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Father Olguin
Juan Reyes Fragua, who is only referred to by name once in the novel, is the man whom Abel murders at the end of “The Longhair.” During a ceremonial ritual, the albino man beats Abel with the body of a dead rooster. After the festivities end, Abel and the albino man drink together and have a conversation that the narration does not reveal. After this, they go outside together and Abel stabs the albino man to death, convinced that the man is his enemy. The omniscient narrator never provides the albino man’s perspective, only showing him through the eyes of people who consider him ugly and evil. The albino man’s true nature and motivations thus remain a mystery. Abel feels no remorse for killing him, since he is certain the albino man is his enemy, but this defense holds no weight in court and Abel is sentenced to prison time.
Juan Reyes Fragua/The Albino Man Quotes in House Made of Dawn
The House Made of Dawn quotes below are all either spoken by Juan Reyes Fragua/The Albino Man or refer to Juan Reyes Fragua/The Albino Man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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6. The Longhair, August 1 Quotes
And then they were ready, the two of them. They went out into the darkness and the rain. […] When they were midway between the river and the road, they stopped. […] All around was silence, save for the sound of the rain and the moan of the wind in the wires. Abel waited. The white man raised his arms, as if to embrace him, and came forward. But Abel had already taken hold of the knife, and he drew it. He leaned inside the white man’s arms and drove the blade up under the bones of the breast and across. […] [The white man] closed his hands upon Abel and drew him close.
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After the Festival of Porcingula, Abel and the albino man drink together at a bar and then walk into the night—and Abel then murders the albino man. The murder is narrated entirely externally, describing only the actions of the characters with no explicit insight into their thoughts or feelings. The clearest look at the characters’ motivation is the simple line, “And then they were ready.” This line suggests that Abel intends to kill the albino man before they leave the bar, and that the albino man, in some way, is prepared for that. The narration never allows the reader insight Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corpo
8. The Priest of the Sun, January 26 Quotes
When he had told his story once, simply, Abel refused to speak. […] That was good, for he should not have known what more to say. Word by word by word these men were disposing of him in language, their language, and they were making a bad job of it.
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When Abel is put on trial for killing the albino man, he finds himself unable and unwilling to navigate the court system. He views the murder he committed as a reasonable, justified act, but he can’t express that to the court. The values that prompted him to violence are Jemez values, while the court operates in English as an agent of colonialist bureaucracy. Abel’s belief that he only needs to tell his story once, “simply”, also echoes Tosamah’s sermon on the differing approaches to storytelling and language taken by white and Native American people. Abel uses words “simply” and straightforwardly Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum volu
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Juan Reyes Fragua/The Albino Man Character Timeline in House Made of Dawn
The timeline below shows where the character Juan Reyes Fragua/The Albino Man appears in House Made of Dawn. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
4. The Longhair, July 25
...the Middle on horseback, and Angela recognizes Abel among them. Another rider is a large albino man in dark glasses. The men compete to pull a rooster from where it is buried...
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The albino man grabs the rooster, and as he passes Angela, she is disgusted by his ugliness. Once...
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...Nicolás’s return from a missionary trip to Cuba, he hears that an albino child named Juan Reyes Fragua has been born in the village. Nicolás advises the parents to baptize the baby as...
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5. The Longhair, July 28
...he responds only with sadness. The old man walks out of the cornfield, leaving behind the albino man , who watches him from a hidden spot behind the stalks.
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6. The Longhair, August 1
...handful of young Navajo men who remain at a bar. At the bar, Abel and the albino man conduct a whispered conversation. Throughout the discussion, Abel smiles, and every so often the albino...
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The albino man pulls Abel close to him, holding him tight even as Abel tries to move away....
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8. The Priest of the Sun, January 26
...body betrayed him. He thinks of Angela, and of the trial he faced for killing the albino man . He’d had little interest in the trial, which he found “ceremonial, orderly, civilized.”
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...how to describe Abel’s actions, since he can’t understand Abel’s motivation. Abel admitted to killing the albino man and has not spoken since. He is disdainful of the discussions around him in court,...
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10. The Night Chanter, February 20
...“a real primitive sonuvabitch.” Tosamah marveled that Abel’s defense at the trial centered around accusing the albino man of being a shapeshifter. Tosamah believe Abel was influenced by Catholicism, which Tosamah condemns as...
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...going to get even with the “culebra”––a word for snake that he also applies to the albino man . Abel doesn’t return for 3 days, and an increasingly worried Ben cannot find him....
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