The Symbolism Of Names In Juan Pablo Villalobos Down The Rabbit Hole

In Juan Pablo Villalobos' novel, Down the Rabbit Hole, the main character, Tochtli, is growing up in a luxurious hideout that he shares with hit men, prostitutes, dealers and servants. He even has his own zoo, which his current fascination, Liberian Pigmy Hippopotamuses, revolves around. There is a lot of symbolism in this tale of innocence and secrets, including the names, the drugs themselves, the Alice in Wonderland theme, and the perspective from which the story is told.
First, the names that Villalobos chose for his characters play a huge role in the hidden background of the book. The names, all taken from Mexico's major native tongue of Nahuatl (the Aztecs spoke it), are all of animals...the narrator's name means Rabbit, his father's name means Rattlesnake, his tutor's name means Deer, and so on. They're all like gang nicknames, playing on the culture of nicknames that describe some major thing about a person. Rattlesnake? How can you not perceive a drug lord as a cold-blooded, dangerous, venomous critter? Rabbit? Scared, small, needs to be hidden away—suits our narrator's life to a T. Rattlesnakes eat rabbits. This is symbolic of how Yolcaut practically destroys his son mentally. He ruins his own view in his son's eyes such as on page 30 when Totchli says,"Gangs are not about lies. Gangs are

about solidarity, protection, and not hiding the truth from each other. At least thats what Yolcaut says, but he's a liar..." (Down the Rabbit Hole). The names of Villalobos' characters are all very symbolic.
The relation to drugs in the novel is also symbolic. Tochtli is in Mexico which is currently having a drug war with the different cartels and nations. His father, Yolcaut, is the leader of a new cartel, rising to power. I did some research on how drugs effect you and found that, "cocaine in particular [effects] the hippocampus..." (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). I wonder if this is why Tochtli has such a great obsession with the Liberian pygmy Hippopotamus. Through this conclusion, I believe that drugs are symbolically represented.
The Alice in Wonderland theme to the story is symbolic as well.

Down the rabbit hole is often a metaphor for an adventure into the unknown. It is also used as a metaphor for a 'psychedelic experience'. It's attributed to the children's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where the child , Alice follows a rabbit into a hole. There seems to be a central theme surrounding "good and evil" as a series of choices. As this child is confronted with a variety of extreme-adult situations - murder, bodies being dismembered, etc. Similar to the original Alice story, he explores the "empty rooms" of his father's palace and meets interesting characters who come to

visit.
How the story is from the view of a child also influences the reader and adds to the symbolism of innocence and youth. Just as the reader is ready to accept these as the quirky, charming interests of a young boy, Tochtli reveals his other obsession: differing methods of turning people into corpses (he mostly admires the French for their guillotines). Tochtli’s narration gives the reader a view into an unattractive world without the usual genre tricks of the narco-novel or police procedural. The effect is considerably more unsettling. I have known children who were aware of these kinds of things and it disgusts me. How could a parent be okay with a child knowing this? How could a parent even be okay with being involved in that sort of dangerous activity when they have children?
Juan Pablo Villalobos' novel, Down the Rabbit Hole, is full of symbolism as. Tochtli, the main character, is growing up in a luxurious hideout that he shares with hit men, prostitutes, dealers and servants. He has his own zoo, that makes him want Liberian Pigmy Hippopotamuses. There is a lot of symbolism in this tale of innocence and secrets; the names, the drugs themselves, the Alice in Wonderland theme, and the perspective from which the story is told all are very metaphorical ways to show the symbols.