THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

2.3 Dobles and Duplos: Latin American Perspectives The Avatar in PanamaMultiple odours, smells, and fragrances described in the text link thereality of the hospital with that of the immolation. 19 In the first story,hospital smells are described and are then employed to introduce thesecond plane of reality, “[c]omo sueño era curioso porque estaba llenode olores y él nunca soñaba olores” obviously referring to the precedinghospital scene (171). The narrator emphasises being afraid in the otherdream and claims, “[t]ener miedo no era extraño, en sus sueñosabundaba el miedo” (172). When the protagonist states, “[s]intió sed,como si hubiera estado corriendo kilómetros” (173), Freud’s dreamwork is evident. Dream incorporation attributes the cause of a conditionin one state (thirst) to an occurrence in the supposed dream state(running); condensation and displacement posit that what appears inthe hospital scene (the taste of blood; something gleaming in thedoctor’s hand) also appears as a similar object in the sacrifice scenariothough symbolically condensed (the executioner-priest’s stone knife;the spilling of his own blood). 20Cortázar writes in a way that cues scene changes through shiftsin consciousness: during his motorcycle ride, the protagonist “se dejóllevar por la tersura (169); after his crash “fue como dormirse de golpe”(170); while in hospital, he tries to rid himself of the nightmarish images,“se despegó casi físicamente de la última visión de la pesadilla” (173);“suspiró de felicidad, abandonándose” (174). Cortázar also providesclues as to when one space is being left and the other entered, in fact,each scenario is introduced by the protagonist: waking up, fallingasleep, or lapsing in and out of consciousness. The final paragraphfuses the two situations less distinctly than happens previously, byinserting a few lines of one scenario into several of the other, thusalternating in a subtle way. Finally, during the sacrifice, it is revealedthat “aunque ahora sabía que no iba a despertarse, que estabadespierto, que el sueño maravilloso había sido el otro” (179). Thismarvellous dream which has taken place in a futuristic city, describesthe motorcycle as an enormous metal insect buzzing between his legs,19 The following examples are found throughout the text: “el olor, olores, fragancia,incienso, humo perfumado; olor a pantano, a hospital, a humedad, a piedrarezumante de filtraciones, a guerra; olor de las antorchas; venteando, olía la muerte,huele a guerra, oliendo a puerro, a apio, a perejil.” Julio Cortázar, “La noche bocaarriba”, Final del juego (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1965) 169-179.20 The manifest dream is an abbreviated version of the latent dream as it has a smallercontent. Dream incorporation or displacement refers to when an element is replacedby an allusion. Condensation is when latent elements are omitted from the manifestdream, fragmented, or combined in the manifest dream. Thus a character may be acomposite of many different characters fused into one. Personalities or aspects ofone’s personality may be fused into another, like a double. Freud, IntroductoryLectures on Psychoanalysis, Vol 1. The Pelican Freud Library, general editor AngelaRichards (London: Pelican 1973) 205-208.124