Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

188
Eufemio: Como ciudadanos, tenemos los mismos derechos. Este es
patrimonio nacional [...]
Quijano: (while showing his gun) Y si no, nos los tomamos.
(Again Quijano uses his gun as a threat. But the driver replies):
Driver: Mire, no arme bronca. Mejor vamos a cerrar el paso para que no
entre nadie más. Mientras menos seamos pues más espacio hay para
hacer nuestra pachanga. Ahí traigo dos pomos de ron.
(…)
Quijano: Nosotros llegamos primero, esto es propiedad privada.
Eufemio: Los primeros que llegamos tenemos más derechos. 88
The way the two characters change their attitude towards the other driver makes them
look foolish, and the way they speak and act is caricatured. However, what they reveal
is how citizens abuse their fellow citizens for their own benefit. It is also interesting
how they change their discourse, first speaking of equality and later, when they
suddenly see how they can take advantage of their situation, arguing that those who
arrive first have more rights. Since they arrived ahead of others, they claim that the
property is ‘private.’ Although they are depriving other drivers of the space, the way
they change their minds and their rude behaviour makes easier for the audience to
tolerate and even enjoy their conduct, in contrast to abuse described in a more ‘serious’
mood. 89
In El Águila Descalza, neighbours from the vecindad where Poncho lives abuse his
generosity and kind-heartedness, and ask him for various favours without thinking of
him. Poncho is leaving late for work, and neighbours approach him with requests: an
old lady wants him to take some clothes to the tailor’s shop, a woman asks him to take
her husband’s lunch to the factory where Poncho works as well, and a young woman
wants him to return the milk to the grocery store because it was spoilt. She gives him
88 Alcoriza, Mecánica Nacional, 1971.
89 Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 101.