Marcela Summary By Marla Alvarez

When Marcela is introduced in the story she is waiting for mayor Romero and to be questioned about her role in the revolution. In the story she says, “They brought me to this jail in the capital not to long before our leadership fell. They almost always bring me to this room so Mayor Romero can interrogate me” (6). While she is waiting for Mayor Romero flashback occurs and readers learn about what impacted her to fight for injustices. In the flashback, Marcela was at a sandy place doing social work. While at the sandy place Marcela’s daughter got hurt and she had to drink water from the village. She said, “water was sold at the price of gold, offloaded from trucks that came barely once a week. The glass that my daughter had just finished meant
She was upset and said “another frustrated project with no funding or government support. One more, one so many. I had lost count. Who cared anyway? Who cared about us?” (18). This led her to join forces with other people who wanted the same thing and she left her family and she said “packed my whole life into a suitcase. After my husband left for work, I took my daughter to my mothers. Everything decided, weighed up, analysed” (24). Making this decision was a hard one because she left her daughter, but she knew there was a reward after she completed her mission and would have a better life after everything was completed. This allowed her to become comrade Martha because she became a new person. She said, “I erased all marks of weakness. A piece of damped cotton to wipe the makeup from my face. I had to be clean and pure for this rebirth. Through and unconditional subjection. No accessories, earrings, nothing” (24). She found interest in the meeting because she heard things that she didn’t hear before like women having equal opportunity. This could have influenced her because she has a daughter and wanted her to the best opportunity in the
She wanted to fight for her country and for all the innocent people that were being killed. During the battle, there were some difficulties and starving. It says, “Two days had gone by since the last time we could eat in the village. We had to leave fast when soldiers the soldiers showed up. Some comrades fell heroically” (35). She also talks about how she felt hiding from the soldiers and how some of the other people wanted to while rest because they were fatigue and others, didn’t want to get caught by the soldiers. There was one situation that left really hurt and she was in pain where she couldn’t move. “I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. An accident. A bus. Crashing. A ravine. A thousand pieces…I felt a pitiless mist descending on the world, smothering everything around me” (68). During that situation, she thought about her sister’s death and how she didn’t have any religious beliefs. One character Marcela was in contact with during the revolution was Fernanda. She was great friends with Fernanda and Mayor Romero questioned her about her friendship with. “Teacher, tell me about your friendship with Fernanda Rivas, who at one stage was Comrade Two. Living together so long, I imagine you became very close ---intimate friends even” (17). Fernanda was a simple character because not much about her is known. She was involved in the