THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.3 Reinventing the Double The Avatar in Panamaconfusa masa de colores desplazándose enespirales lentas” (40).The character’s inner perspective is assumed by the reader andthen it becomes clear that the point of view is from that of the balloonthe protagonist is carrying.While Jaramillo Levi's “Maniquiés” and “Primera reunión”animate department store mannequins under certain circumstances, 39“Adornos” (CB), vivifies shopstore decorations: “[a] medida que sedesalojan calles y aceras, disminuye la rigidez que las aparienciasimprimieron a los adornos, y se inicia el sutil proceso de ladecosificación” (55). The objects, in this case, are temporarilypersonified and endowed with a thinking capacity: “no saben si algunavez tendrán dueño” (55). This inverted transformation, an alternative toalteration, is one of Jaramillo Levi’s most creative which draws uponfundamental tenets of doubling and metamorphosis. His two divisionsdealing with these thematic concepts in Duplicaciones utilise divisionand duplication, merging into abstract and traditional other selves, andadopt ideas from the disciplines of psychology, anthropology andhistory.Death, Demise, Disintegration and DisappearanceAs observed earlier, the characters’ dénouement in JaramilloLevi stories have often followed the classic modern model. Generalsuicide and murder stories exploit drug overdoses, stabbings,shootings, and strangulation: “Luminoso tiempo gris” (LTG), “La herida”(LTG), “Suicidio”, “La intención”, and “El olor”, are good examples.Jaramillo Levi’s work adds to the modern tradition of suicide-murder,strange death and suffocation, disappearances, and disintegration. Hischaracters are shown being fused with each other, or with an object;they are shown being absorbed by, or absorbing someone or somethingor, by merging internally as modern doubles. This is a process ofphysical and psychic annihilation and rebirth which involves searchingand integrating one’s self with others in the belief that their pain andalienation will be less. it is also the physical exterior of Jaramillo Levi'scharacters that is also shown to dissolve or alter in his fiction. This iswhat makes him original in this field of fantastic literature dealing withthe double -because there is no legacy of the double. Fragmentationacts as the equivalient of postmodern death. In Jaramillo Levi, theprotagonist himself vanishes whereas in other classic double stories,maybe their lifestyle, its trappings, or identity disappear as John’s do indu Maurier’s The Scapegoat. 40 The Panamanian version of the39 See 2.3 Dolls and Dummies: Felisberto Hernández, 131.40 See 1.2 The Scapegoat, 65.239