A summary of Vargas Llosa's 'whodunnit' about military corruption. The summary describes what happens in each chapter as well as highlighting the themes, techniques and intertextual references to Vargas Llosa's other works.
¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero?
I
Algarrobos-featured here, as they were also heavily present in La Casa Verde
Brutal description of the body, realism?
Sensory-Lituma can ‘’verlo y olerlo’’-3
3-first time Palomino’s singing is mentioned.
International Petroleum company-is this a clue?
II
Los inconquistables, La chunga are here too.
4-Boxing match taking place in the city-undercurrent of violence
4-Lituma is haunted by the image of the cadaver.
5-the smell of goats and locust trees are still in his nose, sensory haunting from the
crime scene.
Air of machismo to their laddish conversation.
Lituma compares himself to a castrate for not being able to solve the crime.
6-Liutma goes to see Asunta, Palmonino’s mother, who is incredibly upset, a
complete mess.
7-picutre of his first communion-‘niño dios’-religious imagery.
Checkov’s guitar? Mother thinks if they find the guitar they find the killer
8-Violence within the military is mentioned (pg 9 as well, ‘cuando descubrió…’)-
echoes of La Ciudad y los perros.
As is often the case with MVL, the mother is one of the most sympathetic characters,
why?
10-Lituma struggles to grasp that people so perverse and horrid can exist.
10-subtle world building when Moises, the barman, says he doesn’t recognise Lituma
in uniform. There is something to be said here about the passing of time, its
fleetingness, and the harsh transtition into adulthood, a common theme with MVL.
Palomino was a soft soul with the heart of a poet-and he was brutally killed. MVL
showing harsh reality, as he did with Esclavo in La ciudad y los perros.
12-Extended detective fiction trope-Moises, the barman, suddenly remembers a
series of important details that will prove crucial to the case. Does MVL repeat this
trope to the point of parody?
III
Humour with Silva’s infatuation with Doña Adriana
14-‘Todas son un poco puta’-machismo/sexism
15-Matias says hearing PM sing reminded him of the past-again, the theme of
nostalgia is subtle but present here.
People of Talara are beginning to turn against the police, believing they are covering
up for a pez gordo.
Interview with Mindreau covers a few pages and is v telling as we see how uneasy
the Colonel is with the questions.
Irony, the colonel has a reputation for being very sterna nd strict, yet his daughter
behaves in the opposite way with him-subtly foreshadowing the perverse hold she
has over him.
20-racial undertone, Colonel’s incredulity at the thought of PM having an affair with
the wife of an official.
, 23-Paragraph on bureaucracy
We learn at the end of the chapter that the colonel’s wife died when the daughter
was young and that she is the reason for his bad mood.
IV
One of the pilots is repeatedly defacing/causing trouble in the town brothel, whose
owner el chino Liau begs Silva to do something, but he can’t as he has no authority
over the pilots.
Padre Domingo-similar character to padre Garcia
27-Teniente talks about showing his dick to dona Adriana-men being men
‘’Bastante joven, delgado, moreno, el pelo cor- tado casi al rape.
Vestía la camisa y el pantalón caqui del uniforme, pe- ro sin
insignias ni galones. Entró solo, sin saludar a nadie, indiferente al
efecto que su presencia causó’’-description of the pilots known for
shitting on the floor and causing trouble.
Turns out this man is the lover of Mindreu’s daughter, explaining why he gets away
with it.
They drag him out and Silva asks him what happened to PM, saying he must know
what happened, as this explains why he is half mad and drunk every night.
Turns out he is sad because Mindreau won’t let him see his daughter anymore.
During all this Silva always executes the right tone to get him to trust him and talk.
Clue
o -Porque picó muy alto -carraspeó el tenientito, con ira-.
Porque se metió en corral ajeno. Esas cosas se pagan. Él
las, pagó y bien hecho que las pagara.
Lituma tenía la piel de gallina. Éste sabía. Éste sabía quiénes
y por qué mataron al flaquito.
They’re getting close, but six members of the aeronautical police emerge from the
shadows, and take Lieutenant Dufó home
Silva is convinced everyone at the Air base knows what happened, even the
doorman.
Silva sends Lituma to see if Matias is fishing, so that he can try to sleep with her.
39-backstory on dona Adriana
‘’¿Piensas que voy a creerme que un mucha- cho como él se ha enamorado de una
mujer que podría ser su mamá? Ni tonta, Lituma. Un antojo, nada más. Si le diera
gusto una sola vez, ya está, se le quitaría el enamoramiento’’-reminds us Varguitas in
La Tia Julia y el escribidor’’-40
Lituma arrives back at the station to find a note, in blue ink, stuck to the door,
o «A Palomino Molero, los que lo mataron lo fueron a sacar de casa de Doña
Lupe, en Amotape. Ella sabe lo que pasó. Pregúntele.»
V
Lupe doesn’t help them, she is suspicious of them as soon as they arrive and answers
their questions in monosyllables.
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