This testimonio is different from the other testimonios that I have read earlier because it is narrated and written by one person whereas in the other testimonios the narrator and the one who is writing on her/his behalf are two different persons. Alicia Partnoy talks about the disappearance of almost 30,000 argentines that took place between the years 1976 and 1979 (after the Peronist government) which was also ‘the most oppressive years of the military rule’ in Argentina. She was one of the disappeared persons who witnessed the torture in ‘The little school’ where people who raised voice against the government were taken. She described her life as well as her colleagues’ life in that place, how she was kidnapped from her house, her daughter who was left behind, how she met her husband in the little school and her meeting with several known persons there. Through this testimonio she also pays “tribute to a generation of Argentines lost in an attempt to bring social change and justice. I also pay tribute to the victims of repression in Latin America. I knew just one Little School, but throughout our continent there are many “schools” whose professors use the lessons of torture and humiliation to teach us to lose the memories of ourselves” (Pg 18). She also specifies that the line between story and history gets blurred in places like little schools.

The book is just not narrated in the first person narrative voice, it is narrated in a third person form, it has dialogues, poetry and the chapters of the testimonio is not just about the suffereings of the witness (Partnoy) but it has voices of many captives who were tortured equally as Alicia Partnoy and many of whom were also killed. Therefore, the mention of the subtlety between story and history is important because she re-created that time period with the voices that she lived with in ‘The little school’, the book. The other important aspect of re-creation of that phase was her seeing through the blindfold. This is interesting because she always saw a fragment of something or some person. As she mentions that most of the captives (were able to peep through the blindfold) could see the floor which has stains of blood, she identified her husband through the sky blue spot of his pants, most of them were aware of the Chiche’s face (the shift supervisor) and through these fragments she created a story/history. There were resistance and solidarity among the captives and they tried to help each other when someone needed some extra bread, rescued the newer captives from the torture of the military men by diverting their attention to something else and they also talked with each other at the back of the guards. She also talks about the importance of bread which apart from eating and satisfying one’s hunger is also a means of communication and as she says “I’m here. I care for you. I want to share the only possession I have” (pg 84). Hence we see the solidarity and also a sense of possessing, a sense of owning something in a situation when everything that one possesses has been taken away – “A wedding ring, a watch…dress” (Pg 26), family – and the obsession of the captives to possess so to claim their belonging, to feel the suffering and to feel alive. Alicia was so careful about her possession that she took care of one her tooth that was knocked down when she was tortured, though that tooth was an artificial one and not her real tooth but she at times tried to fix it in her mouth to feel complete. It also has humor especially in the chapter “A Beauty treatment” when Chiche asked the narrator to take a shower and shave her legs. She describes it as “I sit down for a T.V. commercial: “The best beauty parlor in town, the most effective depilatory method, at the little school. For neat corpses and Chiche’s attention – The little School, at its new location near army headquarters – is waiting for your visit!” I’m in a good  mood, which means that I’m in the mood for black humor” (pg 113).

Beka Lamb is a story about a young girl who fails in her class and she lies about it to her parents. Her mother specifically is worried about her habit of lying. However, the story takes another turn eventually and narrates about her closest friend Toycie, who studies in the same school and few years older to Beka, becomes pregnant by Emilio. Toycie was expelled from the school in her last year before she could graduate, she becomes aloof from her friends and family and she loses her child and finally dies when the country was attacked by the hurricane.

Within the framework of the story of Beka struggling to pass and her friend Toycie distancing herself from everybody once she is expelled from the school, the novel also talks about the society, people and the custom of the country Belize. The story is situated at a time period when Belize was still under the British rule and the people of Belize still did not have the right to vote. It also demonstrates the different class of people living in Belize like creoles, caribs, panias, bakras living together but cannot be married to into each other’s families. Beka was a creole girl, her father was a business man who has progressed in his life with lots of hard work and was struggling harder but “the Lamb family was in a different class from the Blancos and the Hartleys. Bill Lamb was struggling to progress in the business world of the town, but he was quite satisfied to remain in the class where he was comfortable. He had no use for what he called artificiality and sham” (Pg 21).    Toycie was also a creole who lived with her aunt Eila as her mother has left her and went to United States and married a wealthy man. The grandmother of Beka was more inclined towards the political change that was happening in Belize. She was a member of a political party which was formed recently in Belize ‘People’s Independence Party’ and which was bringing quite a few changes in the colony. She attended the meetings and believed in the revolutionary ideas of the party, like the right to vote. Beka would discuss with her about issues like whether Guatemala would take over Belize once it is freed from Britain, she would also tell her stories about the past and about the African ancestry that both creoles and caribs inherit. Granny Ivy also discusses the problems of the country with both her son and daughter – in- law, but she is projected as a woman with more wisdom than her daughter-in-law. Beka’s mother generally tries to keep Beka out from knowing the past of her people and she thinks that it would be a hindrance in her growth in the modern world. Beka also listens to stories from her Granny Straker, her mother’s maternal grandmother, about her life as a young woman in the country. All these stories that are told orally to Beka, or the discussion at home among the son, mother, and the daughter-in-law are the sources of information about the country, its past and its political and social position. The older people like Beka’s grandmother have been shown as a strong woman and also play an important role in the novel. The father too is well aware of his social position and the situation of his country and shares his views with his mother “we can’t sit down and keep rehashing what people did to us in the past…or use those injustices as any kind of complete excuse for our present situation…my main worry is, will we able to hold onto our rights once we get them?” (Pg 37).

The other interesting aspect is the similarity of many customs among the people in Belize and that in India, such as the evening tea, the importance of studying in a convent school and above all the importance given to education as the only way to get a job later. I could very well relate them with my personal experience. Even today convent schools in different parts of the country is being valued more than any other schools and studies should be the most important thing in a child’s life, if he/she fails in doing so life ends for him/her. The scolding of Beka’s father, the tension in the house when Beka fails in her exam, the lack of other activities for the kids in the country could be related to the situation in India as well.

Es una historia de un español y su experiencia en el Nuevo mundo y por eso es diferente de otros textos que he leído antes sobre centro América o América latina. La mayoría de los libros que leí antes eran desde la perspectiva de América latina. Las preocupaciones y sufrimientos de estas personas pero al otro lado en  Asalto al paraíso se narra la historia desde la perspectiva de un español, Pedro Albarán, aunque tiene un pasado que probablemente desafía su identidad como español “católico”.  Su abuelo había sido asesinado por predicar la religión islam por la inquisición. Además, sus pensamientos críticos sobre los reyes, la condición de España y su relación con otros países le hace diferente de los españoles que vinieron al nuevo mundo para colonizar y ganar.

Pedro escapo de la inquisición y llego al nuevo mundo para empezar su vida de una manera nueva otra vez. De olvidar los conflictos en que se había metido allá y empezar una vida sin opinar. Su vida en el nuevo mundo era bastante diferente de su vida en España, no solo debido al ambiente o la cultura sino evita ocultar su propia identidad que tiene relación muy duro con su pasado. En el nuevo mundo intenta desarrollar otro tipo de identidad, la identidad del silencio, la identidad de nadie, de marginal para que nadie se dé cuenta de su identidad verdadera. Aquí su papel es observar todo, la injusticia sobre los indios, la rebeldía dentro de la iglesia por algunos frailes (Juan de las Alas) y la irresponsabilidad de la iglesia, la incapacidad de la iglesia de tener control y manejar la situación no solo en Cartago sino dentro de la iglesia, la ignorancia de los sacerdotes y sus creencias supersticiosas. También existe el aspecto de burla cuando describe las situaciones de los españoles y la iglesia tanto en el nuevo mundo como en España. Sin embargo, en España Pedro gozaba este momento con su profesor hablando sobre la condición pero en el nuevo mundo esta generalmente aislado y su único amigo es el zapatero que tiene todas las noticias del pueblo. Yo creo que hay cierto tipo de burla no solo sobre los reyes y la iglesia sino incluye Pedro también. Su manera escapar, de llegar al otro lado del mundo, y su manera de sobrevivir aquí como una ausencia o como silencio en un lugar que esta caótico es un ridículo también.  El mejor ejemplo sobre su ausencia es cuando se fue a vivir con la muda y su hermana y con los dos hermanos negros al lado del mar dentro del bosque. La muda no puede hablar, su hermana no habla hasta que sea necesario y los negros no hablan español, así que él vivía como un silencio y una ausencia en el nuevo mundo y por eso me parece esta historia narrado desde una perspectiva aunque español pero un español que no controla, no domina sino que está ausente pero que observa.

El estilo narrativo está dividido en dos formas. Una es la narración por el narrador en la tercera forma y su protagonista principal  es Pedro Albarán, así que vemos desde su punto de vista. A veces hay narradores como el zapatero que narra en la primera persona sus comunicaciones con Pedro Albarán. También hay pasajes escritos en la forma cursiva que otra vez es silencio en el camino de narrar la historia a Águeda por Pedro. Estos pasajes cursivos son hechos que han sido ocultados por Pedro cuando estaba narrando su historia a Águeda. Hay muchos niveles de historia en este texto, la llegada de españoles, la dominación, la situación caótica y la guerra entre los indios y los españoles y el papel del silencio.