Span 312 "The President"

Starting the novel "The President" I was pleasantly surprised to find that this novel is written in a completely different style than "Facundo." Not only did it not begin with a drawn out history of a nation's social and political history, but it immediately introduced the reader to some fascinating fictional characters. I must admit I found the beginning of the novel a bit hard to get into as well as to follow. I was counting on an introduction to provide a brief history surrounding the Guatemalan dictatorship which is central to the story. Asturias immediately draws the reader into everyday Guatemala life, in both his descriptions of the lowest class, the merchant class, and the ruling political class. One aspect that I found to be very compelling was his writing on the homeless and psychologically damaged within urban society. His characterization of Zany, Flatfoot, Mosquito is very well done and he shows how wretched there reality really is. I found these sections not only a bit hard to read but also eye opening. Asturias shows that it is the poor, dependent, and disabled that are the most directly affected by the President's brutal totalitarian regime. These men have no advocates and are disposed of cruelly (for example when Zany is brutally shot because he has rabies). Asturias describes them as living like rats, running from place to place, but with no real goal or place to be protected. They are not trusted or seen as any use to society. An example of this is when Mosquito, the blind man is murdered because he is suspected of attack. The police do not listen to his story or even realize that his is blind and therefor no use to them; but they do not even realize this until after he is dead. A good way to tell of a countries ruling nature is to look at the lowest class. How are they treated? What resources are available to them to overcome their situation? In the case of Guatemala under this dictatorship regime the poor are left to fend for themselves and die. I think Asturias uses this homeless and mentally ill class to prove his point in this novel of the severity of the present dictatorship regime. He starts his novel with the introduction of these characters and scatters them throughout the first part of the novel.