Character Analysis: Laur Laura

Laura, after teaching school and visiting Eugenio in prison, comes home to be warned by Lupe that Braggioni is waiting for her. Even though she hates his presence, she allows him to sing to her. “He scratches the guitar familiarly as though it were a pet animal, and sings passionately off key, taking the high notes in a prolonged painful squeal” (Porter 1). She fears him, as he is known for his meanness and pride; she does her best to tolerate him. For the past month he has been spent every night with her. Laura is in the dangerous mess of attempting to fight his advances without seeming to do so. His “gluttonous bulk . . . has become a symbol of her disillusions” (Porter 2) with riot and leaders. Braggioni has come to represent the disunion between her idealistic view of life and reality.
Instead, she tries to embrace revolutionary theories, but never reaches much success. Her isolated heresy is not to wear lace made by machines, even though the machine is blessed to the revolutionary forces with which she is working. She fears that she may become as corrupt as Braggioni, wearing his expensive clothes and his conceitedness. As he sings his love songs and lectures on his philosophy, Laura wonders why she is still there in Mexico. She teaches the Indian children, attends union meetings, visits political prisoners, smuggles letters and drugs, and delivers messages. However, her reasons are