A un gustazo, un trancazo

A un gustazo, un trancazo is the phrase Ramondo Cardoso summons at the height of his satisfaction with a lucrative deal. Its warning—that great pleasure is followed by a hard blow—shifts the scene from imagined good fortune to apprehension, making the maxim a hinge between Cardoso’s private hopes and the danger gathering around the sale.

Meaning and Form

Cardoso thinks of the phrase as he reflects that the sale may finally give him enough money to treat his elderly mother, who remains in Cárdenas, south of Havana. He understands it as a warning that a great pleasure is liable to be followed by a punishing setback. The maxim does not cancel his happiness; it interrupts it, introducing the possibility that success carries its own reversal.

Cardoso’s Use of the Maxim

The thought comes after Cardoso bargains with Tim Jones over the price of a precious stone. Though he performs reluctance, Cardoso is inwardly jubilant: he believes he has closed the best deal of his life. His mother’s hoped-for benefit gives the transaction a personal meaning beyond the money itself. The remembered phrase surfaces precisely as that hope takes shape, tempering his delight before any immediate misfortune has occurred.

Narrative Function

The anticipated blow is grounded in the investigation already surrounding the sale. Two months earlier, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents had shown Cardoso their badges and questioned him about recent gem purchases; while one questioned him, the other secretly placed an electronic listening device behind the shop’s shelves. Cardoso does not know about the device, even as he recalls the visit. The maxim therefore carries dramatic irony: he senses that his happiness may be followed by trouble, but the reader can see that the danger is already present, concealed within the shop.