How we cite our quotes: (Act.Chapter.Section.Paragraph), (Act.Special Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The next thing you know he was giving her rides in his brand-new Mercedes and buying her helados [ice cream] with the knot of dollars he carried in his pocket. Legally, he was too young to drive, but do you think anybody in Santo Domingo stopped a colonel's son for anything? Especially the son of a colonel who was said to be one of Ramfis Trujillo's confidantes? (1.3.6.13)
Jack Pujols drives Beli around in his Mercedes even though he's too young to drive. You know how this works: the mayor's son gets to do anything he wants because most people wouldn't dare say "no" to him, and even if someone did, his dad would get him out of trouble. Díaz makes it clear that being associated with someone like Trujillo has its benefits. (Even if Trujillo is basically the most evil guy who ever lived.)
Quote #5
Johnny Abbes Garía was one of Trujillo's beloved Morgul Lords. [...]. After Trujillo's death, Abbes [...] ended up working for that other Caribbean nightmare, the Haitian dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Wasn't nearly as loyal to Papa Doc as he was to Trujillo—after an attempted double-cross Papa Doc shot Abbes and his family and the blew their f***ing house up. (I think P. Daddy knew exactly what kind of creature he was dealing with.) No Dominican believes that Abbes died in that blast. He is said to still be out there in the world, waiting for the next coming of El Jefe, when he too will rise from the Shadow. (1.3.7.40)
One question you might have about this passage is: What is a "Morgul"? Don't worry; we've got you covered. They're the dudes in Lord of the Rings who basically serve as minions to the big-time baddie, Sauron. So Johnny Abbes was like a Morgul for Trujillo. Notice the mixture of fantasy stuff like Lord of the Rings and real-life political stuff like Trujillo's dictatorship. This mixture cues us into to the larger-than-life hold Trujillo's evil regime had on the Dominican Republic.
Quote #6
The world was coming apart at the seams—Santo Domingo was in the middle of a total meltdown, the Trujillato was tottering, police blockades at every corner—and even the kids she'd gone to school with, the brightest and the best, were being swept up in the Terror. (1.3.9.40)
Díaz gives us a pretty accurate description of what it looks like when a dictator is losing power. It's like a whirlpool: if you're anywhere in the area, you're in trouble.