The Interview
In “The Colonel,” Carolyn Forché recounts her experience when visiting a colonel in El Salvador, at a time when this country endured a civil war between its military dictatorship and the persecuted: abused, regular Salvadorians. This country’s history “[is] marked by frequent revolutions…and violence (“History of El Salvador”).The late seventies and all through the eighties saw the spread of communism and military dictatorships in many Latin American countries. In Central America, the most cruel and brutal acts occurred in El Salvador, where “authoritarian governments” used “political repression and limited reform” in order to preserve control (“History of El Salvador”). Forché plays a witness’ role when describing what happened at the colonel’s house. “What you have heard is true. I was in his house,” she says, giving the readers a serious invitation to the poem (Forché 971). With this sentence, the author addresses the American audience while referring to the news about the human rights’ violations and abuses, at that time common in many Latin American countries. The main issue in Forché’s poem is the battle between a military tyrant, represented by the colonel, and his oppressed people.
The author describes the things she observed at that house, everyday objects and family activities with which most Americans could relate, but she closes the sentence with an unexpected object.
His wife carried a tray of coffee and sugar. His daughter filed her nails, his son went out for a night. There were daily papers, pet dogs, a pistol on the cushion beside him (Forché 971).
Kindly, the wife welcomes the guests with a coffee; the daughter and the son act uninterested towards the guests (a recognizable teen’s attitude), and the daily papers demonstrate how concerned the colonel is about daily information. So far, everything seems ordinary, but the pistol abruptly reminds the reader that the house belongs to a ruthless character. It marks an ironic...