The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
"The Feast of the Goat" is a novel by Mario Vargas Llosa that explores the oppressive regime of Dominican dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, who ruled from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. The narrative is framed through the eyes of Urania Cabral, a successful lawyer who returns to the Dominican Republic after thirty-five years to visit her ailing father. This homecoming prompts a complex intertwining of personal and political histories, highlighting the brutality of Trujillo's rule, which was marked by corruption and severe repression of dissent.
The novel portrays Trujillo as a controversial figure, admired by some for modernizing the country while simultaneously feared for his violent methods, including the systematic elimination of opponents through his Military Intelligence Service. The story also delves into the conspiracy that ultimately leads to Trujillo's assassination, involving a group of disgruntled individuals who collaborate with the CIA. As Urania's haunting past unfolds, it reveals a deep personal connection to the regime's violence, culminating in a shocking betrayal that forced her escape to the United States.
Through flashbacks and interwoven narratives, "The Feast of the Goat" addresses themes of power, trauma, and the lasting psychological scars left by totalitarianism, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of historical narratives and personal experiences within a repressive political landscape.
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Subject Terms
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
- Born: March 28, 1936
- Birthplace: Arequipa, Peru
First published: La fiesta del chivo, 2000 (English translation, 2001)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical
Time of plot: Early 1920s through the early 1960s; 1996
Locale: Dominican Republic
Principal Characters
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, the Dominican dictator assassinated in 1961
Urania Cabral, a fictional forty-nine-year-old unmarried lawyer
Senator Agustín Cabral, Urania’s father
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Martínez, President Trujillo’s son
Johnny Abbes García, head of military intelligence
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo, the small, scholarly, three-time president of the Dominican Republic
Antonio de la Maza, a conspirator in the Trujillo assassination
General Juan Tomás Díaz, a conspirator in the Trujillo assassination
Amado García Guerrero, a conspirator in the Trujillo assassination
Salvador Estrella Sadhalá, a conspirator in the Trujillo assassination
General Antonio Imbert Barrera, a conspirator in the Trujillo assassination
General José René Román, a conspirator in the Trujillo assassination
The Story
Urania "Uranita" Cabral, who fled from the Dominican Republic to the United States at age fourteen and forged a successful career as a lawyer, has returned to her homeland thirty-five years later in order to visit her aged father, Agustín "Egghead" Cabral, who has suffered a stroke. Urania’s homecoming serves as the catalyst for several interrelated and intertwined storylines that move backward and forward in time throughout The Feast of the Goat.
First is a character study of the dominant figure in Dominican Republic history during the twentieth century. The highlights of the career of Generalissimo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, who ruled as dictator from 1930 to 1969, are detailed and given relevance in the novel through fictionalized dialogue. Trujillo is lauded among supporters —Trujillistas—for building a modern military, diminishing the influence of the United States, and bringing prosperity to the Dominican Republic. At the same time, the Trujillo regime has become known for widespread corruption among self-serving cronies—many of whom are related to Trujillo—and for extreme brutality in the suppression of dissident voices. Control of dissent falls to the Military Intelligence Service (SIM), which is headed by Johnny Abbes García, who organizes the assassination, torture, or disappearance of anyone opposed to the Trujillo regime. Trujillo is known for his sexual prowess: even at age sixty-nine and plagued with incontinence and impotence, he still feels the need to continue proving his masculinity by sleeping with the wives of his cohorts and by deflowering young virgins.
A second thread woven throughout the novel is the growing opposition to Trujillo’s long rule. On June 14, 1959, an attempted guerrilla invasion of the Dominican Republic was crushed. However, the incident inspired a more coordinated effort two years later. Disgruntled army officers, former government officials, and individuals with specific grudges against the regime are profiled as they gather in a conspiracy that is back by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in order to eliminate Trujillo. Major conspirators Salvador "Turk" Estrella Sadhalá, Amado "Amadito" García Guerrero, General Antonio Imbert Barrera, Antonio de la Maza, General Juan Tomás Díaz, General José Réné "Pupo" Román, and a half-dozen others devise a plan to intercept Trujillo’s distinctive automobile en route to visit a mistress and then assassinate the dictator.
The conspirators succeed in shooting and killing Trujillo on May 30, 1961, but they leave evidence behind that leads to their own downfall. Retribution for Trujillo’s killing is swift and sure. Those conspirators not gunned down in battles with SIM are rounded up and tortured in order to learn the names of others involved in the assassination, and only Antonio Imbert Barrera escapes death.
After exacting revenge, the remaining members of the Trujillo family, having lost control of the Dominican Republic in an eventual wave of anti-Trujillista sentiment, go into exile. Those who have been relatively untainted by the dictator’s regime, such as Joaquín Balaguer, who served for three nonconsecutive terms as president, are trusted to lead the nation in the post-Trujillo era.
Urania Cabral’s connection with events leading up to the assassination—and the real reason behind her long absence from the Dominican Republic—is only revealed at the end of The Feast of the Goat.
Visiting at a family gathering consisting of an aged aunt and several female cousins living in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Urania discloses the shocking details of a betrayal that occurred thirty-five years before: prior to Trujillo’s assassination, her father, Agustín, former minister of foreign affairs, offended the dictator by attempting to shield his beautiful young daughter from becoming another of Trujillo’s sexual conquests. As a result, Agustín was stripped of his position and his assets were frozen. In an attempt to be reinstated to favor, Agustín does the unforgivable and offers his innocent daughter to the lecherous dictator just weeks before the assassination. Trujillo attempts to seduce Urania, but because of his impotence, he is unable to complete the act but violently rapes her nonetheless. The incident puts Urania at risk because she knows of Trujillo’s weakness, which amounts to a perceived loss of manliness and power. Within days of the incident, the nuns at Urania’s school help her escape to the United States, where she becomes a successful lawyer but is still traumatized by the events of her childhood.
The final chapters of the book reveal Urania’s long-held secret and weave the various storylines and characters together utilizing flashbacks to bring together the events that occurred over the course of three decades.
Bibliography
Derby, Lauren H. The Dictator’s Seduction: Politics and the Popular Imagination in the Era of Trujillo. Durham: Duke UP, 2009. Print.
Horn, Maja. Masculinity after Trujillo: The Politics of Gender in Dominican Literature. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2014. Print.
Liberato, Ana S. Q. Joaquín Balaguer, Memory, and Diaspora: The Lasting Political Legacies of an American Protégé. Lanham: Lexington, 2013. Print.
Matibag, Eugenio. Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print.
Pons, Frank Moya. The Dominican Republic: A National History. Princeton: Wiener, 2010. Print.
Von Tunzelmann, Alex. Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. New York: Holt, 2011. Print.