Doña Bárbara: Difference between revisions

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''[[Doña Bárbara]]'' is a novel written by Venezuelan author and politician [[Rómulo Gallegos]], first published in 1929. It's one of the most widely known Latin-American novels, and has been adapted to TV and film several times.

Santos Luzardo, freshly graduated lawyer from the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, decides to travel to this natal Apure flatlands to see his father's farm, Altamira, with the intention of sell the land and travel abroad. What he finds, however, is a farm in such state of disarray that he decides against selling it and instead attempts to bring it to its former glory. He is promptly informed that part of the reason of the sorry state of the land is because the region is controlled by a woman known as Doña Bárbara, a despotic [[Femme Fatale|devourer of men]] that has taken over the area due to a mix of cunning, seduction, and alleged pacts with demonic spirits. Not helping his impression of the woman is discovering that she seduced his cousin Lorenzo Barquero and then conned him out of his farm and abandoned him and the daughter that resulted of said relation, Marisela, to their luck. Now Lorenzo is an impoverished alcoholic and Marisela is a borderline feral teenager.

Santos Luzardo, freshly graduated lawyer from the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, decides to travel to this natal Apure flatlands to see his father's farm, Altamira, with the intention of sell the land and travel abroad. What he finds, however, is a farm in such state of disarray that he decides against selling it and instead attempts to bring it to its former glory. He is promptly informed that part of the reason of the sorry state of the land is because the region is controlled by a woman known as Doña Bárbara, a despotic [[Femme Fatale|devourer of men]] that has taken over the area due to a mix of cunning, seduction, and alleged pacts with demonic spirits. Not helping his impression of the woman is discovering that she seduced his cousin Lorenzo Barquero and then conned him out of his farm and abandoned him and the daughter that resulted of said relation, Marisela, to their luck. Now Lorenzo is an impoverished alcoholic and Marisela is a borderline feral teenager. Santos decide to take them on his house and give Marisela an education; Marisela, in turn, develops a crush in Santos that may or may not be returned.

Doña Bárbara, on the other side, is impacted when she meets Santos Luzardo, as he is the first man that doesn't fall for her beauty nor bows to her power and influence. This and his gentlemanly manners, so different to the rude ''llaneros'' she is surrounded by, little by little awaken feelings she thought she was forgotten. But as she internally struggles, she realizes that her own daughter may be her real rival...

It has have several adaptations, including at least three [[Telenovela]] versions, a very famous film Mexican one in 1943 starring María Felix, and a very ''in''famous Argentinian one in 1998.

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* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Santos is no moron, but his city manners and his insistence on solving Altamira's limit problems with law-based solutions makes everybody believe he is too soft for living in the land. Then he manages to tame a wild horse in front of a wide group of experienced farmhards and cowboys, and suddenly everybody realizes he has the strong will needed to deal with all the ''hacienda''‘s problems

* [[The Dragon]]: Melquiades "el brujeador" to Doña Bárbara.

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Doña Bárbara. She has the habit of seduce, use and discard men, out of disdain for the male gender

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Doña Bárbara. She has the habit of seduce, use and discard men, out of disdain for the male gender.

* [[Feuding Families]]: the Luzardos and the Barqueros, back in the day. It was such a bloody feud that at the beginning of the story there are only one adult member of each family alive, and the only one who has managed to reproduce at that point has a daugther (in an place and time where the [[Heir Club for Men]] is alive and kicking). Ironically both families were related (the last member of each family are second cousins) making the feud all the more tragic.

* [[Hikaru Genji Plan]]: unintentional on Santos account, but when he makes Marisela his ward, cleans her up, and teaches her to read and to have manners she soon becomes closer to the kind of woman he likes.

* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Lorenzo Barquero.

* [[Kissing Cousins]]: Santos and Marisela

* [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]: the book doesn't ~~cleary~~ ~~stablish~~ if Bárbara actually have supernatural abilities (since the thesis of the novel is to ward away superstitions to make way to modernity and civilization), but Bárbara and Melquiades does believe they have such powers and interprets things under that perspective (and since things did went Bárbara's way for so long before Santos' arrival, they are not exactly proved wrong.)

* [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]: the book doesn't clearly establish if Bárbara actually have supernatural abilities (since the thesis of the novel is to ward away superstitions to make way to modernity and civilization), but Bárbara and Melquiades does believe they have such powers and interprets things under that perspective (and since things did went Bárbara's way for so long before Santos' arrival, they are not exactly proved wrong.)

* [[Meaningful Name]]: bordering in [[Anvilicious]]. Santos<ref>A legitimate, if unusual, first name in Spanish, meaning "Saints"</ref> Luzardo<ref>Roughly translatable to "burning light"</ref>, Doña Bárbara<ref>While also a real name in Spanish, it also means "barbarian", making her [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]</ref>, and of course [[Mister Danger|Míster Guillermo Danger]]. Also the neighboring farms in dispute, ''hacienda'' Altamira<ref>Meaning "high sights"</ref> and ''hato'' El Miedo<ref>"The Fear"</ref>.

* [[Mister Danger]]: Mister Guillermo Danger, egomaniac hunter and sort-of ally of Doña Bárbara

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* [[Rape as Backstory]]: Bárbara. She was gang-raped just after a mutiny where the captain of the boat she worked for killed her love Ásdrubal.

* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: Marisela.

* [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]]: Both Bárbara and Marisela fall for ~~Santios~~, probably the most decent man in all of Apure state.

* [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]]: Both Bárbara and Marisela fall for Santos, probably the most decent man in all of Apure state.

* [[Yes-Man]]: Mujiquita, the secretary of the Jefe Civil