IN EVIL HOUR
Gabriel Marquez
In Evil Hour, by Gabriel Marquez. Published in 1979. 183 pages. In Evil hour, takes place in a small town that is plagued with corruption and scandal with caricatures appearing all over town. The book plays on themes that are problematic in Latin America. The most prevalent themes in the story include: Corruption, and violation of fundamental freedoms and rights with implementation of martial law, and abuse of power.
Although the setting of the story is not quickly revealed, there are some subtle clues that suggest that it takes place in a small Colombian town. In Latin America, even today, corruption is still a widespread issue. Corruption can come in many forms such as exploitation, exercise of power, deception, and collusion. Cesar murders the Pastor. Later (on page 75) we will learn that there is some level of cooperation between Cesar and the Mayor of the town. Rather than being sent to jail, Cesar receives $5000 pesos plus live stock and is sent out. It is revealed that Cesar has wealth, possibly from back door deals with the government. The mayor also mentions that the government assassinates wealthy people and claims their assets to pay off fraudulent political victories. ("There were orders to do you in. There were orders to murder you in ambush and confiscate your livestock so the government would have a way to pay off the enormous expenses of the elections in the whole department. You know that other mayors did it in other towns. Here, on the other hand, we disobeyed the order." 1) As the above quotation suggested, there was foul play involved with the previous election. Earlier in the storey, the Mayor talks about destroying electoral documents of the opposition. (``As a result of the last elections, the police had confiscated and destroyed the electoral documents of the opposition party.`` The majority of the inhabitants of the town now lacked any means of identification``3.) Other acts of corruption are revealed to Judge Arcadio on different occasions where it is revealed to him that a previous judge and town deputy had both been ordered to be killed. In the case of the previous judge, Judge Vitela, he was murdered for getting drunk and announcing that he would ``Guarantee the sanctity of the ballot2``. As for the deputy, he was beaten to death with the butt-end of a gun. Back door dealings, electoral fraud and killing those who step out of party lines are not a-typical of a corrupt regime. These are just a few examples spelled out in the book. These and other forms of corruption are manifested in forms of fear, threats, and violations of freedoms and rights. An example of fear is brought about with the Mayors implementation with marshal law and declaration of a state of siege. With that, he begins to crack down on his opposition.
In the town, there has been a string of lampoons, or caricatures that have been showing up to that illustrate rumors and opinions of the people depicted in the drawings. Such people include the Mayor, the Judge. The fear that these caricatures impose on the people is the fear of what will happen because of what has happened, as is explained briefly by the secretary of the judge. (``"We've already had the first death," he said. "If things go on like this we're going to have a bad time of it." And he told the story of a town that was wiped out in seven days by lampoons. The inhabitants ended up killing each other off. The survivors dug up the bones of their dead and carried them off to be sure they'd never come back.`` 4) The secretary tells the Judge of a massacre. The first death he refers to is the pastor which sparked the whole crack down in the town. Although, the he doesn`t explain how it happened, it gives us an idea of what kind of people, and regimes are ruling in the area. It also perhaps hints at upcoming events.
Throughout the rest of the story, as the Mayor commences his crackdown on the town’s people, many are taken by force and detained in the local barracks where they are interrogated.
Although, on the surface, the incidents in the book are localized to small towns; these situations are replayed all over the world, especially in Latin America and on a larger setting. This book can serve as an analysis of events in Latin America that happened in the past and that are surfacing today. By examining the situations, and comparing it with situations in Latin America. In the storey, we see that the Mayor acts almost like a despot with his establishment of martial law. Examples of corruption and abuse of power in Latin America are still making everyday news. One example, in a recent CNN news article that is coming to light is the chief of Bolivian armed forces being arrested for taking government funding and ``charged him with illicit enrichment, dereliction of duty and abuse of influence``4) . Other examples which has a parallel with this storey is Brazil between 1946 and 1988 under military rule, and Chile under Pinochet`s Rule. In another recent CNN article, public apologies were sought over 30 years after various human right violations were made by the military regime. During that time, according to Human rights watch, it is estimated that over 475 people had disappear while thousands of others are believed to have been detained and possibly tortured.``…The military wanted to impose silence to keep the public from knowing the truth about the methods of repression. Further, investigating is aimed at refuting the arguments of the military apologists who always defended themselves by claiming that they were reacting to grave threats by taking 'normal' police measures…``6
With respect to the distribution of lampoons in the story, during times of dictatorships in Latin America around the 1970`s-1980`s distribution of opinion based material such as books or caricatures would result in harassment and arrest. Perhaps the best case and most well known case in Latin America that models the themes of this story, though in an extreme case, would be the military rule of Pinochet. Although in the story, the lampoons spurred the situation in the story, the volatility existed. Under Pinochet`s military dictatorship, it was declared illegal for anyone to publicly slander, or offend the president. These laws gave power to supporters of the regime to control media and restrict free press and speech. Pinochet also appointed pro-military persons to enforce his policies, include judges. Many great writers in Chile were arrested for their publishing’s which may have been deemed controversial toward the regime. During his seventeen-year military dictatorship, Pinochet largely used the media to promote his newly imposed economic and anti-democratic policies. He also implemented state security measures that limited the civil rights of individuals as well as severely curtailed freedom of the press, expression of opinion, as well as flow and access to information.``7 To the Mayor in the story, the rumors and messages lampoons were illustrating were deemed as offensive and slanderous to the Mayor and ruling party. Anyone who produced or distributed lampoons were considered as opposition and an enemy, and thus subject to arrest. Ultimate outcomes of suppression of rights and freedoms in Latin America had become catalysts in the formation of social movements across Latin America. Although the storey does not explicitly explore social movements, it could certainly demonstrate relations to the start of one. Of course, in this storey, it’s the fear of a devastating reaction in the form of massacre that has brought about the ``state of unrest``, however, fear in its forms are tools of a dictatorship.
Overall, I found the book a somewhat easy read; however, there were points in the book that were difficult to follow with respects to conversation and who is saying what, and in what context. Context and expressions were not always easy to understand. Perhaps its translation from Spanish may created these difficulties. Also not having a well defined period in time or location (although there are hints to suggest it is a village somewhere in Colombia around the time the book was being published in the late 1970`s) as part of the settings maybe have contributed to these difficulties, or perhaps it would have made me create assumptions. Also, I found that some events or the reasoning behind events where not always well defined, but rather seemingly out of nowhere. It is possible that events may have been explained later in the book; however, being pressed for time, I was not able to complete reading the book. I was able to read enough to grasp the book`s themes that stood out to me.
One way the book was successful, was that certain themes, motifs, and other elements were made well clear. Had the author at least declare the settings in Colombia around the 1970`s, it would at least give the readers a clue to the understandings of the political situations in the area. However, a little research on the author had helped clarify the settings of the book. With the themes in the book, I tried to relate them to the political situations in South America around the time the book was published. As mentioned above, the case of Pinochet in Chile relating to the suppression of freedom of press and expression while under martial law, and the military rule in Brazil where people were detained and tortured while disguised as typical police routine. In Bolivia, it was to show that corruption and abuse of power is still present, although, there are no places in the world that are immune to this.
In Evil Hour serves as a tool which can be used to reflect on the political situation of Latin America around the 1970`s-1980`s. Although the situation in the story is relatively light in contrast to events in real life, it can be an analysis. Knowing the history of the area can make exploiting these themes easier. Its well known that in the third world, corruption is rampant, but to understand these themes it is important to have understandings of the events in the area and how restriction were implemented. In Latin America, about this time, these sorts of events have lead to the development of social movements. Again social movements are not explicit in the story, the events depicted in the story with respects to events in Latin America, can act as a springboard toward social movements, which should be taken into consideration.
References:
1. In Evil Hour, by Gabriel Marquez. Published in 1979. pg 75
2. In Evil Hour, by Gabriel Marquez. Published in 1979. pg 25
3. In Evil Hour, by Gabriel Marquez. Published in 1979. pg 62
4. In Evil Hour, by Gabriel Marquez. Published in 1979. pg 26
5. Former Bolivian armed forces Chief arrested http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/12/world/americas/bolivia-ex-general-arrested/index.html
6. Political Prisoners of Brazil`s Dictatorship get appologies. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/04/world/americas/brazil-president-apology/index.html
Chile http://www.pressreference.com/Be-Co/Chile.html
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