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Francis
Howard Doyle is the patriarch of the Doyle family. He’s hundreds of years old; the fungus underneath High Place helped him achieve immortality through cannibalism, sacrifice, and slaughter. The first European to discover the fungus in Mexico, Howard killed the indigenous people living there and harvested the resource for himself. He then founded his family’s silver mine, treating the indigenous workers brutally and knowingly infecting them with the fungus, which made them deathly ill. He justifies his actions with the pseudoscience of eugenics—which argues that certain races are inferior to others—and with his sexist belief that women’s primary duty is birthing and raising children. Howard embodies the greed and oppressive ideologies that fueled colonialism; accordingly, High Place and the surrounding El Triunfo is in many ways a colony in miniature. Howard’s immortality allows for these hateful ideologies to persist through generations, and Noemí’s eventual triumph over him signifies a needed change in the social order of Mexico—one where the colonized have overtaken the colonizers.
Howard Doyle Quotes in Mexican Gothic
The Mexican Gothic quotes below are all either spoken by Howard Doyle or refer to Howard Doyle. 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:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You’ll see it. It’s all very English. Um, that’s what Uncle Howard wanted, a little piece of England. He even brought European earth here.”
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Chapter 3
Quotes
“What are your thoughts on the intermingling of superior and inferior types?” he asked, ignoring her discomfort.
Noemi felt the eyes of all the family members on her. Her presence was a novelty and an alteration to their patterns. An organism introduced into a sterile environment. They waited to hear what she revealed and to analyze her words. Well, let them see that she could keep her cool.
Chapter 7
Quotes
“These are my wives,” Howard said. “Agnes passed away shortly after our arrival to this region[…] It was a long time ago. But she has not been forgotten. Her spirit lives on in High Place. And there, the one on the right, that is my second wife. Alice. She was fruitful. A woman’s function is to preserve the family line. The children, well, Virgil is the only one left, but she did her duty and she did it well.”
Chapter 25
Quotes
He would die, he would slide into a new body, and Francis would cease to exist. A demented cycle. Children devoured as babes, children devoured as adults. Children are but food. Food for a cruel god.
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Howard Doyle Quotes in Mexican Gothic
The Mexican Gothic quotes below are all either spoken by Howard Doyle or refer to Howard Doyle. 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:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You’ll see it. It’s all very English. Um, that’s what Uncle Howard wanted, a little piece of England. He even brought European earth here.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3
Quotes
“What are your thoughts on the intermingling of superior and inferior types?” he asked, ignoring her discomfort.
Noemi felt the eyes of all the family members on her. Her presence was a novelty and an alteration to their patterns. An organism introduced into a sterile environment. They waited to hear what she revealed and to analyze her words. Well, let them see that she could keep her cool.
Chapter 7
Quotes
“These are my wives,” Howard said. “Agnes passed away shortly after our arrival to this region[…] It was a long time ago. But she has not been forgotten. Her spirit lives on in High Place. And there, the one on the right, that is my second wife. Alice. She was fruitful. A woman’s function is to preserve the family line. The children, well, Virgil is the only one left, but she did her duty and she did it well.”
Chapter 25
Quotes
He would die, he would slide into a new body, and Francis would cease to exist. A demented cycle. Children devoured as babes, children devoured as adults. Children are but food. Food for a cruel god.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
