When Orestes is shot, Anselmo draws his automatic, crouches, peers and shouts, "'Aqui!'" (p. 155) to the remaining contestants.
Haverner has a "...scrannel neck..." (p. 158) and says that the murdered man was associated with:
the late junta;
the Party;
guerillas;
terrorists;
Cuba;
the Tupamaros.
Unfortunately, Orestes had intended to spend the million dollars prize money not on political organization and propaganda but on guns and propaganda.
Two contestants have been eliminated and one has been killed so now there are four contestants and two challenges left but surely the game should now be stopped? It will not be.
Addendum: Attendance at Lancaster Music Festival inspired a post on another blog:
See A Song For The Sandman.
10 comments:
The game is a 'testing to destruction'. But not necessarily of the ostensible contestants.
I might be starting to get on board with that idea.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And I suspect Sunderland Haverner is being tested as well.
Ad astra! Sean
In fact, I think that it is really all about him, one way or another.
Kaor, Paul!
Then how or in what way was Haverner being tested? And how well did he do in that test?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I will need to finish rereading but I think he winds up in bad shape at the end? Samael, who may be part of Haverner's psyche, keeps getting him, Haverner, to do weird stuff so Samael is testing how far he can get Haverner to go. Or something.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I too need to finish rereading THE DEVIL'S GAME. And one thing I recall was Haverner wondering what exactly did Samael WANT with or from him? What was HIS game? Samael testing Haverner to see how far he would go? Maybe!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
A few more thoughts. Would it have MATTERED if Orestes had spent a million dollars, assuming he won the game, "only" on propaganda and political organization? Would not the end result STILL have been the violence of a coup or civil war in Santa Ana? Followed by the usual purges, imprisonments, executions, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Maybe. It is a matter of emphasis. By concentrating on "guns," Orestes was declaring an intention to replace one regime with another by force. I would want to concentrate on helping/encouraging a population to resist oppression but that would involve arming them for self-defense, in any case. If I had any influence on a new regime, then I would discourage purges, imprisonments and executions as much as possible. Someone has to break out of this cycle and it is always our responsibility, here and now, to act differently. We have plenty of history to learn from.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And one thing that needs to be kept in mind from history is that revolutions so SELDOM end well, very seldom replace a flawed or bad regime with a better one. So, I'm totally skeptical of people like Orestes Cruz and their real world analogs.
Ad astra! Sean
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