[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-143879-en":3,"doc-seo-143879-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},143879,1099514067438,"River Wang","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002539ee87300030?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1780474512215547542",2,"Literature","The President - Part I - Chapter I - In the Cathedral Porch","The President presents a stark, atmospheric opening set around April 21st to 23rd, following the life of city beggars gathered in the Cathedral Porch. Nightfall brings a chaotic sleep marked by distrust, hunger, and violent quarrels, while vivid sensory details and recurring cries—especially an idiot’s haunting wail calling for “mother”—shape the scene. Police and social order hover in the background, contrasted with poverty, cruelty, and fragile, disturbing moments of human emotion.","The President  \nThe President  \nMiguel Angel Asturias  \nTranslated from the Spanish by Frances Partridge  \nWAVElAND  \nPRESS, INC.  \nLong Grove, ilinois  \nFor information about this book, contact:  \nWaveland Press, Inc.  \n4180 IL Route 83, Suite 101 Long Grove, IL 60047-9580 (847) 634-0081 [info@waveland.com](info@waveland.com)[ ](info@waveland.com)[ww](ww waveland.com)[ waveland.com](ww waveland.com)  \nCopyright © 1963 by Victor Gollancz, Ltd.  \nReissued 1997 by Waveland Press, Inc. under arrangement with Victor Gollancz, Ltd., London. All rights reserved. Originally published in Spanish under the title EI Senor Presidente in Mexico in 1946.  \nlO-digit ISBN 0-88133-951-2  \n13-digit ISBN 978-0-88133-951-2  \nAll rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writingfrom the publisher.  \nPrinted in the United States of America 17 16 15 14  \nPART I  \nThe 21St, 22nd and 23rd of April  \nCHAPTER I  \nIn the Cathedral Porch  \n\"BOOM, bloom, alum-bright, Lucifer of alunite!\" The sound of the church bells summoning people to prayer lingered on, like a humming in the ears, an uneasy transition from brightness to gloom, from gloom to brightness. \"Boom, bloom, alum-bright, Lucifer of alunite, over the sombre tomb! Bloom, alum-bright, over the tomb, Lucifer of alunite! Boom, boom, alum-bright .. . bloom ...alum-bright ...bloom, alum-bright ...bloom, boom.\"  \nIn the frozen shadow of the cathedral, the beggars were shuffling past the market eating-houses as they made their way through the ocean-wide streets to the Plaza de Armas, leaving the deserted city behind them.  \nNightfall assembled them, as it did the stars. With nothing in common but their destitution, they mustered to sleep together in the Porch of Our Lord, cursing, insulting and jostling each other, picking quarrels with old enemies, or throwing earth and rubbish, even rolling on the ground and spitting and biting with rage.This confraternity of the dunghill had never known pillows or mutual trust. They lay down in all their clothes at a distance from one another, and slept like thieves, with their heads on the bags containing their worldly goods : left-over scraps of meat, worn-out shoes, candle-ends, handfuls of cooked rice wrapped in old newspapers, oranges and rotten bananas.  \nThey could be seen sitting on the steps of the Porch with their faces to the wall, counting their money, biting the nickel coins to see if they were false, talking to themselves, inspecting their stores of food and ammunition (for they went out into the streets fully armed with stones and scapularies) and stuffing themselves secretly on crusts of dry bread. They had never been known to help each other; like all beggars they were miserly with their scraps, and would rather give them to the dogs than to their companions in misfortune.  \nHaving satisfied their hunger and tied up their money with  \nseven knots in handkerchiefs fastened to their belts, they threw themselves on the ground and sank into sad, agitated dreams nightmares in which they saw famished pigs, thin women, maimed dogs and carriage wheels passing before their eyes, or a funeral procession of phantom monks going into the cathedral preceded by a sliver of moon carried on a cross made of frozen shin-bones. Sometimes they would be woken from their deepest dreams by the cries of an idiot who had lost his way in the Plaza de Armas ; or sometimes by the sobs of a blind woman dreaming that she was covered in flies and suspended from a hook like a piece of meat ina butcher's shop. Or sometimes by the tramp of ZI. patrol, be labouring a political prisoner as they dragged him along, while women followed wiping away the blood-stains with handkerchiefs soaked in tears. Sometimes by the snores of a scabby valetudinarian, or the heavy breathing of a pregnant deaf-mute, weeping with fear of the child she felt in her womb. But the idiot's cry was the sadde","cbCaijyB0pHzjT6J","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijyB0pHzjT6J","pdf",8008085,1,290,"English","en",105,"# Part I: The 21st, 22nd and 23rd of April\n## Chapter I: In the Cathedral Porch","[{\"question\":\"Part I and the date range in this section indicate what time frame?\",\"answer\":\"The section is labeled Part I and covers the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of April, establishing the narrative’s specific time span.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the Cathedral Porch used for by the beggars at night?\",\"answer\":\"The beggars sleep together in the Porch of Our Lord, enduring hunger, insults, and restless dreams while remaining suspicious of one another.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the idiot’s cry for “mother” stand out in the narrative?\",\"answer\":\"The repeated, long-drawn-out wail tears the sky and becomes the saddest sound, drawing strong reactions and emotional waves among the group.\"}]","The President - Part I - Chapter I - In the Cathedral Porch | PDF",1787697095,447,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"the-president-part-i-chapter-i-in-the-cathedral-porch","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-president-part-i-chapter-i-in-the-cathedral-porch/143879/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-03","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Part I and the date range in this section indicate what time frame?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"The section is labeled Part I and covers the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of April, establishing the narrative’s specific time span.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What is the Cathedral Porch used for by the beggars at night?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"The beggars sleep together in the Porch of Our Lord, enduring hunger, insults, and restless dreams while remaining suspicious of one another.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Why does the idiot’s cry for “mother” stand out in the narrative?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The repeated, long-drawn-out wail tears the sky and becomes the saddest sound, drawing strong reactions and emotional waves among the group.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,114,119,124,129,132,136],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]