Storytelling

The novel examines the art and importance of storytelling in several ways, one of which is its use of its overall structure as Gustavo’s exercise in autobiography, an exercise by which both Gustavo and the narrative seek to establish and emphasize the importance of storytelling to the formation of one’s identity. Gustavo prefaces his project by saying that he wishes to preserve the lessons of his life for the benefit of all, saying that even after his death, his written story will endure even when “it will no longer be my place to say anything in the first person. I will be a dead man, a happy, enviable man” (5). Gustavo’s preoccupation with the value of recording one’s story for posthumous use is further emphasized by the figures on which he exposits during the auction at Saint Apolonia’s Parish. All the figures...