A Special Take on the Special Service

I really enjoyed our in class discussion on the reading of Captain Pantoja and the Special Service by Mario Vargas Llosa. In disecting the novel, a comedic telling of the strange adventures of Captain Pantoja as he attempts to establish a prostitution ring to satiate sexual desires of the armed forces in the seemingly aphrodisiac Amazon jungle, the question of whether or not the story contains mysogonistic underones was posed. I found this particularly interesting because during my reading of the novel this thought had not even occurred to me.

In many ways it is a perfectly logical conclusion to arrive at. The women in Captain Pantoja's life consist of a wife and a mother, both of which are hardly sympathetic characters, and the prostitutes, who, obviously, are there to serve a singular purpose. It is understandable that many of my classmates felt that Mario Vargas Llosa was writing from a misogynistic point of view.

It is difficult for me to explain why I disagreed with this take on the novel because my reasons are more subtle than they are concrete and revolve primarily around the way in which I interpreted the story. The first thought that came to mind was that if the story had been less misogynistic, it would have been unsuccessful. In any story that involves the prostitution of women has the potential to be interpreted as being degrading towards women if only due to the nature of the business and, frankly, there would be no story without prostitution. Then I considered the roles of the mother and wife figures. If they were made out to be sympathetic characters the story would have been completely different and could not have possibly been a comedy.

Consider the alternative plotline:

Army men have been raping women and in a misinformed attempt to control them, prostitution is implemented. All of this is, of course, fully condoned by the army officials, however the operation must be secret and Captain Pantoja is left responsible. He stuggles to keep the true nature of his work a secret from those he loves most and gives his life to serve the army only to discover that he is ulatmately left utterly alone.

Obviously, a storyline that is not mysogonistic would not convey the humor and light-hearted nature that makes this novel such an enjoyable read. To say that this story expressed mysogynisitc views is to avert one's focus from (what I believe) was the author's intentions.