Panebianco

Panebianco, the director of Ferramonti di Tarsia concentration camp, represents the commodification of suffering. As the director of the reconstructed camp, Panebianco willingly accepts money from tourists to preserve a site where heinous atrocities and ills against Jews were committed. His blatant disregard for Eduardo's character and the emotional significance of his participation in Holocaust Memorial Day, as well as the money he pays him for the talk, illustrate Panebianco's hand in preserving a pocket of history of which Eduardo feels contemporary society takes advantage. Panebianco's character spurs Eduardo's disgust with this cultural exploitation of history, and leads him on to further psychic journeys.

Uncle Salomón

Eduardo's deceased Uncle Salomón represents the irretrievability of the past. As Eduardo attempts to solidify the details of Salomón's life and death over the course of the novel, the truth grows increasingly indistinct. The more people Eduardo...