Essay Questions

What is the significance of ice cream in this text?

Firstly, ice cream is a key aspect of the plot and narrative. One day César and his father go out to buy an ice cream. When César licks the ice cream, he hates the taste, finding it bitter. It is not long before his father realizes that the ice cream had been poisoned. César father becomes involved in a fight with the ice cream vendor and ends up killing him. César's father is then imprisoned, which impacts their family life dramatically. It is interesting that such a mundane item drives the plot forward.

Due to this traumatic experience, ice cream becomes César's worst nightmare. Later in the text, the ice cream vendor's wife kidnaps César and throws him into a big barrel of ice cream, making his nightmare become a reality. As such, the ice cream comes to symbolize fear, trauma and distress. This is significant, considering that ice cream is usually a happy part of childhood.

How is César's loneliness explored in the text?

César is frightened and traumatized as a result of his experiences. He is introverted, and struggles to speak about his feelings to family, friends or teachers. His father is presented as violent and aggressive, while his mother does not put his best interests at heart, which makes him feel isolated and distant from his own family.

César describes himself as being like a "lost doll, discarded, without a girl." Here we see that he feels lost, lonely and abandoned. His parents are supposed to perform the role of being his "girl" in the sense that they are supposed to look after him. However, they do not consider his interests, and as a result he feels isolated and lost.