Susto - The Men of So Far From God

“Above all, however, she prayed for Tom, because like so many hispanos, nuevo mexicanos, whatever he wanted to call himself, something about giving himself over to a woman was worst than having lunch with the devil. Yes, he had susto. But no tea and no incantations by the curandera his mother brought over to relieve him of it would ever cure him” (32).

Domingo, husband of Sofia abandoned his wife and four daughters to his gambling addiction, leaving her to raise four little children by herself. However, he returns to her when they are grown and moves in on her, fully expecting to pick up where he left off. Moreover, his wife, his children and the community all accept him with no reproach from any of them over his past irresponsible actions. No atonement is demanded or expected of him.

“Rubén (who, during the height of his Chicano cosmic consciousness, renamed himself Cuauhtemoc) (25) dumps Esperanza right after college graduation “for a middle class gabacha with a Corvette; they bought a house in the Northeast Heights in Albuquerque right after the wedding” (26). The “gabacha,” translated as frog (Larousse 248), is probably some derogative slang for the Anglo woman Rubén married. However, in any case, after she leaves him, Rubén does not marry Esperanza but reunites with her for sex, cash and free rides to his sweat lodges. His contemptuous treatment of her is infuriating and her acceptance of this kind of treatment is baffling, but no one in the community reproaches either Esperanza or Rubén out for their actions.

Memo impregnates and marries his high school sweetheart, Caridad, but then cheats on her with his ex-girlfriend, Domitila of Belen, within two weeks of doing so. Rather than letting either woman go, he sleeps with both of them, refusing to commit to either woman. He finally dumps them both to join the Marines (26-27)

Tom waits until practically the last minute to call off his marriage to Fe, writing her a Dear Jane letter after she has had herself and her three bridesmaids fitted for their gowns and spent hundreds to thousands of dollars in preparation for their wedding. All he and his family can offer is his excuses and justifications. He ends up still living with his mother and filled with regret, “Not even in the dreams he used to have about Fe after crying himself to sleep on most Saturday nights, after a double shift at the store and a few whiskeys at a poker game with friends would Fe ever be his again” (173). However, never does it occur to him to apologize, make amends or try to get her back.

The inherent inability of the Hispanic men in So Far From God to commit to their women is so pandemic and accepted that the community named it as “susto,” which translates as fright (Larousse 495). They seek out “curanderas“ which translates as quacks (Larousse 149), but are portrayed as healers or medicine women to cure them. However, the community refuses to make it clear that this type of behavior won’t be tolerated. Strong marriages and stable families are what make a community strong. The fact that the community enables this kind of behavior by accepting it as its own version of “boys will be boys” is what contributes to their own marginalization.

Works Cited

Castillo, Anna. So Far From God. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.

Larousse Concise Dictionary. Spanish-English/English-Spanish
Third Edition, Paris France. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.