Theme in by Night in Chile

Robert Bolano is the writer of the novel "By Night in Chile" published in 2000. Urrutia is the narrator of the novel and entire novel is narrated in the first person. Starting lines of the novel are "I am dying now, but I still have many things to say," and from this point the novel starts describing how Urrutia was able to enter the Chilean literary world.

The narrator of the novel, Urrutia Lacroix used the image of "the wizened youth," for himself which showed how much he struggled with his conscience, during the time when he was trapped in Opus Dei. The narrator has described his life as distorted because of the struggle he made throughout his life.

Narrator has used different styles to engage the readers. At time it was simple, lofty, intense, and believable however on occasion the narrator used harsh and imposing style to describe the story. This novel has criticized the time Urrutia spent before and during Pinochet's regime.

By Night in Chile is a bravado performance by Bolano in which he had unwrapped and delivered each of the priest's clear and sometimes vague recollection.

The narrator keeps dodging the main issue by using in excess the words which add little or nothing to main idea of the story. Urrutia is trying to evade the moral implications of his own actions because he did not want to admit his relationship with the political actors of that time.

Church played a big role during Pinochet's regime. During that time, torture was used as a "state procedure" to obtain information and form an environment of dread for the prisoners as well as for the ones who knew them. People were tortured in different ways and some of them were suspending them from a ceiling or a wall, beating people, giving people electric shock and asking people to eat waste of animals and humans. Even women suffered from sexual violence and the whole time church was aware of this injustice being done and the conspiracy by Church was flagrant but nobody did anything. Around 3,000 people were killed under General Pinochet's regime.

The novel is an epitome of Urrutia's guilt and his deathbed confessions. Throughout the novel, he had tried to wipe out his guilt in order to get salvation but all the confessions seemed to be his half-hearted attempts to get one more chance to live the life of "the wizened youth."

Because he was a priest, Urrutia lived a life in which his only concern was to make it to the literary world as a famous poet and a critic. He recounts the time when he met Farewell, a famous and wealthy Chilean literary elite. From the beginning, Urrutia's intention was to get high status among the writers and poets of his time; his focus was never on serving God. When he met his friend Farwell, he was entranced by the wealth and luxury his friend had. At this point of the novel, Urrutia's contrasting nature is reflected. When he visited Farewell at his estate, he met Pablo Neruda, the greatest poet in Chilean's history and a lifelong Communist. He was in awe of Neruda. The next day, while he was strolling Farewell's property, he came across a boy and a girl who were naked and felt an overwhelming nausea. This showed Urrutia's inability to focus on mundane issues rather than on the moon and the stars, as explained By Neruda's poetry. He liked being in Neruda's company but he did not like to be in poor children's company. He did not even try to stop Farewell's sexual advances on him because he did not want to be in his bad books. This was a serious offense to the vow of chastity he took and also to the Church's strict teachings. To become a part of literary elite, he was prepared to forsake the callings of his own profession, to love others, to serve the poor, and to fight for justice and peace.

The novel represents Bolano's falcon/pigeon illustration. The scene where father Paul's falcon killed the dove, represents the Church's conspiracy with the cruel dictators, their deceit and their negligence in that era. Here, the falcon also represents the priest, who himself was a victim of Church's association with the dictators and their socialist agenda at the time. Also, the scene where children asked the priests about falcon killing the dove, is used as a symbol for the future where children will have to learn the brutal, adamant and cruel tactics used by the people before them.

During the novel, story of Allende, Chilean's first Marxist who was elected to become the President of a country rise to power and fall has also been narrated. The non-caring attitude of Chile's literary society especially Urrutia, towards the political turmoil during Allende's time, make up some of the best passages of the book. Urrutia did nothing to support or condemn the political actions being taken at that time, the torture being inflicted upon the masses, even when he was in a position of authority. He claimed that he was a patriot by nature, but instead of taking an active part in the political situation and turmoil in the country, since he was a priest and could influence others, he did nothing and stayed holed up in his library. Urrutia knew about the demonstrations that were being held in the country, riots on the roads, Chileans supporting Allende, the bombing in La Moneda etc. But he did not do anything and instead, was relieved when Allende committed suicide. This point in the novel also shows his cowardice and his sorry nature because he was under pressure from the political heads of his country and chose to remain passive in his influence.

In his confession, he also felt guilty for his actions during the time when the political revolution took the country by storm and the military dictatorship of Pinochet came into being. When he was drafted by the government officials to teach Augusto and his generals about principles of communism, he felt bad but this did not stop him from going ahead because he was told that he would be given powerful protection and other comforts if he followed their orders. This novel is a story of spineless literary society of Chile in the face of capitalist brutality. When Urrutia taught Augusto and his officers about Marta Harnecker, a famous Chilean sociologist, political scientist, journalist and activist, whose struggled to challenge capitalism in Latin America was vastly recognized even then, Pinochet's and his people made fun of her struggle but Urrutia did not say anything to them. This showed that evil can take various forms whether an unthinking action or blind patriotism or an intellectual being indifferent to the various on-goings around him.