55 pages • 1 hour read
Salvador PlascenciaThe People of Paper
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “El Monte Flores”
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
The narrative returns to three columns, each with a different narrator. Although Saturn is a third-person omniscient narrator able to access the thoughts and actions of all characters, first-person narrators cover the remaining two columns.
Federico de la Fe realizes that the force watching him is Saturn, the second largest planet of the solar system. Saturn notices this and knows that Federico is declaring war on him. The man blames Saturn for taking his wife away from him.
Federico tells Froggy that the war against Saturn is a “war for volition and against the commodification of sadness. It is a war against the fate that has been decided for us” (53). He enlists members of the EMF gang to join his fight. Sandra, who is regularly beaten by her father, becomes the first woman to join the EMF. Soon, Sandra becomes Froggy’s lover. When Sandra’s father enters Froggy’s house and begins beating Sandra, Froggy kills him. This, however, ends the intimate relationship between Sandra and Froggy. Although she hates her father, she cannot make love to the man who has killed him. Despite this, they remain comrades-in-arms in the war against Saturn.
