Bullfighting is not a comfortable
topic for Canadians. We have no public fights involving animals. Rodeos feature
cowboys riding bulls for a few seconds or dropping off horses to grab steers
and turn them on their backs. No lawful sport involves the killing of animals.
For those who challenge
bullfighting aficionados ask in reply if they are vegetarians and, if not, do
they object to how the cattle they eat live and are then killed in
slaughterhouses.
The heading to each chapter has a
quote about bullfighting.
Some are provocative as in Chapter
Two:
I believe that bullfighting is the most
civilized fiesta in the
world. – Frederico Garcia Lorca
A few are earthy such as Chapter
Sixteen:
He’s got more balls than a blind
bullfighter.
Some are more philosophical:
The only important muscle in bullfighting is
the heart –
Augustin de Foxa
Chief Inspector, Max Cámara, who
dislikes bullfighting, is forced to examine his thoughts on bullfighting during
the investigation through discussions with bullfighters, bullfighting
journalists and breeders of bulls for bullfighting.
He unexpectedly finds himself
moved by the combination of drama, ritual, artistry and danger in bullfights.
Max states:
And as he watched, for a second, for a moment that was lost
almost as soon as it came, something extraordinary happened. It was if the
division between Cano and the bull had disappeared, as though for a fleeting
instant they had become one single being out there on the sand, unified by
their fight and struggle: one entity separated not by their mutual wish to kill
each other but almost as if by a kind of tenderness, a passion. It was if, for
a brief period of time, matador and bull were brought together and joined
through something that felt almost like love. But it was not any kind of love
Cámara had ever sensed or been aware of before, nothing he had ever known. And
yet it was there, binding them and making them one.
The primary victim Jorge Blanco
may have been inspired by a real life matador as set out in an article at the
Spain nowandthen website:
The latest star is José Tomás who returned to the ring in June of
2007 after an absence of 5 years. The effect was electrifying as
half empty arenas were filled and newspapers devoted entire
pages to his exploits (even El País, Spain's left leaning and
perhaps most prestigious newspaper, which had virtually
eliminated bullfighting from its pages). His return started in
Barcelona and was attended by aficionados and celebrities from
all over Spain. Inside the plaza there was a capacity 19,000
crowd, outside about 5,000 protesters.
As with every current major
professional sport there are issues over cheating in the bullfighting business.
I do not know why I was surprised but bullfighting’s foundation is honour. When
honour is compromised a sport’s integrity is threatened.
Or the Bull Kills You
left me far more reflective about bullfighting than I had been before reading
the book.
Bill - I tend to see it as the mark of a well-written book if it's got me reflecting on my views about something. That's happened to me several times, and I think books like that help push my thinking. Thanks for sharing these points about bullfighting. No matter what one thinks about it, it's got a long history and deep cultural roots.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. I do not read crime fiction looking to be made "reflective" but am usually glad if a book gets me thinking.
DeleteVery interesting post, Bill. I had never heard of this author or the series, and it sounds worth looking into. I had not thought much about bullfighting one way or the other. I am against mistreatment of animals but I guess I don't get much exposure to bullfighting.
ReplyDeleteTracyK: Thanks for the comment. I think you would find the way bullfighting is addressed in the book intriguing.
DeleteI haven't read this author's books. However, at 19, I saw a bullfight in Mexico City, along with some family members who liked it. I didn't.
ReplyDeleteSince then, I've become much more aware of mistreatment of animals in many ways,
but I did stop eating mammals about 12 years ago.
At 13, my reading of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," set in a slaughterhouse, caused me to not eat meat for awhile. But not now.
Our societies in general are being educated about the abuse of animals raised for human consumption. The stories that come to light here have caused more people to stop
eating meat.
A recent New York Times special report on a U.S.-taxpayer-funded facility that experiments on how to produce more offspring and cause them to grow more quickly sickened me and so many people that some changes are being made. It was all
done in the cause of maximizing profits for the meat industry.
I think we owe decent, humane treatment to animals that live, breathe, feel pain
and terror.
That includes bulls, too. And I extend that to the humans who are injured in
bullfights or in the running of the bulls in Spain. A young man was brutally gored
recently while doing this, barely survived.
and many readers.
Kathy D.: Thanks for the comment. You are a woman of strong principles. I eat meat and live in a rural area. I have always been aware that animals die to provide that meat.
Delete