The narrator observes Azucena and Rolf’s situations through the local news media. Though these broadcasts allow her to reach greater intimacy with her lover, they also construct a sensationalized, shallow impression of the tragedy itself: “[R]eporters selected scenes with [the] most impact for the news report” (Paragraph 16). The narrator and, by extension, the reader are very susceptible to this sensationalizing. Eva Luna’s descriptions of the disaster, based on her own impression of the biased media images, tend towards a movie-like graphicness that omits the specific names, faces, and personal stories of those affected: “[Rolf] was up to his knees […] in the bedlam of lost children, wounded survivors, corpses, and devastation” (Paragraph 5). Although her sympathy for Azucena stands somewhat counter to such media images of undifferentiated devastation, the fact that it primarily occurs through Rolf means that it is not truly specific or personal; the narrator primarily regards Azucena as a symbol of tragedy, a resigned sufferer, and ultimately a springboard for Rolf’s own emotional reckoning with his past.

It is Rolf’s personal relationship with Azucena that serves as a legitimate foil for the media’s treatment of the tragedy and the young girl.