The Time of the Hero

The Time of the Hero (Spanish: La Ciudad y los Perros, translated literally as The City and the Dogs) is a 1963 novel. It was the first novel published by Mario Vargas Llosa. It deals with a group of students in a military school in Lima, Perú; their relationships, their backgrounds, their lives in a school ruled by strict military rules.

The novel is noteworthy for experimenting with multiple perspectives and is required reading in Latin American countries.

Tropes used in The Time of the Hero include:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Circle.
• Anachronic Order
• Author Tract: Military rule promotes things like manliness, sexuality and courage but cripples other things like personal development.
• Biggus Dickus: The Boa.
• Black Comedy: Throughout the book.
• Butt Monkey: The Slave.
• Depraved Homosexual: Paulino.
• Determinator: The Jaguar.
• Five-Bad Band:
  • The Big Bad: The Jaguar.
  • The Dragon: The Boa.
  • The Evil Genius: Brigadier Arróspide.
  • The Brute: Curly.
  • The Dark Chick: Vallano.
  • The Lancer: Cava.
• Humiliation Conga: It happens to a lot of characters, usually not Played for Laughs.
• Initiation Ceremony: Happens when the boys enter the academy; the humiliating variety.
• In Medias Res
• In the Back: The Slave.
• Karma Houdini: The Jaguar goes unpunished even after he reveals the truth to Lt. Gamboa, because the case was already close.
• Military School
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The Poet, the Jaguar, the Slave, the Boa and others.
• Pick on Someone Your Own Size
• Prison Rape: In a military academy.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Lt. Gamboa is reassigned to Juliaca (for those who don’t know, it’s only a few miles from the Titicaca Lake, shared with Bolivia).
• The Reveal
• Sadist Teacher: Blended with Drill Sergeant Nasty.
• The Spartan Way
• The Stool Pigeon: The Slave, who only snitches because he wants to get out of the academy to see the girl he likes. After his death, Alberto decides to rat out the Circle.
• Teens Are Monsters
• Those Two Guys: Tico and Pluto.