The Lizard's Tail: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Lizard's Tail: Analysis of Major Characters" explores a complex array of characters set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Argentina. At the center is the Sorcerer, a powerful figure who embodies paranoia and megalomania, paralleling the real-life José López Rega. His surreal attributes, including a third testicle he personifies as his twin sister Estrella, serve as symbols of his distorted psyche and desire for control. Luisa Valenzuela, acting as both a narrator and a participant, reflects the struggle of the creative voice against authoritarianism, wrestling with her role as a writer in a repressive regime. The Egret, a loyal eunuch, is both a servant and a victim of the Sorcerer’s abuses, illustrating themes of loyalty and subjugation. Other characters, such as the Dead Woman and the Generalissimo, draw on historical figures to critique power dynamics and cultism. The narrative also introduces the Machi, a symbol of indigenous wisdom, who represents the consequences of betrayal and exploitation. Alfredo Navoni, a political dissident, adds depth to the resistance against oppression. Together, these characters create a tapestry that examines the intersections of power, identity, and the role of art in politically charged environments.
The Lizard's Tail: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Luisa Valenzuela
First published: Cola de lagartija, 1983 (English translation, 1983)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Argentina
Plot: Social morality
Time: The 1970's and early 1980's
The Sorcerer, the protagonist and main narrator, known also as the witchdoc and by several other names. A cabinet minister in the presidency of the Generalissimo, he held even more power when Madam President, the Generalissimo's widow, succeeded to the presidency. He supervised state terror under these regimes. The Sorcerer is a paranoid megalomaniac, living in a continuing delusion of his own divinity and feeling completely self-sufficient. He has a third testicle, which he regards as his twin sister, Estrella. Under the government of the military presidents who succeed Madam President, the Sorcerer creates a kingdom of his own and decides to extend his absolute selfhood by having a son with Estrella, a child to be called I. His final legacy, after the explosion that interrupts the gestation, is a thin line of blood running from his remains to the capital. The Sorcerer's life story is a representation of the life of José López Rega, who was a minister in General Juan Perón's return to the Argentine presidency (1973–1974) and who virtually ran Argentina for a time during the succeeding presidency (1974–1976) of Isabelita Perón, the general's widow. López Rega was a practitioner of the occult and the leader of a death squad known as the Argentine Anti-communist Association.
Luisa Valenzuela (lew-EE-sah vahl-ehn-SWEH-lah), a novelist with dark, curly hair, like the author of The Lizard's Tail. Valenzuela is also a narrator and a minor participant in the events of the novel. She is writing a fictionalized biography of the Sorcerer and competes with him, because he is also writing a novel. She is associated with the resistance to authoritarian rule and is concerned about the novelist's role in politics. Unable to kill off the Sorcerer through writing, she formally removes herself from the text toward the end but returns in the final episode to comment with her friend Navoni on the arrival of the line of blood in the capital. They decide that it is not the river of blood needed to end the rule of the generals.
The Egret, a tall, handsome, young, blond eunuch. He received his nickname from the Sorcerer, who selects him as his aide-de-camp. The Sorcerer uses the Egret for sexual purposes but also reviles him as his dog. The Egret is unfailingly loyal to his master and helps him to prepare the gestation of his son.
Estrella (ehs-TREH-yah), the Sorcerer's third testicle, whom he considers his twin sister. Estrella becomes pregnant with the Sorcerer's child and grows to watermelon size. The Sorcerer takes on female bodily characteristics during the pregnancy, in complete union with his sister.
The Dead Woman, a representation of Evita Perón, the charismatic wife of Juan Perón during his first period as president of Argentina from 1946 through her death in 1952. The Sorcerer did not know her then but has conserved her forefinger and now passes himself off as her High Priest. He foments a morbid pseudoreligious cult similar to the real-life Argentine cult of Evita and tapes the Egret's high-pitched voice bearing the Dead Woman's message of support for her High Priest against his enemies.
The Generalissimo, a representation of Juan Perón, seen in the novel at the point that the Dead Woman's well-preserved body, like the historical Evita's, is returned to Argentina in the 1970's from its hiding place abroad. The Generalissimo is not only a decisive leader but also a devoted worshiper of the Dead Woman.
Madam President, a representation of President María Estela Martínez de Perón, who was known as Isabelita, although like all contemporary historical personages, she is not named in the novel. The Sorcerer calls her the Intruder, because she replaced the venerated Dead Woman as the Generalissimo's wife. The Sorcerer has sexual relations with her as part of his control over her.
The Machi (MAH-chee), an old Indian witch of a mushroom cult whom the Sorcerer brought from the south to a secret site near the capital to teach him and then to guard his hallucinogenic mushrooms. He has abandoned her but returns to the labyrinthine sanctuary where the mushrooms are kept and encounters her alive but so shrunken that she seems to be only a heap of bones and rags. The Sorcerer has her bones made into a soup, which he drinks at an Aztec-like ceremony. The Machi's revenge is that her soup upsets him and knocks him out for two days and nights.
Alfredo Navoni (ahl-FREH-doh nah-VOH-nee), a political dissident and activist who is a friend and former lover of Luisa. Navoni encourages her to continue writing her biography of the Sorcerer when fear deters her, and she helps him with his activities. They briefly rekindle their love affair.