An Old Man’s Attributes
In the novel The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, Luis Sepulveda uses the character of Antonio Jose Bolivar to portray his complexities by being intelligent, passionate, and curious.
Antonio José Bolívar represents intelligence based upon his outlook and how he interprets different aspects of occurrences. This is accurate on the account of his approach when Antonio showed the mayor how he was wrong about the Shuar killing the man due to the markings left on him. This allows the character to represent knowledge based on his past. “‘My God, Antonio José Bolívar, you certainly shut his excellency up. I didn't know you were a detective.” (Sepulveda 21) The author uses the Dentists reaction to give insight on how Antonio …show more content…
This is made clear when Antonio's wife dies of malaria in the jungle and allows the character to shift and be sent into complete and utter rage. “He wanted to take revenge on that accursed region, that green hell that had snatched away his beloved and his dreams. He pictured a huge blaze that would turn the entire Amazon into a raging fire.” (Sepulveda 33) The author uses Antonio's madness to inflict an idea of his inner thoughts and how extremely stricken he was because of his loved one passing. This trait is also portrayed when the American and mayor comes to Antonio’s house and the American almost takes a picture from Antonio's house for his keeping. “‘Tell that bastard that if he doesn't put the picture back where it was, I'll pump two mounds into him and blow his balls off.’” (Sepulveda 78) Through Antonio's spoken words the author creates a scene where if Antonio senses someone threatening to steal a belonging from him, he gets defensive to the point where it could mean him putting someone else's life on the line. As the author shows Antonio’s passionate side, moreover, the major theme of this is the revenge Antonio dares to take action on any individual or thing that creates a