Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

208 reframing latin america
representative in the enemy camp—moved her to be generous with her caresses,
she was no more as a man who takes than as a woman who gives. A
deep disdain for men had replaced her implacable hatred of them.
In spite of this sort of life and the fact that she was over forty, she was
still an alluring woman, and if she was entirely lacking in womanly delicacy,
the imposing appearance of this Amazon put, in exchange, the stamp
of originality on her beauty: there was something about her at once wild,
beautiful, and terrible.
Such was the notorious Doña Bárbara: a compound of lust, superstition,
greed, and cruelty, with a pathetic little remnant in her bitter heart of
something pure and sad—the memory of Hasdrubal, and the frustrated love
which could have made her a good woman. But even this took on the characteristics
of a barbarous cult demanding human sacrifi ce. The memory
of Hasdrubal always came to her when she encountered a man who was a
worthy prey [. . .].
[On Señor Danger]
He was a great mass of muscles under a reddish skin, with a pair of very blue
eyes and hair the color of fl ax.
He had come to the Arauca some years before with a rifl e slung over his
shoulder as a hunter of tigers and alligators. The country pleased him because
it was as savage as his own soul, a good land to conquer, inhabited by
people he considered inferior because they did not have light hair and blue
eyes. Notwithstanding the rifl e, it was generally believed that he had come
to establish a ranch and bring in new ideas, so many hopes were placed in
him and he was cordially received. But he had contented himself with placing
four corner-posts in land belonging to somebody else, without asking
permission to do so, and throwing over them a palm-thatch roof; and once
this cabin was built, he hung up his hammock and rifl e, lay down, lighted
his pipe, stretched his arms, swelling the powerful muscles, and exclaimed:
“All right. Now I’m at home.” [. . .]
[On Lorenzo Barquero and the properties]
But Lorenzo Barquero’s rights did more than pass from the hands of one
usurper to those of another. The only earnings he saw from his land were
the bottles of whisky Señor Danger sent him upon his return from San Fernando
or Caracas, with a good supply of his chosen beverage, or the fl agons
of the latter Señor Danger had sent from the El Miedo commissary, and that
without paying a cent to Doña Bárbara for them.