Octavio Paz
As the author, Paz' voice shines through his text. He is a man shaped by experiences, primarily of suffering. By the time of publication, he is a widely recognized poet making his way up the ranks of Mexican literature. He served in the Mexican intelligentsia and as a Mexican diplomat after the Mexican Independence. Survivor of war, politics, and secrecy, Paz offers his in-depth perspective upon the reserved parts of the human life. He notes most profoundly how all people hide themselves away, longing to connect with people but unable to take the appropriate steps and to become vulnerable and willing to change.
Los Pachucos
These are a group of young people with no affiliation to one another. They arise in the 1940s and 50s, residing mostly in the southwestern U.S. Children of mixed ancestry, they have grown up orphans of both sides. The Pachucos are caught between cultures and thus reject both. As examples of the human capacity for solitude, they remain aloof and even confrontational to all who attempt to grow closer to them. As Paz calls them, they adapt an attitude as "spiritual orphans."
Doña Marina Malinche
Malinche was a Native American who became a guide and interpreter for Hernán Cortés. She was a gift, a slave, who later rose to the rank of trusted advisor. She helped accomplish the conquest of the Aztecs by the Spanish. Although her service was a function of survival, she is often viewed as a sort of traitor. She also becomes the mother of Cortes' children.
