Hubbell, with an M.Litt from the University of Aberdeen, currently pursues a Ph.D. in history at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. In the following essay, he examines the narrative value of the characters of Where the Air Is Clear and their symbolic representation of the various fragments of Mexican society in the 1950s.

Many elements of Fuentes' writing style have been examined by various critics of Where the Air Is Clear , but the most prominent feature of the novel proves to be its characters. Fuentes makes the individual carriers of the story crucial to the plot, which relies on their memories and resulting actions; indeed, the characters' names are used as titles for most of the novel's chapters. Characters are thus labeled as necessary for the flow of the story, but on a deeper level, they also function as symbols for the...