Remembering his childhood, Miguel tells of a wooden statue the size of a man, carved by a musical instrument maker before his death, so the people of Itape decided to place it at the top of the hill, so that it would become a landmark of the village. Massive events and wars take place, and the novel branches out to narrate the events of two decades of Paraguayan history, before returning to that hill with its steadfast statue, which has become very symbolic.
Rua Bastos shows history from the perspective of ordinary people, poignantly depicting their attempts to rebel against authority, revealing the brutality of the ironies of history when these people are forced to kill and die in senseless wars that they fight while standing with the very authority against which they rebel.
Using a linear sequence in narrating the events of his novel, and painting a huge mural about Paraguay, Rua Bastos writes, in a tight plot, his novel, which the great Argentine writer Borges said was one of America’s best novels...
He was working in a sales company to support his family, which consisted of a father, mother, and sister. He worked to pay off his father’s debts that had burdened him. He is the “good son” as long as he performs his duty to the fullest extent, and any change in this is accompanied by anger, rejection, and neglect. In his workplace, which he found himself forced to live with, the state of domination and control by the chief of staff on the one hand is clearly evident, while on the other hand, it is matched by a state of subservience and submission on his part.
In fact, he has an unconscious desire to be fired from his job, but he fears for his family. From here arises a state of schizophrenia, as the two models of the cruel father and the boss represent the controlling authoritarian principle, and this is what arouses in him both submission and the spirit of rebellion.
He tried to follow the rules, to be a polite boy, to be rational as his boss described him at work... and between all these honest attempts, we find him completely losing himself, and he began to experience a surprising existential crisis!
Here he wakes up from his nightmares one day to find himself transformed into a disgusting “insect”!!
At first glance, he thought he was still dreaming, and amid the chaos and unreasonableness of the events, he needed conclusive evidence to confirm to him the veracity of the event, and this is what he got when he found his family shocked and terrified by the horror of the event. Then he realized the reality of the event and exclaimed, saying: “No, it is not a dream.” .
