Señor Pico Character Analysis in The Farming of Bones

Señor Pico, often referred to as Pico, is married to Señora Valencia. Pico is very loyal to Rafael Trujillo, the Generalissimo, who is the dictator of the Dominican Republic. Pico takes pride in his national heritage, and has fervent military and political ambitions. Moreover, Pico is prejudiced and unsympathetic: he treats his workers cruelly, and obediently carries out governmental orders to terrorize and harm Haitian migrants. In fact, Pico’s prejudice and nationalistic pride results in a callous murder of a pedestrian: he hits Joël, a Haitian cane worker, with his car and does not take responsibility. Pico’s behavior illustrates how nationalism and excessive pride in one’s identity can result in violence.

Señor Pico Quotes in The Farming of Bones

The The Farming of Bones quotes below are all either spoken by Señor Pico or refer to Señor Pico. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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Señor Pico Duarte bore the name of one of the fathers of Dominican independence […] His eyes lingered on his son, his heir […]“I will name him Rafael, for the Generalissimo,” he said as Juana reswaddled the children even more securely than before. The señora agreed to this name with a coy nod. And so the boy became Rafael like the Generalissimo, the president of the republic.

Related Characters: Señor Pico (speaker), Señora Valencia, Juana, Rafael, The Generalissimo / Trujillo

Page Number and Citation: 34–35

Explanation and Analysis: