Short Fiction · Chapter
The Proem explained
The proem introduces the setting of Coralio in the fictional republic of Anchuria, where President Miraflores died by suicide after fleeing with government funds and the American opera singer Isabel Guilbert.
What happens
The proem introduces the setting of Coralio in the fictional republic of Anchuria, where President Miraflores died by suicide after fleeing with government funds and the American opera singer Isabel Guilbert. Isabel subsequently married Frank Goodwin, an American businessman. The chapter hints at deeper threads behind these events, involving mystery, romance, and the modern adventurers who now populate the coast.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The surface story of Miraflores's death and Isabel's marriage hides deeper, more complex threads that the narrator promises to uncover.
Love and Romance
Isabel Guilbert's romantic entanglements with President Miraflores and later Frank Goodwin drive the narrative.
Social Class and Wealth
The stolen government funds, the wealth of Frank Goodwin, and the social standing of Isabel as Señora Goodwin highlight class and economic themes.
Characters to notice
- Señor Goodwin
Frank Goodwin, an American investor and banana king, who married Isabel Guilbert after the president's death.
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator sets the scene and hints at underlying stories to be revealed.
Key passages
“They will tell you in Anchuria, that President Miraflores, of that volatile republic, died by his own hand in the coast town of Coralio; that he had reached thus far in flight from the inconveniences of an imminent revolution; and that one hundred thousand dollars, government funds, which he carried with him in an American leather valise as a souvenir of his tempestuous administration, was never afterward recovered.”
Locals say President Miraflores shot himself in Coralio while fleeing a revolution, and the $100,000 he took from the treasury was never found.
Sets up the central mystery of the missing funds and the president's death.
“It is characteristic of this buoyant people that they pursue no man beyond the grave. “Let God be his judge!”—Even with the hundred thousand unfound, though greatly coveted, the hue and cry went no further than that.”
The locals are forgiving and don't chase a man after death, even for the lost money.
Highlights the cultural attitude of letting divine judgment suffice.
“For there are yet tales of the Spanish Main. That segment of continent washed by the tempestuous Caribbean, and presenting to the sea a formidable border of tropical jungle topped by the overweening Cordilleras, is still begirt by mystery and romance.”
The Caribbean coast still holds stories of mystery and adventure, with its jungles and mountains.
Establishes the romantic, adventurous tone of the setting.