Todos Santos is a study in contrasts. Author Deborah Clearman paints a portrait of Guatemala as a proud and beautiful country shackled by superstition and violence. Clearman uses the geographical distinctions of the lowlands and the highlands to emphasize the divided nature of Guatemala, land of oppressive heat and oppression, and land of cool pastoral landscapes and natural rhythms. Clearman, who splits her time between New York City and Guatemala, is uniquely positioned to present Guatemala from the perspective of an outsider who has become privy to Guatemala's secrets.
La Violencia
Guatemala suffered a brutal civil war. According to Lonely Planet, "(d)uring the 36 years of civil war, an estimated 200, 000 Guatemalans had been killed, a million made homeless, and untold thousands had disappeared." Right wing government sanctioned death squads targeted leftist guerillas who flew the flag of revolutionary Che Guevera. Despite the official end of the war in 1996, Clearman's character's fate and personalities bear the marks of the conflict, despite the novel being set in the present.
Clearman describes the main character as making the mistake of bringing her son, Issac, to Guatemala to stay with her sister-in-law as leaving "(a) rebellious boy in lawless place." Clearman's Guatemala teems with urban thieves, kidnappers, and fist fights. The civil war continues, but the sides have blurred. Thuggery has replaced political agendas. Desidero is a left-wing supporter who returned to become a drug dealer and saloon owner. Baudilo is the evangelical right-leaning preacher.
Superstition and Evangelical Religion
Clearman uses the character of Baudilo, a former supporter of the right wing, to flesh out the evils of superstition combined with evangelical fervor. Baudillo spreads rumors of Satanist cults and baby snatching, of organs ripped from the bodies of Mayan children who he preaches, are at risk from every light-skinned tourist.
The real-life history of Guatemala is a complex weave of ancient beliefs, conquistador's Catholicism, and newly imported Christian evangelicalism. Rumors of baby snatching and organ harvesting persist. It is difficult for Guatemalans, for whom children are plentiful, to understand the desire of foreigners in adopting their children.
Pastoralism and Tradition
The violence and fear contrast with the domestic scenes in Todos Santos where mothers and daughters grind corn, weave cloth, and flatten tortillas side by side. Men return from work in the fields wearing bright red and white striped pants with sheepskin chaps that make them swagger. The mountains rise around the town, each associated with a Mayan deity.
Ancient ceremonies and evangelical fervor both jockey for a place in the religious life of the rural Maya of Todos Santos. While the more urbane characters such as Carlos appear uninterested in religion, the townspeople of Todos Santos fall prey to evangelical tirades against imaginary Satanists conjured by the preacher.
The tragedies in Todos Santos are both personal – such as the teenaged Issac's poor decision making, and the main character's marital disintegration, and political – violence and mistrust stemming from history, isolation, poverty and region. The beauty in the book is derived from the kindness shown to family and newfound friends, and the traditions and geography of this proud, beleaguered nation.
Sources:
Clearman, D. Todos Santos. Black Lawrence Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 2010.
Gina Barrett Putt - Gina Barrett Putt works in housing, with experience in case management for elders and the mentally ill, and college and K-12 education.
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