THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

1.2 Fantastic Psychoanalysis and the Doppelganger The Avatar in Panamaindependencia y que yo estaba presente encada nueva parte que se desprendía de mi serprincipal […] los muchos cuerpos idénticos quehabían sido engendrados a partir de aquelcuerpo que poco antes fuera único. 107As the protagonist’s bodily yo is also many, the narrativeperspective changes from first to third person at the climax: “nosdirigimos hacia el intruso y, obedeciendo a una sola idea, sin decirpalabra, lo echamos de la fiesta” (34). Absurdly, the bearer of the yo isremoved from the venue by his own single intention also experiencedby the others as physically he is multiple but psychically he is unique.This interdependence is also manifested between the two pairs ofcharacters in “Duplicaciones”, the premise of which hinges on theirphysical likeness. Consequently, each pair is reliant on the other aswithout one couple the other would cease to exist: “Li Peng […] dueñode un rostro que es copia fiel del que tenía el hombre que estuvosentado ahí al dispararle, pero que ya no está al caer ella sobre elespacio que él había ocupado”. 108Substitution and ScapegoatsDaphne du Maurier’s The Scapegoat is a rarely cited novel inthe field of the literary double which seems to have escaped criticismyet is a fine example of the double substituting the original. ProtagonistJohn is a jaded Englishman holidaying in France. Realising he hasnever been an active partaker in his own existence, merely an observer,he is at a vulnerable point in his life. Although a genuine Francophile,he confesses to feeling alienated, almost exiled, a displaced foreignerwho feels like an unfulfilled failure. 109 Aware of his potential other selfand its suppression, he longs to transform his identity in light of his lackof success in life. 110 He predicts his other self “might have had amocking laugh, a casual heart, a swift-roused temper and a ribaldtongue”, and indeed the derisive laugh referred to comes via themouthpiece of a classic contemptuous clone (9). John ponders the typeof person he may have been or may even be and considers “how tounlock the door? What lever would set the other free?” He knows he isto return to his invalid life in London and concludes: “There was noanswer - except, of course, the blurred and temporary ease which abottle of wine at a café might bring me before I climbed into the caragain and drove north” (10). His conscious decision to get drunk after107 Jaramillo Levi, “Fiesta del sótano”, Duplicaciones, 33-34.108 Jaramillo Levi, “Duplicaciones” Duplicaciones, 38-40.109 Daphne du Maurier, The Scapegoat (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1957) 8.110 Failure and feelings of worthlessness are the reasons the protagonist wills himselfto disappear in Jaramillo Levi’s“Otra vez lo mismo”.65