The Autumn of the Patriarch

Patricio is the General’s double, and he physically looks like the General. His body is forcibly wounded to match more the General’s even more. Patricio’s feet are flattened, his testicle cut so that he’d have an apparent hernia, and he is even forced to drink turpentine so that he’ll lose the ability to read and write. This is one of many attempts to control the body in a grotesque fashion in the novel, again highlighting The Impact of Corruption on the Human Body.

Patricio is a con man by trade. Using his appearance to make money by posing as the General, he is forced into a life of danger forever after. After he is poisoned, Patricio tells the General that he never wished this life, hoping only to follow in his father’s footsteps. Patricio’s allegiance to the General was always out of fear and a lack of choice, not because he truly cared for the General. Patricio becomes the General’s first encounter with The Inevitability of Death and the truth that no one truly loves him.

As the General’s most trusted official throughout the first half of the novel, General Rodrigo de Aguilar is loyal and aware of his position in proximity to the General, He has an immense amount of power; he is the minister of defense as well as commander of the presidential guard and director of the state security services. His large number of titles draws attention to the concentration of power in a small circle.

He is also missing his right arm, lost in an explosion from which General Rodrigo protected the General. His entire life is in service to the General until the General questions his allegiance and uncovers what he thinks is a conspiracy to remove him from rule. Whether this is true, he serves General Rodrigo for dinner, creating one of the novel’s most surreal moments of violence.

Bendición Alvarado was a sex worker who births and raises the General alone. She never adapts to her position of power following her son’s rule, constantly cleaning the palace herself and painting birds with cheap paint to sell or living in her servant’s quarters. She regrets the changes that her son’s power brings, for her but mostly for her son. She knows that the only way out of the position he is in will be by death. She is ultimately right about the fate of her son. Bendición acts as a symbol of the General’s past before he entered power—the one memory that survives his lore as a legend. Her existence is proof that he was once a child, just as vulnerable and tender as any of the people he rules.

After her gruesome death, she embodies the paradoxes of power in the novel: the General wants to use her body to glorify her and command respect, and yet she is treated like a stuffed animal and paraded through town while her dress is torn to bits by those who wish to turn a profit.

Manuela Sánchez is a “beauty queen” from the poorest area in the region. She is a love interest for the General. Though the General is initially unimpressed with her appearance and describes her as common, she eventually comes to possess all of his thoughts. He remembers her afterwards with a rose in her hand and the smell of licorice on her breath.

Manuela does not desire his affection, however, and only wishes to plead for water and energy for her people. Instead, she receives unwanted attention that results in her losing her family, friends, and community. She is afraid of the General, and once she realizes that she is trapped in his clutches, she disappears. Manuela’s character arc is a metaphor for colonial processes. Márquez suggests that, like Manuela, many regions that are admired for their beauty are changed irrevocably; they are left without their culture, history, and natural resources because of powerful despots who possess what they wish to have.

Leticia is a missionary nun who is abducted by the General and forced into a relationship with him. She is described as leaving the “trail of a wild animal” by the General who only remembers her by her name (151). When the narrator describes her appearance again, it is after she is prepared to receive the General with polish on her nails and her hair curled.

Leticia becomes a product of the General’s power and wields it to her advantage. She is hence a foil for Manuela. She symbolizes The Pursuit of Power; eventually, after enough proximity to the General, she can grow mold on fresh bread with just her touch. She pursues pleasures in life and enjoys reciting poetry and teaching her husband to read and abandons her previous vows to God in service of her “husband,” to whom she is not actually married.

Emanuel means “God is with us” and is used to refer to Jesus in the Bible (Matthew 1:23). The narrator never names the General in the novel, and so Emanuel’s name encompasses both of their identities as Godlike figures. He is referred to as the “legitimate son” of the General, yet in truth, he is not the General’s legitimate son as he is born out of wedlock. He is, in fact, the reason that they do not finish their vows. He is stately and well trained early on, like many heirs of a king or a ruler. However, his life is cut short, so he never gets to rule. Through his death, Márquez prolongs the rule of the General of the Universe by eliminating threats to his claims to power, heightening the sense of corruption in his magically long tenure.