I, Juan de Pareja

Throughout the novel, Juan never stays in one place long; his journey takes him to many countries and introduces him to different cultures. This transience reflects the nature of enslavement and the realities of the African diaspora, as Juan’s movements are dictated by his enslavers. Juan first turns to relationships to supply a sense of constancy, but only through art does Juan truly rectify the impermanence of home. 

Spanish society regards enslaved individuals as property, and their lives depend upon the whims and prospects of their respective enslavers. Juan cannot control his destiny, and as his enslavers change, so too does he lose and gain any semblance of home. At the novel’s beginning, Juan lives in Seville in Doña Emilia’s house. However, Emilia and her husband’s deaths reiterate Juan’s societal status as an object rather than a person, and he is sent to Madrid with other possessions. Through this, he is subjected to another man’s violence, underlining his ability to find safety and protection in this society. Once established with Diego in Madrid, Juan lives in an “ample and comfortable” household but is too shrewd to confuse this new stability with permanence (41). His experience with Miri renews a concern that he will “someday be sold” (75).