Night of Beggars and Bells

The novel opens in a city unnamed but unmistakably Guatemala, where the destitute and disabled beggars huddle in the Portal del Señor, a colonnade near the cathedral. Their lives are marked by violence, hunger, and mutual suspicion, their nights haunted by nightmares and the ever-present threat of police brutality. Among them is Pelele, the Dimwit, whose trauma is triggered by the word "mother." The city's bells toll, blending the sacred and the profane, as the beggars' existence mirrors the country's decay. The Portal is both a literal shelter and a symbol of the nation's moral rot, where the marginalized are pitted against each other, and the state's cruelty is internalized by its most vulnerable.

Portal Murder and Blame

One night, a stranger provokes Pelele, leading to the murder of Colonel Parrales Sonriente. The beggars, witnesses to the crime, are rounded up and tortured by the authorities. Under duress, they falsely accuse General Eusebio Canales and his lawyer, Abel Carvajal, of the murder, shifting blame away from the true perpetrator. The state's machinery of repression is swift and brutal, using scapegoats to maintain the illusion of order. The beggars' confessions, extracted through violence, set in motion a chain of events that will ensnare the innocent and guilty alike, illustrating how truth is twisted under dictatorship.

The President's Web

The President, a shadowy figure rarely seen directly, rules through fear, manipulation, and a network of informants. His confidant, Miguel Angel Face (Angel Face), is tasked with warning Canales to flee, but the President's motives are always double-edged. The regime's cruelty is casual and systemic: a doctor is dismissed for exposing corruption, a clerk is whipped to death for a minor mistake, and the President's orders are carried out with unquestioning brutality. The city is a labyrinth of spies, and no one is safe from suspicion. The President's power is absolute, yet his paranoia and need for control poison every relationship.

Angel Face's Dilemma

Angel Face, both charming and ruthless, is caught between his loyalty to the President and his growing attachment to Camila, Canales's daughter. He orchestrates Canales's escape while simultaneously facilitating the abduction of Camila, blurring the line between savior and captor. His actions are driven by self-interest, desire, and a sense of fatalism. The city's corruption seeps into his soul, and his attempts at decency are undermined by the roles he is forced to play. Angel Face's internal conflict reflects the broader moral ambiguity of life under dictatorship, where good and evil are often indistinguishable.

General Canales on the Run

Warned of his impending arrest, General Canales flees through the city's shadowy streets, aided by Angel Face. His escape is a desperate, humiliating journey, marked by fear, exhaustion, and the betrayal of friends and family. The once-proud general is reduced to a fugitive, his fate determined not by justice but by the whims of power. His daughter, Camila, is left vulnerable, and his supporters are scattered or silenced. The regime's ability to turn even the most honorable into criminals underscores the perversion of justice and the isolation of those who resist.

Camila's Awakening

Camila, sheltered and naive, is thrust into chaos as her father flees and she becomes a pawn in the President's game. Her abduction by Angel Face is both a violation and a twisted act of protection. In captivity, she confronts the reality of betrayal, the indifference of her relatives, and the collapse of her world. Her coming-of-age is marked by trauma, disillusionment, and a longing for love and safety. Camila's journey from innocence to experience mirrors the nation's own loss of hope under tyranny.

The Abduction and Betrayal

After her abduction, Camila seeks refuge with her uncles, only to be turned away out of fear and self-preservation. The family's refusal to help her exposes the corrosive effects of dictatorship on personal relationships. Angel Face, torn between desire and guilt, becomes her reluctant protector. Their relationship, fraught with power imbalances and unspoken longing, is shaped by the violence and suspicion that permeate society. The betrayal by her family leaves Camila emotionally adrift, dependent on the very man who helped orchestrate her captivity.

Prison, Torture, and Loss

The regime's cruelty is laid bare in the fate of Fedina, the wife of Genaro Rodas, who is imprisoned, tortured, and separated from her infant son. Her suffering is both physical and psychological, culminating in the death of her child and her own descent into madness. The prison is a microcosm of the nation: a place of arbitrary power, sexual violence, and the erasure of dignity. The authorities' willingness to sell prisoners into prostitution for profit highlights the commodification of human life. The cycle of violence perpetuates itself, leaving victims broken and forgotten.

Love Amidst Ruin

Amidst the devastation, a fragile love develops between Angel Face and Camila. Their relationship, born of trauma and necessity, becomes a refuge from the surrounding horror. As Camila falls gravely ill, Angel Face's care for her deepens, culminating in a marriage performed at the edge of death. Their union is both a defiance of the regime's dehumanization and a testament to the persistence of hope. Yet, their love is always shadowed by the knowledge that it is built on violence and betrayal, and that the world outside remains unchanged.

The Brothel and the Dead

The brothel, Sweet Enchantment, becomes a stage for the regime's moral decay. Women are bought, sold, and abused; the dead are mourned with the same rituals as the living. The fate of Fedina, sold into prostitution after her child's death, is emblematic of the system's ability to turn victims into commodities. The brothel's madam, Gold Tooth, navigates the world with cynicism and survival instinct, her dealings with the authorities exposing the blurred lines between crime and governance. The brothel is both a haven and a hell, a place where the boundaries between love, violence, and commerce dissolve.

Marriage at Death's Door

As Camila hovers between life and death, Angel Face arranges for their marriage, seeking redemption and a semblance of normalcy. The ceremony, witnessed by neighbors and spinsters, is both a private act of love and a public assertion of humanity in the face of annihilation. The marriage is a fragile bulwark against despair, offering a brief respite from the regime's relentless cruelty. Yet, the specter of the President looms, and the couple's happiness is always provisional, threatened by the ever-present possibility of betrayal and loss.

The President's Shadow

The President, increasingly paranoid and capricious, manipulates those around him with a mix of charm, menace, and unpredictability. Angel Face is summoned, praised, and then sent into exile on a diplomatic mission—a reward that is also a punishment. The President's need for control extends to every aspect of life, from the fates of individuals to the rewriting of history. His regime is sustained by a culture of denunciation, spectacle, and the constant threat of violence. The President's shadow falls over every character, shaping their choices and sealing their fates.

Exile and Imprisonment

Angel Face's journey into exile is a cruel trick: at the port, he is betrayed, arrested, and thrown into a dungeon. His descent into madness and physical decay mirrors the fate of countless others who have fallen afoul of the regime. The prison is a place of darkness, filth, and isolation, where time loses meaning and hope is extinguished. Camila, left behind, is denied news of her husband, her appeals ignored by the President. Exile, imprisonment, and disappearance are the tools by which the regime maintains its grip, ensuring that even escape is a form of punishment.

Camila's Waiting Game

Camila, now pregnant and alone, waits in vain for word from Angel Face. Her life becomes a cycle of hope and disappointment, her identity eroded by grief and uncertainty. The city's bureaucracy is indifferent, the President's silence absolute. Camila's dreams and memories blur with reality, and her sense of self dissolves in the endless waiting. Her child is born into a world of absence and loss, and she retreats from the city, seeking solace in the countryside. Her story is one of survival, but also of the profound psychological damage inflicted by tyranny.

The Living Tomb

The novel's final chapters are suffused with images of death, burial, and the living tomb. Angel Face, imprisoned and forgotten, carves his and Camila's names into the dungeon wall, clinging to memory as his body and mind deteriorate. The city itself is a mausoleum, its inhabitants reduced to shadows and ghosts. The regime's violence has not only destroyed lives but also the possibility of meaning, connection, and redemption. The living are entombed alongside the dead, and the boundaries between the two dissolve.

The Revolution Falters

A brief revolutionary uprising, led by Canales and others, is quickly extinguished. The promise of justice and reform is betrayed by internal divisions, state violence, and the death of its leaders. The revolutionaries' dreams of a better world are dashed, and the regime's power is reaffirmed. The cycle of violence and repression continues, and the possibility of meaningful change recedes further into the distance. The revolution's failure is both a political and a spiritual defeat, reinforcing the sense of hopelessness that pervades the novel.

Blindness and Survival

In the aftermath, survivors like Camila and the student navigate a world of ruins, haunted by loss and trauma. The city's physical destruction mirrors the psychological devastation of its people. Blindness—literal and metaphorical—becomes a motif for the inability to see or change the truth. Survival is both a victory and a defeat, a testament to resilience and a reminder of what has been lost. The novel ends with a sense of ambiguity: the regime endures, but so does the capacity for memory, mourning, and, perhaps, future resistance.

Epilogue: Ruins and Prayers

The epilogue returns to the city, now marked by the destruction of the Portal del Señor and the continued presence of prisoners and beggars. The student and the sexton, newly released, reflect on the persistence of suffering and the futility of protest. The puppeteer, driven mad by the loss of the Portal, becomes a symbol of the city's broken spirit. The novel closes with a litany of prayers for the dying, the exiled, and the persecuted—a final act of witness and remembrance in a world where justice and mercy are in short supply.

Characters

The President

The President is the novel's unseen but omnipresent antagonist, a dictator whose will shapes every aspect of life. He is both a real person and a mythic force, ruling through terror, manipulation, and a network of informants. His psychological profile is marked by paranoia, cruelty, and a need for adulation. He is capable of charm but ultimately views others as tools or threats. The President's regime is sustained by fear, spectacle, and the internalization of violence by his subjects. He is less a man than a system—a symbol of the corrupting effects of unchecked power.

Miguel Angel Face (Angel Face)

Angel Face is the President's confidant, a man of charm, intelligence, and moral ambiguity. He is both perpetrator and victim, complicit in the regime's crimes yet capable of tenderness and guilt. His relationship with Camila is fraught with contradictions: he is her abductor, protector, and lover. Angel Face's psychological journey is one of increasing disillusionment and self-loathing, as he is forced to confront the consequences of his actions. His ultimate fate—betrayal, imprisonment, and madness—reflects the impossibility of redemption within a corrupt system.

Camila Canales

Camila is the daughter of General Canales, a symbol of innocence and hope. Her coming-of-age is marked by trauma: abduction, family betrayal, illness, and the loss of her father and husband. Camila's psychological development is a journey from naivety to painful self-awareness. She is both a victim and a survivor, her resilience tested by the regime's cruelty and the indifference of those around her. Her love for Angel Face is both a refuge and a source of further suffering, and her eventual retreat from the city is an act of self-preservation in a world that offers no justice.

General Eusebio Canales

General Canales is a respected military leader falsely accused of murder and forced into exile. His flight is a journey of humiliation and loss, as he is betrayed by friends, family, and the state he once served. Canales represents the possibility of resistance, but his fate—death in exile, his revolution crushed—underscores the futility of honor in a world ruled by arbitrary power. His relationship with Camila is marked by love and regret, and his downfall is a testament to the regime's ability to destroy even the most upright.

Fedina de Rodas

Fedina is the wife of Genaro Rodas, whose arrest and torture exemplify the regime's brutality. Her suffering—imprisonment, the death of her child, and eventual descent into madness and prostitution—embodies the destruction of the individual by the state. Fedina's psychological collapse is both a personal tragedy and a symbol of the broader social disintegration wrought by dictatorship. Her fate is a warning about the costs of complicity and the vulnerability of the powerless.

Genaro Rodas

Genaro is a minor character whose life is upended by his association with the accused. His attempts to navigate the regime's dangers—seeking work, befriending the wrong people—lead to imprisonment, torture, and the loss of his family. Genaro's psychological journey is one of fear, confusion, and resignation. He is neither hero nor villain, but an ordinary man caught in extraordinary circumstances, his fate determined by forces beyond his control.

Lucio Vásquez

Lucio is a member of the Secret Police, responsible for the murder of Pelele and complicit in various crimes. His loyalty to the regime is transactional, motivated by self-interest and a desire for power. Lucio's psychological profile is marked by bravado, insecurity, and a capacity for cruelty. His eventual imprisonment and death are the result of the regime's tendency to consume its own, and his story illustrates the moral bankruptcy of those who serve power without question.

The Judge Advocate

The Judge Advocate is the regime's chief interrogator and prosecutor, a figure of sadistic intelligence and bureaucratic efficiency. He delights in the suffering of others, using the law as a weapon to destroy lives and settle personal scores. His psychological makeup is defined by a need for control, a lack of empathy, and a talent for rationalizing cruelty. The Judge Advocate's actions are central to the novel's depiction of the perversion of justice under dictatorship.

Gold Tooth (Doña Chón)

Gold Tooth is the madam of the Sweet Enchantment brothel, a woman of cunning, resilience, and moral flexibility. She navigates the regime's dangers with pragmatism, exploiting opportunities and protecting her interests. Gold Tooth's psychological profile is shaped by a lifetime of survival in a world where power and violence are omnipresent. She is both a victim and a perpetrator, her actions reflecting the blurred boundaries between crime and governance.

The Student

The student is a minor but significant character, representing the possibility of change and the persistence of idealism. His imprisonment and eventual release are symbolic of the cycles of repression and resistance that define the nation's history. The student's psychological journey is one of disillusionment tempered by a refusal to surrender hope. He is a witness to suffering and a reminder that, even in the darkest times, the desire for freedom endures.

Plot Devices

Surrealist Language and Dream Logic

Asturias employs a poetic, hallucinatory style that merges reality with dream, myth, and metaphor. The novel's language is rich in invention, drawing on indigenous vernacular, song, and surreal imagery. This stylistic choice serves to convey the psychological effects of living under dictatorship: the sense of unreality, the distortion of truth, and the omnipresence of fear. The narrative often shifts between perspectives, time frames, and states of consciousness, creating a sense of disorientation that mirrors the characters' experiences.

Fragmented, Nonlinear Structure

The novel is divided into three parts, each covering different spans of time and focusing on different characters. Chapters are episodic, often beginning in medias res and ending abruptly. This fragmented structure reflects the breakdown of social order and the unpredictability of life under tyranny. It also allows Asturias to explore multiple viewpoints and to emphasize the interconnectedness of personal and political tragedy.

Symbolism and Motif

Asturias uses recurring symbols—the Portal, the bells, the brothel, the living tomb—to underscore the novel's central themes. The Portal del Señor is both a physical space and a metaphor for the nation's moral collapse. The bells signal both religious ritual and the machinery of state violence. The brothel is a microcosm of exploitation, and the living tomb represents the erasure of identity and hope. These motifs are woven throughout the narrative, creating a dense web of meaning.

Foreshadowing and Irony

The novel is suffused with a sense of impending catastrophe. Early events—such as the murder in the Portal and the beggars' false confessions—set in motion a chain of consequences that cannot be undone. Characters' attempts to escape or resist are consistently thwarted, often by their own actions or by the betrayal of those they trust. Irony pervades the narrative: acts of kindness lead to disaster, and moments of hope are quickly extinguished. The regime's power is maintained not only through violence but also through the manipulation of fate and the inversion of justice.

Theatricality and Street Theater

Asturias frequently frames events as theatrical spectacles: public ceremonies, puppet shows, and staged confessions. Characters are both actors and audience, forced to perform roles assigned by the regime. This device highlights the artificiality of power and the ways in which individuals are compelled to participate in their own oppression. The novel's final scenes, with the destruction of the Portal and the mad puppeteer, reinforce the sense that reality itself has become a stage for the regime's cruelty.

Analysis

Miguel Ángel Asturias's The President is a pioneering work of political fiction that exposes the psychological and social devastation wrought by dictatorship. Through its surrealist language, fragmented structure, and vivid symbolism, the novel immerses readers in a world where power is absolute, truth is malleable, and violence is both systemic and intimate. Asturias universalizes the experience of oppression, showing how fear, betrayal, and complicity permeate every relationship and institution. The novel's characters—victims, perpetrators, and survivors—are shaped and often destroyed by the regime's logic, their fates intertwined in a web of cruelty and despair. Yet, amidst the horror, Asturias finds space for love, resistance, and the persistence of memory. The novel's enduring relevance lies in its exploration of the mechanisms of totalitarianism, the fragility of justice, and the resilience of the human spirit. The President is both a warning and a lament, a call to witness and a testament to the costs of silence in the face of tyranny.

Last updated: May 23, 2025