SCHEME

1 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CARD.

Author: Isabel Allende

Title: The City of Beasts

Publisher: Areté

Location: Spain

Edition: Eighth.

2 ARGUMENT

This is the story of Alexander Cold who is sent with his grandmother Kate to New York, because his mother
falls ill with cancer.

His grandmother is dedicated to writing reports.

Alex must accompany her to the Amazon to write a story about the beast, a being that has frightened all the
expeditionaries.

Together with Timothy Bruce, the photographer, his assistant Joel González, the anthropologist Ludovic
Leblanc, Karakawe, Omayra Torres, the doctor who will inject vaccines into the Indians, César Santos and his
daughter Nadia, will begin an adventure in the Amazon in search of that being. mythical and of the Indians.

Alex and Nadia discover that Mauro Carías and Captain Ariosto are plotting a plan to eliminate the Amazon
tribes and take over the lands at the eye of the world.

During the expedition the boys are kidnapped by the Indians, the people of the Neblina, there Alex discovers
his totem animal, the jaguar.

Nadia is appointed chief to protect the people of Tapirawa-teri and Alex is appointed to negotiate with the
nahab, outsiders.

Together with the shaman, Walimai, they know the city of dorado or rather the city of beasts, there they meet
these beasts so feared that they turn out to be

Sloths who put justice in the jungle, protecting the Indians and reserving their history since they live for many
years.

Alex collects water that can heal his mother, and Nadia three crystal eggs, which turn out to be large diamonds
with which they can buy the land and save the Indians as natural reserves.

Alex and Nadia are found by the expedition members, Omayra Torres turned out to be the lover of Mauro
Carías with whom they plotted to inject the Indians with measles and thus exterminate them.

Mauro Carías is killed by the beast and during a great fight they eliminate the supposed vaccines and save the
Indians.

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They discover that Karakawe works for the indigenous protection department, which kept a measles sample
and thus blamed Leblanc, Omayra, and Captain Ariosto who were also involved in the plan.

In the end, Nadia gives the diamonds to Alex so that he can save the lands of the people from the mist.

The main events that can be seen in this novel are the hard fact that Alex's mother is sick with cancer and
therefore, the boy is going to spend some time in the jungle where the culture is totally different, this fact is
That is, the fact that the mother is sick is present throughout the story.

The events are not arranged chronologically, but rather, they are arranged in stages, since in history they do not
name any temporal moment because in the jungle it is impossible to measure time.

History is arranged by those same stages, that is, the trips they make until they can reach the eye of the world,
in that passage from moment to moment from trip to trip, they tell events, like anacondas that kill the people
on the expedition, ...etc.

The outcome is not something that can be expected because at the time I was reading it I believed that they
would make a reserve of the eye of the world, that Alex would cure his mother and describe that moment, that
Alex would return to California, and I also came to To think that Nadia and Alex would fall in love... but it
was not like that, the outcome that Isabel Allende has concluded, gives us reason to wait for the second part of
this fantastic novel.

3 CHARACTERS

The protagonist of this story is Alexander Cold.

The main characters are:

• Kate Cold, his grandmother.

• Ludovic Leblanc, the famous anthropologist.
• Omayra Torres, the doctor.
• César Santos, the guide.
• Nadia Santos, her friend
• Walimai, the shaman.
• Iyomy, the Indian boss.

- The Beast, the mythological being.

The secondary characters are:

• Lisa Cold, his mother.

• John Cold, his father.
• Andrea and Nicole, his sisters.
• Morgana, the girl who stole from him.
• Joseph Cold, his late grandfather.
• Joel González, one of the photographers.
• Father Valdomero.
• Matuwe, the Indian guide.
• Karakawe, the anthropologist's personal assistant.
• Mokarita, the late chief of the Mist People (Indians)

• tahama
• Cecilia Burns, (his platonic love)

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These characters can be grouped according to those close to Alex through family (Lisa Cold, John Cold,
Andrea and Nicole, Joseph Cold), members of the expedition (Joel González) and his Indian friends (Mokarita,
Matuwe, Tahama), Cecilia Burns and morgana unrated.

The antagonists are:

• Mauro Carías
• Captain Ariosto
• Omayra Torres

Their relationship consists of being partners in eliminating the Indians from the eyes of the world and thus
possessing the lands.

The characters are characterized according to these quotes that describe the novel:

Alexander Cold:

Page 27

From line 1 to 3.

(...)His own thin face, with round glasses and dark hair, like his mother's (...)He had not developed like several
of his friends; I was still a little boy.

His talents were playing the flute, and climbing mountains like his father, he was not attracted to drugs, he is
15 years old.

Alex is a very realistic boy who throughout the story believes in things that he would never have believed
existed, such as being able to see a spirit, which we all have a totem animal, throughout the story he learns
things, He matures and lets believe in things like his platonic love.

Kate Cold:

Pages 37 and 38

Lines: 19 to 3 on the next page.

(...)Kate cold was sixty-four years old, she was skinny and muscular, pure fiber and weather-beaten skin; His
blue eyes, which had seen a lot of the world, were sharp as daggers. Her gray hair, which she cut herself with
scissors without looking in the mirror, stood in all directions as if she had never combed it.

He boasted of his teeth, large and strong, capable of cracking nuts and opening bottles; She was also proud of
having never broken a bone, never having consulted a doctor and having survived attacks from malaria to
scorpion stings. He drank dry vodka and smoked black tobacco from a sailor's pipe. Winter and summer he
dressed in the same baggy pants and a sleeveless vest, with pockets everywhere, where he carried the essentials
to survive in case of cataclysm. On some occasions, when it was necessary to dress elegantly, he would take
off his vest and put on a necklace of bear fangs, a gift from an Apache chief. (..)

According to how we are introduced to this character, she is a lady with masculine rather than feminine
behaviors.

She is a woman who does not recognize her affection for others, and with a strong character.

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Ludovic Leblanc:

Page 45

Lines 8 to 13.

(...) a little man of about fifty, short, thin, nervous, with a permanent expression of contempt or cruelty on his
lips and sunken mouse eyes. He was dressed as a wild beast hunter in the style of the movies, from the
weapons he wore on his belt to his heavy boots and an Australian hat decorated with colored feathers.(...)

He is a famous anthropologist who wrote a guide on the Indians.

From what can be seen in the novel about the personality of this character, he is very conceited, he has a bad
view of the Indians, he believes that they are murderers for defending themselves.

Omayra Torres:

Page 47

Lines 1 to 5.

(...)A beautiful mulatto about thirty-five years old, with black hair, amber skin and green almond-shaped cat
eyes. She moved gracefully, as if she were dancing to a secret rhythm. The men followed her with their eyes,
but she seemed not to realize the impression that her beauty caused.(...)

She is the doctor with the mission of vaccinating Los Indios, who turned out to be part of Carías' evil plan, and
also his lover.

In History he does not give much credit to his character.

Cesar Santos:

Page 54

Lines 18 to 21.

(...) A tall man, with a sharp bird-like profile, visible features and an open expression, weather-beaten skin and
dark hair tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck (...)

He is the father of Nadia, Alex's friend, he is the Brazilian guide who takes them to Manaus.

Nadia Santos:

Page54

Lines 25 to 31.

(...)I was about twelve or thirteen years old. He had frizzy, sun-bleached hair, and honey-colored eyes and
skin; He was wearing shorts, a T-shirt and some plastic flip-flops. She had several colored strips tied around
her wrists, a yellow flower over one ear and a long green feather pierced through the lobe of the other.(...)

page 189

Lines 4 to 11.

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Nadia, on the other hand, was still long and narrow like a reed, without feminine forms, pure bone and tanned
skin, an androgynous being with the smell of the forest. Despite his childish appearance, he commanded
respect: he possessed poise and dignity. Perhaps because he lacked sisters or friends his age, he acted like an
adult; She was serious, silent, focused, she didn't have the annoying attitude that Alex found so annoying about
other girls. (...)

She is a girl who knows many Indian languages and English, she does not go to school, and she becomes a
good friend of Alex, she teaches him to have faith in things, that is, to believe without the need to see.

Walimai:

Page 68

Lines 17 to 30.

(...)An incredibly old man. He seemed to have lived for centuries, despite his upright posture and agile
movements. He was very small,(...)He wore a short vegetable fiber apron and a dozen necklaces of shells,
seeds, and boar's teeth covering his chest. The skin, wrinkled like that of an ancient elephant, fell in folds over
its fragile skeleton. He carried a short spear, a staff from which hung a series of small leather bags and a quartz
cylinder that sounded like a baby bell.(...).

He is the Shaman of the tribe, a sorcerer capable of healing and predicting the future.

He is a man who will guide young people to believe in their cultures, the Indians, and who will become friends
with Nadia.

This old man does not speak much during the novel, he is a man of wisdom, the man who knows the entrance
to the city of Beasts.

Iyomy:

Page 251

Lines 26 to 27.

(...)Iyomi, chief of the chiefs of Tapirawa-teri. She came alone, naked, incredibly old, all wrinkled and
toothless.(...)

This old woman is the wife of Mokarita, the late chief. She places all her trust in the young people.

She is a very stubborn woman, but a good person.

The beast:

Page 197

Lines 3 to 12.

(...)He looked like a gigantic ape-man, more than three meters high, standing on two legs, with powerful arms
that hung to the ground and a small head, with a melancholic face, too small for the size of the body. It was
covered in wiry hair like wire and had three long claws sharp like curved knives in each hand. It moved so
incredibly slowly that it was as if it were not moving at all.(...) it seemed lazy.(...).

This being so feared by outsiders for his murders turns out to be a being that keeps the history of the Indians.

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These beings have a very slow metabolism and births of them have rarely been seen, they are very few.

They are the ones who provide justice, they are the ones who have come whenever a stranger has come close
to the eye of the world.

Having such a slow metabolism that it is difficult for it to kill because the victim could run but it has a very
unpleasant odor gland that paralyzes them.

Secondary characters:

Lisa Cold:

Page 12 and 13.

Lines 24 to 6 of the next page.

(...)He missed his mother and how much her absence weighed now. I missed his easy laugh and his affection,
as much as his severity. She was stricter than her father and more cunning: it was impossible to deceive her
because she had a third eye to see the invisible. His voice could no longer be heard humming in Italian, there
was no music, no flowers, nor that characteristic smell of freshly baked cookies and paint. Before, his mother
managed to work several hours in her workshop, keep the house spotless and wait for her children with
cookies; Now she barely got up for a while and walked around the rooms with a bewildered air, as if she didn't
recognize her surroundings, emaciated, with sunken eyes surrounded by shadows. His canvases, which
previously seemed like true explosions of color, now remained forgotten on the lecterns and the oil paint dried
in the tubes. Lisa Cold seemed to have shrunk, she was barely a silent ghost.(...)

John Cold:

Page 13

Lines 11 to 15.

(...)He was no longer the serene person he used to be, he frequently became irritated, not only with his
children, but also with his wife. Sometimes he would shout at Lisa for not eating enough or not taking his
medication, but he would immediately regret his outburst and ask her forgiveness, distraught.(...)

His father is the one who taught him how to climb mountains, since he is a great climber.

Andrea and Nicole:

Page 12

Lines 1 to 11.

(...)Andrea, who was always a little different from the other girls, was now dressed up and lost for hours in her
fantasy world, where there were witches lurking in the mirrors and aliens swimming in the soup. She was no
longer old enough for that, at twelve years old she should be interested in boys or in getting her ears pierced,
he supposed. Nicole, the youngest of the family, was putting together a zoo, as if she wanted to compensate for
the attention that her mother could not give her. He fed several raccoons and skunks that were hanging around
the house; she had adopted six orphaned kittens and kept them hidden in the garage; He saved the life of a bird
with a broken wing and kept a meter-long snake in a box (...).

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Morgan:

Page 24

Lines 3 to 13

(...)The girl had a canvas bag on her shoulder, a hat pulled up to her eyebrows, her nails painted blue, and a
silver ring through her nose. Alex stared at her in wonder, she was almost as pretty as his secret love, Cecilia
Burns, despite her torn pants, her soldier boots and her rather dirty and starving appearance. As his only coat
he wore a short orange artificial fur jacket, which barely covered his waist. She wasn't wearing gloves(...)She
was just a couple of years older, almost as thin and short as her mother.

From line 27 to 30.

(...)He hadn't gone to school for years (...)and he had run away from home because he couldn't stand his
stepfather, who was a disgusting pig.

-I'm going to belong to a rock band, that's my dream-he added...(...).

This young woman can be considered an antagonist but she does not belong to the story but to one of the
moments in Alex's journey.

Joseph Cold:

This is Alex's late grandfather.

He was an important musician in his time, he played the flute, like Alex.

Joel González:

This is one of the secondary characters, who belongs to the expedition in charge of taking photos as testimony
of what they have seen.

Father Valdomero:

Page 58

Lines 17 to 23

(...) A tall and burly man, with tremendous backs like a lumberjack and white hair, whom Nadia introduced as
Father Valdomero. He lacked the solemnity expected of a priest: he was in his underwear, bare-chested,
perched on a ladder painting the walls with whitewash. He had a bottle of rum on the floor.(...).

Matuwe:

Page 92

Lines 22 to 26.

(...)Matuwe, the Indian guide employed by César Santos, was Indigenous and would serve as their interpreter
with the tribes.(...).

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Karakawe:

Page 93

Lines 15 to 20.

(...)Karakawe was a sullen and laconic man, he only answered with one or two words when someone asked
him an unavoidable question; He did not get along well with foreigners, with the Cablocos or with the Indians.
He served Ludovic Leblanc reluctantly and hatred shone in his eyes when he had to address the anthropologist.
He did not eat with the others, he did not drink a drop of alcohol and he separated from the group when they
camped at night.(...)

This man turned out to be a worker for the indigenous protection department.

Mokarite:

This turns out to be the late chief of the Mist People tribe, who died while trying to climb a mountain.

Tahama:

Page 141

Lines 5 to 11.

(...)One of the young men stood out among the others, he was taller and stockier and, unlike the others, he was
painted entirely black, except for a kind of red mask around his eyes and forehead. He always walked next to
the chief, as if he were his lieutenant, and referred to himself as Tahama; Nadia and Alexander later found out
that this was his honorary title for being the best hunter in the tribe.(...).

Cecilia Burns:

This character is not characterized in the novel, that is, he is talked about but does not appear in the novel, he is
Alexander's platonic love.

4 TIME

The story takes place in one or two months, in the current era, demonstrated by facts such as the firearms they
use, the helicopters, the vaccines, the way the characters speak...etc.

In the novel there is no play with time, that is, telling the story from end to beginning, for example.

The novel follows a fixed structure telling the events, the only thing that can be seen is the beginning of the
book, Alex has a dream that can later be related to the Rahakanariwa bird.

The development is quite slow, since during Alex's trip from California to the eye of the world located in the
Amazon, he stops at many descriptions and events.

5 SPACE

Much of the story takes place in the Amazon.

It also takes place, although less frequently than in the Amazon, in a small town on the Californian coast,
Alex's residence, New York, his grandmother Kate's residence, Alto Orinoco, on the black river, Manaus, and
in the city of the Beasts. golden.

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These places affect the story because coming from California with a culture totally different from the Amazon,
makes Alex get used to, for example his discussions with food, eating chicken, eating monkey meat.

6 POINT OF VIEW AND NARRATIVE ATTITUDE.

The plot is told from the point of view of the author, in this case Isabel Allende, and sometimes Alex is also
the narrator of the events, the protagonist.

It is narrated in the third person, as we can see in this substrate, it tells Alex's thoughts in the third person:

Page 27 and 28.

Lines 27 to 1 on the next page.

(...)Alexander Cold shook his head. He didn't consider himself a puritan, far from it; he had tried marijuana and
alcohol a few times, like almost all of his classmates in high school, but he couldn't understand their appeal,
except for the fact that they were prohibited. He didn't like losing control.(...).

The narrator is omniscient, a type of narrator who knows and knows all the facts, also with several points of
view like Nadia's, in the chapter The Crystal Eggs she narrates her feelings, thoughts, and events that occur
while she tries to recover the three glass eggs.

These points of view are successive, they are described one after the other.

Opinion can rarely be seen in the author's story, she does it indirectly and transmits it through the point of view
of the characters. On page forty-seven there is a description of Omayra Torres describing her way of walking;

(...)He moved with grace as if he were dancing to the sound of a secret rhythm(...).

The author has no relationship with the narrator.

7 ISSUE

The meaning of the story that gives a kind of moral is the clash between two cultures and the different ways of
life that are described.

For example, from eating a normal diet to going to the Amazon and eating monkey meat, snake meat..., the
different beliefs that, for example, Alex has to the Indians...etc.

8 LANGUAGE

Descriptions, dialogues, and narration predominate in the story, for example the descriptions of the characters
and the narration of Alex at the expense of drugs.

Regarding the form of expression between the narrator and the characters, there is no difference, that is,
everything is narrated by the narrator.

The differences between the languages of the characters is, for example, the way the Indians speak to the
strangers, or from Nadia to Alex.

Fragments that caught my attention:

Page 11

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Lines 25 to 27.

(...)Even from the outside you could see the deterioration, as if the property was sad. The air of abandonment
began in the garden and spread through the rooms to the last corner.(...)

page 41

lines 8 to 11

(...)no, Alexander. He is the most kind. He does not steal, he does not kidnap children and he does not destroy
private property. Just kill. He does it cleanly, without noise, breaking the bones and disemboweling his victims
with true elegance, like a professional.(...).

page 52

Lines 21 to 25.

(...)He thought it was a shark and his heart stopped, but he took a short turn and came back curious, placing
himself so close that he could see his smile. This time his heart jumped and he had to stop himself from
screaming with joy. He was swimming with a dolphin!(...)

page 66

Lines 19 to 28.

(...)The moon shone like a yellow lamp in the sky. The noise of the jungle surrounded them, like background
music: cries of birds, screams of monkeys, croaking of toads and crickets. Thousands of fireflies flashed past
them, brushing their faces. Nadia caught one in her hand and tangled it in the curls of her hair, where it stayed
flickering like a little light. The girl was sitting on the dock with her feet in the dark water of the river. Alex
asked him about the piranhas, which he had seen stuffed in the tourist shops in Manaus, like miniature sharks:
they measured a span and were equipped with formidable jaws and teeth sharp as knives.(...).

Page 83 and 84.

Lines 25 to 6 on the next page.

(...)Everything disappeared: he found himself alone in front of the animal on a vast plain of gold, surrounded
by towering black towers, under a white sky where six transparent moons floated, like a jellyfish. He saw that
the feline opened its jaws, where its large bald teeth shone, and with a human voice, but that seemed to come
from the depths of a cave, it pronounced his name: Alexander. And he responded with his own voice, but it
also sounded cavernous: Jaguar. The animal and the boy repeated those words three times, Alexander, Jaguar,
Alexander, Jaguar, Alexander, Jaguar, and then the sand of the plain became phosphorescent, the sky turned
black and the six moons began to rotate in their orbits and move like slow comets.(...).

page 126

Lines 8 to 18.

(...)as if the events were taking place in a glass bubble that could shatter at any moment. Danger was in the air,
just as it had been with the jaguar, but the boy had not been afraid. He did not believe he was threatened by
those transparent beings floating among the trees. The idea of taking out his knife or calling for help did not
occur to him. Instead, a scene that he had seen years before in a movie flashed through his mind: a child's
encounter with an alien. The situation I was experiencing at that time was similar. He thought, amazed, that he
would not change that experience for anything in the world.(...).

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page 176

lines 12 to 14

(...)They said that everything that exists is dreamed by the mother earth, that each star dreams of its inhabitants
and everything that happens in the universe is an illusion, pure dreams within others.(...).

page 299

lines 5 to 12

(...)-It doesn't matter, even if the letters are delayed, I will write to you. The most important thing about this
trip for me is having met each other. "I will never, never forget you, you will always be my best friend,"
Alexander Cold promised with a broken voice.

-And you my best friend, as long as we can see each other with our hearts- replied Nadia Santos.

-See you, Águila...

-See you, Jaguar...

Language can be characterized globally in narrative.

9 LOCATION

The author of this work is Isabel Allende

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