Gazapo: Analysis of Major Characters
"Gazapo: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricacies of adolescent experiences and relationships through its primary characters, particularly focusing on Menelao, a conflicted teenager navigating the complexities of growing up. Menelao grapples with the effects of his parents' divorce, unresolved feelings towards his mother, and a strained relationship with his father and stepmother, Matriarca. His romantic involvement with Gisela marks a significant aspect of the narrative, highlighting both the discovery of sexual identity and the challenges posed by societal expectations and familial disapproval.
Gisela, seemingly innocent and yet revealing latent desires, faces her own struggles as she contends with her family's skepticism regarding her relationship with Menelao. Other key characters include Vulbo, a bold friend who challenges adult authority in pursuit of love, and Mauricio, Menelao's roommate, who reflects on the surreal nature of their lives through recorded stories. The rivalry with Tricardio introduces themes of jealousy and social conflict, while the presence of Gisela's judgmental aunts adds a layer of moral scrutiny.
Overall, the narrative intertwines the lives of these characters, exploring themes of youth, love, and the often ambiguous nature of human relationships, set against a backdrop of parental expectations and societal norms.
Gazapo: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Gustavo Sainz
First published: 1965 (English translation, 1968)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Mexico City, Mexico
Plot: Comic realism
Time: The mid-1960's
Menelao (meh-neh-LOH), a restless, confused, and somewhat fearful teenager who resists both parental and religious dicta. Much of the novel focuses on the sexual awakening of Menelao and Gisela, his girlfriend, and on the seemingly aimless activities of Menelao and his group of friends. It is evident that he struggles with many factors in his life. His mother and father were divorced when Menelao was four years old, and he does not see his mother again until he is in high school. Ambivalence marks his relationships with both his mother and his father. Menelao is living in his mother's apartment, and he would prefer that she not return to Mexico City. His relationship with his father is also troubled, with much of the friction between the two growing out of the dislike that Menelao and his stepmother, Matriarca, feel for each other. None of the adults in the novel sanctions or understands the relationship between Menelao and Gisela, and even Menelao's friends view it one-dimensionally. Brief, interspersed passages, however, suggest that Menelao seeks more than merely sexual satisfaction from Gisela. His activities—the meetings with Gisela and with friends, the fights with a rival, Tricardio, and the interactions with his parents and with other adults—are all recounted, usually ambiguously, through conversation, tape, and letter.
Gisela (hee-SEH-lah), Menelao's girlfriend, who awakens sexually over the course of the novel. She is seemingly timid and naïve, but her bathing in front of an open door and her confident swimming in the presence of a floundering Menelao intimate strong latent feelings. Her parents and her two aunts disapprove of Gisela's relationship with Menelao, fearing, it seems, Gisela's loss of innocence.
Vulbo (VEWL-boh), one of Menelao's friends. Bold in his pursuit of Nacar, Vulbo is one of the few teenagers who openly defies adult authority. When Nacar's mother tells Vulbo that her daughter already is involved with a soldier, Vulbo ignores the mother's wishes. His pursuit of Nacar, told and retold throughout the novel, is one of the major narrative threads.
Mauricio (mow-REE-see-oh), Menelao's roommate. Mauricio, like Menelao, enjoys using audiotape to record the gang's activities. These stories are altered even as they are told and retold. At times, even the experiences themselves are recorded. Mauricio notes the dreamlike quality of life, an outlook that the novel's disjointed, sometimes surreal narration reflects. His relationship with the chorus girl Bikina is not surprising, considering his preoccupation with sex and sexual intrigue.
Tricardio (tree-KAHR-dee-oh), a switchboard operator at the Bank of Commerce and Menelao's chief rival. Known for being a voyeur and a seducer of female servants, he fights Menelao after Menelao learns that Tricardio surreptitiously has seen Gisela bathing. Typically, however, ambiguity marks even the interactions of Tricardio, Menelao, and Gisela; Menelao does seem to feel some kinship with his rival, and, as Mauricio notes, Gisela does appear to find Tricardio interesting.
Matriarca (mah-tree-AHR-kah), Menelao's stepmother. Much of Menelao's difficulty at home is caused by the friction between the meddlesome Matriarca and her stepson. Noting the difference between his father's behavior at home and his behavior away from his wife, Menelao blames Matriarca for turning his father against him.
Nacar (NAH-kahr), Vulbo's beautiful neighbor. Vulbo pursues Nacar over the course of the novel, thinking for some time that she is an ingenue. He learns, however, that she was married at the age of fourteen and widowed, with a child, at sixteen. Currently, she is involved with a soldier, with whom Vulbo must contend throughout the book.
Menelao's mother, a frail woman now hounded by creditors. Menelao is staying in his mother's apartment while she is in Cuernavaca escaping bill collectors. Throughout the novel, she threatens to return to Mexico City; eventually, she does, disrupting her son's plans with Gisela.
Menelao's father, a husband loath to go against his wife's wishes, even at the risk of losing his son. Glimpses of the father away from his wife show him to be concerned about his son.
Aunt Cripla (KREEP-lah) and Aunt Icrista (ee-KREES-tah), Gisela's aunts. Aunt Cripla, a Protestant, and Aunt Icrista, a Catholic, loom, specterlike, throughout the novel, passing judgment on many of the actions of Menelao's group.
Fidel (fee-DEHL), Jacobo (ha-KOH-boh), Arnaldo (ahr-NAHL-doh), and Balmori (bahl-MOHR-ee), Menelao's friends. They are differentiated by the fact that the first wears dark glasses, the second stutters, the third is the only male in his family, and the fourth is somewhat morbid.