Character Analysis
The Other Victim
Some people just have no luck. No, we're not talking about Santiago, even though he's obviously very unlucky. We're talking about the widower Xius. No one cares that Bayardo San Román basically murdered the poor old man by stealing his home and his happiness
In a novel full of marriages of convenience, Xius is the only person who actually seems to love his wife. His wife is dead, so his memories of her are in the home that they shared together. But there's one problem—it's a beautiful home and the richest guy in town wants it.
Just like Angela and her family, Xius feels like he has no choice:
Five minutes later, indeed, he returned to the social club with his silver-trimmed saddlebags, and on the table he laid ten bundles of thousand-peso notes with the printed bands of the State Bank still on them. The widower Xius died two months later. "He died because of that," Dr. Dionisio Iguarán said. "He was healthier than the rest of us, but when you listened with the stethoscope you could hear the tears bubbling inside his heart." (2.37)
Xius died of heartbreak. How sad is that? But no one chases after Bayardo. No one blames him for anything. It's just natural. It's fate. Rich people take from the less fortunate and that's that.
It all just goes to show—if an old poor man dies, no one cares. You have to be the rich, young, handsome dude in order for the whole town to start worrying about your death. It's pretty sad stuff, but important nonetheless.