Dr. Hanrahan asked us about why we hate Beli so much and why there is so little for Abelard. This got me thinking and while Abelard is generally likeable, I have decided to hold him in contempt.
Abelard, as we know, is a genial man. He has friends, he's intellectual, he's well off, and he is Dominican. He has a mistress in whom he confides and (apparently) loves. We keep saying that with each evidence of the fuku the person brought it on themselves, Beli with messing around with a married man, Oscar with returning to the DR, Abelard had escaped out notice. It seems like he just had the bad luck to have Trujillo's eye fall on his daughter, but he did bring it on himself. He dithered. He wasted his time when he could have acted boldly and saved both himself and his family from the fuku that befell them. In short, he Hamlet-ed in a grand way. He did it twice; once initially when Trujillo notices the absence of his wife and daughter and a second time when he knows the doom is coming. Diaz says "For the next three months, Abelard waited for the End." (223) Instead of acting, even when he knows the doom is coming, he simply waits. It's not for lack of options, his mistress suggests they flee to Cuba, they could have left for the States, gone back to Mexico, any number of things. He worried about it before his first real contact with Trujillo and he simply waited for the end after.
Rather contemptible, don't you think?
I can find no contempt for Abelard! Was he perfect, No! He was complying with cultural pressures in a hyper-masculine society. I'm sure that there were many Dominican men that had mistresses. Does it make it right? NO, but that is the culture in which he was raised. Sure, he should have gotten his daughter out of the country, but I believe he did not think that Trujillo would turn on him. After all, he was an affluent, upstanding Dominican man! He was so wrong! Regardless, I believe that any shortcomings he possesses did not warrant the despicable punishment he suffered for years and the ultimate price his family paid for his shortcomings.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Abelard brought his doom on himself. He didn't stand up and act when he could have done something to keep his family safe. Even his mistress tried to provide him with ways out, but he just sat there and did nothing.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel that Abelard should be hated, but then, i don't feel that Beli should either. Both are realistic, flawed characters, but neither are villains.
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