Line #25 Literature/Facundo


1	[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quiroga_809.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:248:The brave Caudillo]]
3
4	->''"El mal que aqueja a la Argentina es la extensión:\
5	el desierto la rodea por todas partes y se le insinúa\
6	en las entrañas; la soledad, el despoblado sin una habitación \
7	humana, son, por lo general, los límites incuestionables entre\
8	unas y otras provincias"'' [[note]] ''The evil that bothers Argentina is the extension:\
9	the desert surrounds her everywhere and it insinuates itself in the guts; the solitude,\
10	the abandoned without a human's room are, often, the unquestionable border between provinces.'' [[/note]]
11	-->-- '''Domingo Faustino Sarmiento''', ''"Facundo"''
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13	''[[EitherOrTitle Facundo, o Civilización y Barbarie]]'' [[note]]"Facundo, or Civilization and Barbarism"[[/note]], by the former Argentine president, writer, military and journalist Creator/DomingoFaustinoSarmiento, is an odd example of the politically messed up times in the early [[UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}} Argentinian history]]. Somehow, it's an UrExample of a NonFiction novel, a journalist investigation and the very proof that ''journalism is never objective'', nor free of a biased ideology.
14
15	Part biography, part journalistic investigation (after all, it was published in a political journal in UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} while Sarmiento was exiled there), part political pamphlet and part novel, this odd mix of a work is considered one of the basis of the ArgentineLiterature as well as an historic document.
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17	(It should be noted Sarmiento himself is a controversial figure, both praised by the Educational Revolution that (at the time) practically elliminated analphabetism in Argentina and granted the right of free, state-run Elementary schooling, and questioned by his [[ValuesDissonance racism]] and [[TheSavageIndian xenophobia]], and for his [[FinalSolution controversial ideas about the "barbarian" population of Argentina]]. Hell, even contemporary works like Literature/MartinFierro are critical of his domestic policies.)
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19	''Facundo'' is a work about a popular ''"caudillo"'' (a type of local strongman and landholder) and "prócer" of the Independency: [[ManlyFacialHair Facundo Quiroga]], governor and general of La Rioja province, and his controversial relationship with the Buenos Aires' governor, [[GeneralRipper Juan Manuel de Rosas]]. Sarmiento even points a plot to assassinate Quiroga originated in Buenos Aires, specifically in Rosas' office, that ultimately succeed.
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21	In the first half of the work, Sarmiento goes all {{Tsundere}} about Facundo Quiroga, praising his bravery and physical skills, but attacking his "barbarian" and "brutal" personality: the "Argentinian" temper, as he dubs it, citing other political figures like [[KnightInShiningArmor General Lavalle]] and ''really'' though guy [[note]]he was stabbed nearly sixty times and shot at least another three ''in the same battle'', and survived [[/note]][[FearlessFool General Lamadrid]]. The second half is about Rosas, almost exclusively an attack about his [[ColdBloodedTorture methods to bring peace]], and a lament about how the French and English navy couldn't stop him when they had the chance.
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23
24	!!'''This work contain examples of the following tropes:'''
25	* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: The Gaucho's way. A "Caudillo" is the badassest of all the Badasses,according to the gauchos. Quiroga is the boss because he kicks asses.
26	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Civilization against Barbarism.
27	* BlueOniRedOni: Played straight. The Federals love woring the blood's red colour, but the "idealistic" Unitarians wore blue or light blue.
28	%%* BodyHorror: Related to the following.
29	%%* TheCity: Buenos Aires (well, in that time will be an exaggeration to call it like that, but you know the writers)
30	* ColdBloodedTorture: "La mazorca"(the corncob) was known by his innovative investigation methods. You know, when you inverse the beginning and the end of the digestive tract...
31	%%* CoupDeGrace: Barranca Yaco.
32	%%* DashingHispanic: Again, Lamadrid fits this trope. And Lavalle, at a certain point.
33	* TheFashionista: Sarmineto himself. He even points out that the Barbarians deserve to die because they don't wear frac, and well, they look like barbarians with all the ponchos and chiripás and red stuff. [[http://everba.eter.org/summer03/facundo_pablo.htm No, for real]][[note]]It's in spanish[[/note]].
34	* FearlessFool: General Lamadrid. He tried to stop an [[ZergRush massive invasion]] to the city fortress of Tucumán only with... thirty swordsmen. He lost.
35	%%* {{Gaucho}}: almost every character in this work. But he quotes the "bad" type.
36	%%* TheGeneralissimo: Juan Manuel de Rosas.
37	%%* GeneralRipper: Rosas.
38	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: He quotes Shakespeare... in [[GratuitousFrench French]]
39	%%* GratuitousFrench: Related to the one above.
40	%%* KnifeFight: The "dirty" Gaucho's duel. Off course, real men fight with guns. Or at least swords.
41	* KnightInShiningArmor: General Lavalle. He is even praised (but a bit mocked) by his cavalry charges against the royalists. But Sarmiento prefered the European methods: cold blooded, mathematical artillery strikes, encarned in General Paz.
42	* LaResistance: according to Sarmiento, himself and the Unitary faction, although still fighting, they are under the rule of tyrants like Rosas or Quiroga
43	%%* LawfulEvil: Rosas.
44	* LeeroyJenkins: Lamadrid, sort of. He doesn't care about strategy, and blatantly ignores it for his own sake, jeopardizing all his faction.
45	* ManlyFacialHair: Facundo Quiroga. He even points out that his untamed hair was an extension of her badassery
46	%%* NonFiction: That doesn't mean that he is impartial or omits information
47	%%* NonFictionLiterature
48	* ThePampas: well, it's about the rural landscape of Argentina and his effect on the people. He calls it "The Desert" anyway.
49	%%* ProfessionalKiller: Santos Pérez, sended by the Reinafé brothers, allegedly by commands of Rosas.
50	%%* SecretPolice: again, "La Mazorca".
51	%%* TheSavageIndian: wait, there aren't all like that?
52	%%* {{Tsundere}}: Sarmiento, on Facundo. He hates him, but he loves him too.
53	%%* UrExample of NonFiction
54	* ValuesDissonance: the fight between "Barbarians" and "civilized" people, the FinalSolution against the Indians, the Black people hatred... you name it.

Context Literature / Facundo