THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

2.1 The North American Double The Avatar in Panamadisplacement as she catches her husband with another woman. 42 Onseeing the couple-double later, their counterparts appear changed,debauched and dissipated, like Fitzgerald’s description of theprotagonists themselves (589). As the narrative progresses, the focus ison the Kellys’ need for self-imposed isolation and their attempt to regainthe type of relationship they enjoyed at the outset of the story.The final section of “One Trip Abroad” is situated at a rest hotel.The Kellys’ failing health ensures their non-existent social schedulewhich leaves them to await new arrivals, one of whom comprises theiralter-duo. Nicole assesses the woman unfavourably and Nelson addsthat the man had “the kind of face that needs half a dozen drinks reallyto open the eyes and stiffen the mouth up to normal”. While taking anightly stroll the Kellys agree to avoid the alter-couple, depicted assomewhat sinister, as “two dark forms” which “came into the shadowsnearby”. At a climactic crack of lightning the two couples simultaneouslyturn, “They’re us! They’re us! Don’t you see?” As the flash of lightrecedes they realise that they are alone and the wraithlikedoppelgangers have vanished (596-597). This classic surprise climaxconcludes the story’s increasing momentum. The anonymous couple isindeed the alter-duo who has mirrored the morality and debauchery ofthe Kellys during their sojourn in Europe.With respect to character doubling, the Mileses may beinterpreted as the future projected double of the Kellys while theunidentified couple represents the clear and present projected objectdoppelganger, a duplicate of the pair of protagonists. This coupledoubleis the Kellys’ idealised mirror image. 43 The alter-couple ultimatelyevaporates once they are finally recognised. Marc F. Baldwin surmises“One Trip Abroad” ends with a hopeful happy conclusion: “alonetogether in the tranquil moonlight”, and the couple’s recognition “thattheir lives had been a fantasy of desiring a presence beyond absence”(78).While the singular pursuing doppelganger is not a newconception, the shadowing couple-double is far from being steeped intradition. Fitzgerald’s double story is unique in this respect: not only arewomen rarely doubled in literature or in autoscopic hallucinations,instances of pairs of people being doubled are even rarer. 4442Marc Baldwin, “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘One Trip Abroad’: A Metafantasy of the DividedSelf”, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 4:3, 69-78. 74-75.43Baldwin contends that the Kellys mirror their creator as Fitzgerald’s life and marriagewere disintegrating at the time. 72-73.44 For references to Coleman and Capgras Syndrome, female doubles and doubling,see 1.1 Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, footnote 66. Carlos Fuentes’ Aura, terceraedición (México: Alacena, 1966) also features doubles of two characters in the samestory.87