VLVL Hector & Zoyd

[jbor]

on 22/8/03 9:33 PM, Terrance wrote:

> Hector code switches to his native tongue when he is
> excited

It's more often an affectation I think. He never reverts completely to
Spanish, merely throws in the odd interjection or phrase. The fact that a
couple of times the longer or less familiar Spanish utterances are
immediately translated into English for the listener's benefit supports the
idea that he is putting it on for effect (cf. the "Ricardo Montalban
impersonation" also.) It's not as though he drops into Spanish spontaneously
when he is beginning to lose his temper; in fact, when he does get angry he
hardly does it at all.

There can be many different reasons why bilingual speakers code switch;
sometimes and with some speakers it might be volitional, sometimes not. I
think in Hector's case it's a deliberate affectation, even the comically
frantic "*¡Madre de Dios!*" exit.

> His calling out to the Mother, and the Mother Of
> God, is ironically and humorously contrasted with his teasing Zoyd about
> the possibility of his having converted (Latter Day Saint) and
> discovered his spirituality.

Yes, I got the sense from the conversation where Hector tells Zoyd "maybe
you should even be thinkín about your spirit" (32.3) that Hector had in fact
undergone some sort of religious conversion or reconciliation in the years
since he first knew Zoyd.

I'm not sure if we ever find out details about how old, what religion, what
generation etc Hector is. I get the impression that he's somewhat older than
Zoyd, but so far have nothing concrete to base this on except for the fact
that he was already a detective when he first met up with Zoyd, who at that
time doesn't seem to have been all that long out of college.

best