THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

1.2 Fantastic Psychoanalysis and the Doppelganger The Avatar in PanamaIn The Scapegoat, John’s first life disappears as he is replaced.His realisation is clear, “I did not exist. The self who had lived in Londonhad gone forever” (309). Du Maurier’s tale ends as it began, with theprotagonist setting off for the Abbey at Forêt de la Trappe, and remainseerily unresolved.Different personality types within the subject imply tensionbetween the self or selves and the double, or multiples. Paradoxically,the double’s presence within challenges the existence of the originalself, upon which it is parasitic, and its aim is to destroy and or replacethat original self. 116 This usurping and substitution of the original by thedouble occurs in several of Jaramillo Levi’s narratives in both a classicand in a novel way. “El esposo” and “La tarde del encuentro” feature theclassic identical double faced with the original self in both stories. As inThe Scapegoat these confrontations prove unnerving.Superficially, “El esposo” describes the actions of the narratorwho remains enamoured of former lover Sandra, whom he sees in thestreet with another man. The narration indicates that events are beingrecalled, after having occurred in the recent past, and that there remainpsychological consequences of these actions. The narrator, in thecompany of a friend, sees them and is about to approach them when heis told that Sandra is now married. The identity of the husband ispreserved as he remains faceless in description: “A él no pude verle lacara, pues ella lo tapaba” .117 In the penultimate paragraph, the face-offtakes place. Perhaps as a result of his obsession, he is impelled to actby an intangible force: “Un nuevo impulso me obligó a ir tras ellos”. Thenarrator confronts his rival who reacts violently: “Apenas se sintiózarandeado se dio vuelta y sin pensarlo dos veces, me incrustó el puñoenorme en medio de la cara”. A sense of shock and confusion also hits:“Pero yo quedé fulminado, más que por el golpe, por la perplejidad, aldescubrir quién era ese hombre que me la quitaba”. It is not until thelast paragraph that the twist and its ramifications are revealed: “Desdeentonces, no pudiendo soportar el acecho de su rostro cada vez queme veo reflejado, destrozo cuanto espejo se me atraviesa en el camino.Aunque debo confesar que no por eso me odio menos”. This indirectmeans of exposing his nemesis as another version of himself isarchetypal and inventive, modern and postmodern. While there is notraditional description of the discovery of the double as adversary duringthe confrontation, Jaramillo Levi uses the modern tools of mirror andreflection to convey the surprise element although the narrativetechnique of delivering this makes extra demands on the reader. Thereis still the traditional response of shock, and introspective self-loathingin the face of it, through the narrator’s developed mirror phobia.116 Apter 51.117Jaramillo Levi, “El esposo”, Duplicaciones, 37.68