not born there. Historical context In the 1920s, Venezuela was under the dictatorial regime of Juan Vicente Gómez. His rule saw wealth from oil discovered in the early twentieth century, and he used it to develop modern infrastructure and end the era of caudillismo, fully and completely uniting the country for the first time. However his rule was also brutal and corrupt. Plot summary Santos Luzardo, a graduate lawyer of the Central University of Venezuela, returns to his father's land in the plains of Apure to sell the land but desists when he discovers that it is controlled by a despotic woman, Doña Bárbara, also known as the men's devourer; it is said that she uses seduction and pacts with demonic spirits to satisfy her whims and achieve power. Santos Luzardo meets his cousin Lorenzo Barquero and discovers that he was a victim of the femme fatale, who left him bankrupt and a daughter, Marisela, whom she abandoned and who became quickly a vagrant. Lorenzo lives in poverty in a miserable house consumed by his own constant drunkenness. Doña Bárbara falls in love with Santos Luzardo and, through an internal struggle, comes to abandon her evil ways. Luzardo, however, is charmed by Marisela, no longer living in abandonment and taken under Luzardo's care. The novel ends with the “defeat” of Doña Bárbara, who is able to obtain neither the land nor Luzardo's heart, and finally departs to an unknown location. Characters Santos Luzardo: represents civilization and progress. He is an advanced plainsman and, at the same time, a graduate lawyer of the Central University of Venezuela. Luzardo is a man of great psychological depth and essentially good. Doña Bárbara Guaimarán: representing barbarism, is Luzardo's antithesis; she is arbitrary, violent, manipulative, cunning and whimsical. However, in her there is not an absolute absence of feelings, which are intensely awakened by Santos Luzardo. Her contradictory manners reflect the wild behavior of her environment. Her behaviour is a reaction to the trauma she suffered in her childhood, victim of high levels of abuse. Marisela: represents good raw material that civilization can mold. Born from a loveless union she is rescued from a degraded condition by Luzardo. Lorenzo Barquero: Orphan whose future was destroyed by misfortune and vice. Míster Danger: represents the contempt foreigners harbor toward Venezuelans. He is Doña Bárbara's accomplice. Juan Primito: represents superstition and the pagan beliefs of the plainsmen. Adaptations