Chapter 2 Summary

The General thinks back to when the US marines occupied the country and finally leave. The occupiers leave because they are afraid of an epidemic of disease. The General's mother, Bendicion Alvarado, is unhappy that the occupiers leave, since her son, the General, has more freedom and does not depend on her as much as before. The only person who gets away with insulting the dictator, the General, is his mother Bendicion Alvarado, who says, publicly, that if she knew he would be President, she would have sent him to school. She says this at a dinner that commemorates when the country was invaded. The mother of the dictator is eventually sent to a mansion in the suburbs. She does not like the big house and stays in the servant's quarters, sewing and painting birds. The General has other problems with the generals...