Line #48 Literature/TheFeastOfTheGoat


1	''The Feast of the Goat'' is a book of Creator/MarioVargasLlosa that deals mainly with the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the {{UsefulNotes/Dominican Republic}} and his eventual assassination.
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3	The book is framed into three parts. In the first part, a woman named Urania Cabral arrives in the Dominican Republic after 35 years of absence for a flash visit to his ailing father, though it’s more of an excuse for her to exorcise some of the demons of her past linked with the dictatorship. The second part deals with Trujillo himself, detailing all the actions on his last day and his own inner demons. The third part deals with Trujillo’s murderers, waiting for him to fall in their ambush, remembering why they want to kill him in the first place; and later their attempts to evade capture of the dictator’s followers.
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5	!!Tropes present in the book:
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7	* TheAlcoholic: Chirinos
8	* AffablyEvil: Trujillo tries to put this façade, though it tends to [[FauxAffablyEvil crumble]] from time to time. Balaguer does it more convincingly.
9	* AxCrazy: Ramfis Trujillo
10	* BatheHerAndBringHerToMe: Trujillo has women and girls brought to him. He also sleeps with the wives and daughters of his collaborators as a show of power and to humilliate them.
11	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Huáscar Tejeda tried to hang himself with a tie. [[spoiler:It didn’t work, and it made his punishment worse.]]
12	* BringMyBrownPants: Trujillo has troubles controlling his bladder. He’s not only frightened of having a public “accident”, but also goes against his own cleanliness.
13	* TheCaligula: Trujillo. Ramfis.
14	* TheCasanova: Porfirio Rubirosa and Ramfis.
15	* TheConsigliere: Balaguer. Modesto Díaz, too.
16	* TheConspiracy: A heroic one: Antonio Imbert, the Turk, Antonio de la Maza, Amado García, [[spoiler: Pupo Román, Pedro Livio, Huáscar Tejeda, Fifí Pastoriza, Modesto Díaz, Juan Tomas Díaz, Tunti Cáceres, Miguel Ángel Baez Díaz, and some others]] conspire to assassinate Trujullo
17	* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Joaquín Balaguer. The man started as a puppet of Trujillo, with no power whatsoever. After his murder, he calmly keeps things moving while he makes strong allies to avoid a possible coup. After a while, he effectively becomes the president, gaining admiration from other world leaders and expelling Trujillo’s family from the island to keep them away.]] In RealLife, he actually became president two more times, the third when he was over 90 and completely blind; not to mention that he ended becoming a dictator very much like Trujillo before him. [[spoiler: Oh, and he was also aware of the assassination plot.]]
18	* ChestOfMedals: Trujillo, of course.
19	* ColdBloodedTorture: The SIM’s specialty.
20	* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Tunti Cáceres takes his time to insult Ramfis before being executed.]]
21	* [[spoiler:DragonAscendant: Both Ramfis and Balaguer.]]
22	* {{Egopolis}}: Starting with the fact that the capital was renamed Ciudad Trujillo, not to mentions the ''hundreds'' of streets and places named by his family.
23	* ElectricTorture: Done frequently and nastily.
24	* EvilOverlord: Trujillo.
25	* EyeScream: There’s no need to elaborate what Ramfis and Abbes’ lackeys do with [[spoiler:‘Pupo’ Román’s]] eyes.
26	* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:The Turk.]]
27	* FatBastard: Johnny Abbes.
28	* FateWorseThanDeath: The conspirators consider being captured this, since they know they won't be killed right away and will be subject to horrific tortures. [[spoiler: They're right.]]
29	* ForegoneConclusion: Trujillo is murdered. Even if you didn't know it before, the book tells it quite early.
30	* TheGeneralissimo: Trujillo is not only a prime example of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudillo caudillo]], but one of the nastiest ones and widely despised throughout Latin America for his countless crimes against humanity.
31	* GetItOverWith: When Ramfis decides to [[spoiler:kill ‘Pupo’ Román, after endless tortures, he couldn’t be more relieved.]]
32	* GoodHairEvilHair: Trujillo [[http://www.fundacionjoseguillermocarrillo.com/sitio/fotos/rafaeltrujillo.jpg has a little moustache]], vaguely reminiscent of Hitler’s.
33	* {{Gorn}}: Let’s just say that Vargas Llosa is unnecessarily graphic with the tortures.
34	* HyperCompetentSidekick: Balaguer and Cabral
35	* ICannotSelfTerminate: The Turk's strong religious beliefs prohibit him to even try suicide. [[spoiler:Eventually he's executed along with his friends, something he receives gladly.]]
36	* [[spoiler:IHaveNoSon: General Pedro Estrella rejects the Turk after learning he was one of Trujillo's assassins.]]
37	* InSeriesNickname: Several:
38	** Trujillo: El Jefe (The Boss), el Chivo (The Goat), the Benefactor, Father of the New Fatherland
39	** Agustín Cabral: "Cerebrito" Cabral (Egghead Cabral)
40	** Henry Chirinos: El Constitucionalista Beodo (The Constitutional Sot), la Inmundicia Viviente (the Living Filth)
41	** Balaguer: La Sombra (The Shadow), this one is mentioned only once
42	** José René Román: Pupo Román
43	** Arturo Espaillat: Navajita
44	* ItsPersonal: Most of the conspirators used to be fervent followers of Trujillo until he did something that affected them personally.
45	* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Trujillo has a little problem with a girl some nights before his murder. At the end it's revealed that [[spoiler:the girl was Urania Cabral.]]
46	* MercyKill: Discussed, [[spoiler:but eventually avoided, sadly for them (especially Pedro Livio).]]
47	* MoralEventHorizon: In universe, Trujillo's regime undergoes different ones for each of the four main assassins:
48	** For Antonio de la Maza: the murder of his brother Tavito - a loyal Trujillist - as part of a coverup.
49	** For Antonio Imbert: the forced dissappereance of the Mirabal sisters
50	** For the Turk: the regime's campaign against the bishops critical of Trujillo
51	** For Amadito: Being forced to abandon his fiancée and later being forced to execute a man that turns out to be his ex-fiancée's brother
52	* MillionairePlayboy: All of Trujillo's family, except for Rafael himself.
53	* NerdGlasses: Balaguer.
54	* TheNicknamer: Trujillo.
55	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Henry Chirinos is a thinly veiled reference to Enrique Chirinos Soto, a Peruvian SleazyPolitician that went through several parties and even abandoned Vargas Llosa's movement to join Fujimorism.
56	* ProfessionalButtKisser: Chirinos
57	* PropagandaMachine: La Voz Dominicana (radio) and El Caribe (newspaper)
58	* PsychoForHire: Abbes. Balaguer once found him laughing with a book about chinese torture.
59	* RealityIsUnrealistic: Creator/MarioVargasLlosa [[WordOfGod says]] he had researched thoroughly the characters and their inglorious deeds, and only invented the characters of Cabral and Chirinos to have a neutral voice in the story. This means everything including [[NightmareFuel the most heinous tortures and murders]] happened just so.
60	* LaResistance: The June 14th Movement
61	* RevengeByProxy [=/=] SinsOfOurFathers: When Trujillo's family starts chasing the conspirators, suddenly all their families become fair game.
62	* Room101: The different torture centers.
63	* TheSecretOfLongPorkPies: [[spoiler:Miguel Ángel Baez Díaz is given a stew made from the flesh of his own son. He's even [[DecapitationPresentation shown the head]].]]
64	* SemperFi: Trujillo was trained by the marines. His trainer, Simon Gittleman becomes one of his supporters.
65	* ShaggyDogStory: It must have felt that way for most of the conspirators. [[spoiler:They killed the dictator, waiting to see a transition to democracy]]; instead of that, [[spoiler:Trujillo’s followers went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against anyone even suspected of being anti-Trujillist. Most of them end up dead.]]
66	** Then there's Urania's story [[spoiler: or rather her father's actions. He's suddenly in Trujillo's black list and is suddenly losing power and his assets frozen. Some friends, and part of the book, say that Trujillo is just testing his loyalty as he tended to do at times. Cabral then serves up young Urania for Trujillo to bed in hopes of staying in favor with him. Turns out Trujillo, in spite of him not being able to get it up, was about to give everything back to Cabral he's then assassinated.]] Leaving Cabral quite poor AND a daughter who hates him.
67	* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Antonio Imbert and Luis Amianá]]
68	* SleazyPolitician: Most of Trujillo's followers, exemplified mostly by Balaguer and Henry Chirinos.
69	* SmugSnake: Ramfis Trujillo.
70	* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Pupo Román, Juan Tomás Díaz]]
71	* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:Antonio de la Maza, Juan Tomás Díaz and Amador García Guerrero.]]
72	* TortureCellar: The final destination for many an unlucky victim of the regime.
73	* TortureTechnician: Johnny Abbés, Pechito and Pirulo
74	* WeAreEverywhere: The SIM's secret police or ''caliés''
75	* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Urania. She wonders the same thing.
76	* YesMan: Trujillo’s regime is plagued by them.
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Context Literature / TheFeastOfTheGoat