"Masks"

 

Source: Flickr Commons

   The transvestite "Masks" that people wear play a very important part in the book, Red Havana. Transvestite, in this case, refers to metamorphosing into something or someone different.  From the moment Conde receives The Face and The Mask from Alberto Marquess, he begins to understand and figure out the case more easily. Although it isn't immediately present, the book revolves around the idea of masks, camouflage, and the effects the social and economic turmoil has had on perpetrating these fake identities.

     For example, when we first meet The Marquess, he puts on a mask of promiscuity, moral depravity, and eccentric homosexuality. As he begins to trust Conde, however, we see the mask start to slip off, as The Marquess relays more personal information about his life, his performances, and his downfall. We can see this on page 228, where The Marquess says "Ill make one more confession to you: I am self-sufficient, proud, an experimentalist, and ever since my twelfth birthday when I saw I was in love with my sisters boyfriend, I've known the only antidote was to frolic where with men, which I've been doing ever since. Because I'm that way, yesterday, today and tomorrow as the saying goes..." This attitude is in strong contrast to the "mask" that he usually carries, one that conveys arrogance and a sense of cheekiness with every sentence.

     Another example of a mask wearer could be Conde himself, as describes by The Marquess. "You're a surprising man, Mr Friendly Policeman. So much so that I think you are faking being a policeman. Its another sort of transvesting, isn't it?" He is referring to the mask that Conde carries, where he portrays himself as tough and to the point. We see this is not the case, as he is a passionate author and even enlists the help of The Marquess, someone he despised upon first meeting him.

    Even more examples of this idea can be found by many people, from Alexis and Faustino Arayán (pages 211-212), Captain Contreras (207-208), and even Salvador K (Pages 200-201).