Infante's Inferno: Analysis of Major Characters
"Infante's Inferno" delves into the complexities of sexuality and identity through the lens of its narrator, a passionate cinema lover navigating his coming-of-age in Havana. The narrative is enriched by the backdrop of the city, with significant locations tied to the narrator's memories and experiences. Key characters include Zoila, the narrator's mother, whose influence shapes his perceptions of love and sexuality, instilling both admiration for cinema and a fear of sexual intimacy. Margarita del Campo, a captivating actress, introduces the narrator to profound passion but also showcases the darker aspects of possessiveness and violence within their relationship. Juliet Estévez, a liberated married woman, serves as the narrator's sexual initiation, blending romantic ideals with the stark realities of sexual encounters. The character of Etelvina, a young prostitute, embodies the societal fears surrounding sexuality, while Lolita, a maid, provides a humorous contrast, parodying romantic tropes through her soap opera-inspired language. Collectively, these characters offer a multifaceted exploration of desire, intimacy, and the quest for self-discovery amid the vibrant yet challenging cultural landscape of Havana.
Infante's Inferno: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Guillermo Cabrera Infante
First published: La Habana para un infante difunto, 1979 (English translation, 1984)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Havana, Cuba
Plot: Autobiographical
Time: The 1940's
The narrator, a self-proclaimed Don Juan and a lover of the cinema, serving as both the camera's eye and its operator in the novel, recording his coming of age in Havana. He selects and reports memories from the past and gives a “continuous showing” of Havana viewed in its physical setting. Streets, buildings, parks, and neighborhoods are named and located in terms of their proximity to some thirty-five motion-picture theaters of the city and its surrounding area. The plot progresses from descriptions and fantasies to platonic love, rites of passage, and sexual relationships. The narrator passes through many levels of erotic involvement with women in his quest for happiness.
Zoila (soh-EE-lah), the narrator's mother, described as a “beautiful Communist.” Besides instilling in her son a love for the cinema, she also instills a fear of sexuality, particularly of sexually transmitted diseases. She is the matriarch of the household and has a powerful influence over her son's responses to life and to sexuality. As her son reaches adolescence, he must break this close attachment to forge his own identity.
Margarita del Campo (mahr-gah-REE-tah), also known as Violeta del Valle (vee-oh-LEH-tah dehl VAH-yeh), an actress, a one-breasted, green-eyed beauty who entraps the narrator in a consuming passion. This is the woman with whom the narrator believes he is truly in love for the first time. More mature than the other women whom he has known, she has been married and is successful in her career. The love relationship between Margarita and the narrator is the most passionate and intimate of all those in the novel. Pervading their interactions, however, are animal instincts and possessiveness. Margarita's possessiveness finds expression in violent acts; she enjoys wreaking vengeance on men by watching them suffer and die.
Juliet Estévez (hew-lee-EHT ehs-TEH-vehs), a liberated married woman who initiates the narrator into sex. In her description, the narrator stresses her euphemistic and pseudoliterary language, language that he finds both annoying and intriguing. Juliet employs romantic language to describe her erotic involvements, but she also recognizes the banal reality that accompanies her sexual encounters.
Etelvina (eht-ehl-VEE-nah), a beautiful young prostitute living in the same building as the narrator's family when he was quite young. The narrator's mother gave him the task of waking Etelvina every morning. His mother also instilled a fear of coming into contact with the prostitute or any other woman who might have a venereal disease.
Lolita (loh-LEE-tah), a maid and one of the narrator's many sexual conquests in the novel. Through her, the narrator parodies a language and a view of romance that finds their origins in the radio soap opera that Lolita avidly follows. She imitates the exaggerated, sentimental language of her soap-opera heroes in the hope that she, too, will become the ideal romantic lover. Her true personality comically emerges when she abandons the affected language of the soap opera in exchange for a flood of obscenities while she is in the height of passion.