THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.1 Shoes and Mirrors: Images of Doubling The Avatar in Panamaand has him married to Juanita who has no idea of his true identity. Hehas reinvented himself and refers to his previous existence and formerself as if he were dead. Seeing one’s reflection has both positive andnegative results which has a direct effect on one’s self identity. Theimage of the eye as a mirror is alluded to: “como si sus ojos fueran unespejo reflejándome” (49). It then becomes understandable how one isperceived by others: the mirrors gave Rodrigo the sensation that hisreflected image is the one by which other people will judge him and thatit is with that impression they will remain for ever:[e]sos espejos nos daban la impresión,incómoda y perseverante, de que al igual quenuestras apariencias se plasmaban en susláminas por vez primera, también los otros nospercibían como si nunca antes nos hubieranvisto, y que, antes de que abriéramos la boca,con esa impresión, buena o mala, se quedabanpara siempre (47).Externally seeing one’s self infinitely multiplied by these mirrorshad a diminishing effect on personal identity: “perdida por completo miidentidad” (48).In Jaramillo Levi’s “El esposo”, the husband despises mirrorsand actively avoids them just as Borges’ characters and Rodrigo of“Historia de espejos” did. After assaulting his ex-wife’s new husbandwho, it is revealed, is Rodrigo’s double, his mirror image, he insists:“Desde entonces, no pudiendo soportar el acecho de su rostro cadavez que me veo reflejado, destrozo cuanto espejo se me atraviesa en elcamino. Aunque debo confesar que no por eso me odio menos”. 48 Thispenultimate sentence fuses the third possessive pronoun with the firstwhich logically leads the reader to conclude that the face the narratorpunched was identical to his own. Further evidence of this point is thatevery time he comes across a mirror he destroys it. Either Sandra hasmarried his exact double or the two men are the same person indicatinga case of wish fulfilment and projected mirror image as Downeysuggests. 49Like Hoffmann’s Spikher of “The Lost Reflection” who “underthe pretext of having a phobia against mirrors, [he] insisted on having48 Jaramillo Levi, “El esposo” 37. See also 1.2, 68.49The most common forms of visualisation of self were reproductions of mirror imageand the first form of self-projection was that of visual projection, or the seeing of one’sself in the midst of a visualised scene as actor or spectator. Usually the self is seen asa vague figure of the proper sex with little that is specific in the way of facial or otherdetail. Downey 1912. See Autoscopy, footnote 53, page 108.178