Almanac of the Dead 985teners to practice social relations that are conducive
to the well-being of the individual and community.
The trickster-like sadism of the sangre pura
(purebloods) in Almanac of the Dead is ludicrous
and disturbing. Aristocrats traffic in “entertainment”
videos of torture, castration, and dismemberment
while they work with an international collaboration
planning the end of the world. In an ironic futuristic
version of Noah’s ark from the Christian recreation
story, the elite will hover over the decimated planet
in Alternative Earth Units stocked with the last
of the clean soil, water, and air, while the rest of
humanity dies off from starvation and diseases such
as AIDS. The collaboration has developed the HIV
“designer virus” to wipe out target groups: the poor,
the nonwhite, the addicted, and the homosexual.
Ironically, the “purebloods” classify themselves as
belonging to the “clean,” no matter the extent to
which they use drugs, engage in perverse sexual
activities, or take part in the exploitation or extermi-
nation of other life.
Another example of the violent trickster humor
is the death of David, a photographer. When
Serlo, Beaufrey’s companion, shows David photo-
graphic proof sheets of the dismemberment of a
cadaver that Serlo claims is David’s baby son, the
distraught David rides his horse to its death, and his
own. Upon reaching David’s corpse, the demonic
Beaufrey grins and orders a servant to bring him
a camera. Ironically, David had earlier capitalized
in a similar way, his big artistic breakthrough com-
ing from the bloody suicide photos of his ex-lover,
Eric. Now, thinks Beaufrey, the Eric series will
appreciate in value and, by association, the pictures
of David’s corpse will also fetch a good price. Silko
has prepared us for this artistic-aristocratic atrocity
by already having painted Beaufrey as an ultra-elitist
who is emotionally removed from humanity. Even
when he was a child, others did not exist for Beau-
frey. Such complete self-absorption is dangerous and
acutely like that of the greedy and selfish trickster,
who commits heinous acts to fulfill his desires.
Silko’s satire warns her readers about social
perversities that those who have been abused or
neglected as children can wreak as adults. Those
damaged in childhood include a number of her
characters. Through their trickster-like perversions,
Silko imaginatively posits for the reader a future
society in which community has ceased to function
for the common good. Especially by failing to pro-
tect and preserve the children, the corrupt adults are
eradicating the future of humanity. However, since
in the novel this social nullification culminates in
the future, Silko’s readers still have the opportunity
to prevent current life-denying pornographic con-
sumer trends and antisocial behavior from becoming
a consuming reality.
Some of the social justice actions in the novel
are told with much lighter humor, though they also
have completely serious consequences. The Mexican
baseball league offers fun and exercise while serving
as a front for the gatherings of Marxist revolutionar-
ies. Through the blindness of their evangelical zeal,
which has led them for centuries to underestimate
native intellect and ingenuity, the priests and mis-
sionaries are fooled by the indigenous men’s enthu-
siasm for baseball. Foreign governments want to
become friends of these Indians because indigenous
peoples throughout the world are threatening and
actually overthrowing colonial governments. Multi-
national corporations are hence persuaded to donate
minivans, baseball uniforms, and cases of dynamite
to the league. The players say the dynamite is for
clearing new baseball diamonds, but they really want
it for revolutionary actions. The Indian people capi-
talize on colonialist fear, but they do so for the good
of the community, not with an exploitive idea of
gain for a few individuals, as do the class-oriented,
destructive European Mexicans and Americans in
the novel.
Toward the end of Almanac, another, lighter
comic segment that speaks to real social justice
concerns is the International Holistic Healers Con-
vention. In a carnival-like atmosphere, hucksters,
hustlers, and genuine healers and visionaries from all
classes and ethnic backgrounds gather. This comic
segment, like many scenes in the novel, indicates
that Silko is concerned with the realization of a
common humanity for collective survival.
Elizabeth McNeilJuStIce in Almanac of the Dead
The theme of justice in Leslie Marmon Silko’s
second novel, Almanac of the Dead, is presented