The Golden Serpent: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Golden Serpent: Analysis of Major Characters" explores a cast of complex characters set in the Andean valley of Calemar, Peru, where themes of nature, identity, and fate intertwine. Central to the narrative is Lucas Vilca, a young cholo ferryman who embodies a deep connection to the land and river, yearning for the affection of Florinda after the death of her husband, Rogelio Romero. Matías Romero, the veteran ferryman, reflects on the fragility of life and the wisdom gained from his experiences, especially after the loss of his son. His son, Arturo, navigates his own challenges, balancing romance with Lucinda and grappling with the tragic events surrounding Rogelio, his headstrong younger brother.
Osvaldo Martínez de Calderón represents an outsider's perspective, seeking to develop the region economically while adapting to its natural beauty and harsh realities. The narrative also introduces other characters like Don Juan, a wealthy rancher with deep regional ties, and Mariana Chinguala, a resourceful widow, who contribute to the local lore and community dynamics. Finally, Ignacio Ramos, a mythical outlaw, challenges societal norms and highlights the struggles of the marginalized. Together, these characters create a rich tapestry that illustrates the profound interplay between human experience and the environment in Andean culture.
The Golden Serpent: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ciro Alegría
First published: La serpiente de oro, 1935 (English translation, 1943)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Marañón River, in northern Peru
Plot: Social realism
Time: The 1930's
Lucas Vilca (VEEL-kah), a young cholo (part Indian, part white) from the hamlet of Calemar, located in an Andean valley in northern Peru that is bordered by the mighty Marañón River. Lucas is a ferryman—transporting travelers on balsa rafts—and small coca farmer. As narrator, Lucas voices the cholos' deep respect for the land and the river and their identification with nature. He pines for Rogelio Romero's wife, Florinda, after Rogeleio dies, and he invokes the magical aid of the coca leaf to get her. When she becomes his wife, Lucas believes that the coca gave her to him.
Matías Romero (maht-TEE-ahs roh-MEH-roh), the head ferryman and owner of the largest house in the Calemar valley. From his long experience, old Matías tells heroic tales of the raftsmen's exploits. He is attentive to nature's signs and has presentiments before the deaths of his son and of Don Osvaldo Martínez. Don Matías also predicts a disastrous landslide by the look of the slopes of the ravine overhanging Calemar. Rogelio's fate depresses Matías, and he becomes less active, passing the title of head ferryman on to his elder son, Arturo. The old man's eyes, however, still twinkle under the broad rim of his hat as he tells his stories.
Arturo Romero (ahr-TEW-roh), a brawny boatman, the son of Matías. Arturo is smitten with Lucinda at the yearly festival in the town of Sartín and, with rural Andean directness, invites her to return to Calemar with him. They all have to leave Sartín in a hurry when he and his similarly forthright brother Rogelio beat two state troopers who are harassing them. Arturo's prudence is seen on a long raft trip, when he tries unsuccessfully to dissuade Rogelio from taking the rapids at a dangerous water level. He is deeply affected by Rogelio's death there. Arturo's rural naïveté comes out when he chases a puma that has been terrorizing the village and becomes convinced that it is a magic animal because it looks blue to him in the blaze from his shotgun.
Rogelio Romero (rroh-HEH-lee-oh), known as Roge (RROH-heh), Arturo's younger brother, a fearless river man from an early age, when he swam across the swollen Marañón to take food to strangers stranded on the other side. Rogelio's courage is not tempered by good judgment, however, and he dies on the Marañón, despite Arturo's warning to wait before taking the raft over a rough spot.
Lucinda Romero (lew-SEEN-dah), Arturo's wife. She has bloomed as a woman in the two years since Arturo last saw her at the Sartín festival, and she captivates him this time with her shining green eyes and graceful figure. In Calemar, she has several miscarriages, but then she legally marries Arturo at the time of the Feast of the Virgin of Calemar. Shortly thereafter, she bears him a son, Adán.
Osvaldo Martínez de Calderón (mahr-TEE-nehs deh kahl-deh-ROHN), a Lima engineer who has come to study the Marañón area for economic development. Blond, educated, and unfamiliar with the region, he is an outsider, but he is received cordially and adapts well. His travels fill him with respect for the natural world of the Marañón. To anesthetize himself against its rigors he begins to chew coca like the natives. Osvaldo dreams of organizing a company to extract the mineral wealth of the region and plans to call the firm “The Golden Serpent,” in homage to the color and shape of the Marañón as he has seen it from mountaintops. Ironically, Osvaldo is mortally bitten by a golden serpent, a yellow viper, and is buried in Calemar.
Juan Plaza (hwahn PLAH-sah), a cordial and hospitable old rancher, the owner of the Marcapata hacienda not far from the Calemar valley. Don Juan is white, and he belongs to the highest social class in the Marañón region. With his white beard and bushy eyebrows, he has a biblical look. He is a storyteller and a source of regional lore for Osvaldo Martínez, whom he also helps materially with guides and a horse. He warns Martínez about the cruelty of the mountains, the jungle, and the river.
Mariana Chinguala (mah-ree-AHN-ah cheen-GWAH-lah), a lonely, mature widow who takes in lodgers in her house at the foot of the Calemar valley and cooks for Lucas Vilca. Fashioning an ingenious trap, Doña Mariana kills the marauding puma that has daunted Arturo, and she verifies that it is not blue; it is an unusually bold brown and yellow puma.
Ignacio Ramos (eeg-NAH-see-oh RAH-mohs), an outlaw from Calemar who has to keep moving constantly to avoid being sent to prison for slayings he committed twenty years ago and more. He is something of a mythical figure in Calemar, where they refer to him as Riero, rather than Ramos. His hard face, calm and steady eyes, and determined jaw mirror his spirit of defiance against an unjust legal system that is harsh on poor men such as him. As he tells it to Lucas Vilca (whom he visits one night in a rare appearance in his hometown), the several killings he perpetrated were in self-defense. Ramos lives in the river gorge.