The Palace

The Palace setting is a symbol of death. Although the Palace is where the narrator and Juan spend time throughout the narrative, the setting portends Juan's death at the novel's end. The location is therefore an interstitial space between the present and the future. It grants the narrator the opportunity to reunite with and to learn from Juan before losing him.

Juan's Mementos

The mementos that Juan gives to the narrator are symbolic of the past. Juan plans to leave these photos, pages, clippings, and books with the narrator after he dies. He wants the narrator to make sense of them and to create something with them. The same is true of what Juan wants the narrator to do with the past: to confront and examine, learn from and move beyond it.

Sex Variants Books

The Sex Variants books that Juan finds in the Palace...