A people crucified or the source of humanization: The marginal characters in Los ríos profundos by José María Arguedas

This article proposes that the marginal characters of Los ríos profundos, el Pongo, la opa, and the colonist at the hacienda de Patibamba, are the agents of the transformation of the social structure that confines some subjects to the condition of the exploited while it converts others to being the exploiters. In this sense, since the marginal characters question a social system that reproduces the hierarchy of its member, the article proposes that the life trajectory of those characters actualizes the way by which biblical stories present the resurrection of Jesus, that is to say, the fundamental affirmation of Christian faith according to which the resuscitated is previously crucified. In other words, the salvation of the world rests on those that are considered insignificant in the history of humanity.