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But that‘s the way they are and we should respect them. Being that way has helped them to live in harmony with their forests for hundreds of
years. Though we don‘t understand their beliefs and some of their customs offend us, we have no right to kill them off Llosa, 1989: 26.
Saúl thought no matter how cruel their culture might be, others should not
destroy them for any reasons. They had lived peacefully in that way although it was considered as illogical and immoral by outsiders.
Up to this point, the conflict is about the different ideas between Saúl and the narrator about preserving natives‘ culture or supporting the development. Saúl
strongly refused the development reaching the rural areas. No matter how the narrator attacked Saúl by showing illogical and immoral things happening in the
tribes, Saúl still insisted on giving his hands for the natives.
2. The Conflicts Related to The Narrator’s Experience Encountering Indian
Community
The earliest conflicts deal with Saúl‘s transformation into a figure with altruism to the natives‘ sake. The transformation somehow reveals that there were
different argument between the narrator and Saúl related to development for the rest of Peruvian people versus traditionalism undergone by the natives. The
narrator feeling curious about Saúl‘s transformation suspected that it was due to his experience encountering with the Indians that led him into such kind of
person. However, there was finally a chance for the narrator to experience that
Saúl had undergone. It was described when in 1958 the narrator finally had his own chance to visit the Indian settlements. It was due to an expedition conducted
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by Summer Institute of Linguistics that he finally could step on ground where the Peruvian natives dwelled. Different from Saúl who visited the Machiguengas, the
narrator visited Aguarunas, Huambisas, and Shapras communities. This visit made him experience by himself, being around the natives with their wildlife. Besides,
he finally understood what Saúl had ever explained about the destruction brought by the development to the lives of the natives Llosa, 1989: 70-73.
a. The Narrator’s Conflicts with Himself Related to the Narrator’s
Experience
The experience encountering with the natives somehow made the narrator realize why Saúl transformed into altruistic figure to the natives. However, the
narrator precisely contemplated differently the things he experienced about the natives culture. It was true that he saw, little by little, the natives‘ cultures were
going down. But he thought that it was impossible to avoid the natives‘ culture from being influenced by the development brought by the whites and mestizos
since it had already been contaminated. He then again questioned himself why Saúl could argue in that extreme way related to the natives‘ rights.
Thanks to this expedition, I was better able to understand Mascarita‘s fascination with this region and these people, to get some idea of the
forcefulness of the impact that changed the course of his life. But, besides that, it gave me firsthand experience that enabled me to justify many of the
differences of opinion which, more out of instinct than out of real knowledge, I had had with Saúl over Amazonian cultures. Why did he
cling they were, their way of life just as it was? To begin with, it wasn‘t possible. All of them, some more slowly, other more rapidly, were being
contaminated by Western and mestizo influences Llosa, 1989: 73. The narrator seemed to feel that he was right about the impossibility to let
the natives remained in traditional ways while Peru always grew up. Along with
