The Santiago House

The home in which Chula and her family live represents relative wealth and security. This is true not only of the Santiagos themselves, but also to Petrona (who comes to work for them), Garrion (her boyfriend), and Garrion's guerilla friends. For the latter, Garrion and his friends, the home represents a status and a quality of life that they, like other guerillas engaged in the multi-faceted Colombian conflict at the time in which the novel is set, are determined to weaken, to take advantage of, and ultimately, to destroy.

The Drunken Tree

The Drunken Tree in the back yard of the Santiago home represents the dangers of drugs and the capacity of drugs to generate forgetfulness. The tree's fruit and its flowers are the key component of a drug referred to as burundanga, an intoxicant that Chula describes in narration as causing a loss...