Posted by Isabel Christina Vallejo on March 23, 192003 at 23:49:49:
When i first began to read the play i felt as if we were to sympothise qith Juan Moreira as the honest gaucho plagued with misfortune sadness and deception. He begins as an outlaw to an unfair law, who seeks protection and answers in the expansions of the pampa. But towards the end, they seem to take this honest gaucho and turn him into the "barbaric" being the "civilized" lawful ones accused him to be. It was hard to understand with who the author was sympathyzing with.
The one thing for sure that was portrayed is that the law had no particular structure or rules. the Alcaldes personal issues is what caused the law to be excercised. even when Juan comes pleading his own case of unjustice in front of the alcalde, he is rejected and whipped solely by the alcaldes personal relationship from him. the people are forced to take matters into their own hands, but at the end that method also seems uncontrolled resulting inthe death of both parties.
i also found it interesting how the pampa in itself almost became a chharacter that communicated with the gauchos, or those more in touch with there surroundings. For example, "the palyful breeze,....it told me in its mysterious language."
This a characteristics of many latinamerican writers, relating or realizing that our natural surroundings are in concordance with actions or events happening.