UNINTERLINGUA 2015

U N I N T E R L I N G U A 103 mael’s resolute and heroic response tells us much about his character: “No nos iremos a ninguna parte… No sin Simone” (263). The teens found the unconscious Simone, but the shadow attacked before they could get out of the room. At one point the black fiend hurled Ismael across the room, and as he struggled to get back on his feet, “La sombra sostenía a Irene en el centro de la habita- ción, dispuesta a aniquilarla. El muchacho gritó y se abalanzó contra la masa... Ismael levantó a Irene y la retiró del alcance de la sombra” (268-269). At this point it is clear that Ismael was willing to sacrifice himself to save Irene. They were finally able to escape with Simone only because of Lazarus, who shot himself, knowing it was the only way to neutralize the shadow’s power. Within the space of two days, Ismael saved Irene’s life three times, a remarkable record for any hero, let alone a sixteen-year-old boy. His bravery, strength, courage, and sel- flessness are all heroic characteristics that Ismael displayed time and again. If we consider Ismael to be the classical Greek hero in the novel, then Lazarus Jann is the tragic protagonist destroyed by a fatal flaw, in this case a broken promise. His dis- mal childhood, marked by loneliness and a lack of love, created a sense of desperation which led him to make a promise impossible to keep. “Puso en mis manos un porvenir que jamás me hubiera atrevido a soñar. Un futuro… me explicó entonces que, desde aquel momento, mi corazón ya le pertene- cía y que pronto, muy pronto, todos mis pro- blemas se desvanecerían. Si no faltaba a mi juramento” (225, 226). For Lazarus, his love, first for Hoffmann, and later for Alma, turned him into a prisoner in both instances. For all of his life, Lazarus was trapped by the promise he had made to Hoffmann, even more trapped than the shadow in its bottle. As an eight-year-old boy, Lazarus could not have understood the consequences of his promise. Basically he had promised never to fall in love, never to get married, never to enjoy an intimate physical and emotional re- lationship, and to always remain true in his love for his boyhood hero, Daniel Hoffmann. It seems that Lazarus had been cursed from his childhood to the end of his days. In the end he understood that his death was the only way out. Lazarus’ love for his wife Alexandra (Alma) was all-encompassing and self-sa- crificing; even though he knew it would cau- se relentless attacks from the shadow, and ultimately led to his isolation. After she was tricked into releasing the shadow on their first wedding anniversary, their torment be- gan: “Desde el instante en que Alexandra destapó el frasco, nuestra vida se convirtió en una pesadilla” (238). The attacks quickly intensified to the point where her life was in Love and horror in the earlier...