THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.3 Reinventing the Double The Avatar in Panamasuffocation modus operandi may be drowning, or near drowning andoften this is only inferred leaving the reader to draw their ownconclusion; alternatively, perhaps the fiction is meant to be ambiguous:“El bulto”, “Mar afuera” (CB), “Oleada” (ACO), and “Agua de mar” allleave the character and reader in limbo.In a more usual method than the curious traditional death, ifsuch a thing exists, the demise of his characters can end indisintegration, dissociation or complete disappearance. Charactersseem to physically become transparent and then dissolve into anotherundefined realm. The descriptions of this process are generally similar,and it is the characters themselves who disappear, not their lifestyles orparticular behaviour. If they do not altogether vanish, they maydisintegrate and often a trace of them would remain. In all of thesescenarios, the end of the story is ambiguous as habeus corpus comesinto play. These variations in the protagonists’ demise may be viewedas the postmodern version of dying; however they are blended with themodern as they are provoked by modern themes of estrangement andalienation.There is also a series of strange deaths in Jaramillo Levi'sfiction. Consumption and suffocation of characters, both siblings andvarious offspring, occur in “Germinación” and in “En el jardín”. Also, thestory “Oscilaciones” moves from a theme of self consumption to the selfconsumed, “[p]rimero se muerde los dedos de una mano y se los tragauno a uno. Luego devora la otra mano, siguen los brazos, pies”(87).Two stories, “Mientras dormía” and “Libro sin tapas” mysteriouslyend in fire, and in “El espectáculo”, the male protagonist dies ofmysterious causes presumably because, “cayó en un profundo letargo”(115).In some stories, the self is clearly a schizoid one, and theprotagonists’ prognoses are far from promising. Their division directlyadds to their perceived psychological demise although it is unknownexactly how and when their lives will end. Two examples of this divisionand downfall are employed in Jaramillo Levi “Underwood”, and “Elbulto”.A typewriter’s brand name provides the title for one of JaramilloLevi's most cleverly created stories. Ostensibly, “Underwood” is abouttwo characters, protagonist Ramiro and his former wife, although thenarrative only exposes the reader to the first. Ramiro receives a letterfrom his ex-wife which initially he is unable to read as the writing looks“como si el llanto las hubiese escurrido. Pero no lloraba. Hacía muchotiempo que no se daba esa satisfacción.” These first lines may reveal aclue to the origin of the letter he has just received as the crying isambiguous and may refer to the reader or to the writer of the letter. Thenote is typewritten on: “la “Underwood” portátil que él mismo le había240