Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Capital of the World” focuses on people’s illusions and disillusionment. To understand the illusions and disillusionment described in the story, one need only study the characters.
Paco-A Life of Dreams and Illusions
The narrator introduces Paco with a joke: “about a father who came to Madrid and inserted an advertisement in the personal columns of El Liberal which said: PACO MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY ALL IS FORGIVEN PAPA.” The punch line of the joke reveals, “the police had to disperse the eight hundred young men who answered the advertisement.” This joke places him in the position of everyman. However, Paco is a naïve everyman. He is the only character in the story whose illusions remain intact.
Paco is a waiter at the motel Luarca. He got the job through his two sisters who work there. The village where Paco and his sisters are from is poor and primitive. Paco is a handsome boy who works hard and loves his sisters, Madrid, and his work which all seem sophisticated and romantic to him. However, Paco has no intention of remaining a waiter, he is fascinated by the bullfighters and wants to become one of them.
Employees of Motel Luarca
There are five employees that the narrator describes as working at the Motel Luarca in addition to our protagonist, Paco.
Tall Waiter
The tall waiter is a revolutionary. He complains about the priesthood and the bullfighters. He claims that they are barbarians and hold Spain back. He wants solidarity of workers and is anxious to leave work and attend the Anarcho-Syndicalist meeting.
The tall waiter is full of his illusions. He believes that change can happen if revolutionaries force the issue.
Old Waiter
The old waiter has worked his entire life and believes that to work is the natural state of things. When Paco is faced with the discrepancy between the two men the narrator reveals that Paco wants the world. He wants “to be a good Catholic, a revolutionary, and have a steady job like this, while, at the same time, being a bullfighter.”
The old waiter is disillusioned. He knows that life is work. However rather than his disillusionment leading to bitterness, it leads to a peaceful acceptance.
Dishwasher
The dishwasher, Enrique, is a projection of what Paco might become in the future. He is three years older than Paco, disillusioned, and bitter. He is contemptuous of Paco and his dreams of becoming a matador. He shows Paco his elegant matador moves and claims that fear is what keeps him, Paco, and all the bootblacks in Spain from being bullfighters. He decides to reveal Paco’s fear by pretending to be the bull with knives strapped to a chair and held to his for the horns.
The mock fight between Enrique and Paco ends in Paco’s death.
Paco’s Sisters
Paco’s sisters are both hardworking chambermaids at the Luarca. They fight off the advances of the hotel clientele who wish to bed them. They go to see a Greta Garbo film the night Paco dies and are disappointed by the great star in low and miserable surroundings, which probably resemble their own.
Owner of Motel Luarca
The owner of the motel has no illusions about the world she lives in. She seeks her easy comforts. She is a fat widow who is clean and honest. She is also very religious and continues to pray for her husband who has been dead for twenty years. Perhaps she still maintains her some illusions from youth – those of a husband worth praying for. However, the reader has no way of knowing.
Bullfighters
There are six bullfighters staying at the Luarca. They represent the range of men who will work a bull in the ring.
Three Full Matadors
One is a coward, one is ill, and one has become unfashionable.
The coward was once brave and skillful until he received a particularly bad horn wound. The wound he received causes him not only to lose his nerve in the ring but makes him susceptible to losing his nerve with women.
The sick matador tries to deny his illness and keep up appearances but he fails.
The third matador is a serious man whose most interesting trait was his diminutive stature but his old-fashioned style has caused people to lose interest in him. He is a serious man and after imbibing alcohol with his meal at the Luarca, he switches to coffee and milk.
Two Picadors
There are two picadors staying at Luarca. A picador is a horseman whose job is to prepare the bull for the matador. He does this by jabbing to bull with a lance.
One of the picadors is a heavy drinker and likes to wear cattlemen’s boots. He spends much of his time staring at women and if he can’t stare at women, he stared at foreigners. In the end, he picks up a prostitute that cowardly matador had been buying drinks for.
The second picador is a good-looking dark-haired man who is reputed to be quarrelsome. After the evening meal, he plays billiards.
Banderlillero
There is also a banderillero at Luarca. A banderillero places small barbed flags in the bull’s shoulders. Unlike the picador who is on horseback, the banderillero does his work on foot. The narrator describes the banderillero as looking like fairly prosperous gray-haired businessman. He has retained his foot speed despite the fact that he has reached middle age.
Non-Bullfighting Guests
There are three non-bullfighting guests at the Luarca.
Auctioneer
The Auctioneer sold watches at fairs around the country and is an alcoholic.
Priests
The priests are reserved and while they drink, they are careful to remain sober. At mealtime they discuss the politics of the church. After their meal the priests return to their own rooms, where one reads the breviary and the other says his rosary.
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