Marianela

Pablo’s journey from a blind boy to a man with sight functions as metaphor for how the colonial exploration of the New World has transformed the Old World. As a representative figure of the Old World, Pablo’s ‘blind’ views were previously no better than that of the native of the New World. The native is Nela, whose wild imagination and worship of nature are contentious with New World science and rational thinking. As a blind boy, Pablo is enamored with Nela’s views, which despite being sentimental and void of scientific reasoning, are still convincing to the boy because of Nela’s enthusiasm. However, the novel insists that this blindness is not sustainable. 

To transform the European from a blind boy to a seeing man, a colonial explorer’s knowledge is necessary to make that intervention. Teodoro’s arrival in Socrates is compared repeatedly to that of colonial explorers Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés. Teodoro brings to Socrates stories of his successes in Madrid and the Americas. He represents the power of scientific knowledge and discovery, the ability which colonial explorers use to learn about the New World. His presence in Socrates sets in motion a series of events between Pablo and Nela.