Summary

Manuel Pereda, the protagonist of “The Insufferable Gaucho,” was an attentive father and a lawyer for many years until he decided to become a judge. After three years as a judge, he resigned. Pereda was also married for many years until his wife died, leaving him the widowed father of their children, Bebe and Cuca. Pereda never remarried, explaining that most of Argentina’s problems originated in the fact that “as a nation, we never had a mother… But we’ve had plenty of stepmothers” (10).

Eventually, Cuca went on to get married and move out of the house, and Bebe became a well-known writer. One day, the Argentine economy crashes and Pareda decides to move to his rancho in the pampas at Capitán Jourdan. His ranch is called Alamo Negro. In the train across the pampas, Pereda asks lots of questions...