History as a Source of Drama

will grow up in poverty. The youngest of five brothers had fallen ill, and his illness was so prolonged that the family money gave out buying medicines for the sick boy. When dessert was no longer served at table, the youngsters asked why, only to be told that there was no money. Shortly afterwards the brother died; things gradually returned to normal, and eventually dessert was served again. Overjoyed at the reappearance of their longed-for sweets, the children clapped their hands and shouted, iYa tenemos postre, ya tenemos postre! but their joy was short-lived, adds Pepe, for: Mi padre y mi madre se miraron tristemente ...; su mirada nos impuso silencio; un silencio angustioso... iParecia que en vez de postre nos comiamos al hermanitol (p. 396). This idea is exactly paralleled in a one-act play by the Venezuelan dramatist Leopoldo Ayala Michelena. In Ddnosle Hoy,2 Alfredo, an ex-convict just home from prison, unable to obtain employment, and with his two children crying for food, sends his son, Alfredito, out to pawn the last family heirloom, an ivory and gold crucifix, which Alfredo has actually stolen from his wife's aunt. On the way, the son is struck by an au omobile and killed, the crucifix still clutched in his hands as if in prayer. One of the neighbors enters to tell Alfredo that the accident was unavoidable and that the owner of the car has left a sum

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