Ever since I could remember I recall my parents telling me about the streets of Gascue, and how that was one of the richest neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic. In contrast to what it is today, Gascue was known for having the cleanest streets and for providing the most historical places in the country. As described in the book the streets there are now filled with music and with people smiling everywhere with the liberty of being anywhere. But at the time of Trujillo’s regime, the streets were vastly empty only filled with military men and no music of any sort because that was not of Trujillo’s taste. Even today there are areas of Gascue that are very conservative, while others are filled with music and people of all sorts. Apart from that, a part of the book that amazed me was when they explained how Trujillo would not let himself sweat in front of people even with all those layers of clothes on him. That man was so controlling that he could even control the perspiration of his body, to think someone has so much power bring shivers to my body. If he was so hard on himself, it is a nightmare to imagine how hard he was with the rest of the Dominican population.
Growing up and wondering what the dictatorship of Trujillo was like. I asked my mom and she told me how she had a big picture of Trujillo in her home when she was growing up. But it didn’t stop there, she told me of the limited freedom and how basically everyone in the Dominican Republic worked to make Trujillo rich. The streets of Gazcue, which Urania compared now louder than the New York streets, is filled with people and music but this was not always the case. As we know, Trujillo City was a place where those not part of the inner circle suffered. During Trujillo’s era, one could not compare the streets of Gazcue to what they are now. One thing that really catches my eyes is the title and how the goat is Trujillo. But, there isn’t only one goat but I feel that all of Trujillo’s inner circles are all goats because he did indeed have his own friends controlling the government; controlling Trujillo City. Another theme I liked about the book is the comparison between sex and power. This is evident because Trujillo married, got divorce and married again a total of three times, usually falling for young beauties.
The dictatorship in the Dominican Republic has always been of interest to me. Being that I am from there I feel like knowing about its history is very important. When Trujillo was in full control of the Dominican Republic he made it into his own country, everything he wanted and whatever he did not like, he made up the rules and if people did not follow them there were not gonna be kept alive for long. Trujillo city was dangerous territory because it was controlled by Trujillo's friends which were also the most wanted within the country itself. There was also a lot of profanity within the piece and this just provided the reader with a stronger sense of how Trujillo the goat in other wards thought in a daily basis. When Trujillo was in power everything was completely different compared to now. Some are still Trujillo supporters because they believe the country was in safe terms, but then again it was restricted in so many ways and the people always lived in fear.
I thought the fact that Truillo exploited the people that worked under him was absurd. Also, the fact that when Truillo would take the men's family members and abuse them, or make them kill their loved ones to prove their loyalty was also a true depiction of his dark side. The men that were being abused and justified Trujllo's actions as alright were brain washed and deceived, which eventually led the men to open their eyes eventually and plan his assassination after the severe emotional and physical abuse. Trujillo's excessive need to get everything he wants, no matter how evil, truly expresses the evil side of what absolute power does to a man.
The Feast of the Goat does a good job in conceptualizing life in the Dominican Republic during the reign of Rafael Trujillo. The novel explains three narratives: The final days of Trujillo and his regime, the assasination plot and those involved in it, and lastly the story of a women named Urania Cabral. When she goes back to her native D.R. to visit her father she soon realizes how things have drastically changed since the years of Trujillo's power. Many of Trujillo's crimes included state sanctioned murder and torture. All to whiten or cleanse the island. Many ways this was done included the mass killings of many Haitians. The part in the book where thay were all in a car ready to plot the assasination of Trujillo was really intense and I was able to understand many of the tragic things he did to his own people.
i believe Truillo was a cruel person in the sense that he changed what ever rules he did not agree with to benefit himself in addition to his dreadful ways of making people kill their loved ones. Truillo actions have lead me to believe that too much power could drive a man to greed and result in others hating that individual, in hand leading others to want to plan attacks to assassinate that individual because of the way he has treated his people.
The Feast of the Goat captured my attention as i began to read on. The novel captured a period of the Dominican Republic history and brought it to life. There were very intense and interesting parts as i read on. What i got from the whole book and the dictatorship of Trujillo was that he was loved and feared by many. Even though his time in power showed how brutal he was it also showed how helpful his demanding ways played a major part in controlling D.R. Before Trujillo became in power he showed many controlling and possessive ways. He married and divorced several times while even having affairs. He showed that things had to be done his way or else their was major consequences. While Trujillo did help to rebuild and set certain markers for D.R, he manage to overhaul other nations such as Haiti. I also found it interesting that Trujillo ordered attacks on the Haitians which resulted in the Parsley Massacre which killed many people, until he learned of his mothers history and suppressed.
as a boy i didnt know much of trujillo due to the hate my family had for him especially my grandparents. with time i have learned many things due to my curiousity. for example similar to what jennifer stated trujillo never allowed for others to see him sweating. but his dictatorship of the Dominican Republic did not stop there. Trujillo similar to what machel stated about her mother must have had a picture of him in their homes. it most be somewhere. Trujillo never ate food from anyone else that was not his mother. no matter where he was in the country his mother would have to cook and the food must be shipped or something but he demanded his food. trujillo drove around in a red car which was called "el carro de la muerte". he killed many people with his gang called "the 42" and some were known internationaly like the mirabal sisters. trujillo must be ranked as one of the cruelist dictators to ever live
I am going to have to disagree with the above comment posted by "Davon Harris" in that we must understand human nature. Rafael Trujillo was a man who acquired a huge amount of power during and after the United States had control of the Dominican Republic. He had risen to power and totally dominated, extorted as well criminally using secret police to carry out his dirty work. Trujillo was not cruel he was overwhelmed by GREED. He was willing to do whatever it took to stay in power. His means in staying in power were cruel. At least that is what I think.
Through my childhood, I was always told that there are two sides in a story. My parents being the complete opposites, my father being a "trujillista" and my mother being a anti-trujillo, I have herd both of their stories. I've done my research on trujillo and I came to the conclusion that trujillo was a very evil men when it came to taking over a country, the fact that he had done so many bad things throughou his time, makes him one of the worst dictators, from kiling the Mirabel sisters to more than a thousand Haitians. However Dominican Republic was a safe place because the crime rates were at its lowest comparing to how it is today. We can all agree that Trujillo was one of the worst, but he did his job by keeping Dominican Republic stable. The government from now is no differ from trujillo because they are the ones committing the crimes.
Trujillo can be blamed for the majority of the problems concerning race relation in the Dominican Republic. Something that has always angered me is the treatment that Haitians receive in the Dominican Republic. As I have grown up, I have seen the problem slowly fixing itself with the help of tolerance and respect. Llosa wrote that Haitians "perverted our Catholic religion with their diabolic witchcraft... and imposed their African savagery on us", this is very important to examine because the Dominican culture focuses on catholicism and the Spanish culture, embracing influence from Spain and rejecting African influence. It could almost be predicted that in a time like that of Trujillo the focus would be the "cleanse" the culture by any means necessary in order to be able to compete with the modernizing world.
trujillo that man was crazy people didnt like him at all because of the way he treated people in dominican republic. My mother always told me about how he had a gang and they would go out and kill haitians. thats why there is a lot of racists people in dominican republic. Eventhough trujillo was a cruel guy he still did good things for his community by making the government more stable.
The Feast of the Goat goes in depth not only on Rafael Trijillo's reign but his ultimate downfall, where he began to lose support from the Catholic church and the U.S. It was at this point where the book highlights Trujillo's downfall through the eyes of the people. In the book there is a scene in which Trujillo gets assasinated by a group of people in a car that were against what he did for the island. Although Trujillo did bring some good for the island of D.R., like bring them closer to an economic boom as compared to before. Some may say did this outweight the mass genocides of dark-skinned people?
I never understood how much people loved a man like Trujillo he was everything you did not want have in power. My father use to tell me that he had people killed if any little thing. I just do not understand how people can love him when they know he is lying to them. However. some people did hate him but there was know way for them to say something because how can they stand up to him he controlled Dominican Republic that was his territory and he would have never allowed people to strike against him or riot against him. Ever since Trujillo was in regime Dominican people care more about their government now because they do not want another dictator at rule.
Ever since I could remember I recall my parents telling me about the streets of Gascue, and how that was one of the richest neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic. In contrast to what it is today, Gascue was known for having the cleanest streets and for providing the most historical places in the country. As described in the book the streets there are now filled with music and with people smiling everywhere with the liberty of being anywhere. But at the time of Trujillo’s regime, the streets were vastly empty only filled with military men and no music of any sort because that was not of Trujillo’s taste. Even today there are areas of Gascue that are very conservative, while others are filled with music and people of all sorts. Apart from that, a part of the book that amazed me was when they explained how Trujillo would not let himself sweat in front of people even with all those layers of clothes on him. That man was so controlling that he could even control the perspiration of his body, to think someone has so much power bring shivers to my body. If he was so hard on himself, it is a nightmare to imagine how hard he was with the rest of the Dominican population.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up and wondering what the dictatorship of Trujillo was like. I asked my mom and she told me how she had a big picture of Trujillo in her home when she was growing up. But it didn’t stop there, she told me of the limited freedom and how basically everyone in the Dominican Republic worked to make Trujillo rich. The streets of Gazcue, which Urania compared now louder than the New York streets, is filled with people and music but this was not always the case. As we know, Trujillo City was a place where those not part of the inner circle suffered. During Trujillo’s era, one could not compare the streets of Gazcue to what they are now. One thing that really catches my eyes is the title and how the goat is Trujillo. But, there isn’t only one goat but I feel that all of Trujillo’s inner circles are all goats because he did indeed have his own friends controlling the government; controlling Trujillo City. Another theme I liked about the book is the comparison between sex and power. This is evident because Trujillo married, got divorce and married again a total of three times, usually falling for young beauties.
ReplyDeleteThe dictatorship in the Dominican Republic has always been of interest to me. Being that I am from there I feel like knowing about its history is very important. When Trujillo was in full control of the Dominican Republic he made it into his own country, everything he wanted and whatever he did not like, he made up the rules and if people did not follow them there were not gonna be kept alive for long. Trujillo city was dangerous territory because it was controlled by Trujillo's friends which were also the most wanted within the country itself. There was also a lot of profanity within the piece and this just provided the reader with a stronger sense of how Trujillo the goat in other wards thought in a daily basis. When Trujillo was in power everything was completely different compared to now. Some are still Trujillo supporters because they believe the country was in safe terms, but then again it was restricted in so many ways and the people always lived in fear.
ReplyDeleteI thought the fact that Truillo exploited the people that worked under him was absurd. Also, the fact that when Truillo would take the men's family members and abuse them, or make them kill their loved ones to prove their loyalty was also a true depiction of his dark side. The men that were being abused and justified Trujllo's actions as alright were brain washed and deceived, which eventually led the men to open their eyes eventually and plan his assassination after the severe emotional and physical abuse. Trujillo's excessive need to get everything he wants, no matter how evil, truly expresses the evil side of what absolute power does to a man.
ReplyDeleteThe Feast of the Goat does a good job in conceptualizing life in the Dominican Republic during the reign of Rafael Trujillo. The novel explains three narratives: The final days of Trujillo and his regime, the assasination plot and those involved in it, and lastly the story of a women named Urania Cabral. When she goes back to her native D.R. to visit her father she soon realizes how things have drastically changed since the years of Trujillo's power. Many of Trujillo's crimes included state sanctioned murder and torture. All to whiten or cleanse the island. Many ways this was done included the mass killings of many Haitians. The part in the book where thay were all in a car ready to plot the assasination of Trujillo was really intense and I was able to understand many of the tragic things he did to his own people.
ReplyDeletei believe Truillo was a cruel person in the sense that he changed what ever rules he did not agree with to benefit himself in addition to his dreadful ways of making people kill their loved ones. Truillo actions have lead me to believe that too much power could drive a man to greed and result in others hating that individual, in hand leading others to want to plan attacks to assassinate that individual because of the way he has treated his people.
ReplyDeleteThe Feast of the Goat captured my attention as i began to read on. The novel captured a period of the Dominican Republic history and brought it to life. There were very intense and interesting parts as i read on. What i got from the whole book and the dictatorship of Trujillo was that he was loved and feared by many. Even though his time in power showed how brutal he was it also showed how helpful his demanding ways played a major part in controlling D.R. Before Trujillo became in power he showed many controlling and possessive ways. He married and divorced several times while even having affairs. He showed that things had to be done his way or else their was major consequences. While Trujillo did help to rebuild and set certain markers for D.R, he manage to overhaul other nations such as Haiti. I also found it interesting that Trujillo ordered attacks on the Haitians which resulted in the Parsley Massacre which killed many people, until he learned of his mothers history and suppressed.
ReplyDelete:)Rochelle Stewart:)
as a boy i didnt know much of trujillo due to the hate my family had for him especially my grandparents. with time i have learned many things due to my curiousity. for example similar to what jennifer stated trujillo never allowed for others to see him sweating. but his dictatorship of the Dominican Republic did not stop there. Trujillo similar to what machel stated about her mother must have had a picture of him in their homes. it most be somewhere. Trujillo never ate food from anyone else that was not his mother. no matter where he was in the country his mother would have to cook and the food must be shipped or something but he demanded his food. trujillo drove around in a red car which was called "el carro de la muerte". he killed many people with his gang called "the 42" and some were known internationaly like the mirabal sisters. trujillo must be ranked as one of the cruelist dictators to ever live
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to disagree with the above comment posted by "Davon Harris" in that we must understand human nature. Rafael Trujillo was a man who acquired a huge amount of power during and after the United States had control of the Dominican Republic. He had risen to power and totally dominated, extorted as well criminally using secret police to carry out his dirty work. Trujillo was not cruel he was overwhelmed by GREED. He was willing to do whatever it took to stay in power. His means in staying in power were cruel. At least that is what I think.
ReplyDeleteThrough my childhood, I was always told that there are two sides in a story. My parents being the complete opposites, my father being a "trujillista" and my mother being a anti-trujillo, I have herd both of their stories. I've done my research on trujillo and I came to the conclusion that trujillo was a very evil men when it came to taking over a country, the fact that he had done so many bad things throughou his time, makes him one of the worst dictators, from kiling the Mirabel sisters to more than a thousand Haitians. However Dominican Republic was a safe place because the crime rates were at its lowest comparing to how it is today. We can all agree that Trujillo was one of the worst, but he did his job by keeping Dominican Republic stable. The government from now is no differ from trujillo because they are the ones committing the crimes.
ReplyDeleteTrujillo can be blamed for the majority of the problems concerning race relation in the Dominican Republic. Something that has always angered me is the treatment that Haitians receive in the Dominican Republic. As I have grown up, I have seen the problem slowly fixing itself with the help of tolerance and respect. Llosa wrote that Haitians "perverted our Catholic religion with their diabolic witchcraft... and imposed their African savagery on us", this is very important to examine because the Dominican culture focuses on catholicism and the Spanish culture, embracing influence from Spain and rejecting African influence. It could almost be predicted that in a time like that of Trujillo the focus would be the "cleanse" the culture by any means necessary in order to be able to compete with the modernizing world.
ReplyDeletetrujillo that man was crazy people didnt like him at all because of the way he treated people in dominican republic. My mother always told me about how he had a gang and they would go out and kill haitians. thats why there is a lot of racists people in dominican republic. Eventhough trujillo was a cruel guy he still did good things for his community by making the government more stable.
ReplyDeleteThe Feast of the Goat goes in depth not only on Rafael Trijillo's reign but his ultimate downfall, where he began to lose support from the Catholic church and the U.S. It was at this point where the book highlights Trujillo's downfall through the eyes of the people. In the book there is a scene in which Trujillo gets assasinated by a group of people in a car that were against what he did for the island. Although Trujillo did bring some good for the island of D.R., like bring them closer to an economic boom as compared to before. Some may say did this outweight the mass genocides of dark-skinned people?
ReplyDeleteI never understood how much people loved a man like Trujillo he was everything you did not want have in power. My father use to tell me that he had people killed if any little thing. I just do not understand how people can love him when they know he is lying to them. However. some people did hate him but there was know way for them to say something because how can they stand up to him he controlled Dominican Republic that was his territory and he would have never allowed people to strike against him or riot against him. Ever since Trujillo was in regime Dominican people care more about their government now because they do not want another dictator at rule.
ReplyDelete