The Tattooed Soldier

Born into a peasant family, Longoria was abducted by the army at a young age and forced into combat. He distinguished himself by his capacity for violence and came to attain a low level of authority. He ultimately made his way to Los Angeles, where he found work as a bodyguard of sorts at a corrupt mailing service. He killed the family of Antonio Bernal, along with many others, during his service as a soldier for the Guatemalan Army.

Tobar uses Longoria’s unfortunate backstory to challenge the reader’s perception of his character, particularly his culpability in the violence perpetrated by the Guatemalan government. On one hand, this shows how an oppressive government regime harms all citizens, even those in its service. On another hand, it sets Longoria up as a foil for Antonio. On the surface, Antonio is a scholar, while Longoria is a soldier. But Longoria’s backstory reveals that both men are victims of the government. When confronted with that oppressive force, both tried to “keep the peace”—Antonio by fleeing first to the countryside and later to America, and Longoria by taking the path of least resistance and obeying every order, no matter how heinous.

Further contrasts emerge elsewhere in the novel: Antonio winds up homeless, while Longoria has both a job and an apartment. Antonio remains alone after his wife’s murder, while Longoria has a girlfriend. Antonio sympathizes with the rioters, having witnessed extreme poverty and social injustice in both Guatemala and LA, while Longoria is disgusted by the rioters, having been trained to feel contempt for the poor.

Elena is Antonio’s wife and the mother of their son Carlitos. She is passionate about social reform, and she dies because she refuses to be silenced about the poor sanitation in San Cristóbal’s slum. She loves Antonio because he is gentle and kind, unlike her prior womanizing boyfriends. Although the novel primarily focuses on Antonio and Longoria, the middle chapters shift to Elena’s perspective. This structural organization is symbolically significant, as Elena is the link connecting Antonio and Longoria. It also serves an important narrative purpose, as including Elena’s perspective develops her character. Depicting her as idealistic and determined, yet young, caught between her responsibilities as a wife and mother and as a social activist, humanizes her. It puts a relatable, sympathetic face to one of Longoria’s—and by extension, the Guatemalan government’s—victims. This encourages readers to empathize with Elena, which enables them see people like her as individuals rather than faceless statistics. Just as Tobar develops the homeless characters to emphasize the individual in the issue of homelessness, he gives Elena a voice to emphasize the human cost of oppressive, violent regimes.

Antonio’s best friend José Juan is a Mexican immigrant who struggles to send money back to his wife and children in Mexico. He is a counterpoint to Antonio, depicted as cheerful, industrious, and even-tempered in contrast to Antonio’s more brooding and mercurial nature. He meets a Mexican housekeeper and moves in with her, and allows Antonio to move in with them.

The Mayor is a famous white homeless man. He is known for resisting the city’s treatment of the homeless, and he has several outstanding lawsuits against the local authorities. Around the time of the riots, the Mayor ceases taking his medications and becomes rabidly interested in rising up against the police. The Mayor’s character serves to humanize the homeless and to challenge the stereotype of homeless people as lazy, drug addicted, or unmotivated, as the Mayor is passionate about social justice issues and advocates for the rights of homeless people.