Bel Canto

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Bel Canto

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• Patachett, Ann. Run (2007)
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• Rosner, Elizabeth. Speed of Light (2001)
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• Plotkin, Fred. Opera 101 (1994)
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Major Character List

Bel Canto

HOSTAGES

• Katsumi Hosokawa: Founder and CEO of Nansei--the largest electronics corporation in Japan. Hosokawa is being honored at the Vice President’s home in an unnamed South American country. Officials are hoping that he will agree to build an electronics plant there. Hosokawa’s sole intention, however, is to hear his favorite singer perform.
• Roxane Coss: World-renowned soprano opera singer. She performs at Mr. Hosokawa’s party and becomes the sole female hostage held at the home of Vice President Ruben Iglesias.
• The accompanist (Christopf): Piano player for Roxane Coss who accompanies her at Hosokawa’s party. He is the first hostage to die when he encounters problems with his diabetic condition and is unable to obtain insulin.
• Simon Thibault: French ambassador who attends the party with his wife, Edith. He is the first to understand the severity of the situation when the lights suddenly go out following Roxane Coss’s last song.
• Ruben Iglesias: Vice President in whose home the party is being held. He is a husband and father of three. Iglesias suffers a face injury and needs stitches when one of the terrorists hits him with the butt of his rifle.
• Gen Watanabe: Works for and travels with Mr. Hosokawa as his intelligent and respected translator. Because Gen knows many languages, the hostages and terrorists depend on him to assist with communication. Gen develops a romantic interest in Carmen when he becomes her tutor.
• Tetsiya Kato: Senior Vice President of Nansei and a co-worker of Mr. Hosokawa. He is a talented pianist and becomes Roxane Coss’s accompanist for her practice sessions at the house.
• Victor Fyodorov: A Muscovite who attended the party. He declares his love to Roxane Coss through Gen, the translator.
• Father Arguedas: A Catholic priest and lover of music and opera. He requests to stay behind with the other hostages even when he has a chance to be released early on with the women and children.
• Oscar Mendoza: A contractor who had planned on bidding to build the factory that he had hoped Mr. Hosokawa would agree to develop.

TERRORISTS

• La Familia de Martin Suarez: A group of terrorists who break into the home of Vice President Iglesias during Mr. Hosokawa’s party and make hostages of the party-goers. Their leaders are the Generals: Benjamin, Alfredo and Hector.
• Carmen: Initially thought to be male, she is a young woman who works for the terrorists. She develops a bond with Roxane and with Gen, who becomes her language tutor and love interest. At great risk, she sneaks Mr. Hosokawa into Roxane’s room one night.
• Cesar: A young boy with a talent for singing who works for the terrorists. When Roxane hears him performing one morning, he is embarrassed and flees to a tree in the yard. Soon after, she becomes his mentor.
• Ishmael: An orphan boy whose uncle had enlisted him to the terrorist cause just a few months before the attack. He is often teased by the others because of his small size. Ishmael learns chess by observing games between Mr. Hosokawa and General Benjamin. Ruben Iglesias plans to adopt him when they are freed.

OTHER CHARACTERS

• Joachim Messner: A messenger from the International Red Cross. He is vacationing in the unnamed country when he learns of the hostage situation. Messner acts as a liaison for the government and attempts to encourage a negotiation with the terrorists.
• President Masuda: President of the unnamed South American country. Terrorists infiltrate the Vice President’s house with plans of capturing him. He was supposed to attend Hosokawa’s party but instead stayed home to watch his favorite TV program.
• Esmeralda: Governess to Vice President Iglesias’s three children. She stitches Ruben Iglesias’s cut before she is freed.

Discussion Questions

Bel Canto

1. Early in the novel, Mr. Hosokawa is described as “a loyal man.” (p.5)
   To whom or what is Mr. Hosokawa most loyal? Do his loyalties change during the course of the novel?
2. Even though he was little more than a stranger to them, the death of Roxane’s first accompanist is keenly felt among the hostages. (p.92) Why is this so?
   What is the significance, if any, of the reader not learning the name of the accompanist until after his death?
3. Why does Father Arguedas stay behind even when given the chance to be free? (p.66) What impact does he, as a religious leader, have on the hostages? The terrorists?
4. As the hostage situation progresses, Ruben Iglesias goes from being a wealthy dignitary to playing the role of a servant in his own home. Discuss this change in the Vice President as well as other character transformations experienced by the hostages and terrorists.
5. The unifying power of music is a major theme in Bel Canto. During one of Roxane’s practices, we are told that “she sang as if she was saving the life of every person in the room.” (p. 201). Do you feel that music is essential to their survival? Why or why not?
6. “Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it.” (p. 218) How is music experienced differently among the musicians and those who listen to the music?
7. Explain why, for Carmen, the time spent in the house was “…the happiest time in her life and it was because of the music.” (p. 156)
8. Since the people in the house are from different countries, they are forced to overcome language barriers in order to communicate or to rely on Gen to translate. In what other ways do they communicate?
9. At what point do the lines between captor and captive, hostage and terrorist, begin to blur? When do you first notice relationships developing between the two groups? Who or what is responsible for bridging the divide between them?
10. When Fyodorov declares his love for Roxane, he does not expect his love to be reciprocated. He sees it instead as his gift to her. He tells Roxane, “When you think of love, you think as an American. You must think like a Russian. It is a more expansive view.” (p. 221)
    What are the different ways love is expressed in the novel? Do you think people of different nationalities experience love differently?
11. There are two significant romantic love interests in this novel: Roxane & Mr. Hosokawa and Carmen & Gen. How are these two relationships similar? In what ways do they differ?
12. What does Messer mean when he tells Gen towards the end of the novel, “You were the brightest one here once, and now you’re as crazy as the rest of them.”? (p. 303) Why does Messer feel differently about the situation than the hostages do?
13. With the exception of the epilogue, the entire story takes place at the Vice President’s house. Why does the author use this stagnant setting? What effect does it have on your perception of the passage of time in the house?
14. How do you feel about the ending? Does the relationship that we learn of at the end of the story seem like a logical one to have emerged given all that transpired at the house? How might you have chosen it to end it differently?