THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.2 Double Whammy: Mixed Doubles The Avatar in Panamajust as the nameless husband does in “El esposo”, and a Rodrigo isalso a character in “El sueño de Mara” (LTG).A recurring old man is common “El vecino” introduces theeighty-three year old narrator about whom there are doubts regardinghis sanity: “tenia intactas todas mis facultades, mi mente aun generacosas inusitadas, bajo el influjo de las melodías”. “Otra vez lo mismo”,has an old man conversing with a younger one much in the style ofBorges’s “Borges y Yo”. In “Inercia”, the narrative’s perspective is fromthat of an ageing male who observes the world, reminisces and revisitshis childhood. Time is constantly mentioned: “pero era un remotopasado, tenía siempre conciencia de que el tiempo pasaba, que eltiempo tenía horas que se dividían y subdividían hasta el cansancio,siglos atrás, infinidad de aviones, etéreo, milenios atrás”. A loss ofidentity: “temió perderse, se perdía” is behind the story. In “El parque”(CB), the nameless male character is referred to as “el anciano”, “elviejo”, as the “hombre que parece su abuelo pero que en realidad […]resultó ser su padre”, “no como el viejo viejísimo hombre encogido quees su padre aunque parezca su abuelo” (52, 53).Dead and dying characters make for a frequent narrativeperspective for Jaramillo Levi. 37 “El muerto”’s commentary is from acorpse’s perspective, perhaps the same cadaverous character from“Bautismo ausente” or “El incidente”. “Bautismo ausente” also featuresextraneous characters, Paula (who appears in “La alumna”), andRamírez (who may reappear as Ramiro in “Underwood”, or as Ramónin “Cuando miro su (mi) fotografía”). The narration in “El retrato” (CC)comes from an unnamed dead husband, victim of a shooting; in “Elmuerto” (FM) it comes from an anonymous male character, then anomniscient commentator who pronounces the protagonist dead. Themethod of death (suicide in both cases), is identical in “La fuente” (ASE)and “Suicidio”, thereby connecting the two lead characters. Comparethe two descriptions: In “La fuente”, “estaba ya sobre la escena horrible,penetraba su esencia más allá del sonido del arma disparándose y laexplosión de mi cráneo…” (10); in “Suicidio”, “Llevó el arma a la sienderecha. […] Frente a él, su figura delgada caída en ese momento alsuelo, desorbitados los ojos, destrozada la cabeza” (35). This is alsothe case in “Ahora que soy él” and “El incidente”, and there may be aconnection between the character who appears in these and “Lafuente”. In “Ahora que soy él”, the dead man Juan was punched in theface and stabbed in the stomach in Mexico for no apparent reason. In“El incidente”, the dying man suffers a stab wound to the chest on theavenida Álvaro Óbregon in Mexico; and in “La herida” (LTG) thecharacter Luis tells himself, “no dejarás que ese fea herida en tu pechote silencié para siempre.37See 2.2 Dead, Dying and Disappearing Characters.194