Mulata: Analysis of Major Characters
"Mulata: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate web of relationships and transformative experiences among its central figures, set against a rich cultural backdrop. The story revolves around Celestino Yumí, a poor woodcutter whose ambition for wealth leads him to make impulsive and destructive choices, including selling his wife, Catalina, to the corn devil, Tazol. Catalina, depicted as a content yet ultimately tragic figure, becomes intertwined in a sorcerous journey that alters her and Yumí's fates, leading to her own transformations and challenges.
The Mulata, a complex and enigmatic character, embodies both sensuality and chaos, compelling Yumí towards both passion and despair. Other significant characters include Huasanga, who seeks revenge against Catalina, and Tazol, whose initial manipulation of Yumí’s desires sets off a chain of events culminating in conflict and tragedy. The interplay between these characters highlights themes of desire, power, and the consequences of ambition within a narrative that is both fantastical and reflective of deeper human experiences. The story invites readers to delve into the moral and existential dilemmas faced by each character, ultimately examining the costs of their choices within a richly woven mythological framework.
Mulata: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Miguel Ángel Asturias
First published: Mulata de tal, 1963 (English translation, 1967)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Quiavicús and Tierrapaulita, Guatemala
Plot: Symbolism
Time: The 1960's
Celestino Yumí (seh-lehs-TEE-noh yew-MEE), a poor woodcutter whose desires for riches and social position lead him to sell his wife, Catalina, to the corn devil, Tazol. Overwhelmed by passion, he marries the Mulata but cannot endure her. Disenchanted with his life as a rich man, he recovers Catalina and returns to his life as a poor woodcutter. Catalina convinces him to travel to Tierrapaulita so that she can become a great sorcerer. He undergoes several transformations. Catalina turns him into a dwarf and then into a giant. After the slingshot of Tazolín kills him, his body becomes a mountain range. He then represents Candanga. Under the guise of a pockmarked Indian, he accepts the challenge of the priest Chimalpín and becomes a hedgehog to attack him. The priest almost defeats Yumí, but the Mulata saves him. They are married in a Requiem Mass. After he dies in the second Tierrapaulita earthquake, the Mulata acquires his golden bones.
Catalina Zabala (kah-tah-LEE-nah sah-BAH-lah), Yumí's happy, uncomplaining wife. Through Yumí's pact, she is abducted by Tazol. Yumí recovers her, but she is a dwarf. The Mulata treats her like a toy doll. After she imprisons the Mulata, Yumí loses Tazol's favor. Her desire to become a sorcerer takes her and Yumí to Tierrapaulita. She becomes a powerful witch, changing Yumí into a dwarf out of revenge and then into a giant to prevent Huasanga from enjoying his love. She fails to end the Mulata's hold on Yumí's heart. She is buried alive in Tierrapaulita's second earthquake.
The Mulata (mew-LAH-tah), a sensual, wild, and violent creature. Yumí impulsively marries her. Neither male nor female, she refuses to make love to him face to face. She is so destructive and demanding that Yumí tries to kill her. Her escape from imprisonment in the mountain cave precipitates the earthquake that destroys Yumí's possessions. As Cashtoc's representative, she is charged with fighting Candanga's representative, Yumí. When the priest is about to defeat Yumí, she saves him. Witches and wizards imprison her in revenge. With only half of her body, she escapes as a snake. With the cooperation of Tipumal's wife, she recovers the other half of her body. The rays of the moon set her ablaze as she holds the dead Yumí's golden bones.
Huasanga (hwah-SAHN-gah), the dwarf wife of Yumí in the form of Chiltic. Catalina turns Chiltic into a giant so that Huasanga cannot make love to him. Huasanga pursues him anyway and triggers Cashtoc's anger, thereby causing Tierrapaulita's first earthquake. To avenge herself on Catalina, she directs the Mulata to Juan Nojal, who tells her how to recover the rest of her body.
Tazol (tah-SOHL), the corn devil, who covets Yumí's wife. He carries Catalina off in a great wind after Yumí agrees to his pact. So that Yumí can meet the demands of the Mulata, Tazol changes corn leaves into money for him, a practice he stops when the Mulata is imprisoned. Tazol impregnates Catalina through her navel, resulting in the birth of Tazolín.
Cashtoc (KAHSH-tohk), the earth devil of the Indians. The Great, the Immense, he is the lord of the Mayan hell. He vows to destroy all humans who live as egotistical individualists and forget that they are kernels of corn. He destroys Tierrapaulita and abandons it to the Christian devil.
Candanga (kahn-DAHN-gah), the Christian devil. He promotes the repopulation of Tierrapaulita after its destruction by Cashtoc in an earthquake, so that his hell will not lack inhabitants.
Mateo Chimalpín (mah-TEH-oh chee-mahl-PEEN), a priest whose arrival in Tierrapaulita coincides with its abandonment by Cashtoc in favor of Candanga. Chimalpín challenges Candanga for urging the inhabitants of Tierrapaulita to procreate. He is transformed into a spider with eleven thousand arms to battle Candanga with his eleven thousand horns. Yumí becomes a hedgehog and pocks the priest's face. The priest removes the pocks by riding on the Meat-Eating Mule. Chimalpín visits the Child Factory, where he realizes that there are many souls desiring to be born. He then rides through the city urging Tierrapaulita's citizens to breed. He is the only survivor of Tierrapaulita's second earthquake.
Timoteo Teo Timoteo (tee-moh-TEH-oh teh-oh tee-moh-TEH-oh), a friend of Yumí whose riches and good fortune make Yumí envious. Yumí forms a pact with Tazol so that he can be richer than his friend. By having an affair with Catalina, he gives Yumí an excuse to sell her to Tazol.