THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.3 Reinventing the Double The Avatar in Panamacomprado después de la boda”. The note reads: “TE AMO AÚN.LLEGO EL VIERNES”. An air of timelessness pervades the atmospherefrom the opening line: “La carta había demorado en llegar”, to “[a]lbuscar la hora en su reloj, notó sorprendido que ya era viernes”. She isdue to arrive but her travel plans are vague, perhaps deliberately so.Eventually, “la llegada del sábado se encargaría de probar otra vez loque él siempre sospechó: Mentirosa, la más cruel de las farsantes”(89). He seems to have been duped again. The penultimate paragraphexposes the repetitive and compulsive behaviour about which Ramirodoes not appear aware nor has he been able to control. The revelatorytwist is that he is the writer and dispatcher of the letters, and evidentlyhas been for some time given the typewriter’s worn ribbon. 41 It is alsoclear this endless cycle will continue: “Caminó hasta la pequeñaUnderwood, insertó una hoja, tecleó a prisa. Las letras salían débiles,destintadas. Cambió la cinta. Escribío:Querido Ramiro:Tienes que perdonarme. Perdí el avión el viernes. Iré lasemana, sin falta. Ya te avisaré. Te amo. Debes creerme…. 42By continuing to write these letters he is replicating that whichhe has yearned for, has imagined and dreamt about for so long.“Underwood” is about Ramiro’s breakdown after the end of hisrelationship, his denial of this loss, and his reliving of it conveyed to himin a dream: “Sin darse cuenta manejó hasta allí, guiado quizá por laforma que había tomado tantas veces aquel sueño” (88). Ramiro is adivided character; he plays the roles of both partners and thus cancontrol the scripts of his drama. His thoughts are obsessive as are hiscomplusive actions which seem to include telephone calls: “Aunquellegaran mil cartas pidiéndole perdón o volviera a escuchar su vozsuplicante por teléfono” (89). While there is no finality to this story, thelast two words that Ramiro types as her apology, “debes creerme…”seem to indicate the continuation of this cycle, and descent into hisinterior world.Another fractured self is found in “El bulto” (FM), which has asits premise a unique concept. “El bulto” explores a self divided spatiallyand mentally. There are alternating paragraphs which aretypographically different and correspond to distinct perspectives fromthe first person in italic font to the third person in bold type. The textreflects two aspects of the one person: one represents the desiring (id)aspect of the protagonist, and the other, the rational (ego) perspective.41 An interesting point to note that the reader was also unaware Jekyll and Hyde werethe same person until later in the novella; nor that in Dracula, the Count was avampire.42 Italics appear in the text of “Underwood” 88-89.241