The Green House

Main Characters and Their Development

• In «The Green House», Mario Vargas Llosa creates a gallery of complex, multifaceted characters, each woven into the dense fabric of Peruvian reality. Don Anselmo, the enigmatic owner of the brothel, appears as a figure in whom a passion for life and tragic doom are intertwined; his «Green House» becomes not only a place of vice but also a symbol of indomitable human will. Lalita, his daughter, journeys from innocence to bitter awakening—her fate reflecting the fragility and vulnerability of women in a harsh world. Fushia, a fugitive criminal, is a character whose adventurous spirit borders on madness, and his inner turmoil reveals the theme of loneliness and exile. Bonifacia, a former convent girl, becomes a victim of circumstance; her spiritual purity clashes with merciless reality, leading to a tragic transformation. Sergeant Lituma, a lawman, is drawn into a whirlwind of passions and crimes, his inner conflict between duty and compassion giving his character dramatic depth. Each of the novel’s characters develops against the backdrop of the clash between civilization and savagery, their destinies intertwining to form a complex pattern of human passions, hopes, and disappointments.