Sergeant Trevino

Sergeant Trevino is a soldier in Gertrudis’s revolutionary troop, distinguished by his loyalty, gallantry, and effectiveness in the field. The novel sets these qualities against his poor performance in the kitchen: trusted with a difficult mission against a spy, he can also be defeated by a syrup recipe. His devotion to Gertrudis persists even after she has found Juan Alejandrez again, leaving him not her partner but her vigilant protector.

Identity and Service

Sergeant Trevino serves under Gertrudis and is one of her finest soldiers on the battlefield. His practical talents do not extend evenly across every task. When Gertrudis later needs syrup made correctly for fritters, he struggles despite her repeated instructions. She had selected him for the cooking job after asking a group of rebels about familiar measures: Trevino correctly knew that a pound was 460 grams and a pint a quarter of a liter. She took this knowledge as evidence that he understood cooking, but the kitchen quickly exposes the difference between knowing measurements and carrying out a recipe.

The contrast is more than a comic reversal. Gertrudis has reason to trust him with consequential work, yet his competence depends on the setting. In military service he has demonstrated judgment and resolve; in the kitchen he must consult a large cookbook and work through an unfamiliar recipe cautiously, step by step, alongside Gertrudis. His limitations there do not erase his standing as a soldier, but they make his effort to satisfy his commander especially visible.

The Spy Mission and Its Cost

Gertrudis recalls a previous occasion when Trevino had successfully uncovered a spy in the troop. The clue came from a woman who had learned of the spy’s activities and was his mistress. Before she could expose him, he shot her; as she lay dying, she managed to give Gertrudis a description of a distinguishing mark that could identify the traitor. Gertrudis could not simply inspect every soldier herself without risking scandal or alerting the suspect, so she entrusted the investigation to Trevino.

Trevino approached the problem indirectly. When the troop reached Saltillo, he went to the brothels, won the confidence of the women there, and enlisted their help. The narrative emphasizes his courtesy: he treated them with respect, made them feel valued, and recited verse and poetry. Through these contacts, the search took three days. The spy entered a room with one of the women, and Trevino, waiting behind the door, trapped and killed him. The act was an exception to the refinement Gertrudis otherwise associates with Trevino, and its brutality is explained by a private history rather than military necessity.

When Gertrudis asked why he had killed the man so savagely instead of shooting him, Trevino explained that the same identifying mark had belonged to the man who raped his mother and sister years earlier. His sister had confessed this before her death. Trevino understood his killing as revenge and as a restoration of his family’s honor. The episode makes his loyalty to the troop inseparable from older family grief, while also showing that his usual elegance has a limit: faced with a crime that repeats a personal wound, he abandons restraint. The account describes this as the only savage act of his life; otherwise, even his manner of killing is characterized as dignified.

Devotion to Gertrudis

Trevino has a reputation as a womanizer, a reputation the narrator presents as broadly deserved, but Gertrudis remains the love of his life. For months he tries to win her over, without success, and does not give up hope. When Gertrudis finds Juan Alejandrez again, Trevino recognizes that he has lost her permanently. His feelings do not turn into an open contest with Juan: instead, he becomes Gertrudis’s watchdog, guarding her flanks and keeping her constantly in sight.

This change gives his attachment a protective rather than possessive role in the events described. He remains close to Gertrudis, but the relationship he wants is not returned, and he accepts a different place beside her. His loyalty is expressed through service, including the vigilance that follows her reunion with Juan, rather than through a claim on her affection. The tension between unrequited love and continued devotion gives emotional weight to his position in the troop without changing the practical nature of his duty.

The Kitchen Test

The syrup assignment shows Trevino in a setting where rank and reputation cannot substitute for experience. Gertrudis regrets having trusted him with such an important part of the preparation, but she also knows that reprimands affect him deeply: when she scolds him, he takes to drink. She does not dismiss him. Instead, the two of them carefully reread the recipe and try to understand its instructions. Because the directions do not explain the ball stage, Gertrudis sends him to search a large cookbook in the storeroom. He completes the task despite his inexperience, allowing Gertrudis to serve the fritters she has been craving.

Trevino carries one of the finished fritters upstairs to Tita at Gertrudis’s request. Tita has missed lunch and spent the afternoon in bed, so he leaves the food on the small table she uses when eating in her room. She thanks him and praises the fritter as delicious. He apologizes that she is unwell and says he would have liked to ask her to dance at the patio party being held to bid farewell to General Gertrudis. Tita tells him she would be glad to dance if she decides to come downstairs. He hurries away to tell the troops what she said. The scene does not make him a skilled cook, but it records a success earned through persistence and a moment of uncomplicated attentiveness toward Tita.

Narrative Role

Sergeant Trevino’s characterization rests on contrasts the novel keeps concrete: battlefield ability against culinary failure, refined manners against a single act of vengeance, and public womanizing against enduring love for Gertrudis. His spy mission reveals both his resourcefulness and the private grievance behind his most violent deed; his later work on the syrup shows a less consequential but equally tangible form of service. In both cases, he acts for Gertrudis, even when the task is not one for which he is naturally suited.

His final place beside Gertrudis is defined by what he cannot have and what he continues to do. After Juan Alejandrez returns to her life, Trevino no longer expects to win her, yet he stays as her protector. The novel gives that devotion no romantic reward. Instead, it becomes part of the ordinary structure of his service: a capable soldier guarding the woman he loves, and an earnest subordinate trying to make a fritter correctly when the battlefield is far away.