political crimes", Trujillo modernized the country's infrastructure and military, but his regime's attacks against its enemies overseas (particularly the attempted assasination of Rómulo Betancourt, president of Venezuala) led to the imposition of economic sanctions on the Dominican Republic by the Organization of American States in the 1950's (Tenenbaum, p 274). The resultant economic downturn, in conjunction with other factors, leads to the CIA supported assasination plot that ends Trujillo's life on May 30th, 1961 (Delpar, p 597).

Joaquín Balaguer: The puppet president of the Republic who assumes real power after Trujillo's death.

Johnny Abbes García: The head of Trujillo's secret police and the mastermind behind the regime's most cruel acts. He is a fat, poorly kept man, but is the most trusted man to Trujillo.

Henry Chirinos: Supervisor of Trujillo's business operations at the time of his assassination. At various times held other positions such as Senator and Minister of Justice.

Antonio Imbert: A politician who becomes disillusioned with the deception and cruelty of the Trujillo regime, and who later helps to kill Trujillo. His first conspiracy to kill Trujillo was foiled one day early by the unsuccessful attempted overthrow of the regime by Cuban para-military forces.

Antonio de la Maza: One of Trujillo's personal guard whose brother is killed as part of a government cover-up, and who later helps to kill Trujillo.

Salvador Estrelle Sadhalá: "Turk", A devout Catholic who, in indignation of the regime's many crimes against God, swears an oath against Trujillo and later helps to kill him.

Amado García Guerrero: "Amadito", a Lieutenant in the army who gave up his beloved as proof of his loyalty to Trujillo, and who later helps to kill Trujillo.

Ramfis Trujillo: the son of Rafael Trujillo and a brutal military leader who seeks vengeance against his father's killers. He was decorated as a military officer by his father, and was unsuccessfully schooled at the Fort Leavenworth Military Academy. Ramfis was also known for his womanizing.

Radhamés Trujillo: the second son of Rafeal Trujillo.

Petán Trujillo: Rafael Trujillo's brother, who seeks vengeance against his brother's killers.

Héctor Trujillo: Rafael Trujillo's brother, who seeks vengeance against his brother's killers.

Major themes

Political corruption

The structure of the South American Society was very hierarchal. It was ruled by a cruel dictator, Rafael Trujillo, who haunts the people of Santo Domingo even 35 years after his death.

Machismo

Not only was the society very hierarchal, it also had strong machismo. Children who were raised in a society with violence with the addition of excessively masculine fathers may cause insecurities in their children and disturbs their relationship.

Conflict between father and son

The raising of children in such a society rose conflicts between parents and children, especially from the father and son. The conflict between father and son is one major obsession of Llosa, as portrayed in the relationship of Rafael Trojillo and and his son, Ramfis Trujillo.

Writing and power

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A motion picture adaptation was made in 2005 in English. It stars Isabella Rossellini as Urania Cabral, Paul Freeman as her father Agustin, and Tomas Milian as Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. This was directed by Luis Llosa, Mario Vargas Llosa's cousin. It was filmed in both the Dominican Republic and in Spain.

A theater adaptation of the novel under the direction of Jorge Alí Triana has recently premiered in Lima, with Alberto Isola, a famous Peruvian actor, theater director and professor, portraying Trujillo.


Fact and Fiction in the novel

The novel is a combination of fact and fiction. Blending together these two elements is important in any historical novel, but especially in The Feast of the Goat because Vargas Llosa chose to narrate an actual event through the minds of both real and fictional characters. 

The general details of the assassination are true, and the assassins are all real people. (Richard Patterson, 224). Those within the regime are also a mix of fictional characters and real people.

References

  • Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Cultures. Editors: Daniel Balderston, Mike Gonzalez, and Ana M. López. Volume 3. Routledge: New York, New York. 2000.
  • Encyclopedia of Latin America. Editor: Helen Delpar. McGraw-Hill: New York, New York. 1974.
  • Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Editor: Barbara A. Tenenbaum. Volume 5. Charles Cribner's Sons: New York, New York. 1996.

See also

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