Arcangel, not distinctly human, nor explicitly metaphysical being, exhibits multiple superheroic attributes, such as inhuman strength, the ability to grow wings, a specified sense of prophecy, and other odd miracles. Yamashita purposefully juxtaposes this with Arcangel's appearance, as the decrepit characteristics of the old man's form in addition to his bruised, damaged body has the tendency to throw the entire hero-schemata off a little. A conflict arises within the reader on how to view the character, as his physical body is withered and grotesque, deterring one to find something heroic within such a character. Furthermore, his miracles such as moving a truck or building a wall from bricks are stupefying and at the same time, underwhelming.
Arcangel, as a representation of the suffering of ethnic ancestral histories, complicates how Yamashita thinks our descendants our are viewed in present day. If Arcangel claims to embody an entire group of people, "[awaking] to all the metaphors that come from the land," there is something to be said about the fact that many people he interacts with cannot take him seriously. Arcangel lists many great Hispanic thinkers, the toiling of migrating peoples, and first nations who gave up their land to violent conquest, for whom he takes on the role of spokesperson. Yet, the interaction Arcangel has with his environment, both deluded with melodrama, but poignant in his capabilities as a documentarian, makes him less of the hero than he is. The widely accepted image of heroes (brawny, suited, glamorous, and mysterious), does not fit with this hero. Yamashita was trying to place these thinkers, sufferers, and martyrs on a pedestal, without convolution their identity with physical allure. Rather, she chooses to convey the unconventional hero in his highs and his lows, whether ejaculating into the rain, or his overarching, lineated narrative, that reads like wise poetry and prophecy.
Francisco Tirado
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