Chapter 9 Bel Canto

In the chapter 9 passage of the novel Bel Canto, the author describes the effects of Latin American issues and the agency that the people experience as a whole. Patchett utilizes the vice-president, Ruben Iglesias, as a representation of the host country. Iglesias, as a member of the host country, was gravely affected by the evident split imposed on the populace of the host country. The vice-president, being a high class citizen of the Latin American country, has never engaged in physical labor during his adult life until the incursion of the terrorists. Before, Ruben Iglesias would never clean, cook or even tend to his children. All he would ever do is serve the country. The split between the socioeconomic classes and the polarized gender

His onus took a detour from managing a country to managing the immaculateness of the domicile. Hence, by experiencing tasks pertaining to other classes, such as women and socioeconomically lower class citizens, Ruben Iglesias was able to eventually close the divide between the split citizens near the end of the novel. As he achieved the amalgamation of the country, he was able to merge both adequate parenting and effective work. Iglesias, by identifying himself with the poor, was in fact able to initiate a parent child relationship with one of the young terrorists, Ishmael. In the given chapter 9 passages and all throughout the novel, Patchett recrudesces the image of the growing plants that surround Ruben's home. As Iglesias mentions that "if he were to get out of [captivity] alive he would be attentive to his plants", he references the country as a whole. The plants represent the growth of the Latin American host country. They represent the growth of the country and the goal of reuniting the proletariat and the monied in the

Patchett plies one significant character, Lothar Falken, in order to demonstrate the lack of agency that Europeans have in the context of the story. Lothar fixates on his personal beauty throughout the course of the book. Patchett demonstrates this statement by associating Falken with body parts. Falken "stretched his hamstrings...touched his toes and rocked his hips" as soon as he exited the establishment and entered the spacious yard. This man "felt his body again, the relation of muscle and bone". Lothar began to run laps around the yard instead of running away from captivity. Patchett introduces other character, such as Manuel Flores of Spain and Victor Fyodorov who join Falken on his run. The author replicates the image of looping around the garden instead of advancing on several occasions in the chapter 9 passage. Lothar Falken, after running elegantly with "long, graceful legs", "collapsed exactly where he had started, his heart beating at the cage of his ribs with a manic fury". Furthermore, Joachim Messner, near the end of the novel, does not feel invested in the faith of the hostages. He is not willing to help the people more than he is supposed to. Messner wished "to go back to Switzerland, where the postman who never