Betrayed by Rita Hayworth: Analysis of Major Characters
"Betrayed by Rita Hayworth" is a novel that intricately explores the lives of its main characters, primarily focusing on José "Toto" Casals and his journey from childhood to adolescence in Argentina. Toto is portrayed as a bright yet self-centered boy, whose upbringing in a small town influences his quest for knowledge, power, and acceptance in a broader, more competitive world. His mother, Mita, embodies a complex blend of aspiration and resignation, navigating her limited role within a patriarchal structure, while his father, Berto, represents the struggle for success against a backdrop of personal hardship and immigrant challenges.
The narrative also includes significant characters like Hector, Toto's cousin, who embodies youthful ambition and the allure of sports, and Paquita, who grapples with her desires amidst religious and societal guilt. Esther, another classmate, represents the emerging awareness of class disparities and social dynamics. Meanwhile, Cobito serves as a foil to Toto, illustrating the tension between privilege and resentment. Through these characters, the novel delves into themes of sexuality, power dynamics, and the societal expectations that shape individual identities in a mid-20th century Argentine context. This multilayered character analysis encourages readers to reflect on the complexities of human relationships and the impact of cultural influences on personal development.
Betrayed by Rita Hayworth: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Manuel Puig
First published: La traición de Rita Hayworth, 1968 (English translation, 1971)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Vallejos, a provincial town in Argentina
Plot: Bildungsroman
Time: 1933–1948
José Casals (hoh-SEH kah-SAHLS), also called Toto, the main character. the novel follows him from infancy in the small provincial town of Vallejos, Argentina, to the age of fifteen, when he is at George Washington High School, a boarding school in Merlo, a suburb of Buenos Aires. Bright and inquisitive but self-centered and spoiled, he grows up being the best student in his class and having his own way. He matures into adolescence and is exposed to an ever-widening world in which he is not always the center of attention, although intellectually he has a competitive advantage over others. Hungry for knowledge, experience, and power, he continually seeks the company of older students and adults who possess these attributes. He is confused about his own sexuality and the more intimate details of sex, and his own sexual predilections are still to be determined. As a child, he fantasizes about the romantic images of the world that come to him principally through Hollywood films, novels, and the influence of his doting mother. As he grows up, he is forced away from her protective feminine world and has to face a harsher, nastier reality. There, too, he wants to be first. He manipulates people in his search for power and prestige, which to him are the signs of success in this larger world. What is in doubt is how his search will be resolved: whether he will prefer males or females, and whether he will be abusive and exploitative in his use of the power that probably will be his.
Mita (MEE-tah), Toto's mother. A college graduate, she marries Berto, a man with less education who reminds her of an Argentine film star with whom she once danced. She works first in the hospital and then in the pharmacy. When the family is financially secure, Berto forces her to resign and devote herself to family. She consents and has a second child, who dies still unnamed. A third child, rarely mentioned, also is born. She rears her husband's nephew Héctor, dresses down, uses little makeup, gains weight, and accepts the matronly role assigned by her husband. She fantasizes and escapes her small-town existence through novels, films, and her son Toto.
Berto (BEHR-toh), Toto's father, a proud Spaniard who struggles through a difficult childhood in Spain that brings the early death of his mother and the tyranny of his brother. When he is pulled out of school to work in his brother's factory, he is deprived of an education. When his brother sells the factory, he is forced to immigrate to Argentina. There, haunted by his earlier misfortunes, he steels himself in the ways necessary to become successful. He marries above himself yet refuses to accept help from his wife's family in La Plata. He keeps his family in Vallejos and, through great effort and sacrifice, gradually becomes a successful businessman. He makes sure his family has more than enough. He even takes his brother's son, Héctor, and rears him, although not with the attention he lavishes on Toto. He avoids the womanizing and roguish tendencies of his brother. He opts for business and familial rectitude as the appropriate strategy for success.
Héctor (EHK-tohr), Toto's cousin. He lives with Toto's family until he is twelve years old, then is sent away to a boarding school near Buenos Aires. Except for a vocational school, Vallejos has nothing beyond the sixth grade, and Héctor's Aunt Mita is afraid he will be nothing more than a mechanic if he does not go away to school. Héctor returns to Vallejos during school breaks and summer vacation. He is moved by the thrill of girls and soccer. the handsome boy seduces three bookish but good-looking women—the young schoolteacher Mari, Pug-nose, and Corky—in one summer. His dreams of the future are to leave the boarding school and return to Vallejos to play in local soccer matches, become a sports star, and seduce women. Many of the older female students interact with Toto because they are attracted to his cousin Héctor.
Paquita (pah-KEE-tah), a lower-class schoolmate of Toto in Vallejos who is three years older. Her father is an impoverished Spanish immigrant from Galicia who is a tailor. She dreams of her sexual encounters with Raúl Garcia but is tormented by guilt and her fear of mortal sin. At the end of the novel, her wedding is being planned.
Esther (ehs-TEHR), a student from a humble Buenos Aires suburb. She wins a scholarship to George Washington High School, where she becomes a classmate of Toto. She is enamored of Héctor and eagerly awaits an encounter arranged by Toto. Toto has designs on her, however, and has used Héctor as bait. When she protests his change of plans and tries to maneuver him out of the picture, Toto snubs her by referring to her lower-class origins. She sees that she is not accepted socially and begins to see the logic of the class consciousness and worker solidarity of the people from her own background, who are committed to the Peronista labor movement.
Cobito (koh-BEE-toh), a schoolmate of Toto. He is vulgar, crude, and mean. He resents school, study, and the prospects of returning to his hometown of Paraná and working behind the counter of the family store run by his brother. Envious of the intelligence, wealth, and success of Toto, he twice tries to sodomize him.