A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE OF WOMEN'S

WRITING IN COSTA RICA

by

JEANA E. PAUL-URENA, B.A., M.A.

A DISSERTATION
IN
SPANISH
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
^^iproved

August, 1999

 1999, Jeana E. Paul-Ureiia

ACKNOWTEDGMENTS

I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to

the many people who have put their time and effort into this project:
Carmen Naranjo and Anacristina Rossi for taking time to discuss their
works and ideas with me, Professors Eduardo Estevanovich and Jorge
Blanco for introducing me to Costa Rican literature and to Horn
Professor Harley D. Oberhelman for having a major influence on my
graduate as well as undergraduate work.
I would also like to thank my parents for their support and
encouragement, my son Bryan for his patience and understanding,
and my husband Juan Carlos Urefia for his incredible support and for
his constant faith in me.
I express profound thanks to my committee members.
Professors Norwood H. /Andrews Jr., Ted McVay and Wendell Aycock
for their guidance and encouragement, as well as for the time they
spent helping me with this project.
Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my
dissertation director, Horn Professor Janet Perez, without whose help
this project could not have been realized. Thank you for your time,
patience, faith and wonderful friendship.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ii

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER
L INTRODUCTION

n. CARIVIENLYRA

15

Early PubUcations (1907-1920)

17

Later Publications (1920-1949)

46

Conclusions

64

m. YOLANDA OREAMUNO

67

Laruta de su evasion

69

W. CARMEN NARANJO

83

Los perros no ladraron

85

El responso por el nino Juan Manuel

117

Diario de una multitud

135

Sobrepunto

147

E casonumero 117.720

161

Conclusion

186

V. /\NACRISTINA ROSSI

189

Maria la noche

190

La loca de Gandoca

210

VI. CONCLUSIONS

216

BIBUOGRAPHY

227

IV

ABSTRACT
One of the most interesting features of Costa Rican literature is
a certain degree of gender equity: since its begiiming, a significant
number of major contributors have been women. Women have been
included in literary movements as well as in political leadership roles
throughout the Twentieth Century in Costa Rica. This study examines
women's writing in Costa Rica, specifically using four authors:
Carmen Lyra, Yolanda Oreamuno, Carmen Naranjo, and Anacristina
Rossi.
Each writer has made significant contributions to the
development of the novel during the time in which she was writing
by employing innovative techniques such as the polyphonic
narrative voice, non-linear time and unmarked dialogue. In addition
to developing new writing techniques, these writers also integrated
new themes into Costa Rican literature.
All four writers address social issues which have had a
tremendous infiuence on Costa Rican society. Carmen Lyra and
Yolanda Oreamuno wrote before the Costa Rican Civil War of 1948
and because of the controversial nature of their works, both were
exiled from Costa Rica. Carmen Naranjo, whose work spans four
decades, is Costa Rica's most prolific author, addressing problems

caused by the creation of the Costa Rican bureaucracy after the war.
/Anacristina Rossi, known for her controversial themes, has also led a
strong fight against the destruction of Costa Rica's natural resources
and national parks.
Very littie has been written about these women writers. What
has been published about them has, in large part, been limited to
Costa Rican periodicals. The purpose of this study is to examine the
ways in which women have played a major, important role in the
literary production in Costa Rica, as well as how they have influenced
Costa Rican political and social institutions during the 1900s through
this medium.

VI

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Costa Rica stands out in many ways from other countries of

Latin America. In terms of its economic and social history, Costa Rica
did not live up to its name, as early Spanish colonies found the land
to be anything but rich. In fact, the territory was quite inhospitable,
covered with dense rain forests and mountains. Colonists who
settied there were disappointed with their failure to find the gold
used in the indigenous artifacts earlier assumed to be from that area.
Those who chose to make Costa Rica their home became small
farmers, creating a tradition of isolated families which still exists in
modified form at the end of the Twentieth Century.
When Spain realized that this part of Central /America lacked
gold and other valuable resources, the area which would become
Costa Rica was practically abandoned by the conquistadores,
remaining marginalized and half-forgotten during its colonial period.
It was accorded littie importance during its participation in the
Capitania General de Guatemala (1574-1821), as well as its one-year
incorporation in the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide, and
declared its independence in 1823.

Unlike other countries in Latin America, Costa Rica remained

relatively free from internal conflict due to its population of small
farmers. The mode elsewhere of big landholders battiing among
themselves for power over the poor masses did not develop.
Instead, Costa Rica sustained a slowly developing middle-class.
Europe's abandonment and forgetting of Costa Rica produced
reciprocal estrangement, with few Costa Ricans educated in Europe
before the Twentieth Century. Thus few developing European
philosophies and trends reached Costa Rica, and those which did
come, arrived late:
Son variados factores que contribuyen a la falta de una
cultura colonial. El pais vivia en aislamiento casi total
desatendido tanto por Espafia como por las otras colonias
americanas, pues por la falta de minas no atrajo nunca a
muchos espaiioles. Esto, unido a la poca fecundidad de la
tierra y a la deficiente poblacion, hizo que Costa Rica
fuera una de las mas pobres provincias de ultramar,
segtin la denominacion espafiola. (Martinez 20)
Intellectual production also bloomed late, with works that
comprise Costa Rican literature not beginning to appear until the late
1800s. Between 1860 and 1900, Costa Rican Uterature developed
primarily via newspapers and periodicals. Thanks largely to national
periodicals, new writings in the literary genres of short stories,
poetry, essays, biographies, fables, legends and novellas were made
available to readers (Rojas, Ovares 16). The foUetin, which became

common in Europe in the early 1800s, reached Costa Rica late in the
1800s, and retained popularity until the 1920s. According to Rojas
and Ovares, this genre grew out of the necessity for writers of fiction
to earn their living as journalists (17). The foUetin represented both
fields, combining creative fiction with journalistic forms such as
travelogues, auid short narratives. Themes usually involved highly
predictable acts of violence, crimes or love triangles. The characters
were traditional stereotypes who brought about foreseeable
anticipated endings. The foUetin provided a format for these
literary works published in the national newspapers and magazines.
The most notable work in this tradition is Misterio (1888), by
Manuel Argiiello Mora, one of the most frequentiy published writers
in Costa Rican periodicals between 1860-1900.
Outside of the newspapers, the first literary publications in
Costa Rica emerged in the 1890s. Lira costarricense (1890) was the
first anthology of poetry to appear in that country, and Hojarasca
(1894) was the first collection of short stories by Costa Rican
narrators. The first Costa Rican novel. El Moto, published in 1900, by
Joaquin Garcia Monge, exemplifies the adaptation of NineteenthCentury Regionalistic tendencies, influenced by Costumhrismo, that
early Costa Rican authors incorporated in their novels.

Early Twentieth-Century novels which followed El moto drew

heavily upon the school of Romanticism: Costa Ricans described their
homeland as truly a lugar ameno amidst the turmoil of other Central
American countries. While surrounding countries struggled to grow
and change under constant political upheaval, putting their painful
history on paper, Costa Rica remained relatively calm and
predictable. Costa Rican literature did not produce impressive
results until well into the Twentieth Century.
The end of Costa Rican isolation stimulated social, political and
intellectual change. In 1917, Costa Rica began to attract the attention
of capitalist investors interested in exploiting their coffee and banana
exports. In response to a sudden business boom for foreign
investors. President /Alfredo Gonzalez Flores implemented social
reforms which included imposing a tax on coffee. At the time, coffee
figured among the country's most important exports. As a result of
the coffee tax, and other constraints, international investors from the
United States and Germany began to pressure the coffee oligarchy,
motivating the overthrow of the Gonzalez government. For two
years, the country was ruled by the Tinoco dictatorship. These
radical upheavals in a society which had previously been relatively
stable produced reflections of tremendous change in Costa Rican
literature. A national literature which had been based in

Regionalism, developing as a form of traditional Realism, suddenly

became literature of social protest, encouraged by imstable political
conditions in Costa Rica. Newly combative attitudes interrupted the
tradition of publishing literary works in the national periodicals,
separating intellectual production from the government-controlled
press for the first time in Costa Rican history. During the early part
of the Twentieth Century, Costa Ricans began to study in and travel
more frequentiy to Europe, bringing home new philosophies and
ideas for change. Literature produced during this time was largely
responsible not only for documenting social change, but as Beverly
and Zunmerman point out, literature was often itself an agent of
change:
. . . what we think of as "society" as such is not some
essence that is prior to representation but rather the
product of struggles over meaning and representation.
Such a perspective allows us to consider the ways in
which literature, rather than being simply a reflection or
epiphenomenon of the social as in the traditional base
superstructure model, is constitutive~in historically and
socially specific ways~in some measure of it. (ix)
In the early 1900s, literature in Costa Rica was not simply a form of
entertainment, but an effective tool for change, largely responsible
for shaping Costa Rican society. Critics are quick to point out that "La
literatura costarricense, al igual que otras formas de lo imaginario

colectivo, no refleja una idea preexistente de lo national sino que

contribuye a constituir tal nocion" (Rojas et al. 3).
Costa Rican literature grew quickly in the Twentieth Century,
and later critics would consider Costa Rica, in some respects, the hub
of cultural and intellectual life in Central America. In spite of its late
start, it was accepted that " . . . cultural and intellectual life in Central
America (with the exception of Costa Rica) was impoverished,
unstable, 'underdeveloped' ~ that, after all, is part of what the
Banana Republic caricature is about" (Beverly 36). Although Beverly
and Zunmerman present an accurate description of the Central
American situation, it is relevant that most critical analyses of
Central American works have focused on works from countries other
than Costa Rica. Beverly and Zimmerman's analysis concentrates on
the Central American Revolutions, obviously eliminating Costa Rica
for its relatively peaceful history. In a parallel phenomenon, when
literary movements are critiqued in Central America, in general,
Costa Rican literature is only briefly mentioned. Most studies which
look into the poetry, novels, songs and essays produced in Central
America, typically depict the counterculture which provoked and
interpreted the internal struggle faced by these countries. Ironically,
although Costa Rica has not experienced these revolutionary
activities, with the brief exception of the 1948 conflict, Costa Rica has

long been host to radical student groups and counterculture

production:
In these terms perhaps the single most important
institution in the development of this counterculture
among the intelligentsia was the Editorial Universitaria
Centroamericana (EDUCA) created in San Jose by the
Confederation of Central American Universities under the
auspices of the regional common market and the
educational modernization programs. EDUCA became the
main publisher of the new generation of left-oriented
writers and literary critics represented by figures like
Claribel Alegria, Roque Dalton, and Manlio Argueta in El
Salvador; Otto Rene Castillo in Guatemala; and Sergio
Ramirez in Nicaragua. (Beverly 47)
Despite Costa Rican literature's having littie of the international
attention given to the surrounding Central American countries, it has
nevertheless produced notable works. One of the most interesting
features of Costa Rican literature is a certain degree of gender equity:
since its beginning, a significant number of major contributors have
been women. Costa Rican women have by no means had an equal
part in establishing what is contemporary Costa Rican society, and
today they still must fight for equal pay and recognition in the
business world. Nevertheless, women have been included in literary
movements as well as in political leadership roles throughout the
Twentieth Century in Costa Rica. Women have also been important
participants in the counterculture movements.

In the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, the most

influential woman in Costa Rica was Maria Isabel Carvajal, known to
the literary world by her pseudonym. Carmen Lyra, and known
affectionately as "Chabela" by her compatriots and friends. She was
one of the major influences in the evolution of the national literary
and political social conscience in Costa Rica from the early 1900s
until her death in 1949. Other notable women authors include
Yolanda Oreamuno, who wrote in the 1950s; Julieta Pinto, who began
writing in the 1960s; Carmen Naranjo, also beginning in the 1960s;
and a multitude of younger novelists and poets during the 1980s and
1990s, such as Ana Cristina Rossi and Tatiana Lobo.
Very littie has been written about these women writers. What
has been published about them has, in large part, been limited to the
Costa Rican periodicals. Alfonso Chase has written several essays on
the works of Carmen Lyra, which he has published as introductions
to collections of her works. His contribution has been mostiy in
terms of biographical research. Other Costa Rican critics who have
written about these authors include Margarita Rojas, Flora Ovares,
Carlos Santander, and Maria Elena Carballo. These authors have
contributed to two very important works in Costa Rican literature:
La casapatema. Escritura y nacion en Costa Rica (1993), and 100
anos de la literatura costarricense (1995). Both of these works
8

mention the women writers in this study. 100 anos de la literatura

costarricense, by Rojas and Ovares, is a Ust with a brief description
of all important works written in between 1890 and 1990 in Costa
Rica. La casa patema, by Rojas, Ovares, Santander and Carballo, is a
thematic overview of Costa Rican literature, divided into six topics:
Un pequeiio relato familiar; La arcadia tropical; La sociedad de
lectores; Nostalgia, recuperacion y ruptura; El lugar ameno; and
Umbrales y fronteras. Within these categories they discuss the most
influential Costa Rican literature from the Twentieth Century.
Although the majority of the works discussed were written by men,
they do explore some of the literature written by women, including
En una silla de ruedas, by Carmen Lyra, and La ruta de su evasion,
by Yolanda Oreamuno. Both articles are brief, addressing the
structure of the novels. The review of En una silla de ruedas
discusses Lyra's use of positive and negative space to marginalize the
characters. The most extensive work addressing women writers is a
dissertation by Luz Ivette Martinez, Carmen Naranjo y la narrativa
femenina en Costa Rica (1985), which focuses primarily on Carmen
Naranjo, but mentions other authors as well. While Martinez's
analysis briefly examines works by Carmen Lyra and Yolanda
Oreamuno, and mentions other women writers from Costa Rica, her
purpose is "demostrar que Carmen Naranjo representa la culminacion

de la literatura femenina costarricense y que es una representante

autentica de la literatura femenina de Hispanoamerica" (17).
Martinez claims that two works by Carmen Naranjo, "Sobrepunto
Diario de una multitud

constituyen su momento cumbre como

escritora. Con la primera se inscribe en la vertiente de obras

hispanoamericanas que recogen la problematica de la mujer en el
ambito de una vision critica de la sociedad" (17). While many critics
wall argue that Los perros no ladraron was Naranjo's most important
work to date, very few comment on Sobrepunto, and other than
Martinez's analysis, it has received littie attention. It is the only
novel of Carmen Naranjo to date which treats the life of a woman.
However, the woman is dead, and the main character who
remembers her, and who teUs her story (or the fragments of a story)
is a man. Not only does he limit the reader's vision of Olga, the
woman, but he also presents her activities and intentions from the
male perspective. What Olga may have suffered or endured as a
woman is not known by the reader. Her example of character is not
one which would be either acknowledged or disliked by feminists.
Martinez insists that Sobrepunto be considered a work which
presents the problems faced by Costa Rican women in the Twentieth
Century. Considering the fact that the female character is not well
developed and that she does not face common problems, Martinez's
10

analysis is limited. With the exception of Carmen Lyra (1888-1949)

and Yolanda Oreamuno (1916-1956), all authors discussed in
Martinez's study, including Carmen Naranjo, have since written
important major works.
There has yet to be a study of Costa Rican women writers from
the Twentieth Century which addresses the role they have played in
the development of the Costa Rican canon, or rather, a study in terms
of gynocritics~a term coined by Elaine Showalter:
Feminist criticism has gradually shifted its center from
revisionary readings to a sustained investigation of
literature by women. The second mode of feminist
criticism engendered by this process is the study of
women as writers, and its subjects are the history, styles,
themes, genres, and structures of writing by women; the
psychodynamics of female creativity; the trajectory of the
individual or collective female career; and the evolution
and laws of a female literary tradition. No English term
exists for such a specialized critical discourse, and so I
have invented the term 'gynocritics.' To see women's
writing as our primary subject forces us to make the leap
to a new conceptual vantage point and to redefine the
nature of the theoretical problem before us. It is no
longer the ideological dilemma of reconciling revisionary
pluralisms but the essential question of difference. (335)
While many feminist studies base their positions in searching for
equality and similarities, Showalter suggests that they might
overlook the essence of the feminine, or rather, what makes these

11

works different

and worthy of examination in terms of being

different,
Costa Rican literature provides a unique opportunity for a
study of this sort. As women have been active participants in the
development of literary movements within Costa Rican literature,
their works are already important contributions, in addition to being
works written by women. While the two most recent analyses of
Costa Rican literature, La casa paterna (1993), and 100 anos de
literatura costarricense (1995) have been authored or co-authored
by women, there has yet to be a study of the contributions to Costa
Rican literature made by women. The purpose of this study is to
examine the ways in which women have played a major, important
role in the literary production in Costa Rica, as well as how they have
influenced Costa Rican political and social institutions during the
1900s through this medium.
The following study specifically concentrates on four
Twentieth-Century women writers. Carmen Lyra, Yolanda Oreamuno,
Carmen Naranjo and Anacristina Rossi. It reviews them in
chronological order, examining their works in terms of importance
and innovation, as the Twentieth Century unfolds, as well as in terms
of influence on Costa Rican society and its intellectual production. All
four of these women are recognized not only as major contributors to
12

Costa Rican Uterature, but they have also been very influential
political activists. Carmen Lyra formed the Communist Party in the
early 1930s in Costa Rica, and remained an active leader until her
exile from the country in 1949. Yolanda Oreamuno also faced selfexile during the 1940s for her political activities and her opinions on
women's rights. Carmen Naranjo was Costa Rica's first woman to be
appointed to high bureaucratic and political positions within the
country. In addition to being Costa Rica's most prolific author (male
or female), she has also been a member of Presidential cabinets,
served as Vice-President of the Costa Rican Social Security system
and worked as an ambassador representing her country in Israel and
Venezuela. Anacristina Rossi has likewise been involved in political
activities and protests. Her role in the 1980s and 90s has been to
advocate the protection of the Atiantic coast in Costa Rica from the
uncontrolled advances of tourism.
This study will examine the major prose works of these four
women writers from a developmental perspective of their
contributions to the Twentieth-Century novel in Costa Rican
literature. All four women writers have received international
recognition and earned a place for Costa Rica in Hispanic literature.
They have written about their country, using traditional language,
including the voseo, which takes the place of the pronoun "tti," and
13

uses a special verb form. Their works stand out as important focal
points in the development of Costa Rican literature. Not only did
their works greatiy influence other Costa Rican authors in terms of
style, technique and theme, but they also directiy influenced Costa
Rican society.

14

CHAPTER II
CARMEN LYRA

Maria Isabel Carvajal was bom in 1888, in San Jose, Costa Rica,
to a single mother. As was inevitable, her illegitimate birth affected
her social status and reception, and many of her literary works focus
on outcast members of society, children from broken homes, and
oppressed individuals and groups generally. These works are
thematically reminiscent of the works of Rosalia de Castro, a Galician,
writing in the mid to late 1800s, who likewise suffered because of
her illegitimate birth. According to Alfonso Chase, another factor
which greatiy influenced Lyra's thematic choices was her internship
with the hospital San Juan de Dios. After finishing school, Lyra
wanted to become a nun. Her opportunities for marriage were
certainly limited because of her illegitimacy. As part of her
novitiate, she worked in the hospital. This experience provided her
with vivid examples of misery and sadness which proliferate in her
early works. Just as her options for marriage had been limited
because of her illegitimacy, neither was she allowed to profess and
become a nun in the Catholic Church (Chase 505). One year after her
graduation from high school, she published her first short story in a
national magazine, Paginas llustradas.
15

In 1907, she began her first

novel, En una silla de ruedas, which was published eleven years

later in 1918. With this publication she became known as Carmen
Lyra, a name suggested to her by her close friend Joaquin Garcia
Monge. According to Garcia Monge, Carmen-Lira was a bus route in
Santiago, Chile (Chase 505).
As the author of Costa Rica's first novel, Garcia Monge with his
friendship constituted a very important influence during the initial
phases of Carmen Lyra's writing career. Garcia Monge was also
known for writing the first Costa Rican novel of social protest, Hijas
del campo. While early literary works in Costa Rica insisted on
presenting idyllic settings and portraying strengths of the family,
Garcia Monge and a small group of writers, including Carmen Lyra,
began to expose the flaws in such idealized representations. Critics
including Rojas and Ovares have pointed out that Monge showed
characteristics of disillusionment even within his first novel El Moto:
La Costa Rica de la primera imagen idilica era un mundo
donde las cosas tenian un nombre, donde las relaciones
sociales se vivian segtin la armonia que cubria los lazos
familiares. Poco a poco, las preferencias discursivas se
vuelcan hacia el anonimato, posible en nuevos paradigmas
literarios. El mundo anonimo y su nuevo tiempo se
revelan como un dato inevitable y el idilio familiar
empieza a desplazarse, al menos en la literatura... A la
par de algunos trabajos que destacan fundamentalmente
los aspectos costumbristas del texto, los estudios mas
recientes subrayan su potencial critico . . . y denuncian un
inicial resquebrajamiento del idilio familiar. (Rojas et al.
75-6)
16

This tendency is highly visible in the later works of Garcia Monge,

and was most influential in the works of Carmen Lyra:
Las figuras del labriego senciUo, el concho estereotipo y
pintoresco ceden el protagonismo ante una galeria de
personajes que hacen ingresar a la escena literaria
sectores antes ausentes o puntos de vista ineditos.
Igualmente, el humorismo y la idealizacion de tradiciones
y costumbres nacionales, dan paso bien a una vision
sentimental (Dobles Segreda), bien a una perspectiva mas
critica (Garcia Monge, Lyra, Dengo). (Rojas et al. 146)

Earlv Publications (1907-1920)

One of Carmen Lyra's early publications, the brief narrative
"Came de miseria" (1911), exemplifies the type of literature
comprising what scholars consider her first period (1907-1912)
(Martinez 30). Strongly marked by her own experiences working
with the sick in the hospital of San Juan de Dios, "Came de miseria" is
a depressing story with a naturalistic treatment of characters and
events. The influence of French authors such as Gustave Flaubert is
highly notable in the vivid descriptions used in "Came de miseria":
Primero a Graciela, la descamisadilla encantadora, con su
faldita tan seria y su pequena camisa que le dejaba los
brazos y el cuello desnudos. Pobrecita! [sic] Ese dia su
rostro picaresco, estaba triste. Sus ojos parlanchines,
mudos...
Mas alia, como un gironcillo de noche, la cabeza de
Emily, la chumequita, como por carifio le dicen algunas
17

veces sus compafieras, con la cara tan grave y los ojos

humedos, llenos de melancolia. Rosa, aquella morena
liberiana, tan simpatica, la mas inteligente de todas, no
enseiiaba como de costumbre la mazorca brillante de sus
dientes blancos. No se oia la charla de pajarillo de Clara
ni las risitas sofocadas de Ana Maria. Todas.. [sic] todas
habian ermiudecido. jEl lugar vacio! jLa compafiera ida!
(Chase 47)
"Came de miseria" is written from the perspective of a teacher
who sees the poverty and misery surrounding and enveloping her
students. One of these students is very ill, suffering from a
combination of serious disease and parents insufficientiy educated to
know how to care for her. The narrative voice criticizes the lack of
consciousness some parents have, as well as the generalized inability
to stop the vicious circle from continuing: "Yo senti deseo de gritar a
aquellos padres: icon que derecho haceis hijos asl? ^No veis que es
came con que se alimenta la miseria?" (Chase 48).
In 1915, Carmen Lyra, along with Joaquin Garcia Monge,
Roberto Brenes Mesen, Omar Dengo, and Ruben Goto, created an
intellectual group called Centro Germinal, from which grew many
ideas for social change, with several of the associates espousing
anarchic political philosophies. Their production of literary works,
including essays, short stories and novels, refiected these ideas, and
expressed a strong hatred for the Tinoco dictatorship as well. In
addition to the political essays, during this second writing phase,
18

Lyra developed a style of prose utilizing the techniques of

Modernism. This tendency is evidenced in both Las fantasias de
Juan Silvestre (191S), and En una silla de ruedas (1918). Alfonso
Chase notes:
En estos dos libros asimila lecturas anteriores, maestros
franceses, principalmente, pero esas influencias son
apenas perceptibles, interesandonos mas las realizaciones
de la autora, como prosista y observadora notable. Son
obras que incorporan a nuestra literatura la belleza de los
rezagos del modemismo, con la clara concepcion de un
realismo romantico, impregnado de nostalgia, de
descripciones del alma de los personajes, antes que el
decorado exterior que los aprisiona tambien. Son
detallistas, morosos, delicadamente evocativos,
presentados con simpatia y sensibilidad, con admirable
equilibio en las proporciones psicologicas de los
caracteres. (13)
Las fantasias de Juan Silvestre initiated Lyra's distancing of
her work from the tradition of Realism and Naturalism, and leaned
more toward Modernism, with its descriptions of things foreign to
the native Costa Rican. Often Lyra achieved such effects through
references to other literary works, or foreign authors:
A menudo saco en estos dias de mi bolsillo el pequeiio
volumen en que Carlyle cuenta "La vida y opiniones del
seiior de Teufelsdrockh" y leo fervorosamente... Y esto,
sin parecerme a aquellos de Ega de Queiroz, quienes
decian que "ni la fortuna de los Rostchilds [sic], ni la
corona de Carlos V los tentaria para salir de su pasito
lento, prudente, correcto" y tal cosa la hablaban corriendo
desalados tras el farol de un coche. (Chase 204)
19

En una silla de ruedas (1918) provides the best example of Lyra's

use of styUstic and structural elements adapted from Modernismo.
The novel combines Lyra's treatment of society's miserable and
marginalized with a notable dissatisfaction with Costa Rican society
of the early 1900s. Through these characters, Lyra provides visions
of lovely gardens reminiscent of Dario's "jardin de sueno," such as
that of the family home; dream-like descriptions of faraway lands,
such as Miguel's homeland, and the powerful sea which divides them.
Her descriptions weigh heavily with sensorial descriptions: the color
of flowers, the smell of food, and the sound of music. Also present is
a mysterious land of play created by Sergio and Ana Maria which
they invent to offset a life of despair. There live characters unknown
to their real world. They set out daily into this exotic land. Ana
Maria guiding Sergio in his wheelchair, both dressed in borrowed
clothes to escape their depressing reality. Later in the novel, when
Sergio is living in an asylum, he experiences flashbacks to his
childhood, also full of vivid imagery. In this dream-like state he
relives a different reality limited to selected and manipulated
images.
In the vein of Ruben Dario's later works, En una silla de
ruedas also contains elements critical of its contemporary society.
Through its marginalized characters, the novel subtiy indicates the
20

injustice found within Costa Rican society of the early 1900s. The
novel's protagonist, Sergio Esquivel, is paralyzed and fives his life in
a wheelchair. Much like other characters from Lyra's early works,
Sergio fails to see his condition as unjust. In fact, he considers his
world to be quite normal. The narrator refers to his condition as a
stroke of bad luck and sorrow:
Cuando llego esta desgracia, Sergio aiin no habia cumplido
dos a n o s . . . El pequeiio se acosto alegre... Al
abandonarse al sueiio, parecia una vida que iba al
encuentro del sol; al despertar, era una vida que la suerte
habia dejado en el pais brumoso de la tristeza. Era como
si una hada malefica se hubiera deslizado entre el silencio
de la noche hasta la cama de Sergio y hubiera vaciado su
rencor en esta existencia que comenzaba a abrirse. (237)
This differing perspective continues throughout the novel, with
Sergio, aware of his differences, yet above feeling sorry for himself;
while the narrator, as well as the other characters, would truly suffer
for his condition. Although Sergio does not feel sorry for himself, he
does constantiy yearn for a different, better world. When his
younger sister first considers why Sergio does not walk as she does,
she supposes that he will be normal one day:
-Mama Canducha, ya se por que Sergio no puede
caminar. Tiene las piemas de un m o d o . . . Despues se le
haran como las mias, mamita Candelaria?
La anciana le contesto llorando:
-No mi hijita, posiblimente Sergio no podra
caminar nunca.
21

~Yo quisiera darle mis piemas, mama Canducha.

Yo no las necesito. A mi me gusta estar sentada
haciendole vestidos a Luna. ^Puedo cortarmelas y
darselas?
-No mi hijita, si esto se pudiera, ya hace tiempo
que yo le habria dado las mias. (243)
The conversation between Gracia and Candelaria reveals not only
their sorrow for Sergio's condition, but also their noble characters, as
both would be willing to give him their own legs if it were possible.
Not only Gracia is disturbed by the revelation that Sergio will never
be able to walk as they; Mercedes also is devastated:
Merceditas se fue entonces a un rincon a llorar. A partir
de ese dia no volvio a correr, ni hizo sino aquello que
podia hacer Sergio. Sus pequenas manos tuvieron para
estas piemas, temuras por nadie sospechadas: las
apretaba a menudo contra su corazon, y cuando de noche
llevaban a Sergio a la cama, ella le buscaba los pies y
trataba de calentarlos con sus besos. (243)
Sergio begins his life with a moderately secure family.
Although his mother and father are separated due to his illness, he is
unaware of his father's disappointment. Sergio's early years are not
spent with his father. The father has farm land in another part of
the country near the coast, and claims to live there to provide for
their economic stability. His father's disgust at Sergio's disability is
not apparent to the boy for many years. Yet with his birth the
family slowly begins to unwind and disintegrate.

22

Sergio's mother, Jacinta, is tiie center of tiie child's world. "Para

el nino no habia en este mundo nada mas bello ni mejor" (241).
Although he was a well-behaved child, whenever Cinta would leave
the house, Sergio would become quiet and sad, refusing to smile until
she retumed with her laughter. Sergio's admiration for Cinta is not
fully shared by the narrator, who describes the mother as "ima
personita encantadora, con el cerebro a pajaros" (241). The narrator
apparentiy views Cinta as distracted and immature. Likewise, the
mistakes she makes in life are judged in terms of her being unfit for
the tasks demanded of her as mother and wife, rather than due to a
selfish nature: "Los treinta aiios no lograron llevar la gravedad a esta
criatura que jamas enterro la ligereza de su infancia" (241).
Although Sergio focuses his attention and his love on Cinta, the
functional role of mother is played by the old servant Candelaria, or
Mama Canducha, as the children call her. As the mother figure of
Cinta is slowly replaced by Candelaria, it becomes apparent that
within Carmen Lyra's novel there are two families represented. One
is the family that Sergio was bom into, and the second is the family
that is chosen. Candelaria, the first member to become a part of
Sergio's chosen family, worked as a young girl for the family of
Jacinta. As an adult, she married and had a family of her own. Like
Sergio's, her family is destroyed when her husband and children die.
23

Retuming to work for Cinta, she assumes the role of motiier and
housekeeper, both of tiiese being functions which fall beyond the
capacity of Sergio's mother. Her character typifies Carmen Lyra's
treatment of the poor and unfortunate. She is above ill will and
presented as being morally a much better person than the wealthy
family she serves, with the exception of the children, as children are
innocent:
Candelaria servia con fidelidad y desinteres. Era de esas
criaturas que sirven sin rebajar su dignidad; su
obediencia era inteligente, de la que ennoblece a quien la
practica. En donde ella estaba, se hacia luego
indispensable; se imponia enseguida, sin hacerse sentir, y
muy pronto se convertia en el ama de la casa. Casi
siempre su corazon estuvo en un nivel superior al de sus
patrones. (253)
Sergio's father is characterized as a rough, unmannered and
uncaring person. "La figura de Juan Pablo Esquivel era vulgarota y
poco agradable, pero iba bien vestido y esto y las comodidades que el
le ofrecia fueron suficientes para aquel cerebro de pajarillo que
jamas se detenia durante dos segundos en el mismo asunto" (275).
Soon after the children are born, he acquires a small banana farm
near the coast and spends most of his time there. Cinta discovers
that he has another woman with whom he has children on the
plantation. As the time and culture dictate, she silentiy accepts the
situation without complaining and bears the hurt. Juan Pablo treats
24

Sergio and his two sisters with the same indifference as he treats
Cinta. The author presents him as completely without tendemess.
His treatment of Sergio is implicitiy emotionally abusive:
En su presencia, el animo de Sergio se encogia como las
hojas de la adormidera al sentirse rozadas por algiin
objeto extrafio. Siempre hablaba al chiquillo con una
proteccion llena de lastima maltratadora . . . Algo asi
como esa sonrisa de condescendencia en los labios de un
poderoso cuando mete la mano en su bolsiQo en busca de
la moneda de darle golpecitos en la cabeza acompanados
de un "pobre hijo mio!" Y estas palabras caian en el
corazon del nino cual si fueran una limosna no implorada.
(277)
Much as Jacinta was replaced by Candelaria, Juan Pablo is also
replaced by a chosen father figure from the working class.
Sergio saw Miguel for the very first time when the latter was
repairing the road near Sergio's house. Miguel is a foreigner in Costa
Rica, "de apellido tan extraiio que nunca lo pudieron pronunciar
correctamente estos amigos suyos para quienes tan querido fuera"
(257). Miguel shares aspects of the same kind of lonely, tragic
development as Candelaria, in that he had once had a family from
which destiny separated him:
A veces se quedaba suspenso, silencioso y con los ojos
puestos en los lefios que ardian. Cuando volvia de su
ensimismamiento les decia que entre las llamas habia
vuelto a ver escenas muy lejanas: el era un nino y en
torno de la gran chimenea de la cocina alia en su casa
paterna, estaban reunidas muchas gentes; su madre y sus
hermanas mayores, bordaban; el y su hermanita a la que
25

llamaban Sava, estaban sentados cerca de un pastor de su

padre, un muchacho hermoso y robusto que cantaba aires
del Tirol, acompanandose con la citara. Sus hermanos
labraban en madera de pino los celebres juguetes de su
pais. ^Que habria sido de su hermanita Sava tan linda y
tan alegre? . . . Mas adelante habia una epoca de su vida
que se perdia como una noche de muy larga duracion.
Peregrine mucho. Un dia se encontro en Costa Rica y alii
estaba todavla. iQue habria sido de los suyos? Si su
hermana Sava no habia muerto tenia que ser ya una
anciana como el. ^Que habria sido de la risa que anidaba
en su boca? Seguramente que habia volado huyendo del
frio de la vejez. (268)
In Strangers to Ourselves, Kristeva explores the complex
archetype of the foreigner in literature, defining the foreigner as one
"who survives with a tearful face turned toward the lost homeland.
Melancholy lover of a vanished space, he cannot, in fact, get over his
having abandoned a period of time" (9). The reason for Miguel's
presence in Costa Rica is unknown, and his homeland Tirol is
presented as mysterious. Kristeva's archetype also comes from dark
origins:
He has fled from that origin-family, blood, soil~and,
even though it keeps pestering, enriching, hindering,
exciting him, or giving him pain, and often all of it at
once, the foreigner is its courageous and melancholy
betrayer. His origin certainly haunts him, for better and
for worse, but it is indeed elsewhere that he has set his
hopes, that his struggles take place, that his life holds
together today. (29)

26

Since Miguel is an immigrant, Kristeva's archetype insists that he be

a hard worker. Not only must he be a laborer, but he also will work
at any job which might be considered vulgar to the aristocracy. Even
more interesting is the fact that the foreigner will be able to invent
jobs that were not thought of, or perhaps necessary before:
But as far as the immigrant is concerned, he has not come
here just to waste his time away. Possessed with driving
ambition, a pusher, or merely crafty, he takes on all jobs
and tries to be tops in those that are scarcest. In those
that nobody wants but also in those that nobody has
thought of... Since he has nothing, he can sacrifice
everything. (19)
The character of Miguel accords with Kristeva's portrait
through his interactions with others: "the foreigner's friends, aside
from bleeding hearts who feel obliged to do good, could only be those
who feel foreign to themselves" (23). Miguel is indeed surrounded
by other "foreigners." Sergio is certainly foreign, separated from
society by his paralysis. Unlike others around him, his world is small
and cloistered, marginalized, confined to a wheelchair. Candelaria is
also a foreigner as she is an Indian from Guanacaste. She too has has
been severed from her past. Like Miguel, Sergio and his family will
face exile in their future.
Miguel is slowly enveloped by the family, first called and
befriended by Sergio, then accepted by the others. There he begins

27

to fulfill the role of fatiier, fixing tilings around the house, making
useful utensils for Candelaria and inventing toys for the children
from scraps and unwanted materials he finds during the day. Once
Sergio discovers that Miguel has no home, he and his sisters convince
their mother to allow Miguel to live with them.
Miguel enters the family almost as a bride enters marriage.
Permission is granted him by Jacinta, and Candelaria brings formality
to the ceremony as Miguel is led to his new bed:
Ya ve, yo era asi como uste, un ser solo, pero un dia entre
en esta casa y si ahora me sacaran me matarian, porque
aqui sembre el corazon que ha echado raices hasta entre
la tinaja de la cocina. Vea, don Miguel, yo me imagino
que el alma tiene como el cuerpo su sangre, que es el
modo de sentir. Y pa que lo sepa, uno tiene su familia no
en los que cargan entre su cuerpo la misma sangre, sino
en los que cargan entre el alma los mismos sentimientos.
(264)
Miguel's reply is simple: "Bueno, me quedo. Y que Dios os pague"
(264). Candelaria reiterates the idea of chosen family, as connected
through feelings and soul, rather than established by blood. Miguel's
presence brings union to the family and peace to the household, and
together with Candelaria and the children, creates a temporary
family for Sergio, Merceditas and Gracia. The whole house responds
to their union:
Entre las manos de Miguel y las de Candelaria, todo
prosperaba y relumbraba de limpio. El jardin no volvio a
tener malas hierbas y los arboles frutales y las plantas de
28

adomo producian maravillosamente desde que Miguel

pusiera en ellos sus dedos sabios. Los conejos y las
palomas tuvieron casas mas comodas e higienicas. (264)
Sergio sees Miguel as wise. He admires him and loves him as
he has wanted to admire and love his own father. However, Miguel
is not perfect. He is categorized as good and noble both for his status
within the hard-working poor, as well as for his tme love for Sergio
and his sisters. Yet Miguel disappears from time to time. His
absences remain without explanation, although it becomes known
that he has a serious drinking problem, as occasionally Miguel will
vanish on a drinking binge. Interestingly, as a foreigner, his
character is judged on a different scale from the others. He is
forgiven for any action or flaw because he is not from Costa Rica. His
wounds and scars may not be any more painful than those of
Candelaria, or other characters with whom he interacts, yet he is not
bound by the same strict code as they are.
While Candelaria and Miguel serve to bring stability to the
home, they also provide Cinta with freedom from not only the tasks,
but also the emotional responsibilities of motherhood. Suddenly
finding herself with time and freedoms, Cinta is seduced by a young
engineer from Chile, named Rafael Valencia, and becomes pregnant.
During this time, Juan Pablo, her husband decides to sell his
plantation and return to San Jose. Unable to resolve her problem,
29

Cinta mns away from it, leaving with the Chilean for Peru,
abandoning her home and her children. Juan Pablo returns and
places Sergio's sisters, Gracia and Merceditas, in a boarding school,
and sends Sergio to live with his Uncle Jose and Aunt Concha.
All three children feel totally miserable in their new lives.
Sergio finds Jose and Concha cold and indifferent toward his
situation, accepting him in their home only for the extra money his
father will pay them. The sisters are equally unhappy in the
boarding school. Their only communication with Sergio is through
letters. Although they do not complain, their lonely situation, as
explained by Gracia, is very depressing:
Sergio, hermanito querido, ya estamos en vacaciones y
todas las compafieras se han marchado, pero como
nosotras no tenemos adonde ir, papa ha conseguido que
nos quedemos en el Colegio.. .Cada mafiana vamos a subir
a la azotea a verlas: no lo olvides y vos tambien para que
alii se junten nuestras miradas. Y adivina lo que vimos?
La palmera alta del jardin de nuestra casa. La movia el
viento e inclinaba hacia nosotros su cabeza como
llamandonos. ^duien vivira ahora alii? (328)
Worse yet, Mercedes does not recover from the depression brought
on by the abandonment of their mother. Her letters to Sergio are
tragically brief and despairing. Her references to being cold"Hermanito de mi alma: Yo no te escribo tanto como Gracia, porque

30

tengo mucho frio" (328)~foreshadow her sudden death from a high

fever.
Sergio's only comfort in the home of his aunt and uncle is the
presence of Ana Maria, an orphan adopted by his aunt in order to
appear charitable to representatives of the Catholic Church. Ana
Maria is treated with much the same indifference as Sergio, yet she
has never known anything different. Sergio and Ana Maria become
very close as they share so much in common. Both have been
abandoned by their parents and both are merely tolerated as
outsiders in the house of Concha and Jose. Ana Maria takes Sergio
everywhere, dressing him in disguises, and they imagine themselves
as different. They often pass through the barrio becoming friends
with the poor workers.
Lyra does not allow her characters to develop far from a
limited nucleus of stereotypes: children are irmocent, manipulated
and mistreated; the poor are humble, loving and good; the wealthy
are powerful. Among the wealthy, there are two classifications: the
intelligent and cruel, such as Sergio's father and aunt; and the
unintelligent, such as Sergio's mother and uncle. The unintelligent
wealthy do inflict pain (such as the abandonment by Cinta), but the
narrator forgives them for their actions as being due to stupidity
rather than intended cruelty.
31

Sergio maintains his relationship witii Candelaria and Miguel

while living with Concha. Candelaria finds work with another family,
but comes to see Sergio on Sundays, her day off. Miguel comes from
time to time to give Sergio a violin lesson, and often he passes
through the neighborhood with the pretense of sharpening knives,
just to sit and visit with Sergio. On his visits he brings cookies and
sweets made by Candelaria. He fully understands Sergio's longing for
home and the family he has lost. Sergio imagines Miguel's feelings as
much like his own: "Y yo vi en los ojos del viejo una gran tristeza.
Pense que Miguel queria ver el mar por donde podria volver a su
casa, alia donde vivia su hermanita Sava, la que cuando partiera, se
quedo diciendole adios desde una colina, con un panuelito bianco"
(317).
Sergio's imaginary, invented world with Ana Maria is not a
stable one, and soon Ana Maria is needed to accompany and care for
Aunt Concha on an extended stay in Europe. Sergio's father, Juan
Pablo, remarries and agrees to take Sergio as well as Gracia into his
new home, but Sergio refuses and is sent to a boarding school in the
city of Cartago, where he is separated from Candelaria and Miguel by
the distance. In the few letters he receives from Ana Maria, she
confesses that she has told others that she has a brother named
Sergio in Costa Rica.
32

While at the boarding school Sergio is visited by his parents.

The first visit is by his father. He does not bring Gracia, but rather,
his three new sons, all of whom lack physical problems. The oldest is
named for his father, Juan Pablo, who brings the three boys to offer
presents to Sergio. However, the real motive is more likely to show
Sergio his other "true" sons, illustrating how a real son should be.
The implicit comparison is cruel. Yet Sergio is seemingly unhurt by
the visit. They leave and Sergio resumes playing the violin,
indifferent to their departure.
The second visit, however, almost destroys Sergio. Symbolic of
tremendous changes to occur, it is New Year's Day. Before the arrival
of Cinta, a strange happiness foreshadows the event: "Dia de ano
nuevo. ~ Mis compafieros juegan en el patio y sus gritos se
confunden con el murmullo del viento. Cae una ganjia finisima
irisada por los rayos del sol. Estoy alegre sin saber por que" (357).
Cinta's visit comes without warning. Unlike the cold indifference
Sergio feels when his father comes to visit, the arrival of his mother
pulls him back into the reality of home and family: "Por un momento
pierdo la nocion de las cosas . . . Se borra la luz en las ventanas . . . Al
volver en mi tengo apoyada la cabeza en el pecho de mama" (358).
Cinta arrives with two children from her new marriage to the
Peruvian engineer. Like Sergio's father, she also has had three new
33

children, replacing Sergio, Gracia and Mercedes. Sergio is

immediately drawn to these three, unlike the children of his father.
He cries when he sees that the littie girl looks very much like
Mercedes. However, his conversation with his mother reveals an
ugly reality to Sergio. Although she affirms, "He vuelto a Costa Rica
porque no podia mas! [sic] Ay Sergio, vivo con el pensamiento
partido en dos, una mitad con ustedes, la otra con ellos" (359-360),
Sergio sees her for the first time with eyes of an adult:
jAy! jotros hijos y otros intereses! A ratos hablaba con
seriedad y tristeza; por sus ojos y su boca pasaba un
soplo, y yo creia que la pena iba a apagarlos, pero
enseguida la llama se reanimaba; entonces me parecia ver
su alma, una alma en la cual no habia el recuerdo de su
hijita muerta, ni el de Gracia, ni el de Sergio que iba por la
vida en una silla de r u e d a s . . . . mama agita su mano
enguantada en serial de despedida.
Un nudo me aprieta la garganta y siento que va a
estallar mi llanto.
-Mama, levanta el velo para verte ~le pido.
Lo hace, y que tonto soy, me maltrata mirar su
rostro iluminado como siempre y no ensombrecido por la
pena. ^No habra en su interior un dolor parecido al mio?
(361)
Cinta informs him that she no longer lives in Peni, but rather,
in Colombia. For many years Sergio has thought of Peni as some
place magical, perhaps safe, such as their former home. His mother
has been living there. In school he learned of the great distance
between Costa Rica and Peni and tried to imagine this country and
34

consider it a safe haven for his mother. However, just as he realizes

that his mother has not longed for him as he thought, he realizes that
she has not been living in Peru, either. Everything about his mother
has been false. Memory of the past has deceived him. His reahty is
now different, and he protects himself from this ugly past by
replacing his mother with Candelaria, summoning up the memories
of his "Mama Canducha" alongside Miguel. He relives his childhood
within the confines of the boarding school and completely replaces
Cinta with Candelaria. Although Cinta has informed him that she will
be in Cartago for fifteen days and will return every day, luckily,
Sergio never sees her again.
Soon after the visit from Cinta, Ana Maria returns to Costa Rica
with Concha and Jose. As Sergio has grown into an adult, so has Ana
Maria. He returns to live in the house of Concha and Jose, feeling
disillusioned by the appearance of Ana Maria. He had expected to
find the littie girl that he missed so much, but instead has
encountered a young lady, well traveled in Europe and fluent in
French.
. Ana Maria has always considered Sergio as her brother. In a
letter from Europe, she defines their relationship as such. Sergio
never comments on this definition. However, when she returns, she
is in love with a Costa Rican who had been studying in Europe as
35

well. Sergio feels very distant from Ana Maria. Although she treats
him as she did before, he suddenly realizes that he has never
considered her as a sister:
iQue tonto era! Como no podia confiar a nadie este
sentimiento extrafio e inefable, lo confio a su violin y fue
entonces cuando escribiera por primera vez las armonias
escuchadas en su interior, su primera "romanza sin
palabras'\ un trozo de mtisica de esos que solo
coimiueven a la gente joven y romantica y que hacen
estirar los labios despectivamente a los mtisicos viejos de
gusto depurado. (366)
Sergio does not have to confront his emotions at this time, however.
Within a few months, Ana Maria gives birth to a child and the father
disappears. Concha considers forcing the man to marry Ana Maria,
until she discovers that he is from a distinguished family. Ana Maria
would not be allowed to marry simply because, as an orphan, she
cannot be sure who her parents were, or from what social level they
came. Much like Carmen Lyra's own mother. Ana Maria must raise
her child alone.
Ana Maria leaves the house of Concha and Jose, and Sergio is
sent to an asylum for the incurably ill, where Mama Canducha
accompanies him. In the asylum, Sergio finds himself surrounded by
very sad situations. His own infirmity seems slight when compared
to the others. His accommodations are pleasant, and Candelaria is
there with him, but he still is incredibly lonely for Ana Maria. He
36

retreats into his violin, spending hours each day working on music.
His correspondence with Ana Maria continues as before, through
letters. This time, however, it is Sergio who affirms their
relationship by referring to her as "hermana mla" and to her son, also
named Sergio, as "mi sobrino."
Sergio's music becomes known throughout the asylum, and one
day is overheard by a well-known visiting composer from England,
named Clovis Shirley, a foreigner, who is drawn to Sergio as was
Miguel. Unlike Miguel however, Shirley is a very wealthy visitor,
and well-known musician, merely passing through Costa Rica. He has
never heard anyone play the violin with as much passion as Sergio,
as music had become Sergio's principal interaction with the world:
Por sobre la musica el corazon de Sergio podia corretear
con la alegria de un niiio sano sobre un campo en
primavera. Y no solamente corretear, sino volar. Dentro
de su cuerpo, condenado al recogimiento, su corazon
estuvo encerrado como entre un capullo, hasta el dia en
que la armonia de los sonidos vino a ponerle alas. Las
notas negras sembradas en los pentagramas, fueron para
su espiritu como unos guijarros que indicaban la senda
que conducia hacia un palacio encantado. (275)
Shirley arranges for Sergio to play in the National Theater. Once his
music is heard by others, suddenly the forgotten outcast of society
becomes truly appreciated. Shirley also gives Sergio enough money
to continue his study in his own home, surrounded by Candelaria,

37

Miguel, Gracia and Ana Maria. Finding themselves in a stable

situation. Ana Maria and Gracia open a dressmaker's shop, and Sergio
gives violin lessons. Good fortune continues and they are able to
purchase their family home where they lived as children.
Not long after they are all reunited, they receive a letter from
Cinta, along with a photograph of her with her three children. Her
letter, tender and kind, informs them that she now lives in
Argentina. She appears to be very wealthy. Sergio, thrilled to
receive word from her, kisses the photograph, while Gracia, who has
never seen her mother since she abandoned them as children, is
overwhelmed. She cries silentiy and asks Sergio if perhaps their
mother loves the other children more than them.
After six years of great unhappiness, Gracia slowly returns to
normal, marries one of Sergio's friends, and continues living in the
same home. Ana Maria also returns to her former self. Being very
attractive she has suitors, something not permitted earlier in her life
because of her social status. However, she rejects her suitors when
they speak of marriage. Explaining to Sergio she says:
-Nunca te abandonare, Sergio, nunca. Con tu carifio y el
de mi hijo se llena mi corazon. Y ya ves, todavia me
quedan los de Miguel y Candelaria. Si Dios nos deja,
llegaremos a viejos, yo pastoreandote y vos dejandote
pastorear, ^No te parece un porvenir agradable?
Despues mi hijo se casara y nos dara nietos... iQue
viejillos mas buenos seremos?
38

Yo repUco: -No, Ana Maria, sos muy joven y el

amor puede volver a buscarte y . . .
Me mira intensamente y veo en sus ojos ima
revelacion que me deslumbra. No me deja terminar.
-Si, el amor ha vuelto, Sergio . . . me parece el
primero . . . pero no hablemos de eso . . . (425)
Sergio and Ana Maria have been raised as brother and sister.
Although not brother and sister by blood, they also have
acknowledged the relationship as such, referring to one another as
brother and sister. The suggestion that they now assume the roles of
father and mother, man and wife hints of incest, and is left as only a
suggestion by Carmen Lyra.
Sergio sleeps after this revelation. The novel ends with his
dream, in which Ana Maria is old, and her son is an adult. Together
they lift a child into the air. Next to them, Sergio is a tree with a
very strong trunk, and legs which have become thick, strong, black
roots in the ground. In his dream, Sergio has become the support
and the strength of the family he has chosen, a sharp contrast to the
fragile childhood Sergio.
Within the novel, four separate time periods exist. The first
encompasses Sergio's early childhood. Sergio's memories differ from
the narrator's analysis of the situation, and in them he lives in a
perfect world, surrounded by a caring family. He does not pity

39

himself as tiie narrator does, nor does he interpret his father's

absence as abandonment. In his world things are simple and
innocent. As this time of innocence begins to disintegrate, Sergio
unknowingly begins to establish his second family.
During the second time period, Sergio lives with his aunt and
imcle, and loses his sisters, one to distance and one to death.
However, he gains another sister. Ana Maria, together with some
unpleasant parent figures: Concha and Jose. The second time period
also ends abmptiy as Concha, Jose and Ana Maria abandon Sergio for
three years while they travel through Europe. Although they try to
reestablish their former situation upon retuming, it does not function
as planned and Sergio is sent away to an asylum.
The third time period is set in Cartago, with Sergio in the
asylum, attended by Candelaria, experiencing a type of limbo,
isolated from the family unit, yet still manipulated by it. Both visits
by his father and mother constitute reenactments of the original
abandonment, perhaps more painful still due to the fact that they
both bring new children who have replaced Sergio, Mercedes and
Gracia.
In the fourth time period, Sergio, now a young man in his
twenties, and his chosen family are miraculously reunited thanks to
the chance visit of Clovis Shirley and Sergio's violin. Their return to
40

the family home is symbolic as the return to a happier time, a more

innocent time. In this final period, Sergio has once again mother and
father figures in Miguel and Candelaria, his sister in Gracia, and an
undefined relationship with Ana Maria, changing from that of sister
to that of companion.
As time periods oscillate between positive and negative
conditions, both characters and space are also defined in black and
white terms within En una silla de ruedas. Positive characters are
not necessarily perfect, but rather, characters whose flaws, if notable,
are redeemed through suffering or overlooked because of their good
intentions. Negative characters are not necessarily criminals, yet
they tend to be selfish, egotistical and neglectful. Children are all
characterized as good, as are foreigners, excepting Rafael, the
engineer, who is neither good or bad. He takes Cinta away, yet she is
responsible for her decision to leave.
Lyra presents within her novel obvious social dualism; wealthy
Costa Ricans are presented as bad, as evidenced by Juan Pablo,
Concha and Jose, while the poor are uniformly hard workers,
innocent and honest. There are no gray characters, with the
exception of Cinta, who may be marginally or unintentionally bad,
but is loved unconditionally as the biological, original and
irreplaceable "mother" by her children.
41

Space is also defined as good or bad within the novel. Rojas

and Ovares consider space as directiy related to the condition of the
family: "La positividad/negatividad

de los distintos espacios y la

oposicion aqui/alia esta marcada fundamentalmente por la

reunion/separacion de la familia" (Rojas et al. 170). However, space
seems at times to acquire its own characteristics, regardless of the
family situation. The family home is positive space, full of gardens
with fruit trees, doves and rabbits. Inside, it is full of warmth and
love. When Sergio leaves his home to go live with his uncle and
aunt, he envisions the house reacting to his departure:
Ya en la calle vuelvo los ojos para mirar mi casa. AUi
queda con sus grandes corredores, que las flores rojas,
rosadas y blancas de los jardines ponen tan alegre. Tiene
las ventanas cerradas, como para no vemos salir, y sobre
el tejado las palomas alineadas esponjan al sol su plumaje.
. . . De la chimenea sale un jironcillo de humo que ondula
bajo el azul del cielo; yo imagino que es el pafiuelo con
que mama Canducha nos dice adios. (292)
The home of Concha and Jose possesses a very different personality
and exudes an air which is completely opposite. Surrounded by a
disagreeable neighborhood and isolated from the city, it stands close
to a noisy road which runs between San Jose and Guadalupe. The
house itself is cold and uninviting:
El caseron es antiguo, de gmesas paredes, con ventanas
voladas [sic] y provistas de rejas de hierro. A la entrada
hay dos naranjos y sobre el tejado crecen hierbas. Las
habitaciones son vastas y frias, con el pavimento de
42

ladrillos que mi tia hace encerar a menudo, y que a

primera vista se creerian mojados. Los muebles son
pesados y grandotes. La sala tiene un aspecto liigubre
con sus sillones y sofa forrados en tela oscura, en las
paredes retratos de abuelos de cara de pocos amigos y
dentro de un fenal una dolorosa enlutada y triste con el
corazon atravesado por pufiales. (294)
By contrast, although the asylum is described as a positive
place, with its beautiful gardens and comfortable rooms, within it
live a sad collection of misfits and social outcasts, as well as elderly
people who have been discarded by their families. In accord with
Lyra's strict adherence to stereotypes, the people consigned to the
asylum are kind and good, undeserving of their abandonment.
Description within Lyra's novel differs from narrator to
narrator. The narration develops through several different narrative
voices. The flrst, a third person, omniscient voice, tells of Sergio's
past, supporting the story with quoted speech:
El anciano medico que lo vio nacer exclamo alegremente
cuando Sergio llego a este mundo, al mirarlo tan bien
conformado: -jBienvenido, muchacho! Se ve que
Nuestro Sefior estaba de buen humor cuando te hizo.
Aqui tenemos a uno a quien nos mandan bien armado
para ir por este valle de lagrimas. (238)
This reaction proves cruelly ironic when the boy's illness conflnes
him for life to a wheelchair. The narrator continues, interjecting
present-tense quoted speech in the past-tense description. In

43

addition to dialogue, the narrative also incorporates monologues in

the form of folk stories told by Candelaria. About fifty pages into the
narrative, suddenly this established format ends and the narrator
turns the story over to Sergio:
Ha pasado en tiempo . . . [sic]
-jCuantos afios han transcurrido desde aquellos dias!-se
dice Sergio a si mismo-abriendo su memoria frente a una
ventana llena de luz o en la oscuridad de la noche cuando
esta solo y todos duermen:
Nada de lo pasado se ha perdido. Recorro estos
recuerdos, como si recorriera una galeria de cuadros
pintados por si [sic] mismo... Me detengo como si yo no
fuera Sergio, ante cada uno de los Sergios sentados en su
silla de ruedas. Es una larga fila. Comienza una mafiana
en que el techo que cubria mi vida se derrumbo, y la fila
se pierde en lo desconocido. (280-281)
Sergio's narration continues shifting from one time period to another,
blending and confusing various time planes. The majority of the
time he describes the past. Yet, occasionally he will switch to a
present tense narrative, suggesting the voice of the juvenile diarist:
"Mis hermanitas vienen a verme dos veces al mes... Ahora voy a la
escuela. Antes no iba porque en casa mama y Gracia me ensefiaban
letras y niimeros" (325). Before Sergio can establish a firm time
plane, his narrative falls back into the past to foresee something that
will happen in the future of his story: "Durante los afios que de nifio
pasara yo en la casona de San Francisco, en los primeros dias de cada
verano, Ana Maria no dejaba quieta mi silla de ruedas..." (332).
44

Once Ana Maria and Sergio are separated, Sergio's narrative

introduces letters from Ana Maria, whose voice is thereby added to
that of the protagonist-narrator. The text also contains dated
subtities indicating that what follows comes from Sergio's diary. The
diary entries, being in present tense, differ from Sergio's
retrospective narrative (outside of the diary) being more descriptive
of Sergio's feelings, rather than events. After his first diary entry,
the narrative voice of the initial, third-person narrator returns.
From this point onward in the novel, several narrative voices
(omniscient third-person narrator, Sergio, Sergio's diary entries,
letters from Ana Maria and Sergio's sisters, letters from Jacinta)
alternate from one paragraph to the next, often separated by
supporting dialogue. The novel ends with dialogue between Sergio
and Ana Maria, enveloped by the omniscient voice.
Luz Ivette Martinez notes these sudden shifts in narrative
voice in her analysis of En una silla de ruedas. In addition, she
comments on Lyra's interesting use of different verbal forms to
manipulate time within the novel:
Esas formas verbales tradicionales, junto al empleo
del presente de indicativo, adquieren mayor significacion
cuando Carmen Lyra las maneja en otra dimension. Es
evidente que en la novela no importa el tiempo
mensurable objetivamente, sino el tiempo vital, el tiempo
vivido por los personajes de la narracion. Asi, adquiere
rasgos de modemidad, pues se da ese reencuentro
45

subjetivo con el tiempo pasado que se intenta recuperar

en un sentido proustiano. (44)
En una silla de ruedas certainly typifies early Twentieth-Century
literature in Costa Rica; however, it also contains many modem traits,
especially Lyra's use of multi-voiced, or polyphonic narrative.
Most critics consider the novel to be Carmen Lyra's best work,
although it was never as popular as Cuentos de mi tia Panchita, and
was not as widely read as were her political essays until much later
in the Twentieth Century.

Later Publications (1920-1949)

In 1919, together with other writers and teachers, Lyra helped
lead a large demonstration through downtown San Jose. The protest
resulted in burning the offices of the official newspaper. La
Informacion, and Alfonso Chase notes that:
Carmen Lyra tuvo una destacada participacion, como
oradora y conspiradora. AUi afirmo sus convicciones
politicas y tambien sus primeras intervenciones como
oradora de plaza ptibUca, como luchadora contra la
injusticia, la dictadura, el sistema imperante. (14)
One year later the Tinoco dictatorship feU and Julio Acosta was
appointed president. Wanting to restructure the Costa Rican school
system, Acosta sent Carmen Lyra to Europe to study pedagogy in

46

1920. That same year she pubUshed her most famous work,
Cuentos de mi Tia Panchita, a series of tales drawn from the oral
traditions found throughout the Americas. UtiUzing storylines and
characters resembUng Uncle Remus from North America, and tio
Conejo from South America, Lyra rewrites well-known folk tales
with a distinctiy Costa Rican fiavor, adding new twists and turns to
old stories from oral traditions, using idioms common to Costa Rica as
weU as a rich vocabulary of costarricanismos, and of course, the
voseo form of address:
Habia una vez un hombre muy torcido, muy torcido.
Parecia que el tuerce lo habia cogido de mingo. Como era
mas torcido que un cacho de venado, le pusieron el apodo
de Cacho de Venado y asi todo el mundo le Uamaba Juan,
Cacho e' Venao [sic] . . . Creyendo hacer una gracia, se
caso, pero la paloma le salio un sapo, porque la mujer
tenia un humor que solo el santo Job la podia aguantar.
(37)
Lyra's stories abound in humor and wit. Through her use of
costarricanismos and common idioms she takes universal folk tales
and makes them become local stories as well. In one story, Lyra
employs a version of the African literary form of the dUemma tale,
or judgment tale, hi her story "Como tio Conejo les jugo sucio a tia
Ballena y a tio Elefante." Unlike its traditional African counterpart
which uses a Tortoise for a trickster, Lyra uses Uncle Rabbit (tio
Conejo), a character found in the mdigenous traditions of the
47

American continent. When tio Conejo hears that tia Ballena and tio
Elefante have decide to join forces and rule the earth, he rejects their
plan and decides to make it backfire. Finding tia BaUena, tio Conejo
tricks her into helping him out of a difficult situation:
-Tia Ballena de Dios. jQue tiempo me la encuentro!
jViera que caballada me ha pasado! ^Pues no se me
metio la unica vaquita que tengo entre un barrial como a
media legua de aqui?... El caso es que aUi me la tiene en
ese atoUadero y como es tan poquita, esta Uora y Uora con
el barro hasta el pescuezo. Por vida suyita Tia BaUena,
saqueme de este apuro, uste que es el mas fuerte de
todos los animales y ademas tan noble. (148)
A simUar story is told to tio Elefante. Each wishes to claim the titie of
the strongest animal on the earth, so they agree to help tio Conejo.
During their tug-of-war they discover each other on opposite ends of
the rope. UrUike the dilemma tale in which the characters recognize
their trickster as a strong adversary and anticipate a decision
concerning who is the smartest or the best from the audience, they
do not recognize tio Conejo as the trickster. WhUe in the traditional
story Tortoise, Hippopotamus and Elephant must agree that all are
equal, in Lyra's tale the trickster is definitely the smarter of the
three. Not only do tia Ballena and tio Elefante fail to figure out who
is behind the trick, they continue their senseless tug-of-war, still
trying to prove who is the strongest.

48

Ten tales in Cuentos de mi tia Panchita concern or feature tio

Conejo. AU ten revolve around tio Conejo's attempts to outsmart
others. Often he himself becomes the victim of the prank. The
thirteen remaining stories in the collection present different
characters. Often grotesque and frightening, but always funny, they
provide Costa Rican versions of widely known fables and fairy tales.
Carmen Lyra's coUection of folk tales was strongly influenced
by two factors. As a kindergarten teacher, she used folk stories and
children's stories very much as part of her routine in the classroom.
However, she was also greatiy influenced by socialist concepts of
folklore belonging to the working class. Evident in her stories are the
idioms, vocabulary and language usage common to the uneducated
Costa Rican worker that Lyra celebrates, whether it be in her
dialogue within folk tales, her archetype of the noble worker (En
una silla de ruedas), or figures depicted within her poUtical essays.
Upon rettorning to Costa Rica after European pedagogical
studies, Lyra founded the country's first kindergarten, in the
Montessori tradition. She also continued writing, greatiy influenced
by new Russian authors emerging from the Bolshevik Revolution
(Chase 146). Her poUtical phUosophies provided the focus of works
such as "El barrio Cothnejo-Fishy" (1923), and "Bananos y hombres"
(1931).
49

"El barrio Cothnejo-Fishy" is a political satire describing a

barrio of wealthy Costa Ricans, who are praised and glorified for
their manipulation and exploitation of others. OriginaUy "Conejo," the
famUy of Jose Manuel Conejo change their name to "Cothnejo" to
create a European mystique. At the beginning of this essay,
originally pubUshed in the national periodical. La Careta, Lyra
explains that Jose Manuel Uved by ruthless greed, yet was admired
and considered an upstanding citizen:
A muchas personas arruino, mutilo y mato su ansia de
acumular dinero bajo sus manos. Pero cosa extrafia:
cuando mas estrujaba y maltrataba al projimo, mayor era
su prestigio entre las gentes que ponen y quitan
gobiemos y mayor el ntimero de consideraciones de que
lo rodeaba lo que Uaman la buena sociedad. (259)
Lyra's critical attitude toward the Costa Rican society of the
early 1900s becomes less tolerant than before, as seen in En una
silla de ruedas. Now, instead of alluding to the wealthy elite as
mean, cruel and spiteful by placing them in an environment which
suggests "cold, dark, damp and uncomfortable," her analysis is more
stark, scientific and unfeeUng:
Como el entomologo armado de lentes, pinzas,
frascos con cianuro y yeso o con alcohol, etc., se va a cazar
insectos y a observarlos, asi nosotros vamos al Barrio
Cothnejo-Fishy a examinar la forma y los hechos de las
gentes distinguidas de un centro aristocratico ubicado en
Costa Rica, un paisecito de Centro America de medio
miUon de habitantes que tiene mucho de Tarascin. Y los
50

vamos a exanunar sUi pasion, como el entomologo podria

examinar comejenes, moscas, alacranes, mariposas,
avispas, hormigas, cucarachas, arafias, etc., a pesar de la
sangre azul que creen corre por sus venas y de la
importancia que les puede dar el dinero. (261)
The analogy with generally unpleasant insects makes Lyra's
bitterness toward and distaste for the aristocracy apparent and
blatant. Many of the same character types seen earlier in En una
silla de ruedas reappear in "El barrio Cothnejo-Fishy." Lyra repeats
certain traits of Jacuita in her character, Cristina. However, the
erstwhUe sympathy for Jacinta is no longer evident in Lyra's
description: "Cristina Cothnejo recordaba a su abuela dofia Anita
Cothnejo de Fishy en lo del perfil de gallina y en lo boba que era"
(263). Not only are both Cristina and her grandmother physically
ugly in Lyra's portrait, but their luxuries have taken further toU on
their bodies:
Tiene dos carros: un Packard de la sefiora para servicio
de las mujeres y una preciosa cufiita para los muchachos.
Tanto a los padres como a los hijos les tiemblan las carnes
de un modo muy desagradable cuando ruedan
repantigados en los almohadones de su vehiculo. (281)
According to Carmen Lyra, the chUdren of the aristocracy were being
molded into worse beings than their parents:
Los nifios eran como casi todos los nifios del barrio,
criaturas en las que la grasa comenzaba a apoderarse no
solo de los tejidos del cuerpo sino de la inteligencia. Los
adultos que los rodeaban los iban modelando a su imagen
51

y semejanza. En general, los nifios del barrio CothnejoFishy, hacian pensar lo mismo que los jovenes y los
viejos, en las figuras de los dibujos de Gross, el
caricaturista de la burguesia alemana. Cuando imo mira
los nifios hijos de los vecinos del Barrio Cothnejo-Fishy,
siente un escalofrlo producido por el otro extremo del
sentimiento que lo escalofria tambien cuando esta en
presencia de los nifios harapientos que se confunden con
los terrones de los caminos. (283)
This portrait differs considerably from the former view of children in
En una silla de ruedas. Whereas before, aU children were considered
pure and basicaUy good, the children of Cothnejo-Fishy appear
corrupted and degraded. These chUdren grow up to be people
without respect for anyone but themselves: "Mientras bebian y
comlan, se lanzaban bromas obscenas y se contaban cuentos picantes
de los viejos del barrio, de las sefioritas y matronas. Los mismos
hijos, hermanos y maridos, se burlaban de sus respectivos parientes"
(266). Throughout aU five parts of "El barrio de Cothnejo-Fishy,"
Lyra describes how the aristocracy has cast off their Costa Rican
traditions and replaced them with poorly performed copies of
European customs and styles from the Uruted States. Not only is her
criticism strongly nationalistic, she also attacks the capitalist
mentality as she shows how the residents of Cothnejo-Fishy justify
their actions by arguing that they too were once poor, but decided to
rise above their condition, without help-as all should:

52

El padre de Maria de los Angeles, decia en tono laudatorio

refiriendose a la carrera de su yerno que comenzo tan
humUdemente a hacer duiero y que gracias a su falta de
escrupulos y a su faciUdad para arrastrar la conciencia,
iba camino de la grandeza: jEs un self-made-man! (265)
This idea, emphasized by the use of EngUsh, repeats itself again and
again throughout the essay. "Contaban de nuestro intemacionaUsta
que era de origen muy humilde y que habia Uegado adonde habia
Uegado gracias a sus esfuerzos. Un seU made man, autentico! [sic], un
fruto del individuaUsmo" (278).
With the worldwide economic crises of the late 1920s, Costa
Rica suffered tremendously due to an economy based on export
trade. Lyra always worked to care for, and better the lot of the poor,
the oppressed, and the working class, beginning with her internship
in San Juan de Dios. The economic crisis brought renewed attention
to the highly visible suffering of the poor. This, together with the
rapid changes in Europe and Lyra's study of socialism, sparked the
formation of the Costa Rican Communist Party in 1931.
During the next few years, Lyra's works were generally
didactic in nature, and sometimes leaned toward propaganda for the
socialist cause. She became especiaUy active in women's rights
issues, promoting women's trade unions and fighting for Costa Rican
women's right to vote. The mid-thirties were years in which the
working classes began to voice their opinions in Costa Rica.
53

Plantation workers united to protest working conditions and held

national strikes which hurt the country's banana plantations. Among
those that suffered greatiy were the large international companies,
such as United Emit. Critical, adversarial articles, includuig "Historia
de la United Fruit y sus rapacidades" and "Bananos y hombres" by
Carmen Lyra, provoked and intensified discontent and controversy.
WhUe the critical style of "El Barrio de Cothnejo-Fishy" differed
greatiy from Lyra's earlier works, with its pseudo-scientific posture
and bitter denunciation, Lyra successfully combined her criticism of
society with her earUer eloquence in 1931 with "Bananos y
hombres," making the work all the more persuasive. In the same
format as "El Barrio de Cothnejo-Fishy," Lyra's essay comprises four
parts. She begins with the statement: "Pongo primero BANANOS que
HOMBRES porque en las fincas de banano, la fruta ocupa el primer
lugar, o mas bien el tinico" (371). The first part, titied "Estefania,"
presents an omrdscient narrator who has come upon a black cross,
buried in the river bank. From this black cross, which is portrayed
as reaching out to embrace the sea, the narrator imagines the Ufe of
Estefania-a grim and bleak, yet common existence for women in the
banana plantations: "Una de las tantas mujeres que han pasado por
las fincas de banano" (374). The life of Estefania represents the fate
of many women. The campesina of Costa Rica faced a destiny chosen
54

by men. She was expected to nurture, serve and take pimishment.

As a human being, she had no value.
Another representative character found in "Bananos y
hombres" is Juancito Sandino. A Nicaraguan by birth, Juancito slaves
in the Costa Rican plantations. Accompanied only by a guitar,
Sandino sings in the face of his unjust conditions. When his body is
ravaged by tuberculosis, and his cough impedes his song, he
continues to play as his friend Zapata sings. The names purposely
recaU Nicaragua's Sandino and Mexico's Zapata. Sandino had begun
fighting in Nicaragua a few years before the publication of Lyra's
"Bananos y hombres:"
La epopeya de Augusto Cesar Sandino conmovia al
mundo. La larga lucha del jefe gueriUero de Nicaragua
habia derivado a la reivindicacion de la tierra y levantaba
en vilo la ira campesina. Durante siete afios, su pequeiio
ejercito en harapos peleo, a la vez, contra los doce mU
invasores norteamericanos y contra los miembros de la
guardia nacional... Con mtisica de Adelita, los
. guerriUeros cantaban:
En Nicaragua, sehores
le pega el raton al gato.
Ni el poder de fuego de la Infanteria de Marina ni las
bombas que arrojaban los aviones resultaban suficientes
para aplastar a los rebeldes de Las Segovias... En 1932
Sandino presentia: "Yo no vivire mucho tiempo". Un afio
despues . . . cayo muerto en una emboscada. El asesino,
Anastasia Somoza, declare despues que la ejecucion habia
sido ordenada por el embajador norteamericano Arthur
Bliss Lane. (Galeano 169-170)

55

Juancito, Uke his namesake, fights an impossible battie. Lyra

predicts the future, as Sandino's name and vision Uved on in the
Sandinista movement later in the century. Juancito's song wUl
continue when he can no longer sing, and someone else wiU play his
guitar when he can no longer play.
Folk music functions as the voice of the people in Latin
America. In Costa Rica many folk songs from Carmen Lyra's time
were sung by Emilia Prieto, a strong supporter of the Communist
Party who collected songs from different parts of Costa Rica. The folk
singer with a guitar has been a strong symbol of the working class
throughout Latin America, and as early as 1931, this character
appears in Lyra's works. While the folk singer provides a voice for
poUtical and social liberation from injustice, the theme of liberation
through music appeared in her earlier works, such as in En una silla
de ruedas, when Sergio played his violin. Lyra uses music in
"Bananos y hombres" to represent the strength of the people:
De verdad que la mtjisica es buena compafiera de estas
gentes. Se siente que viene a eUas con la senciUez de una
fuerza que no se cree ni mas ni menos que nadie, como el
agua, como el viento, como la luz del sol. Les da todo lo
que posee: su miisica incomparable. (377)
Carmen Lyra also mentions children ui "Bananos y hombres."
Unlike the children of her earlier works, however, the chUdren
presented here are very fiat and undeveloped characters, who
56

display no emotions. They have been beaten down by life. Like the
children of "El barrio Cothnejo-Fishy" they are horrifying to look at,
but for different reasons:
El nifio tendra con trabajos im afio: la cabecita coronada
por unos ricitos negros, la cosa mas Unda y bajo eUos un
rostro tan triste, tan paUdo, de una palidez casi
transparente, abotagado, serio, serio como si no conociera
la sonrisa; los ojitos hinchados con la esclerotica casi Uvida
que hace pensar en la muerte. (382)
These descriptions somewhat resemble those in fictional works such
as "Carne de miseria," from Lyra's earUest writing phase.
"Bananos y hombres" proved to be a very important essay,
which, along with others by Carmen Lyra, set the tone for the
Generation of the 40s, a young group of writers who would begin
their literary contributions in that decade. One of the writers most
influenced by Lyra's work was Carlos Luis Fallas, who would later
write the novel Mamita Yunai (1941). Fallas' novel continues Lyra's
theme of bananas' being more important than men, and portrays the
grim and shocking reaUty of plantation life which faUed to improve
in the 1940s and has remained oppressive in varying degrees
throughout the Twentieth Century.
As a founding member and a strong proponent of Costa Rica's
Communist Party, Lyra's uitentions were to help her country, rather
than promote a specific poUtical cause. Her writing was not
57

necessarily aimed at strengthening communism, but rather toward

combatting specific socioeconomic problems within Costa Rica. This
intent became polemic within the Party itself, causing factions to
form. In fact. Chase points out that Lyra protested the creation of
the Centro de Cultura Popular in 1936 because it was formed
exclusively by members of the Socialist Party, and she did not feel
that a monolithic group was truly representative of Costa Rica. Also,
in terms of the Party's poUtical affiUations, Lyra made it clear that
the Communist Party of Costa Rica was not necessarily tied to any
other: "No estamos supeditados ni al Partido Comimista Ruso ni a
rungun otro partido de la tierra. Actuamos en Costa Rica. Somos
costarricenses" (Chase 512).
Lyra's literary contributions to the Communist Party (not
merely literary but organizational and philosophical) were widely
influential both outside of the Party as well as within. Thanks to
Lyra's guidance, the Party became firmly established in its first
decade. As leader of the Costa Rican Commurust Party in 1939,
Manuel Mora presented the Party's platform as follows: "El Partido
Comunista, consciente de sus errores y aciertos del pasado y seguro
del porvenir, entra a ocupar el puesto que le corresponde como lider
y defensor de la democracia national" (Contreras and Cerdas 45),
ideals set forth by Carmen Lyra as well.
58

Between the years of 1930 and 1950, Costa Rica experienced

great shifts in pubUc political opinion. Seduced by the current
European trends and philosophies, as weU as a growing public
concern for working conditions, Costa Ricans conceived great hopes
for sociaUst reforms. Many ideas for change were presented by the
newly-formed Communist Party, and voiced through the writings of
Carmen Lyra, Carlos Luis Fallas, and others. Public support was
short-lived, however, as the economic crises grew, only to be
extinguished in the post World War II era of the "cold war" between
the United States and the Soviet Union.
In the elections of 1939, Dr. Rafael Calderon Guardia, candidate
for the Partido RepubUcano Nacional was declared president of Costa
Rica by 85% of the popular vote. His term in office began with the
closing of the coffee markets in Europe during World War II,
resulting in a plummeting domestic economy. Calderon Guardia's
aUegiance to the wealthy coffee plantation owners was compUcated
by the fact that many were German, or of German descent, during a
time when Costa Rica was officially at war with Germany. His
treatment of these farmers, as weU as his failure to resurrect the
Costa Rican economy, cost him the support of the traditional
oUgarchy. Within the first two years of his term in office, he tumed
for help to the CathoUc Church and the Communist Party. Never
59

before in Latin America had there been an alliance between the

conservative right, the CathoUc Church and the Commurust Party.
UntU 1948, the Communist Party, which changed its name to the
Vanguardia Popular, enjoyed the support of the government,
achieving social reforms far beyond its expectations:
Como respuesta a los intereses populares, propuso los
proyectos de los seguros sociales, que causaron un
inmediato temor entre las clases dominantes. El proyecto
de garantias sociales contemplaba la aprobacion del
Codigo de Trabajo, la creacion de la Caja Costarricense del
Seguro Social y la inclusion del capitulo de las garantias
sociales en la Constitucion. (Rojas and Ovares 97)
On the other hand, however, having lost the support of the
traditional oligarchy, Calderon Guardia faced an equally diverse
opposition, as Rojas and Ovares note that Calderon's opposition was
made up of poor farm workers, wealthy land owners, well-known
entrepreneurs and some intellectuals. Writers such as Rodrigo Facio,
Carlos Monge Alfaro, Daiuel Oduber and Isaac Felipe Azofeifa,
together with economists, historians and politicians, formed the
Centro para el Estudio de los Problemas Nacionales in 1940. This
organization was converted into a poUtical party in 1943. Essays by
these writers on the poUtical situation were pubUshed by the Diario
de Costa Rica, as well as in their own magazine, Surco. Surco was

60

pubUshed between 1940 and 1945. It became the challenging voice

for writers such as Carmen Lyra (98).
Thus began a war of words in Costa Rica through the medium
of the daUy and weekly periodicals. Much Uke the production of
Carmen Lyra, works by numerous writers were affected by the need
to produce propaganda to support their particular cause, and as a
result, authors writing during the 1940s were categorized as the
Generation of 40, due to their reflecting common themes and their
utiUzation of common techniques. Although Lyra began writing
before 1920, and wrote most of her poUtical essays in the 1930s, her
contributions to the Generation of 40 were sigruficant in terms of
laying the foundation for the social Uterature produced during that
decade.
The poUtical situation steadUy worsened in Costa Rica until
1948, when the country exploded in civU war. The "anti-facist"
aUiance which had been formed by the CathoUc Church, the Partido
RepubUcano Nacional and the Communist Party had always been on
very shaky groimd. The Catholic Church, which had strongly
supported the social Christian ideology of Calderon's government,
grew less and less comfortable with the organization of workers'
unions under the leadership of the Costa Rican Communist Party.
Other influences which undermined continuation of the political
61

aUiance were the fear of U.S. intervention due to the escalating cold
war in the late 40s, and an increasing economic crisis (Rojas and
Ovares 98).
Calderon's party remained in office for yet another term led by
President Teodoro Picado. Calderon would run for president again,
unsuccessfully, in the foUowing elections against OtiUo Ulate. When
Calderon lost the elections, the opposing party was accused of fraud
and violent confrontations erupted. Congress armuUed the
presidential elections and civU conflict soon followed.
The CivU War of 1948 lasted six weeks and cost over 2,000
lives. When compared with civil wars in other parts of Latin
America which have lasted several decades and cost over 100,000
lives, the civU war in Costa Rica appears comparatively short, with
relatively littie violence. However, for a country which had not seen
struggles such as those in other parts of Latin America, nor
previously envisioned even the possibUity of a violent confUct, the
effects were emotionally devastating. President Picado surrendered
to Don Jose Figueres Ferrer, and soon after, the Treaty of Ochomogo
was signed by Jose Figueres and Manuel Mora, leader of the
Vanguardia Popular. The Treaty of Ochomogo officiaUy ended Costa
Rica's civU war and affirmed that the new government would uphold
the social guarantees as weU as recognize the Vanguardia Popular as
62

an official poUtical party. Figueres had no intentions of eUminating

the social guarantees; on the contrary, once in the position of leader
of the country, he added further benefits to increase the rights of the
workers. But this approach concerned the United States. Pressure
from the U.S. Embassy, banana plantations and the old traditional
oUgarchy eventually forced Figueres to declare the Communist Party
iUegal in Costa Rica. Although this was a violation of the Treaty of
Ochomogo, the Vanguardia Popular was quickly dissolved. Some
members "disappeared" and others were imprisoned, while still
others, internationally known, such as Carmen Lyra, were exUed.
Lyra was forced to leave Costa Rica in 1948. She found refuge
in Mexico, where she had close friends and admirers, including Diego
Rivera. However, she longed to return to Costa Rica and suffered
greatiy during her exile. In 1949 her health began to fail and she, as
weU as friends and famUy in Costa Rica, petitioned the Costa Rican
government to allow her to return to Costa Rica to die. The Costa
Rican government refused her petitions and Carmen Lyra died on
May 14, 1949, in Mexico. Her body was sent back to Costa Rica
where thousands of Costa Ricans attended her wake and funeral.
Although Alfonso Chase notes that the national periodicals at
that time Uiitially refused to pubUsh even a paid announcement
concerning Carmen Lyra, Uttie by Uttie Costa Ricans began again to
63

acknowledge her works in pubUc. Even Figueres was to name a

library after Carmen Lyra in 1971. In 1976, the Costa Rican
Legislative Assembly awarded the titie of Benemerita de la Cultura
Nacional to Maria Isabel Carvajal Quesada ( Chase 525).

Conclusion
Carmen Lyra's voice was heard throughout Central American
and Mexican inteUectual circles. Upon her death, Diego Rivera was
commissioned to paint a coUection of caUa UUes in her honor and sent
it to her funeral. Her influence remains today, as writers such as
Claribel Alegria evoke the memory of Carmen Lyra:
I have freed myself at last
it has been hard to break free
almost at the end of the bridge
I pause
the water flows below
a turbulent water
sweeping fragments with it:
the voice of Carmen Lira [sic]
faces that I loved
and I pass by. (137)
It is significant that a woman writer, without the benefits of
wealth or privUege, working far from the world's centers of culture,
should have had such an international impact and such a strong
influence within her own country. She contributed significantiy to
the development of the Costa Rican novel. In her novel En una silla
64

de ruedas she hit upon this narratologically advanced technique of

using the polyphonic voice and non-Unear time. In addition to these
modem traits, Lyra also incorporates the beginning of an important
change in the treatment of women, specifically, the figure of mother
in the Twentieth-Century Costa Rican novel. The mother figure
which Lyra presents is absent and thoughtiess. The character of
mother is missing from the novel, and there is a void in the lives of
her children. This absence constitutes a shift in the presentation of
the famUy in Costa Rican Uterature. The famUy home, however, is
stiU sacred, as the children long to return to a better time, when all
was perfect. Even though they were betrayed by their mother, and
their family home was buUt on dysfunctional relationships, they long
to return "home." The image of mother as unreliable continues in the
development of the Costa Rican novel with a steady decline.
Lyra's coUection of folk tales Cuentos de mi tia Panchita, serves
as the fu-st collection of written folk tales from the oral tradition, and
records this unportant part of history for future generations. In
addition to recording the stories themselves, Lyra captures the voice
of the campesino with typical vocabulary and language use,
presenting a historical picture of life in early 1900s in Costa Rica.
Equally important ui terms of influence, Lyra's bitter essays on
society persuaded a generation of young writers to criticize and
65

confront problems within their novels, short stories and poetry. The
generation of writers to follow Lyra would be known for their social
criticism. Many social problems within Costa Rica were uncovered
through their works and later addressed by the same society.
Literature from the 1940s sparked unrest among the people and in
part, brought about the Civil War of 1948, as the vast majority of
writers and intellectuals belonged to the Communist Party which
Carmen Lyra helped found.

66

CHAPTER III
YOLANDA OREAMUNO
Yolanda Oreamuno was bom in 1916, in San Jose, Costa Rica, to
Carlos Oreamuno Pacheco and Margarita Unger Salazar. Although she
was not born an illegitimate chUd, as was Carmen Lyra, she lost her
father when she was only one, and grew up in a single parent home
experiencing some of the same problems. Critics note that Oreamuno
was a difficult child and always had a strained relationship with her
mother. Oreamuno married twice, first to Jorge MoUna Wood, from
ChUe, then later to Oscar Barahona Streber, after her first husband
committed suicide. She lost her only chUd, a son, when her second
marriage ended in divorce, and she was no longer allowed to have
contact with him. Like Carmen Lyra, Oreamuno also studied in the
Colegio Superior de Sefioritas.
Oreamuno's first employment was with the Legacion de Chile,
where she worked as a secretary and met Jorge Molina Wood.
Oreamuno's strong personaUty not only caused tension within her
home, but also, her intensity and determination often brought about
clashes between Oreamuno and the society in which she Uved:
"Mujer de personaUdad fuerte y de una vida mtensa y desgraciada.
Sus coetaneos resaltan su extraordinaria beUeza, elegancia y
67

temperamento apasionado" (Martinez 51). The dissonance

experienced between Oreamuno and Costa Rican society, caused her
to feel misunderstood and cast-out to the extent that she left Costa
Rica in self-exile, first moving to Guatemala and later to Mexico,
where she died alone in extreme poverty. Five years passed before
her remains were located in an anonymous grave and brought back
to Costa Rica for burial.
Another Costa Rican writer and contemporary of Yolanda
Oreamuno, EuiUce Odio, also experienced a simUarly poor reception
by Costa Rican society. Odio, a poet, left Costa Rica as did Oreamuno,
and Uved the rest of her life in Mexico as weU. Carmen Naranjo, in
her coUection of essays Mujer y cultura (1990), notes the following:
Yolanda y Euruce tambien murieron en Mexico, en un
exUio voluntario, vergonzante y angustiante para nuestro
pais, porque no se las comprendio ni se les dio estimulo
alguno, mas bien fueron objeto de burla o aUmento de la
chismografia en el estrecho San Jose que las vio
horrorizado y puritano recorrer sus calles.
Yolanda introdujo la literatura costarricense en la
nueva narrativa urUversal, con su tinica novela conocida
La ruta de su evasion. El hecho de ser mujer, diferente a
la pasiva y a la confinada ama de casa, la ato a una
leyenda de anecdotas que la liquido fisicamente. (110)
Carmen Naranjo claims for Oreamuno a place among the most
influential women writers hi the history of Costa Rican Uterature,

68

noting her feminist tendencies were present decades before the

feminist movement.
Although Yolanda Oreamuno only pubUshed one novel. La
ruta de su evasion (1948), other Central American critics also
consider her an important Costa Rican author, mauitaining that she
formed part of the decade of the 1940s group, along with Joaquin
Gutierrez, Carlos Luis FaUas, and Fabian Dobles. WhUe Oreamuno's
writing coincides with these authors ui time, it differs dramatically in
theme and technique. Carlos Luis FaUas's most famous work
Mamita Yunai, for example, centers on the life of the oppressed
banana worker, and his battie with society. Likewise, other writers
of this generation continue the social Uterature initiated earlier by
Carmen Lyra, a style which would remain constant untU the
Revolution of 1948. UnUke their works, which were aimed at
fighting a specific injustice felt by all lower-class workers in the
1940s, Oreamuno provides a personal, intimate view of an uppermiddle class family and their secret problems.

La ruta de su evasion
Most literary criticism of La ruta de su evasion has been
limited to national periodicals, with the exception of two pubUshed
theses. La ruta de su evasion: Deslinde metodologico y contribucion
69

al estudio de la literatura costarricense (1979), by Costa Rican

Manuel Picado Gomez, and Una escritora costarricense: Yolanda
Oreamuno (1968), pubUshed in Spain by Victoria Urbano. Urbano's
research is very detailed and provides useful biographical
information, as weU as an interpretation of the influence Yolanda
Oreamimo's life has had on her writings. Luz Evette Martinez also
includes a chapter on Yolanda Oreamuno in her pubUshed
dissertation Carmen Naranjo y la narrativa femenina en Costa Rica,
which summarizes plot structure and provides a brief analysis of
narrative technique and characterization. Rojas, Ovares, Santander
and Carballo include La ruta de su evasion in their work: La casa
paterna: escritura y nacion en Costa Rica, when they introduce the
writers of the 1940s. Their comments on noveUstic style and
structure are the most useful in terms of understanduig the
importance of this work in the history of Costa Rican Uterature.
La ruta de su evasion presents the intimate world of an
extremely dysfunctional family and their horrifyuig reality. The
novel begins with the son, Gabriel, searching for his father because
his mother is dying. The father has disappeared for several days on
a drinking binge, a pattem he has held for many years. Gabriel
searches for him in the worst parts of tiie city with the help of a cab

70

driver. Oreamuno uses a third-person narrative voice to describe the

situation, as weU as dialogue and interior monologue:
Con los extrafios es muy generoso, muy cortes; con
nosotros es duro, implacable. No tiene compasion de
nosotros. Nunca demuestra nada. jEs cruel! jOh! jEs
muy cruel!
El chofer se vuelve porque no esperaba ese aluvion
de palabras apasionadas. El pidio mucho menos, ^pero al
cabo que le importa? Gabriel queda exhausto y mira para
adentro de si mismo ^pero es que no tengo ni un
concepto amable de mi padre? No deberia haber dicho lo
que dije... Roberto diria lo que yo dije con palabras
menos duras, o tal vez mas duras. ^Agregaria algo? Ya
veo. Si. Todos agregariamos . . . yo tambien . . . En
descargo de los demas. due por otra parte es verdad
tambien. Sin remordimientos ...
-Me olvidaba decirle, es muy inteligente.
El chofer que ya comienza a hacer andar su coche,
contesta:
-Eso no ayuda a encontrarlo. (15-16)
Here the third-person narrator describes the situation and also
comments on the fact that the cab driver wUl not care about Gabriel's
harsh description of his father. Then Gabriel also judges his own
comments as he thinks through the situation and these thoughts are
followed by dialogue. This narrative structure is more complex than
the technique presented by Carmen Lyra, who would allow interior
monologue to occur when the character was alone, remembering a
past situation. Oreamuno often presents the interior monologue in

71

the middle of conversations which are recounted by the narrator or

presented as marked dialogue.
Teresa, the mother, no longer communicates with the rest of
the famUy and lies comatose, waiting for deatii to come. Her famUy
does not reaUze that she stUl hears and understands them since she
cannot respond. As she slowly dies, she acknowledges their
comments and conversations in her thoughts presented to the reader
as an Ulterior monologue. Her death contmues for most of the novel,
whUe she remembers events in the past. This presentation of a main
character dying during the novel is techiuque employed by various
writers later during the Twentieth Century, such as Carlos Fuentes in
La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962).
The novel also presents three other women: Cristina, who
marries Teresa's son Roberto; Aurora, who is in love with Teresa's
son Gabriel; and Elena, who is loved by Gabriel, but is not capable of
retuming his love. The third-person narrative voice guides the
reader through a maze of dialogue and interior monologue in which
the characters reflect on their reaUty, which is dysfunctional and
depressing.
While the novel is irmovative in its narrative style, Rojas and
Ovares point out that it also has several defects and problems:
Pese a los logros sefialados, esta novela posee algunos
defectos de composicion: el recurso a estereotipos en los
72

dialogos y la presentacion de algunos personajes.

Tambien, el narrador que expUca los acontecimientos a
veces excesivamente (didactismo), lo cual conduce a que
el dialogo entre los personajes se reduzca a la
confirmacion de una tesis preestablecida. (142)
Due to these problems, critics consider the importance of Oreamuno's
novel a result of its narrative technique, and its treatment of the
female character, based on an innovative use of the interior
monologue, rather than its noveUstic form:
Yolanda Oreamimo hace uso de tecnicas novedosas para
su epoca. La escritora emplea el monologo interior, la
introspeccion y el contrapunto, diez afios antes del apogeo
de estos recursos en Hispanoamerica. Recordemos que
Pedro Paramo, de Juan Rulfo-novela que marca nuevos
caminos en la narrativa hispanoamericana-fue pubUcado
en 1955 y La ruta de su envasion se conocio en 1948, en
un concurso de novelas en Guatemala.
El monologo interior, que predomina en la novela,
es el articulado, el que es receptaculo de impresiones, de
sensaciones, de imagenes, de recuerdos y de sentimientos.
Estos afluyen sin que ocurra la ruptura de la armonia
sintactica. Ademas, algunos saltos al pasado estan
suscitados por impresiones de raiz proustiana y son
reminiscencias claras, realistas: frustraciones amorosas,
imagenes de la nifiez, de juventud, autocontemplaciones
retrospectivas... (Martinez 75)
It is the use of this interior monologue which aUows Oreamuno to
capture the situation of the Costa Rican family, and subvert its
mythical perfect condition:
... Larutade su evasion resulta profundamente
irmovadora. La presencia del monologo interior da la
posibiUdad de entrar en un nuevo aspecto de la reaUdad,
73

la vida interior de los miembros de la famiUa. Estos viven

en un medio confUctivo, de soledad e incomunicacion, con
lo cual se cuestiona fuertemente la imagen armoniosa de
la famUa, y, con eUo, de la nacion costarricense. (Rojas
and Ovares 142)
In addition to Ulterior monologues, Oreamuno's third-person
narrator provides information to help the reader understand what is
taking place, as weU as to judge the actions of the characters. In the
scene below, Teresa, the motiier/wife, is dyuig. She is no longer in
contact with the characters surrounding her, but she reacts to theu:
comments and actions:
iJuliana!
Prolongacion de la primera a, larga prolongacion,
como si con esta se fuera a estirar desmesuradamente la
criada.
-jSefior! . . .

Acentuacion en la o para poner mas enfasis a la

. sumision. Los pasos de JuUana, y luego otra vez la voz de
su marido.
-No es necesario que te quedes esta noche. Yo
velare solo el cadaver. iYo cadaver? ffan pronto?
^Cuantas horas faltan para que todo lo mio quede rigido y
se agoten la facultad de pensar y la pena de sentir? Pena
de penar: ningima. Lo mismo. Cadaver ... -Cuando
Uegue el ataiid, hazlo colocar en el salon el sitio mas
desolado de la casa. No me gusta . . . jSi pudiera decirlo
...! (30)
Both the narrative voice and the interior monologue of Teresa
interrupt the dialogue between don Vasco and his maid, Juliana.
Don Vasco speaks of Teresa as if she is already dead, referring to her
74

as a cadaver, rather than his wife. The character of don Vasco is cold
and indifferent. According to Teresa, there was never any love
between them. Teresa was convinced by her mother that don Vasco
would be the ideal husband, having financial resources and social
status. She herself never found him interesting or attractive, but
being unable to make her own decisions, Teresa succumbed to
society's pressure and agreed to marry. Martinez notes that women
within Oreamuno's novel "son sometidas, subyugadas, que proyectan
imagenes diversas, pero ninguna autentica" (70).
Don Vasco is cruel and violent. Fathers have been portrayed
by other Costa Rican women writers as cruel, for exammple, Sergio's
father in En una silla de ruedas; however, the violent part of don
Vasco's character is new in Costa Rican Uterature. Men have been
portrayed as violent toward other men as well as toward women in
Costa Rican Uterature, but violence has been Umited to war,
vengeance or the mistreatment of the prostitute or the poor worker.
Here, in Teresa's upper-middle class world, violence intrudes into the
sacred realm of the home. Oreamuno's portrait of don Vasco shatters
the stereotype of the caring husband/father who provides for his
family:
Escape sUitiendome perseguida. Crei que miraba burlon
mis pies bajo la falda, que me iba a de tener
violentamente tomandome de la cintura y plantandome
frente a el, que me iba a besar con ese aliento
75

corrompido, que me iba a desnudar, que me iba a tocar y

que si no corria mucho, pero mucho, ya no podria
salvarme de su agresion. Y corrl. De repente el piso falto
bajo mis pies y rode sobre las gradas del corredor,
bajandolas sentada, de golpe en golpe. jEl nifio! El nifio . .
. y doblandome en dos, presione mis brazos desesperados
sobre el vientre como si mi hijo se fuera a salir. Vasco
estaba junto a mi. Yo todavla desde el suelo, alee la cara
y espere como siempre. (134)
Teresa's fear of violence implicitiy subverts traditional images of the
caring father/husband. When don Vasco hears her concerns for her
chUd, he does not respond in the manner of a father, but rather an
enemy:
<?Vas a tener un nifio?
-Yo no lo he dicho . . .
-Pregunto si vas a tener un nifio.
-Si.
Parate, siempre seras una mujer sana y fuerte.
Por esa caida ridicula no lo vas a perder.
Me senti, como la otra vez, culpable por tener un
hijo. Todavia mientras dolorosamente me ponia de pie,
Vasco agrego:
-No aproveches esta oportunidad para hacer el
papel de victima. jLastima que no lo vayas a perder! Y
ahora, aUsta la comida, que tengo hambre. (134-135)
WhUe other Costa Rican writers of Oreamuno's time utiUze
themes of social injustice and poUtical problems, Oreamuno's novel
presents a much more personal and intimate look at domestic
violence, a very real problem in Costa Rican society. Domestic
violence, however, is more a universal theme than a national
76

problem. For this reason, as well as the fact that domestic violence
was often denied, many critics from the 1950s, such as Abelardo
BoniUa, insisted that Oreamuno's work did not represent national
values. Recent critics, such as Margarita Rojas and Flora Ovares,
taking a feminist perspective, point out that perhaps critics from the
time in which La ruta de su evasion was published saw the themes
of Oreamuno's novel as part of the private sphere and not the pubUc
sphere, which had previously defined national values and traditions:
En la literatura costarricense, desde muy temprano,
la oposicion entre el mundo ptablico y el privado se
plantea median te la simboUzacion de la nacion (lo
pubUco) con una imagen proveniente de lo privado, la
famiUa. Existen casos en los que las virtudes del
gobemante se plantean en terminos domesticos; ademas,
las connotaciones beUcas de los heroes nacionales tienden
a ser neutraUzadas por imagenes que valoran la paz y el
trabajo, tal y como se ve en el "Hunno Nacional". Ademas,
generalmente, los conflictos de todo tipo estan ausentes
de la imagen de la famiUa. En este sentido, uno de los
aportes de La ruta de su evasion es la consideracion del
confiicto y la dimension sexual dentro de la famiUa.
(Rojas et al. 264)
The home life presented in Oreamuno's novel revolves around
sexual violence, a concept that undermines the previous image of the
Costa Rican famUy. Sexual violence exists in the novels of other
authors, yet it is directiy related to the exploitation of the poor. For
example, the abuse of prostitutes on the banana fincas was

77

portrayed earlier in Carmen Lyra's essays, purposely critical of the

plantation owners. Oreamuno's novel steps beyond social
stratification and presents women facing physical and emotional
abuse regardless of their social class or economic status.
These situations are presented from the perspective of inner
thoughts and emotions and conveyed via fears, doubts and longings
for something different. Women such as Teresa are weak characters,
taught to endure and survive, perhaps to wonder and question, but
never to change or better their circumstances. Through these
examples Oreamuno introduces a new theme to Costa Rican
literature, yet at the same time, this chain of examples demonstrates
one of the most common writing techniques of her contemporaries:
using a series of examples and situations to reinforce the cause for
social protest. Much as her contemporaries used example after
example of the exploitation of the poor and the banana workers,
Oreamuno employs simUar techniques in her novel. Over and over
she depicts don Vasco abusing Teresa, and she also indicates that
Roberto and Cristina wiU form a similar household, with the same
violent situations.
In addition to the theme of domestic violence, which would
become a common theme much later Ui the century, Oreamuno also
employs the use of non-Unear time ui a new and complex way.
78

Carmen Lyra's novel En una silla de ruedas beguis as a reflection of

the past, and often recaUs events in a non-Unear fashion, yet all
events are based on an existing present. In La ruta de su evasion
time becomes rather vaguely defined and unimportant, as the novel
buUds upon feeUngs, thoughts and reflections rather than actions.
Past and present are elusive and often mtertwine or tangle in
unexpected twists and turns. Three women, Teresa, Cristina and
Aurora lead the reader through a maze of repressed emotions,
jumping from one of multiple presents to another of multiple pasts.
Through this labyrinth, the reader sees both Teresa and Cristuia die,
leaving very unsatisfactory lives behind them, while Aurora
overcomes some of the obstacles before her, leaving hope for the
future at the end of the novel.
Unlike other works typical of the 1940s, La ruta de su evasion
centers on the relationships between the members of one urban,
upper-middle class family. Thematically it remains within their
intimate, personal interactions, reflecting problems within Costa
Rican society via implicit comparison with the disintegration of the
family unit. Oreamuno presents the situation of the woman in Costa
Rica during the 1940s as Umited and depressing. Carmen Lyra also
wrote about the reaUty of women in Costa Rica during the first part
of the Twentieth Century in her social-political works, using female
79

characters from the most impoverished level of society, fighting

against society itself. In Laruta de su evasion Oreamuno presents
problems faced by three women from the upper-middle class,
existing as mere adornments for the men they try to love.
Although don Vasco and the other male characters are abusive,
they are not solely responsible for the desperate situation in which
the women Uve. The women themselves lack the strength and wiU to
better their situations. Of fundamental importance is the mother
figure, dying, and symboUcally unable to communicate with the rest
of the family. Motherhood is negative and grotesque within
Oreamuno's novel. Not only is the negative mother figure associated
with Teresa, but it applies to motherhood in general, as Gabriel
recalls seeing his neighbor nurse her baby:
En la puerta, con la boca de luz de otra puerta al final del
largo zaguan, Frau Schneider en una bata roja abierta
hasta la cintura y dos pechos enormes, con el pezon
negro, tumefacto, casi violeta; pechos cruzados por
hinchadas venas azules; de una came que no parecia
came, formada por materias redondas y duras colocadas
una junto a la otra sin dar uniformidad, por horribles
corptisculos tensos, mas grandes, mas tumefactos, mas
pletoricos; de un peso tal que toda la masa hacia la
extremidad colgaba, estallaba, pendiente de un trozo de
piel vacia partiendo de su robusto cuello y dejando
traslucir el hueso inmenso de la clavicula. Junto a uno de
esos pechos estaba la carita rosa de Gretel con la boca
humeda de una leche azuUna . . . Obscuras cosas se
revolvieron dentro de si: asco, deseo de tender la mano y
80

apretar hasta hacer dafio . . . terror, vomito jesa leche!

(21-22)
The image of mother, which should be beautiful, caring, loving and
nurturing, is distorted in Gabriel's eyes. He sees the natural act of
nursing as monstrous and horrifying. The breasts he describes are
enormous, exaggerated and repulsive. The act of nursing and
pacifying the child is seen as a dominating action, one grotesque for a
woman, who is supposed to be weak and submissive.
Teresa as "mother" is represented as already dead, even though
she stUl lives. She is referred to as a cadaver by her husband. Not
only does don Vasco consider her dead whUe she stUl breathes, he
never considered her important when she was healthy. V^en she
teUs him that she carries a chUd, he responds ui anger, hoping that
the child dies. Teresa has lived her Ufe and performed her role as
mother for decades much as in her present condition: ui sUence,
without love or respect, without importance, in absentia.
The absent mother figure was first presented in Lyra's novel
En una silla de ruedas. In La ruta de su evasion the mother is
effectuely absent, but in a different way; she does not abandon the
children physically. However, her character suffers a repressed,
margmalized existence of abuse and disrespect, leavUig her Uicapable
of providing care for her chUdren.

81

Not only does this condition exist for Teresa, but Cristina is
destined to repeat the same misfortune, by marrying Teresa's son
Roberto. However, before the situation progresses to such a negative
state, Cristina dies whUe giving birth. Again the role of mother is
denied and the characterization of mother continues to disintegrate
as the Twentieth Century unfolds in Costa Rican literature.

82

CHAPTER IV
CARMEN NARANJO

Carmen Naranjo was bom ui 1931, east of San Jose, m the city
of Cartago. Her father, Sebastian Naranjo Prida was from Spam, and
her mother, Caridad Goto Troyo, from Costa Rica. UnUke Carmen Lyra
and Yolanda Oreamuno, Carmen Naranjo was one of four chUdren.
With three brothers, she hardly experienced the same soUtude,
loneUness and abandonment experienced by Lyra and Oreamuno.
Like her predecessors, Naranjo attended the Colegio Superior de
Sefioritas. She then completed her undergraduate work in
phUosophy at the University of Costa Rica. With similar goals of
improving the state of human rights, and the rights of women,
Carmen Naranjo also worked in politics, and she was the first woman
to hold pubUc office.
Beginning as a secretary in the Caja Costarricense de Seguros
Social (CCSS) in 1954, Naranjo went on to work for the United
Nations, relocating to Venezuela. Upon her return to Costa Rica, she
was appointed Assistant Manager with the Institute Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE). After her work with ICE, she returned to the CCSS
working her way up to General Manager by 1961, and VicePresident of the CCSS in 1971. One year later she was appointed
83

Ambassador to Israel, retuming in 1974 to serve as the Minister of

Culture, Youth and Sports Ui the cabUiet of Costa Rican President
Daniel Oduber.
In addition to these positions, Naranjo served as a professor at
the University of Costa Rica, Du-ector of the Museum of Costa Rican
Art, and presided over the Commission of Aid to Students and
Professors who have "disappeared" in Central America due to their
political actions and opinions. She has also served as Director of
EDUCA (Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana).
Writing has always been an important part of Naranjo's life. In
addition to her administrative and poUtical career, Naranjo began
writing in the 1960s and continues to write today. To date she has
pubUshed six novels, Los perros no ladraron (1966), Memorias de
un hombre palabra (1968),^ Responso por el nifio Juan Manuel
(1911), Diario de una multitud (1974), Sobrepunto (1985), and H
caso 117.720 (1987); one novela; four coUections of short stories,
two separately published short stories; three collections of essays; six
coUections of poetry; and one play. According to many critics,
"Carmen Naranjo es la narradora actual mas importante de
Centroamerica..." (Peralta 15).
' Naranjo's second novel,
Memorias de un hombre palabra
(1968) is
similar in theme and style to her first novel
Los perros no ladraron.
This
second novel, although well received by the Costa Rican public, did not
introduce new techniques, styles or themes to Costa Rican literature as
did the other novels selected, and therefore, is not included in this study.

84

Los perros no ladraron

Carmen Naranjo began writing novels in 1966 with Los perros
no ladraron. With her extensive knowledge of the bureaucratic
world, Naranjo addresses the problem of dehumanization in this first
novel, in which she comments on the state of affairs within the Costa
Rican bureaucratic system. The bureaucracy in Costa Rica had truly
begun to develop during Calderon's presidency before the Civil War.
After the Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, the government disbanded
the armed forces and expanded the system of social benefits for aU
Costa Rican citizens. This system grew rapidly within a very few
years, and gave rise to a large bureaucratic middle class which stiU
serves to make these reforms possible today. Although between
1950 and 1970 the overaU work force in Costa Rica only grew 3.5
percent per year, the number of people working for the bureaucratic
system grew by 7.9 percent each year. Today this bureaucracy
constitutes over 20 percent of the Costa Rican work force. To
accommodate this number of people, jobs and tities have been
uivented. Comparatively, Costa Rica has one of the highest rates of
government employment in the world (Biezanz 197).
With such a large number of people constituting a working
group, the Costa Rican bureaucracy has become an entity which, as
Biesanz points out, is the largest pressure group in the country: "It is
85

hard to control; its insatiable demands for higher pay, shorter hours,
and greater frmge benefits are accompanied by stated or impUed
threats to strUce and thus shut off unportant services" (Biesanz 198).
Although its original intent was to aid the poor through a system of
government benefits, it has become the maui obstacle for receiving
those same benefits:
It is, as we have seen, the most consumption-oriented
group in the society. Because it does not produce wealth
in the way farmers and industrialists do, these groups
consider it parasitic . . . Costa Rican leaders are very
much aware that they may be contributUig to this form of
"social suicide." . . . The waste of the taxpayer's money in
such a system is often irritatingly visible, not only in the
mazes one must learn to run but also in the fact that
many employees seem to have nothing to do. Ronald
Fernandez Pinto believes that the cost, depersonalization,
and inefficiency of government agencies "erode the
confidence of the pubUc in the capacity of the
government to process and fulfiU its demands" and thus
also erode its legitimacy. Alienation is especially
common, he beUeves, among the rural population who are
aware that the urban middle class monopolizes the
bureaucracy's jobs and services. (Biesanz 199)
This form of aUenation and dehumanization is the main theme
of Los perros no ladraron.

Like Oreamuno, Naranjo's novel takes

place in the urban world and the labyrinth of bureaucracy. The

work covers a twenty-four hour period and follows an unidentified
middle-class bureaucrat. It begins with his breakfast at home, then
his day at the office, late afternoon at the bar, a brief rendezvous
86

witii his lover, late evenUig and most of tiie night back at the bar,
and his return home to a frustrated wife for a few hours of sleep.
The novel consists solely of dialogue between the mam character and
the people with whom he interacts. Uke many works pubUshed by
later post-modem authors of the 1980s, the novel does not have
mdicators of who might be speakUig, nor does it have descriptions of
time and place aside from comments made by the characters. All
clues must be deduced from dialogue between the unnamed
characters.
Naranjo beguis her novel with a chapter titied "La decision."
This introduction consists of a conversation between two people: one
is trying to persuade the other to come and play poker, whUe the
latter insists that it is not possible, preferring to stay at home and
write a novel. Here the narrative voice of the novel is heard within
the dialogue, the only time the narrative voice speaks. Clues, such as
the poker game and the reply "-jEstas loco!" indicate this
character/narrator/authorial voice is male, although the real,
extratextual author of the novel is female. This narrator wiU not
speak again during the novel, but the cross-gender writing style
continues as the characters, identified as men, interact within a
mascuUne world and voice opinions stereotypical of men. The
characters in the novel's foUowing chapters do not participate in the
87

writing process as narrators, which makes tiie fU-st division

ambiguous and open to interpretation, Ui terms of who the voice
might be:
-Entonces, ^como vas a escribir una novela?
-Estoy enfermo por dentro. Muy enfermo. Mi
unica curacion es escribir una novela.
-jEstas loco! Debes haber bebido mucho en los
ultimos dias. Veni esta noche y te sentiras mejor. Vivis
demasiado encerrado en tus cosas.
-Gracias por Uamarme. Sera otro dia que te vea.
Hoy voy a escribir mi novela.
-^Es tu vida?
-No. No se de que tratara. Es el deshilvan de
tantas cosas descosidas que me rodean. (9)
This ambigiuty continues throughout the novel as the twentyfour hours pass. Although the conversations relate to one another in
many ways, it is sometimes hard to determine which character is
speaking or has acted. The main character, like the introductory
character (possibly one and the same), is also a man. He represents
what has happened to the individual in modem society. In Naranjo's
novel, the individual has ceased to exist as such, being represented
only by his exchange with others. He has been dehumanized to the
extent that he is only a member of a society of workers. As the day
progresses he learns that his job is expendable. He is not special or
necessary in any way. His thoughts and refiections are presented

88

through his conversations with others. However, his statements may

or may not be reUable, as it is often apparent that he lies.
In addition to the dialogue, the text also contains parts of radio
broadcasts and excerpts from letters and notes. Morning for the
narrative consciousness begins with the news at breakfast that New
York has finally solved many of its social Uls with an expensive new
housing plan and Spain has tumed its industry to tourism. As he
eats his breakfast at home in the morning, the news on the radio is
completely irrelevant to anything that is happening in Costa Rica:
"De tanto oir lo que paso en otros palses, lo que esta pasando y va a
pasar, resultamos un raro insecto que vive al azar de miles de
acontecimientos que nos mueven y a los que seguimos siendo
extrafios" (10). Not only do the characters reaUze that the broadcasts
are irrelevant, but they also realize that they themselves are
unimportant, suggesting that nothUig happens ui Costa Rica.
The morning is fUled with chatter. Unattached voices fUl
Naranjo's text as the protagonist makes his way from the house to
the office. As most middle-class Ticos (Costa Ricans) do, he rides tiie
bus and converses with those around hUn. The conversations he has
with strangers are much more revealmg than those he has with his
famUy. Profound comments and insights on life are more common on

89

the bus than at home. Here strangers speak of the family stmcture
and how family intimacy and support is only a myth:
-La intimidad no existe. Es algo figurado. Creemos
que tenemos intimidad en nuestras casas y eso es falso.
Ante nadie somos mas timidos y mas hermeticos que
frente a los famiUares. En ninguna parte se vive mas
ficticiamente que dentro de la casa. Si alguna vez
confesaramos a im hijo o a una esposa, el mas leve
pensamiento intimo o cualquier suceso real de la vida, los
dejariamos casi muertos. Hablamos mucho con ellos a
veces demasiado, pero nada intimo.
-(iuizas tiene razon. Pero no siempre es asi.
Muchas veces buscamos la intimidad en el hogar,
especialmente en las grandes penas.
-No lo creo. En esos mementos, nos disfrazamos de
hombres heroices y empezames a respender a uno de les
tantes papeles que asumimes en la vida. ^Intimidad? No
hay en eso intimidad. Sole jueges de escendites que
aprendimes de nifios y seguimos jugande toda la vida.
(17)
By placing these thoughts and ideas in dialogue rather than in
an interior monologue, or perhaps a narrative voice, Naranjo makes
them more powerful. In Mikhail Bakhtin's criticism on the Russian
author, Dostoevsky, he reveals the importance of discourse in the
promotion of ideas and ideology within a society:
The idea Uves not in one person's isolated
individual consciousness-if it remains there only, it
degenerates and dies. The idea begins to Uve, that is, to
take shape, to develop, to find and renew its verbal
expression, to give birth to new ideas, only when it enters
into genuine dialogic relationships with other ideas, with
ideas of others. Human thought becomes genume
thought, that is, an idea, only under conditions of Uving
90

contact with another and aUen thought, a thought

embodied Ui someone else's voice, that is, Ui someone
else's consciousness expressed in discourse. At that poUit
of contact between voice-consciousnesses the idea is bom
and lives. (98)
Naranjo's technique of pure dialogue, broken only by the dialogue
marker suggestuig someone else is speaking, without a narrative
guide, or comments such as "she said" - "he agreed," gives the
dialogue, and the ideas which are bom within it, utmost importance,
as well as enhancing its vaUdity.
This discourse occurs between characters, around characters in
the form of overheard voices from other conversations, and as an
interaction with monologic discourse, such as comments about the
morning news. One other type of discourse, a discourse with self,
occurs in the novel. This discourse is simUar to that of the interior
monologue, yet innovative in that it takes the form of a conversation.
During the morning at the office, the protagonist finds himself at
loose ends, typical of the bureaucratic work day, and attempts to
write a long overdue letter to his brother. Here, he uses the letter to
participate in a conversation, as he plays the devil's advocate reading
and commenting on his own thoughts:
"Querido hermano: Hace dias que no te escribo. No
creas que he dejado de pensar en vos y que no haya
querido estar en contacto con vos...
-^Que mas puedo decir? Si estuviera cerca le
contaria las pequefieces de todos los dias, pero por carta...
91

"Confio en que no tendras problemas de duiero.

Aun no me has dicho si te alcanza lo que ganas para todas
tus obligaciones alia.
-Tengo que cambiar ese parrafo, puede pensar que
me estoy cerrado a cualquier posibiUdad de ayudarle. O
lo que es peor, puede creer que le puedo ayudar si tiene
alguna dificultad economica. (29)
The letter provides another example of how difficult it is to estabUsh
intimacy within the family. The character writes not out of the
desire to communicate with his brother, but rather, out of the beUef
that he ought to communicate with him: " - Caramba, no salio ni la
pagina, pero ya cumpli con la obUgacion de escribirla. Esta era una
cosa que me pesaba en la conciencia... ya saU del peso y eso es
bastante" (30). At the end of his typed letter, he adds by hand that
he has been thinking often of their father, who is no longer living.
He has thought about how much their father loved them and how
they are united by this bond. Yet once he has written it, he
immediately feels ashamed:
Se extrafiara de mi sentimentalismo y pensara
que mosca habra picado al hermano mayor, siempre tan
medido, tan circunspecto, tan correcto en sus cosas. El
hermano ejemplar que se caso joven, que saco buenas
notas en el colegio, que no logro cuajar todos los suefios
famiUares, que fracaso en los negocios y que todo su
triunfo fue Uegar a un puestecito en el gobiemo. Eso es lo
que siento en la mirada de mi hermano, un poco de
desprecio...
- S i . . . Con el.
-^Tiene usted una copia del illtimo informe de
contabUidad?
92

-Creo que si. Dejeme ver . . . Aqui esta. Si la

necesita, con el mayor gusto se la faciUtare.
-Bueno, mando por eUa. (31)
The letter writing is intermpted by the telephone. The protagonist
finally has a task to do at the office. Ironically, not only has he
recentiy finished the latest bookkeeping records for his office, but he
has also finished his own accounting, or recorded his own
responsibUity within his family structure by way of the letter to his
brother. The accuracy of the agency's books may be as skewed as
that of his letter.
Intimacy does not exist between these brothers; in fact, as the
protagonist notes, there is a lack of respect between them as well as
a business-like quality about their relationship. He is concerned that
his brother might want to take advantage of their blood relationship
to ask for financial support. The protagonist is careful not to open
himself to that possibUity. His letter is written out of duty, much as
a job requirement. The letter symbolically represents his own state
of being with his famUy, somewhat as the "contabiUdad" wUl indicate
the fUiancial situation of his agency. Both the letter and the
statement of accounts are written in a way that reflects a sound,
healthy condition-which does not exist.
The writUig of the letter does not work through any
problematic situation nor does it confront and resolve any famUial
93

difficulties the protagonist may be experiencing. Instead, the letter

itself takes on the form of the character which the protagonist
demythifies within the novel, the mirror image he would like to see.
Like a form of pure dialogue between the two characters, one the
real protagonist, and the other the ideal version, the dialogic
confrontations cannot be resolved. They remain as irreconcUable
discourse which co-exists within the novel.
The protagonist is unsatisfied with his work as well as his
home life. His job requires that he be at work during specific hours
and complete many useless tasks. Although these tasks require littie
creativity, they return even fewer rewards. The mindless tasks
never end, becoming more and more difficult to finish simply
because of their mindlessness. The narrative consciousness
complains to a colleague from another department: "Te juro que
preferiria tener un pedazo de tierra y sembrarlo, sin zapatos, sin
saber leer, con las manos caUosas, con una mujer maloUente y con
una marimba de hijos sin dientes" (37).
Just as he is frustrated with his own situation, the people his
agency attends are also frustrated. Costa Rica's system of Social
Security and workers' benefits which had brought them so much
world attention after their 1948 CivU War, is presented as a farce:

94

- . . . Llego un tipo diflcil, uno de esos que creen que

el mundo se hizo para el. Empezo por exigir rapidez y
atencion preferente...
-En una palabra, un grosero.
-Exactamente. Se le dijo en buenos terminos que
esperara . . . Al explicarle que habia un orden, que ya
Uegaria su turno, comenzo a uisultar a los empleados:
unos burocratas, unos inutiles, a quienes el mantenia...
"Y, IPOT que no se le atendia?
-El tenia sus papeles en orden, pero los muchachos
estaban tomando cafe. Eran las nueve de la mafiana.
Nada le costaba esperar unos Uistantes con cortesia. (39)
The government bureaucracy has developed into a monster which is
efficient only in providing for those working within the system.
Naranjo subverts the image of the progressive Central American
country in this detaUed analysis of the social security system.
Most of the characters in the novel remain nameless, as does
the central protagonist. This further dehumanizes them, depriving
them of their right to individual identities. The only characters
receiving names are those who fail to cooperate within the system.
The fU-st is Quincho, the protagonist's son. Quincho rebels against the
school system. He is found wandering the streets by his father
during the lunch hoiu-. He has not studied for a geography test, and
is skipping school to avoid earning a bad grade. When confronted by
his father, Quincho cries:

95

~ . . . yo no qiuero estudiar . . . no sirvo para eso.

-Dejate de Uoriqueos, que los hombres no Uoran.
Por lo menos no lo hacen en media caUe... ^Por que no
queres estudiar?
-Porque no sirvo para eso. Me pone frito tener
que ir todos los dias a esa desgraciada escuela.
-Esas son disculpas para ocultar tu vagabunderia.
Tu mama ya me ha hablado de que solo queres jugar con
la bola y que no haces caso cuando te Uama a hacer las
tareas. Para cada cosa hay su tiempo, esa es la primera
leccion que tenes que aprender en la vida. El tiempo de
jugar queda para cuando se han hecho todas las
obUgaciones. (105)
By chaUenging the system and deciding not to conform, Quincho
stands out. He has been shaped or molded to be another part in the
machinery. He lets his emotions rule and take control of his actions.
He wiU not keep them inside and conform to society's expectations as
others around him do. He has become an individual and he has a
name.
(Juincho begs his father not to tell his mother of their
encounter, dreading his own reaction to her words and accusations.
His father explains that aU of the words which people use are an
image of their heart in the form of a net, or a puzzle, and in doing so,
the protagonist reveals part of himself to his son:
~ . . . Todo el mundo se esconde en una red de
palabras. Yo tambien lo hago. Algiin dia vos usaras ese
recurso. Cuando salgo al campo y veo esos nidos de las
oropendolas, me parece que lo mismo hemos tejido con
las voces. Un nido encerrado, largo, protector,
enmarafiado. En vez de hilos de la maleza, hemos usado
96

palabras. Adentro estamos sudando conceptos, buscando

definiciones, Uorando nuestro encierro, conceptuando la
Ubertad con un criterio de miedo. Cubiertos totalmente
de palabras. En el fondo hay palabras buenas y dulces,
pero rodeando y aprisionando hay palabras tan crueles.
-Una oscuridad asi es la que yo siento cuando
mama habia tanto.
-Yo tambien hablo mucho. Disculpame, muchacho.
-Usted habia con luz y mama habia con oscuridad.
-Los dos hablamos con palabras y hemos hecho ese
nido de oropendolas que es nuestra casa. Cuando te
toque hacer tu nido, debes hacerlo mas Ubre, mas
sUencioso, mas Ueno de luz. (108)
In addition to a bureaucratic system which has failed its
country, Naranjo suggests that the Costa Rican famUy is also
dysfunctional. There is no support and loyalty between duincho's
mother and father. Often, for economic reasons, the anonymous
bureaucrat wiU eat lunch at home. Their conversations are tense and
fuU of deep-seated bitterness and unhappiness. Although they know
each other well and have an established routine, it is an imhealthy
one, based on criticizing one another. His wife also suspects that he
has a mistress:
-Una simple conversacion se ha convertido en una
horrible discusion. Buen postre para este pobre
almuerzo.
-Ahora resulta, que es pobre. [No decias antes que
habias quedado satisfecho? ^Es que pretendes que yo
adivine donde andas? Da gracias a Dios que no lo se,
porque en otra forma me podria enterar de tus andanzas
nocturnas. A lo mejor son inventos tus trabajos, porque
en tu ropa interior hay un olor a perra.
97

-No podia faltar una escena de celos. Si vos

trabajas en la casa, yo me mato en la oficina. ^Sabes para
que? Para comer, para tener esta casa, para aguantar tus
palabras, tus etemas palabras, sobre las que ya podrias
grabar discos. (99)
Another character with a name is Quesada, Ukewise an
employee of the same government agency. Unlike the protagonist,
who remains an anonymous bureaucrat, duesada Ukes his job. He
does not work as others, but takes a personal interest in the people
he sees, making sure that they are efficientiy served. For these
measures he is considered a terrible administrator:
. . . Se habra podido dar cuenta usted de que es
un pesimo administrador, que le dio por sentir que las
cosas eran de el y disponia y administraba con el corazon,
procurando quedar bien con la gente, sin medir los
intereses de nuestra empresa. Tuve que ponerle coto,
porque si no hubieramos ido a la bancarrota. Esta bien
que seamos prodigos con las cosas propias, pero con las
ajenas, con las piibUcas, debemos manej arias con mucho
cuidado, con sentido de economia y responsabUidad.
Somos funcionarios, no duefios.
-Conozco bien a duesada. Es un hombre bueno, un
leal servidor. Realmente no comprendo en que ha faUado.
-No es necesaria su defensa, tampoco requiero sus
comentarios. No tengo mala opinion de duesada.
Simplemente quiero ubicarlo donde sea litU y productive,
donde no se ponga a jugar a personaje de novela heroica.
(48)
duesada does not work well in the system because he is productive.
In spite of the comments made by his boss, he is not being moved in

98

order to be more productive, but because he was too productive.

Also there is rumor that the son of a minister in the government
wants a job, and by moving duesada, there wUl be a prestigious
position worthy of the young man. He, of course, has no skiUs or
background in this area, but that is in his favor. It saves the system
money if things are backed-up and running slowly.
duesada functions as the opposite of the protagonist because he
enjoys his job and feels that the work he does is worthwhile and
meaningful. He has a good marriage and he is considered a reUgious
man. When he is informed of the agency's decision to move him to
another department, he faUs apart, suddenly reaUzing that his job
was not as important as it had seemed. He is not essential to the
agency. After all the years of hard work he has put in to his
department, they want to replace him with an incompetent young
man. After hearing rumors, duesada prepares himself for what
might happen. According to his wife, duesada left to work depressed
that morning:
-Esta mafiana salio un poco triste para la oficina.
Lo senti porque arrastraba los pies, duizas era un
presentimiento que tenia, porque para el siempre fue un
goce el trabajo. Su oficuia, jque orguUoso estaba de eUa!
Me hubiera gustado que tuviera un oficio menos pesado,
sin tanta responsabUidad, y el gozaba con las tareas
dificiles, con la complejidad de sus fimciones. Hubiera
preferido hasta que ganara menos y no tuviera tantas
cosas encima de su cabeza. (127)
99

After learning of the position change, duesada leaves to get

some fresh air and is hit by a truck. The accident is seen by another
named character: Salazar, who relates his story to the protagonist ui
the hospital whUe the doctors try to msh duesada into surgery.
According to Salazar, duesada threw himself Uifi-ontof the oncoming
truck. Salazar then ran to him, picked up his disfigiu-ed body and
took him to the hospital. Naranjo has also named the famUy
members and friends waituig Ui the hospital: CheUta, duesada's wife;
Isabel, his niece; Claudia and Dorita, both neighbors. Salazar is
symboUcally related as he is covered in duesada's blood.
Before duesada left the office he had spoken with the
protagonist, complaining of the injustice of the situation, but was told
that nothing could be done: "<?No ves que sos un hombre solo, a la
deriva, en un mundo de intercambio de intereses? Vos no existis
como persona en este ambiente. Solo sos un nombre, que nunca
recuerdan y que se puede cambiar por otro" (51). According to the
protagonist, the best thing for him to do is to accept the move and
keep a low profUe.
When questioned by the office staff, duesada claimed to be
happy about the move, aUeging that he had become bored with his
present position, and that he looked forward to a new chaUenge.

100

However, he remained very frank with the protagonist, even

foreshadowing his suicide attempt: " - . . . Ahora, mientras estabas
hablando, pense que en reaUdad no hay por que preocuparse, que yo
valgo mas muerto que vivo con todas las polizas que tengo y las que
me paga la empresa; que si fuera un poco valiente podria dejar a mi
famiUa en ima magnifica posicion" (56). This idea is unacceptable to
his co-worker who tries to defuse the delicate situation:
-Esa es una sensacion absurda, una respuesta al
deseo de mortificarse que existe en todo ser humane.
Cree que mejor te penes a trabajar cenmige y no le das
mas vueltas a esas ideas negativas. Vamos hace un
esfuerze y cemprende que nada de le sucedide tiene
importancia y que no te debe preecupar.
-Tenes razon. Han sido reflexienes tentas, que te
he cenfiade en un memento de amargura. No te
preecupes. Mafiana sera otro dia. Ya veras come
empezaremes bien a trabajar juntos. Olvida las tenterias
que te he dicho. Voy a aceptar tu censeje y me voy a
sentar en una banca del parque, come un viejo vage, a
pensar en le que le dire a mi mujer. ^Ves? Hasta me
estoy riende de mi mismo.
-Asi me gusta. Echa a los vientes tus
preecupacienes y que se vayan come una nube gris,
pasajera en el verano.
-Lamentablemente estamos en invierne. (57)
duesada has hinted about his uiclmatien te commit suicide. However,
he appears te have it under control. He has set up his conversation
very weU. If he is successful, there will always be tiie possibility
that it was planned. He has planted the seed. Although he will net
101

be able to do anythuig directiy te his superiors, it is probable that

the attempt will leave them feeUng guilty.
Perhaps for his wife's sake, he also leaves the the act
ambiguous, as he comments:
-Tengo cierte miedo de irme. Ya no se andar per
esas caUes, he perdido la costumbre. Desde hace muchos
afios soy un hombre de un sole camino: el de la casa y el
del trabajo. Cuando me aleje algo de la ruta diaria, me
parece que estoy perdido. Te le cenfiese con vergiienza,
hasta me maree con el movimiente de ciertas caUes y su
buUa. No me gusta saUrme de mi rutina, camino come im
caballe de lechere. (56)
This indeed is the duesada that Salazar saw before the accident.
Nevertheless, when questioned by the police, he had te say that it
looked as if it was a deliberate action en the part of duesada.
However, in his retelUng of the events te the anonymous bureaucrat,
the description of duesada could also account for the tragedy's being
an accident:
- . . . No puede quitarme de la cabeza a duesada
caminande come un senambule. Paso muy cerca de mi
propie carre. duise saludarle. Le Uame, no me hizo caso.
Parecia que iba en la luna. Come no podia adelantar el
carre per les que tenia adelante, no tuve oportunidad de
volver a encontrarlo. Pero le segui con la vista. Le vi
mezclarse entre la gente y cruzar de pronto. Despues los
frenazos, me baje corriendo y ya estaba tendide en un
pozo de sangre, cempletamente desfigurade. Ye mismo le
traje al hospital y avise a su familia. (124)

102

duesada had said that he would almost be dizzy trying te navigate

his way down the busy streets m San Jose. This statement leaves the
anonymous bureaucrat, as well as the reader in doubt as te what
really happened. What will happen with duesada is also a mystery,
as the novel ends the same day, with duesada having lived through
the surgery, but stiU in a deUcate situation.
Another character given a name in the novel is Sefiorita Ortiz,
a secretary within the same government agency. Like duinche and
duesada, Sefiorita Ortiz also rebels against the system, always
expressing her point of view, which is often the voice of truth and
reason. When talking about duesada's move within the agency, the
protagonist agrees with her about this injustice. Sefiorita Ortiz finds
many acts of injustice within the agency, one of them being how
women are treated:
-jPalabreria! Y no crea que me enojo con usted o
que le reclame algo directamente. Le hablo de le que es
la reaUdad. La mujer en este pais esta relegada al puesto
de auxiUar insignificante y nadie quiere dejarla avanzar.
A pesar de su pimtuaUdad, de su henradez, solo se la
tema en cuenta para cosas de poca importancia. Para
llevar y traer papeles, para cepiar a maquina, para hacer
mandades, para dar recades. Tiene capacidad de reaUzar
las cosas per eUa misma, pero nadie le cenfia asuntes
importantes.
-El mundo esta cambiande. Las mujeres estan
tomando sus papeles en todas partes y en todas las
circunstancias. Ya las luchas para legrar su Uicerperacion
103

sen cosa de historia. Ha quedado im poco de

resentimiente en ustedes, ese es todo. (67)
The female characters within the novel are not given special
attention, nor are they portrayed in a particularly favorable Ught.
The first female character presented is the protagonist's wife.
Naranjo depicts her as a cemplainer, perhaps justiy se, but a
complainer nevertheless. No kind words are exchanged between the
husband and wife. Her dialogue with both her husband and her sen
takes the form of commands or complaints:
Me cansan tus especulacienes. Hay dias que te da
por hablar come un loco especulador de todo le que es
sencille y natural en la vida, come si fueras el visitante de
un extrafio planeta. Despues . . . te melestas porque ye
amanezca grufiena. Come si igneraras que soy la que
tengo que luchar todo el dia porque la casa este limpia,
porque el almuerzo este a tiempo, porque el dinero
alcance, porque la cocinera no haga desastres, porque el
mundo sea todo le normal que quisieramos,
porque.. .(11)
Her words are also negative when she speaks with ether persons,
such as her sen,
-Mama, ^me das la plata para el camion? Y quince
mas para cemprar algo. A veces me da mucha hambre.
-^Pere crees que semes miUenaries? Y despues
Uegas a la casa y no comes, Ueno de quien sabe que
cechinadas en la calle. Tema cuicuenta y ni un cince mas.
A ver si aprendes a aherrar.
-^Y me firmaste el recade de la maestra?
-jBonitas cosas a fUmar me traes! Recades sobre
tu malacrianza. (11)
104

Smularly, she snaps at her maid:

-^Limpio tambien el corredor de la entrada?
-Todos les dias hay que repetirte le mismo.
Hay que lUnpiar toda la casa y el corredor de la
entrada es parte de eUa. Despues de que acabes,
veni para que me ayudes a pelar las verduras y a
preparar el calde. Recege les plates de la mesa.
(13)
Although the wife is responsible for the house, she has a maid
to do nearly all the work. Her true obligations seem smaU and
insignificant. Far from being a strong female character, she is
the stereotype of the nagging wife whom the husband seeks te
avoid.
The protagonist's mistress waits for him in the late afternoons
and evenings, and with her he has physical intimacy, as well as an
imagined, emotional intimacy. He can tell her his true thoughts and
feeUngs because she is net fully real, being marginaUzed so that she
is merely a shadow, an iUusien. She exists only when and where he
wants her te exist. He has commented throughout the day about the
lack of intimacy in the world. He has left his nagging wife in the
morning, endured her accusations throughout lunch at home, and left
an office full of back-stabbing and politics. With his lover he has
freedom from everything else. Yet their intimacy is net real; it is

105

only a shadow of reality, and symbeUcaUy he compares their bodies

to shadows:
-No apagues la luz de la lampara. Me gusta ver las
sombras sobre esa pared blanca. Nuestras sembras
unidas. ^Las ves? Alza tu mane. Ahi esta la sembra de
tu mano. Nimca vemos nuestra sembra, esa compafiera
silenciesa que va junto a nosotros todo el dia y que nos
dice que semes seres vivos, que tenemos una leve huella
que es inasible. Es mas Ubre que nosotros mismos,
porque no se puede tocar, ni manchar, ni gelpear, ni
negar. (172)
This Ulusien of immunity from all troubles and consequences is what
he seeks in the relationship. Yet it is a condition that cannot be
found in the real world, only in the shadows en the waU. Net only
he, but she also longs for an unreaUstic fantasy relationship with
him, wishing te give him fantastic magical gifts: "A mi me gustaria
regalarte un cabaUe bianco con una mentura negra. Un cabaUo que
cabalgara en el aire, para que vinieras siempre per las ventanas y me
llevaras a estar entre las nubes" (173).
Although they enjoy this fantasy together, he knows that it is
unreal. For him their condition is terribly fragUe, and to maintain it,
he must limit the time they are together, as weU as the level of
intimacy they share. He teUs her "Nunca nos separaremes, porque
hemos selecionade para nosotros sole las horas de gloria" (176).
Supposedly, then, the chances of reality's invadUig their magic is less

106

likely. Yet for his lever, this conditional stabiUty wiU not be
acceptable for long. She knows all about his life, his problems at
work and his family situation. While he knows nothing of hers,
claiming "No quise hacer preguntas porque me bastaba temerte
entre mis brazes... Se que estas aqui, que sos tal come le he senado
en los mejeres mementos de mi vida, y no quiere alterar esta
reaUdad maraviUesa" (176).
This afternoon, however, reality enters their fantasy world as
she informs him that she is pregnant. Their intimacy ends at this
point, as he reassures her:
No estoy triste. Podria ser una nifiita tan linda
come ves, con el pele manse y les ojos htimedes. Ya estoy
sofiande con eUa, le pendras un vestido resade con lazes
blancos y una diadema en el pele. La vestiras de rosa y
clavel, para que brUle centra el cielo azul.
"I. , .Te agrada ya mi regale?
-Sos un regale inmenso.
-Sige netande algo en tus ojos.
-En mis ojos ha entrade el hijo que me ofreciste.
(184)
The anonymous bureaucrat wiU pass the night at a bar,
drownUig his sorrows, and confessing his plight te strangers. He
considers never returning te see his lever, and the novel's end leaves
his future actions very ambiguous, as he relates his fear and disgust
at fathering another chUd.

107

The anonymous lover is presented as the opposite of the

nagguig wife, the ideaUzed ether woman, sensuous and nurtiulng.
Her words are always seething and kUid. However, Naranjo presents
her as unUitelUgent, Uving in a fantasy world, even imagining that
she can bring a child into her fantasy and make it more of a reality.
Her desire for a mere soUd relationship with her lever is a futile
effort. If she sees him again, their relationship wiU become
burdensome and awkward. The fantasy hours that they have shared
wiU grew mundane and routine with parenthood. Her options are as
limited as the options of the bureaucrats within the agency. She
aUudes obliquely te this future as they spend their evening together:
-Hoy te Uenaria de dulce y te lameria
despaciosamente.
^Y si vienen las hormigas?
-Tendria una guerra con ellas. No dejaria que una
sola te toque. Pero las hormigas son come el tiempo,
estan siempre y per todos lades, cree que al fin me
vencerian come el relej y acabarian per hacerte
desaparecer con toda tu miel.
-Si no me voy nunca, si no puede hacerlo, si
siempre estoy con ves. Simplemente me aleje un poco,
para volver despues con mas ardor a mi castiUe de
sombras. (178)
The imagined intimacy between them has ended. Whether he
wUl return or net is ambiguous. If he returns at all, only his sense of
duty will bring him. Yet he is extremely burdened down with the
idea of having another chUd. His refuge is a bar in the night.
108

Alcohol plays a significant role in the protagonist's Ufe. On his

way to work, after havUig lunch at home, he mns Uite friends and
enters a bar. Arriving at work, he is told that the Director is looking
for him. Sefiorita Ortiz Unmediately notes his condition: "-Tiene
usted hoy una calma, sobre la que presiento una buena desis de
cerveza, que tambien se huele y que se le sale per les ojos un
poco . . . brUleses" (116). LUcewise, when he is received by the
Director, his condition is noted: "^Por que tiene esa sonrisa tenta?
No es memento de reirse y mucho menos de senreirse burlonamente.
i'Usted ha temade! Sole ese me faltaba hey" (117). This criticism
clearly is net a new thing for the protagonist. Alcohol is his refuge.
Besides the three beers after lunch, he visits the nearby bar for a
round of drinks with his friends before the workday ends, consuming
three mixed drinks. When he arrives at his lever's house the alcohol
continues and he drinks a bettie of wine. After several glasses, she
comments: "^Mas vine? No me gusta verte temar. Parece que otra
corriente te Ueva lejos de mi" (182).
After he learns that she wUl give birth te his chUd, his drinking
intensifies. He leaves her and heads te a bar, where he runs into an
acquaintance. There they plan te drink untU they experience "les
azules," a state of being extremely intoxicated te the point where
they wUl experience visions. Within a very short time a local drunk
109

passes by their table, claiming te have money to pay for his own
drUiks and wanting te join them. The protagonist is mfermed that
the old man never leaves the alta mar, that he is in a constant state
of uitexication. The three of them drink the rest of the night away.
Wlien carried te a fictitious reaUty by the alcohol, the
protagonist manages intUnate conversations, teUing his druiking
companions of the child that he dees net want te have and of the Ufe
that he can no longer face. Via these conversations between the
protagonist and his acquaintances, Naranjo projects her vision of the
"new" Costa Rican society, one which has faUed miserably te become
the pest-war society envisioned by the Constitution of 1949.
The protagonist views Ufe as an unchangeable, mundane ritual,
which is chaUenged as he comes into contact with people dissatisfied
with their situation:
-La vida es igual para todos, siempre hay que
andar detras de la seguridad.
Pues no creas, algunos viven muy bien y con poco
esfuerze. En todo esto lo principal es la cuestion de
suerte.
-Sin embargo, da siempre satisfaccion luchar per
ganarse el pan, se encuentra asi cierte sentido a la vida.
iduien sabe! A veces he censiderade que ese es
un cuente de tentes, que se censuelan con la propia
miseria. Les que viven bien, son les que viven de verdad,
y tienen las satisfaccienes mas agradables que uno se
pueda imaginar.
-Hey no doy una con ves. Sin embargo, ^ne crees
que el hombre tiene una atmosfera propia que lo redea y
110

que no le permite estar cenferme con nada?

-Hay algo de ese. Tenemos todo para ser felices y
nos hemes organizade en una forma en que es impesible
legrarlo. (157)
Perhaps his world view changes momentarily as the day's
events unfold. Before he leaves te check en duesada's condition at
the hospital, an elderly woman comes te his office with a request.
She is a friend of the protagonist, whose sen has been unable to find
work, se she seeks a job for him within the agency. During the visit
there, she reveals that her husband has died since they last spoke.
Her description of death haunts the protagonist and becomes a
leitmotif throughout the novel, also giving the novel its titie:
Fue de repente, come todas las cosas malas. El dia
que menos pensaba que nos fuera a ecurrir tal tragedia.
Vea le que es la vida: tenemos dos zaguates en la casa,
que ladran apenas no mas alguien se acerca a la puerta.
Y ese dia, cuando Uego la muerte, ni siquiera ladraron les
perros. Se quedo en la siUa del corredor, con les
periodices sobre las piemas. (72)
The conversations throughout the text become a tapestry of warnings
and complaints about the contemporary human condition. Later at
the bar, the idea of death unannounced reappears:
- . . . Uno abre el periodice y ve que fulane se
murio, cuando apenas ayer le saludo cmzando una caUe.
^Come pude haber side?, se pregunta. Le cuentan que
venia muy enfermo e que estaba muy bien, y que el
corazon en un uistante le faUo. Pensames: esto me pude
haber pasado a mi...
Ill

-La vida esta Uena de anuncies y le grave se viene

encima cuando estamos mas sordes.
-Hey en la mafiana, una sefiora que atendi me dijo
algo parecido. Me cemento que su marido habia muerte
en forma inesperada y que ni siquiera les perros habian
ladrade. La muerte entre en su casa y les leales perros
que sefialaban a cualquier visitante, ni siquiera chistaren.
(167)
Upon arrivuig home at dawn the protagonist is met by a
furious spouse, who has lived through tee many escapades such as
this te beUeve his Ues or forgive his actions. His guUt is
overwhelming and Ui his drunken state he wishes for death to come
quietiy as it had for den Juan, te take him away from his misery:
Empieze a navegar otra vez, ya no per les mares
de la China sine per les de mi propia miseria. Mas que
navegande me estoy hundiendo y en reaUdad quisiera
morir. Morir asi con conciencia de muerte en estos dias
largos que nunca acaban . . . Morir antes de que vuelva,
sin el agua de Unaza . . . Morir sin el hijo que me asusta
. . . sin el corazon del viejo que no alcanze . . . sin la
plataferma de mi espalda . . . Morir en este sUencie de
mi propia vez . . . Morir sin la cengeja tragica de duesada .
. . sin aguantar mas les males genies de Dies . . . jdue
dulce seria morir a s i . . . sin que les perros ladren. (208)
Death has become the ultimate escape from a reality devoid of
meaning and purpose.
Naranjo's novel is in certain aspects an anti-novel which does
not respect the traditienaUy conceived boundaries for the novel. The
anti-hero remains anonymous and dees nothing significant, good or
112

bad. In this sense, he is an anti-protagonist. He is faced with

decisions and choices and he makes none. Although the many
conversations and commentaries may serve as a voice for the author,
there are also anti-novel comments, such as:
No cree en las novelas ni en los cuentos, ni
tampoco en las histerias de cine y de television. El
hombre es demasiado grande para que lo encierren en un
Ubre. Ademas, les linicos que leen sen les vagabimdes,
que no tienen otra cosa mejor que hacer.
-^Nunca ha tenide en sus manes un Ubre?
-Una vez cempre uno. Me dijeren que era la
historia de un hombre que habia sufride mucho en esta
perra vida y que tenia unas ideas fantasticas de come
arreglar esas situacienes agebiantes en que estamos todos
los dias. ^due resulto? Pues, que el tipo no era real, no
tenia ni sangre, ni rifiones, ni anemia, come las que
tenemos les que vivimes. Era un tipo de papel. No me
deje engafiar y bete el Ubre. Cuando quiere saber de la
vida, me quede viende las caras de les hombres, de las
mujeres y de les nifios. Habian per si solas. Sin embargo,
rara vez quiere saber de la vida, para que, con la mia
tengo bastante. (203)
The novel that Naranjo presents is the voices of men, women and
children. Although we are net allowed te see their faces, neither are
they allowed te become paper characters.
Naranjo's text functions as what Kristeva would caU phenotext,
with a genetext that must be inferred and often remains ambiguous.
Kristeva maintains that the signifymg process is comprised of both a
genetext and a phenotext. She defmes phenotext as "a stmcture
113

(which can be generated, in generative grammar's sense); it obeys

rules of communication and presupposes a subject of enunciation and
an addressee" (58). In separating phenotext from genetext, she says
the foUowing:
The phenotext is constantiy split up and divided,
. and is irreducible te the semietic process that works
through the genetext
The genetext en the ether hand,
is a process; it moves through zones that have relative
and transitory borders and constitutes a path that is net
restricted te the two poles of univecal information
between two full-fledged subjects. If these two terms genetext and phenotext - could be translated into a
metalanguage that would convey the difference between
them, one might say that the genetext is a matter of
topology, whereas the phenotext is one of algebra. (58)
In this sense, the reader is, in large part, responsible for determming
the relationships within the text, or figuring out the algebraic
equation which encapsulates the events of the day.
The work as a whole presents society within the framework of
David Riesman's social tiieery cencemmg tiie etiier-dU-ected
personaUty. Writing Ui tiie 1950s, Riesman perceived society of his
day as participating in a new type of revolution. In The Lonely
Crowd: A Study of die Changing American Character, he maintains
that revolutions of the past were revolutions of progress, such as tiie
Renaissance, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, tiie
Industrial Revolution and all of tiie poUtical revolutions which have
114

taken place sUice the seventeenth century. Riesman envisioned the

society of the 1950s as evolving from a productive society te a
consumption-based society. The development of never-ending
biu-eaucratic systems has placed much of the work force in the area
of consumption rather than production. This is the society which
Naranjo portrays in Los perros no ladraron.
Although Riesman's research focuses en society within the
United States and Canada, many comparisons using his model can be
made with Costa Rican society of the 1950s and 1960s. Riesman
defines the ether-directed character as follows:
If we wanted to cast our social character types into
social class melds, we could say that inner-direction is the
typical character of the "eld" middle-class-the banker,
the tradesman, the smaU entrepreneur, the technically
oriented engineer, etc.-while other-direction is becoming
the typical character of the "new" middle-class-the
bureaucrat, the salaried employee in business, e t c . . . .
There is a decUne in the numbers and in the proportion
of the working population engaged in production and
extraction-agriculture, heavy industry, heavy transport
-and an increase in the numbers and the proportion
engaged in white-ceUar and the service trades. People
who are Uterate, educated, and provided with the
necessities of life by an ever mere efficient machine
industry and agriculture, turn increasingly te the
"tertiary" economic realm. The service industries prosper
among the people as a whole and no longer only in court
circles. (Lemmert 354)

115

Riesman's theory of why this ether-dU-ected character develops is

based on the declUie of population growth withUi a region (which
would not apply te Costa Rican society of this time period). The
growth of this "new" middle-class character in Costa Rica was due,
instead, te the tremendous expansion of the bureaucratic system,
brought about by the social reforms in 1949. However, the character
whom Riesman depicts is akin te the characters which appear within
Los perros no ladraron:
,., the other-directed person learns te respond te signals
from a far wider circle than is constituted by his parents.
The famUy is no longer a closely knit unit te which he
belongs but merely part of a wider social environment te
which he early becomes attentive.... The ether-directed
person is cosmepeUtan. For him the border between the
familiar and the strange-a border clearly marked in the
societies depending en tradition-directien-has broken
down. As the famUy continuously absorbs the strange
and reshapes itself, se the strange becomes famiUar.
WhUe the inner-directed person could be "at heme
abroad" by virtue of his relative insensitivity to ethers,
the other-directed person is, in a sense, at heme
everywhere and nowhere, capable of a rapid if
sometimes superficial intimacy with and response te
everyone. (Lemmert 354)
The protagonist in Los perros no ladraron certainly dees net have a
close-knit famUy in the traditional sense. He, Uke the character
described by Riesman, is much more involved with a wide social
environment, forming superficial intimacies with strangers.

116

Another factor influencing the formation of this character is the

change in chUd-rearing practices. Riesman peuits out that chUd care
has become permissive, and that new pattems of relaxed discipUne
have caused the child te relate mere te his or her circle of peers,
rather than te parents. The desU-e te conform te the expectations of
one's friends to gain acceptance and popularity has long surpassed
the need to maintain inner standards. Net only peer pressure, but
the mass media, television, radio and movies strongly influence this
generation, an idea also represented in the novel. The protagonist's
interaction with duinche is a good example of the relaxing of
discipline which constitutes Riesman's model. Naranjo's protagonist
interacts with society as a whole. Although a few characters are
named and given an identity, for the most part, they act as one
entity, with which the protagonist must negotiate constantiy.

El responso por el niiio Juan Manuel

In 1968, Carmen Naranjo's novel B responso por el niho Juan
Manuel was awarded the Premie de Novela en Jueges Flerales de
Guatemala. The novel takes place within the time period of an
evenuig, when four friends are gathered at the wake of a young boy:
Juan Manuel. Much Uke Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel. La
hojarasca (1955), written seme thirteen years before El responso
111

por el niho Juan Manuel, Naranjo's novel consists of tiie Ulterior

moiiologue of the persons present at the wake.
Duruig the wake two strangers pass through, botii solicited at
the door by one of the four friends, te help them at this difficult
time. The stream of consciousness of both strangers thus becomes
part of the novel as weU. In addition te these voices, there are
several chapters which are devoted to past incidents invelvuig Juan
Manuel and his paper dell, CarUtes. These chapters are without an
identifiable narrator, but may be possibly remembered, or might be
papers read by one of the four friends during the wake.
The other chapters represent the thoughts of one of the four
friends, identified via a process of eUminatien, as the narrative refers
from time to time te each of the remaining three, either by name, or
by characteristics previously associated with them. Their
descriptions of one another are rather intimate, focusing en
emotional interaction or perhaps even the faults each seems te have,
rather than any sort of physical description. Rarely are their
thoughts about one another positive, which makes the reader
question the relationships between them.
The chapters are untitied, lacking either names or numbers,
differing only from the chapter before in that the narrative voice has
changed. Each of the four friends serves as the noveUstic
118

consciousness of a chapter which he narrates. Three ether chapters,

toward the begUinUig, middle and end of the novel, foUew the actions
of Juan Manuel, narrated from an omniscient third-person
perspective. Two chapters are narrated by two different guests that
participate in the wake. The penultimate chapter is narrated Ui the
third person voice, treating the four men at the end of the wake. The
last chapter lacks a narrator as such, but instead, in the style of Los
perros no ladraron, is made up of unmarked dialogue between the
four men.
The first chapter is narrated by Luis. His relationship with
Juan Manuel appears te be the strongest, although the relationship
itseU remains undefined as Luis thinks: "Y el pobre Juan Manuel esta
aUi con sus quince afios, mas bianco que nunca, aun cuando no se si
fue bianco, negro e merene" (7). Even though he has trouble
describing Juan Manuel physicaUy, of the four friends present at the
wake, he is the most affected and apparentiy the closest te the young
boy. The first guest invited in te the wake describes Luis's emotional
state:
El hombre del siUon esta Uorando. Les otros han acudide
presuresos. Sacude les hombres en un temblor que
asusta. ^Sera un ataque? Ese que se ha sentade en el
respaldar le acaricia come si fuera un tentite. Si no se
tratara de im duele, creeria que me he metide en un nido
de pajaros. Debe quiza ser el padre del nifio. Pero
^donde esta la madre? Es extrafia esta casa sin mujeres,
119

en los cuartes que atravese ni siquiera vi a una sirvienta.

(66)
The guest supposes that Luis is the father. The lack of women and
the affection between the men puts him UI at ease. The theme of
homosexuaUty recurs often throughout the novel, usuaUy in the form
of jealousy ever affection between the four friends, leading the
reader te assume a homosexual relationship, although Naranjo leaves
this aspect ambiguous. The guest moves about trying te find a mere
comfortable location and asks that they pray, thinking this might
bring some nermaUty te the awkward situation. The four men
indicate that they are unable te pray. Not only are women net
present at the wake, neither is any reUgieus sentiment. From his
new location, the guest can see Luis:
He viste la cara del hombre del sUlon, esta muy
paUdo, las faccienes se le caen en un extrafio vacio,
parece que le han quitado la fuerza y se estuviera
muriende. Nunca he viste a otra persona en tal grade de
tristeza, se ha dejado abandonar come una casa
desocupada. Entrar a una casa vacia es le mas
desconselader que he sentido en mi vade, la siente uno
habitada per fantasmas y parece que trepieza con la
misma soledad. Francamente es mejor que nunca me
haya sentido asi, debe ser horrible Uegar a tal extreme de
deselacion. jPobre hombre! Clare, perder a un hijo y a
esa edad . . . unos caterce e quUice afios per el tamafie del
cuerpo. (67)

120

Altiiough he obviously sees Luis, his descriptions remain

concentrated on his emotional state, rather than his physical
features.
As the novel continues, the relationship that unfolds between
the four friends and Juan Manuel throughtiieU-thoughts becomes
contradictory. It becomes apparent tiiat Luis is net tiie father of
Juan Manuel. Juan Manuel, as described witiim their thoughts is an
orphan, abandoned at a young age, who cares for houses while the
owners are away, or who seeks abandoned houses te Uve in untU
they are occupied again. Yet during the wake the explanation given
to the first guest is a Ue:
"iCxial es el padre del muchacho?
El que estuvo en ese sillon. ^Ne vie usted le
apenade que estaba el pobre? Cemprende su
desconsuele. Imaginese, usted, perder a un muchacho asi,
en la fler de la vida.
^Y la madre?
-La madre esta de viaje, ese es le peer de la
tragedia. j Pobrecita, cuando regrese y se entere!
Imaginese, usted, el tinice hijo y perderle de esta manera
. . . No se come ira a censelarse.
Usted, ino encuentra algo rare en este ambiente?
-^Rare?
-Si, esta frialdad, este silencio, la manera en que se
habian, ese cuerpo tepade, esta centemplacion tan
prolengada y la forma en que me Uamaren a mi
invitandeme a entrar.
- N o . . . asi sen les duelos en las casas de las
personas cultas, sUencieses, sin gritos ni alardes de dolor.
EUos sen distintos, ^ne sabia usted? [No ha viste les
cuadros de la entrada y les adernes? A ningiin pobre se
121

le ocurrU-ia meter esas cosas dentro de una casa.

-No se trata de ese. Es algo de misterio e de farsa
que se huele en este cuarte. (78)
The second friend introduced Ui the story is Oquende. Oquende
is described by the ether four friends as jealous and possessive. He
is an artist and has dedicated much time te drawing Juan Manuel.
Lms describes his hands as "pesesivas y de una pesesion
atermentada" (13). Net only does he seem te own Juan Manuel when
he draws him, but also, Luis feels as though Oquende wants to own
him as weU: "Cuando me teca e teca alguna de mis cosas, siente el
temor de perderlas. Se apedera de eUas lentamente, las reseba y las
devuelve cansadas, un poco ajenas, menos de uno" (13). The
relationship between Oquende and Luis is complex and unstable,
built on insecurity. Unable te interpret Oquende's motives, Luis
buUds a false sense of security based on Oquende's apparent
jealousy. Oquende even refuses te let Luis rest alone:
jEstas dermide?
-No. Estaba recerdande cosas de Juan Manuel.
Abre les ojos y me encuentro con les de Oquende.
Me mira con un signe protector, quizas espera que me
quiebra en pequefies pedazes y per ese pretenda
sestenerme con su mirada. (17)
The ethers also comment en Oquende's possessive nature.
Ernesto's relationship with Luis often infuriates Oquende: "Veo a
Oquende inquiete. No le gusta que tengames intimidad con Luis, con
122

su Luis" (119). The fourth friend, Jorge, does net seem as cencemed
with the interactions between the ethers, yet he is very cencemed
about the education and social formation of Juan Manuel.
It becomes apparent within a few chapters that there is
somethUig problematic witii the character of Juan Manuel. Although
three chapters deal with hUn apart from the four friends, Juan
Manuel is a flat character, who does not evolve from the description,
or lack of description given by the four friends. TheU* lies te the
strangers that enter the wake, as well as their conversations about
Juan Manuel between themselves, suggest that Juan Manuel dees net
really exist. He is a game that they have invented te spend time
together. They often argue about the color of his eyes, or the gesture
that Oquende wants te draw. Luis has created Juan Manuel, yet
Oquende has given him visible form. Ernesto and Jorge have also
added to the description of Juan Manuel te help form his character.
Nevertheless, the game of Juan Manuel has begim to bore them:
Cuando empieza a describir, se le caen las palabras secas
y resquebrajadas per su recarge de pintura. No puede
deminar la creacion. Es un case de agebiantes abertes. La
posibiUdad lo estruja hasta no ser y no dar nada, excepto
frases y frases repetidas de las que no legra salir. El
tipico laberinto de les enfases, unos per sequedad del
espiritu y otros per fecundidad de ramajes. Y no se a cual
clase pertenece, se pierde al dar el primer paso en busca
del segimde y del tercere, pero se queda en el primer
intente sin poder nunca averiguar per donde se sale. El
pobre Juan Manuel esta aqui aburriendonos a todos. No
123

basta querer encontrarlo, es impesible siquiera averiguar

el color de sus ojos. (102)
The futile search to create Juan Manuel slowly bores all. Yet it is
Emesto who first reaches his limit:
Respete a Juan Manuel y todos los Juan Manueles que se
levantan y cerren al mercade, tienen jueges vergenzantes
de mufieces y cuidan las casas vacias. Sin embargo, este
Juan Manuel agebiante entre nosotros, hey triste y
mafiana mas triste, hey sole y mafiana en la misma
soledad, me carga, me aburre, me ebstuia. Me siente un
poco estmjade per el. Ya lo veo cuando come y me
pregunto come cemera, si despacio e aprisa, si despues
usara un mendadientes e hara regueres come les nifios
mal educades. Ahora sole falta que Luis haga un discurso
sobre sus maneras ante la comida y la forma en que
recege sus propias migajas. (106)
Emesto, tired of the game of Juan Manuel, sarcastically states that
Juan Manuel must be a poet. His remark, however, is
enthusiasticaUy pursued by Luis, which in turn infuriates Oquende.
Although Ernesto dees net want te continue the game, he suddenly
sees his contributions as a form of vengeance. His nature is such that
he prefers te injure relationships rather than better them:
Desde pequeiio me hice preposites de rebeldia. A veces
pienso y Uego a cemprender que siempre he side un
preposite de venganza, que olvido el porque y se
perfeccieno en el come. Vengarme de no tener hermanos,
de no poder hacer amigos, de mis padres tan cemunes y
tan triviales, de mi oficio insipide y sin halage alguno, de
la forma en que rrus aherres se han repreducide, hasta de
mi buena suerte. Vengarme de nacer con energia
suficiente para varias vidas y tener una sola, con su
124

tiempo medido. Vengarme ahora de Luis a traves de Juan

Manuel, ya le veo Clare. Ese precisamente. (117)
Although the extent of his hestiUty is net seen by the ethers, they do
have negative thoughts about him. Luis usually sees him as
unuiterested: "Para Emesto estos actes y les otros nunca han tenide
importancia. Esta aqui porque teme estar sole, busca nuestra
compafiia y no le importa le que esta traiga censige" (20). Oquende is
jealous of him, and Jorge finds him very unpleasant as weU: " . . . per
le menos no es tan meleste come Ernesto, el tipo mas insepertable
que conozco" (173).
The foiurth friend, Jorge, speaks late in the novel. The ethers
have defined him as kind, caring and a good person in general. It is
Jorge who notes that Juan Manuel has been a game played by the
four te generate a common bend, a sense of famUy or better yet, a
sense of belonging, which each lacks in reality. AU four are misfits or
outcasts in society. Perhaps as hinted, they are net accepted for their
homosexuaUty. They have found within their small group, a world in
which they can buUd a sort of false intimacy:
Juan Manuel se ha convertido poco a poco en ima brecha
que nos ha revelade mucho. No se si todos le ven. En
ocasienes nos une, nos da conciencia de grupe, nos vuelve
celectives, pero estamos unities con una gema falsa,
porque Juan Manuel es algo diferente para cada uno.
(172)

125

As he continues his explanation of the different Uiterpretatiens of

Juan Manuel, it is apparent tiiat he is a participant Ui the game m
order to wUi the affection of Oquende: "Estoy en el gmpo per
Oquende, unicamente per el, y quisiera tener oportunidad de decirlo.
Es el mas humane, el mejor de nosotros, el mas vaUente y el iinico
creador del grupe, un verdadere hombre. No se come se ha perdido
detras de Luis" (173).
Juan Manuel functions as a reason te come together. He
becomes the bleed that unites them te one another. Although
Oquende pursues Luis and Jorge pursues Oquende, there is littie
mere that is positive between the four. Much Uke a true
dysfunctional family they stay together.
The two strangers that they invite into the house also share
their thoughts in the form of a narrative voice. The first who enters,
a sympathetic man, has never seen such desolation. However, the
wake slowly becomes tee strange and he is very iU at ease. He begins
to doubt their responses te his questions and wonders what they
could be hiding:
Mientras le hablaba, su voz parecia aflejarse con cierta
condescendencia esquiva y aislante, pero hube un punte
en que dude de sus propias constestacienes. Le resulto un
poco atrevide. Ahora se que me sigue con una mirada fria,
pero estoy dispueste a poner todo en clare, no es cosa de
que lo inviten a uno a entrar a una casa y luego jueguen al
escendide y le ensefien una sabana donde ahora me ha
126

dado per dudar si verdaderamente hay un muerte o se

trata de una burla come en tantas peUculas y espectaculos
de television. (71)
The second guest is quite different. He thinks mere about his
own condition than the state of those around hUn, as he is poor and
they are not. He is uncomfortable ui the wake, yet determined to
stay in order te take something from the house. While there he
compares himself with the ether men, netUig that physically, they
are similar beings, but he is treated differentiy:
InfeUz yo, tan igual a les otros, tan igual que no me veo.
Pero, soy el pueblo, cuando dicen pueblo se me ensancha
el pecho, siente que habian de mi, que me mencienan, me
. toman en cuenta. Entre comedo en el ustedes, les del
pueblo. Ahi estoy sin verme, sin sentirme, sin tecarme,
perdido entre les iguales. Si me individualizan, ya no soy
nadie. (123)
RatienaUzing his condition, he sees himseU as part of a whole, unable
and unwiUing te value his existence as an individual. Once the four
friends realize that they have invited a peer street person in to
accompany them during the wake, they are anxious te see him leave.
He reaUzes this, but also thinks of the cold outside:
De aqui no me mueve, afuera el frio debe ser pavereso.
Ignoran que el pueblo se mantiene firme dia tras dia, se
muere une y se reemplaza con miles, inalterable,
. reproductive en su camino de miseria, sepertando,
siempre sepertando. Soy de les que incemedan, pero
dificilmente me incemedan. (124)

127

His interpretation of tiie wake is net one of suspicion, such as

the first guest's. Instead, he sees it as most likely the wake for an
hijo natural, or an iUegitimate chUd, in which the father wants as
littie public attention as possible, which would explaUi the lack of
famUy and the smaU number of close friends. WhUe the men had a
hard time keepUig the first guest, the second one is even harder to
remove.
In addition to the four friends and the two guests, there is also
their creation, Juan Manuel. Juan Manuel is a character who is
sensitive, yet tough; waited upon and attended by four men, yet all
alone; very realistic and very present in many forms, but, he does
not exist. He is portrayed as an abandoned child, Uving in
abandoned houses. He has made a deU, of paper and rags, named
CarUtes, to provide him company. CarUtes appears very important to
Juan Manuel, who wiU carry him at the risk of being ridiculed: "Un
ruber le subia per las mejiUas, seguro de que recenecerian su
infantUismo en un juege de nifias y hasta sus eides Uegaba el
calificative de maricencite" (34).
Much like the theme of homosexuaUty, the theme of
abandonment recurs throughout the novel. Once, when Juan Manuel
must leave a house quickly, CarUtes is left behind. As important as
the deU is te him, he cheeses te abandon CarUtes when he realizes his
128

mistake. Later, regretting tiie decision, he coUects bits of paper and

pieces of rag, te make CarUtes agaUi. Juan Manuel creates and
abandons CarUtes much Uke Luis, Oquende, Jorge and Emesto have
created and fmaUy abandoned Juan Manuel. They toe discuss the
possibUity of creating Juan Manuel again at the end of the novel.
Even though the character of Juan Manuel remains flat and
undeveloped, the four friends try te imagine him changUig during
the novel. At its begUinUig he is presented as frail and longsuffering, resigned te his misfortune, and dealUig with solitude as
best he can, without complaining. His routine varies littie, as he eats
in the same cafeteria and is served by the same waitress, Antonia.
Juan Manuel has feelings about Antonia which he cannot quite
understand. He wants te see her everyday and thinks of her often
when he is away from the cafeteria: "Ya sole, pense en una nevia y
en por que durante la visita de la vecina la figura de Antonia se
habia plantade ante sus ojos en una perspectiva extrafia, en que
aparecia come algo perfumade y suave que le estaba esperando"
(37).
The character Juan Manuel avoids ethers in general, although
he longs to see Antonia, as well as talk with a stranger from time te
time. However, neither of these situations Uivelve intimacy. They
are much Uke the relationships that his creators share, in that they
129

are buUt en false reaUties. He is suspicious of aU seeking te find and

understand him: "Y la soledad restituida no le censuela. En el
orfelinato las miradas Uivadian cualquier sitio, sUi levantar la mener
sespecha. La intimidad era impesible y peligresa, confiarse era come
caer en un orden de cemplacencias esclavizantes" (40). Even when
Juan Manuel finds no one with him in the abandoned house, the fear
that God might be be watching proves unsettUng:
^Y Dies? Esa mirada de Dies que se extendia sobre el
mundo y Uegaba a les mas escuros rincenes, cenferme a el
decir del catecisme. Mirando sin cansarse, sin dormir, sin
dejarse arrebatar per la oscuridad luminesa de un suefie,
mirando sin tregua come en el erfeUnate, sin respetar los
lugares intimes, y el alii siempre observado, siempre
medido, siempre menescabade. El muchacho se encoge
mas y mas apretandese, integrandese, sintiendese una
parte entera de si mismo. Heche un eviUe siente que gira
y gira en la redondez del mundo. El cuarte se llena de una
cancion, tal vez un murmuUe de censueles e apenas un
relamer la soledad centemplada. (42)
This same desire te hide from God, or resent the fact that society
believes him te be ever present, ever observing, is noted again
during the wake for Juan Manuel when the four men refuse to add
prayer te their charade.
Juan Manuel's situation worsens throughout the novel. He is
abandoned, abused and ridiculed. Ui the second chapter he is picked
up by a unknown man ui a car. The man's invitation te go
somewhere and talk, comes after his realizing tiiat Juan Manuel is
130

alone, with no one waiting for him. In the last chapter Juan Manuel
has retumed from this experience and changed dramatically. His
tune spent with the stranger has net been pleasant and his suffering,
apparent:
Alguien le Uama y el no puede escender la cara
entre las manes, come le gustaria hacerlo, pues ha
amanecido tan gris y tan frio come el dia. No quiere
pensar, rechazo a CarUtes, el mufiece se ha ido
empequefieciende. Ahora acestumbra ebservarle per
horas y horas sin encentrar un tema para conversar e un
acontecimiente para traspasar las paredes, las calles,
enfrentarse a la gente, cumpUr hazafias. Es pequefie, es
inutU, la fantasia se debla con el y se caUa, ya no le dice
nada, el esfuerze per tepar con el suefie cada vez se le
hace mas dificU. Se siente vacio, intitil, desplazade.
CarUtes ya no aparece come aquel su amige... Todo es una
tonteria, absurde come dije aquel hombre, un mufiece es
lo que tiene frente a e l . . . (147)
Juan Manuel has lest his innocence. He has been degraded and his
life has lest its definition. When thinking about his trip in the car
with the stranger, it becomes apparent that he was picked up by one
of the four men, most likely Luis:
Aquel hombre y su conversacion y su carre y sus amigos...
mejor estaba sole, encerrado en si mismo, con el poder de
su fantasia y CarUtes, esperando sin saber le que esperaba.
Esa forma de hablar, esa manera de tener las respuestas en
la boca, esa fuerza de saber, esa seguridad de peseer las
cosas y cenocer les nembres. Hasta su figura habia side
traspasada, y el mener detaUe de su cuerpo se cenvirtio en
el signe que un lapiz descubria con la rapidez de su propia
naturalidad. jdue triste era todo aqueUe! Tan triste como
el dia tan deselader come el frio. (147)
131

His character has been manipulated by tiie four friends, and he, the
created character, feels used and invaded, refusUig te accept the
manipulation.
Juan Manuel's bittemess also extends te Antonia. His day
passes by and he has become passive, an Uiactive, unaware
participant. An eld acquaintance invites him te the same cafe he
frequents daily. Juan Manuel gees Ui order te see his friend.
However, his lost innocence makes Antonia, and his feeUngs for her,
seem vulgar when he sees her:
La encuentra sucia y neta que su encante ha desaparecide,
ha pasado le mismo con CarUtes. Su viejo mundo se esta
acabande. Trata de recerdar su tiltima sensacion, quiere
apegarse a sus viejos desees de ebservarla detenidamente,
de meterla dentro de sus suefios, de acestarse con eUa,
despues de desvestirla con lentitud y de ir gezande con la
presencia de su cuerpo desnudo. Ahora la encuentra come
una pobre mujer, madre de un pobre chiquiUe flace, mal
vestido y mal lavade, con la suciedad presente en les
contemes de las ufias, en la nuca, cestras detras de las
erejas. EUa parece sin bafiarse, desagradable con ese
sueter debaje del uniferme, con la boca sucia, maloUente.
(151)
As Juan Manuel leaves the cafe he knows that he will never
return. In addition te abandoning the cafe, he also purposely
abandons CarUtes. He dees net accidentally leave him as once before,
but knowingly leaves him behind:

132

. . . coloca con suavidad la caja donde duerme CarUtes y la

deja ahi, donde el agua la suavizara poco a poco, donde
alguien o muchos pisaran, donde se U"a escurriendo hacia
el centre de la caUe, donde la recegera una mano anonima
como un poco de basura, donde nunca mas la podra ver.
(156)
After his experience with the four men, life has become tee
difficult for Juan Manuel. He has been abused by their actions. The
text indicates that he has been overcome by their manipulation of
words, their manipulation of the essence of Juan Manuel:
El encuentro con ese hombre, aquella conversacion y la
discusion con les otros. Ese mundo de palabras come un
fermente que se destapa para embriagar primero luego
aturdir y despues asquear, Siente una especie de maree,
como si el recuerdo le abserbiera en un mundo diferente y
ahora se tuviera que enfrentar a una pesadUla en que la
gente empuja, corre, apura, habia, mira indiferente y se va
convirtiende en una barrera cerrada que no deja ver, que
tapa el destine, que impacienta las esperas, que exaspera,
que marea, que cansa, entonces cemprende que no puede
mas, que nunca ha podido, que muchos gestes de su
voluntad se han muerto. Apenas un nine y ya tan
agebiado. (156)
Luis, Oquende, Jorge and Ernesto have become bored with the game
of Juan Manuel. In response, the character they create has become
lifeless and unable te continue. They think of many different deaths
he might face, yet they find it hard te actuaUy cheese. Instead, they
simply consider hUn dead and begin the wake. The wake brings

133

closure to Juan Manuel. It also brings a false existence, in that for

something to have lived, symbelicaUy, it must die.
Juan Manuel's existence, which has been denied and proven
false, leaves the reader with the mystery of the chapters in which
Juan Manuel's actions and feeluigs are recorded by a third-person
omniscient narrator. Perhaps one of the four men is reading a
history which they have written. The fact that the narrative is linear
and without opinion, judgment or random thought, eUminates the
possibUity of it's being an interior monologue of one of the four. The
narratives remain a mystery.
The absence of "mother" is another important feature of
Naranjo's novel. Within her works, the mother figure is generaUy
weak and incapable, such as the mother figure in Los perros no
ladraron. In Naranjo's first novel, the protagonist's wife cannot or
dees not have the power te make decisions or change her situation.
Although she complains about her situation, she responds te her
husband's demands and endures his unfair treatment of her.
Likewise, she is subject to her son's wishes. As "mother" she has no
power or worth. In El responso por el niHo Juan Manuel the role of
mother has been reduced even further, with a complete absence of
"mother." Juan Manuel, created without a mother, exists and
develops without any substitute or apparent need for one.
134

Diario de una multihirl

hi 1965 Carmen Naranjo pubUshed tiie novel Diario de una
multitud, setting the precedent for a new type of novel which had
net been seen Ui Costa Rica before, and would only be matched by
her own future works in terms of innovations in narrative technique
in Central America. The novel stands out as Naranjo's most
successful experiment in fragmentation. Consisting of three parts
that cannot exist separately, the novel is only a novel when
considered as a whole. The first part is made up of many short,
unrelated conversations and narratives, having neither beginning,
end or purpose, nor a relationship in theme, plot or characters. Much
like a camera which fUms an audiovisual record of unidentified
people passing, the largest part of the novel is completely without
reUable form or prediction. These fragments are often light and
funny, such as the following, which depicts a traditional form of
fiirtation between men and women in Costa Rica:
-Magnifice, ese era mi rumbe.
-Es usted un majadere..
-Es usted una belleza.
-Le jure que me harta.
-Le confirme que usted me enloquece.
Me estoy enfureciende.
-Ese aumenta su belleza.
-No tiene usted otra cosa que hacer.
-Con mirarla Ueno mi dia.
-Es usted inaguantable.
-Es usted tan liviana.
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-jCon este caler y usted per delante!

-^Pedriamos temar un cafe?
-No es mala idea.
-Insistir es mi metede.
Ya lo veo.
-En otra esquina hay un sitio Undo.
-Pues andande. (23)
While this fragment is humorous and playful, ethers are often
sarcastic and depressing, citing violations of human rights, covering
every subject imaginable, including the creation of aU things:
La creacion no fue senciUa, pagina de Ubre, la que tiene la
Uustracion del sefior con barbas, a ver, si esa misma. No
habia nada. Ni arboles, ni seres humanes, ni animales, ni
sol, ni cielo, ni estreUas. Tampoco habia carros, mi hijito,
ese surgio despues, mucho despues, ni bicicletas, ni
Uegaba el nifio Dies para las navidades. Todo estaba
escure, muy escure, porque todavia no se habia hecho la
luz. No existia ni esta cama, ni estos muebles, ni el cuarte,
ni las casas vecinas, te dige que todavia la tierra no
estaba hecha. No, Dies no se sentaba, el estaba en todas
partes y no tenia per que sentarse. (97)
Part One is also comprised of descriptions of objects, emotions
and interactions. Objects are generally commonplace, encountered
everyday. These descriptions of objects are also loosely woven and
poetic. A good example of this is a fragment which describes coffee:
Cafe, cafe sole, sin pan, caUente. Cafe y Ugero. Cafe
como un grite en las casas. Llego tarde, me esperan, la
cita, el encuentro. Unos minutes que se eyen, se respiran,
seregatean. Cafe. ^Ne eye? CaUente y rapido. Me
Uaman, me necesitan. Un deseo de unirse a algo perdido,
interes de encentrar un tiempo que espera, nos espera,
cita donde un oficio cemplementa. CaUente el aroma
136

hecho vaho transparente arde sobre les parpades casi

extrafios, come si pesaran, come si no fueran nuestres.
Frio de objetos, el recie entre per la ventana. Las manes
trepiezan con la lentitud del geste que se aprende, un
gesto que fue y sera el mismo geste a punte de ser otro
geste. Cafe, negro, caUente. Ligero. jOh, la Uusion de la
mafiana! (12)
Naranjo uses all of the senses te describe coffee and its
overwhelming presence Ui the morning. Net only is coffee important
in the memUig, it is necessary, wakmg the soul and providing an
Ulusien of normality. Coffee continues te be a necessary part of the
day:
Despues, cafe, otro cafe, mas cafe, para despertarse, para
seguir el camino del sol, para no detenerse, para no
acobardarse. Y . . . les lugares, esos sities donde se entra
y se dice buenos dias, siempre los mismos sities iguales.
El aburrimiente sestenide con el cafe, la drega permitida,
la drega decente. Cafe, per favor cafe, caUente, negro, dos
cucharaditas. El lenguaje se hace paladar. Ese es cornice.
Las palabras se cemen come un postre, se saberean. Cafe,
necesito estar despierte porque nada cambia, todo es
igual, el sol esta arriba, caminande, y ye y usted y todos
un poco atrasades, lentes. Cafe. (13)
According te Naranjo, coffee wakes us up, keeps us going, and makes
our words taste sweet. Coffee is necessary se that the sun does not
leave us behind. The images that Naranjo describes are couched in
metaphors such as "words" being "dessert," and personification, such
as el don Juan del mundo:

137

Y, ^el sol? Sale, camina, gira, nos ve, nos encentrames,

cara a cara. Pero, no se detiene. Ve la abseluta redondez
de su luz dande mas luz. Un ritme perseguido y la
persecucion es un fin. Empieza a levantar les arboles,
como si la luz realmente despertara, y no se detiene sobre
las flores, las abre, las madura. jOh viejo conquistador! El
don Juan del mundo. (13)
Naranjo also creates different levels of metatext, as at tunes, the
description of coffee refers back te itself as a Uterary text:
Las siUas estan ahi, come siempre, aunque une este
muerto, ahi con el geste servU de sientese para ese
estamos. Las sillas no necesitan cafe, pero las getas caen
sobre las sUlas, el aroma las pone amariUas, amariUas,
todas las siUas debian ser amarUlas, rima, suena, el
sonere giro del idiema, igual a la cosa petulante. (13)
Often, these fragments treat situations which evoke strong
feeUngs. In one fragment, a peer, elderly man is mistaken for "El
coco" (the bogeyman) by a young chUd. El coco, a repugnant, chUdeating-monster, comes from folk traditions in Costa Rica.
Unconcerned for the eld man's feelings, the mother of the chUd
agrees with her sen in order te encourage his cooperation:
El Ueva tres e cuatre camisas rotas y aquel saco enerme,
descoside, sucio, sudade, muchas veces sudade, hasta
sentir el frio de su propia humedad. duitarsele seria
desvirtuar esa idea de que les pobres tienen frio, siempre
tienen frio. Un nifio con pantalenes grises y camisa de
cuadros le mira asustado. "jEs el coco, es el coco!" La
madre le coge de la mane y le encamina hacia el extreme
de la acera. No hay razon para ser cortes, es un pobre
diable. "Si, es el coco, y si no te estas quiete, te Uevara."
El viejo senrie con una sonrisa que nadie le agradece, si,
138

es el coco, el coco de los nifios, con pantalenes y camisas

nuevas, de los nifios gracieses con su pele recertade, las
orejas muy rosadas y con ese olor a agua celenia fresca.
Alguien lo maja con una bmtaUdad aguda, no se queja, el
grite no encuentra vez, no sabe gritar, cierra los ojos y
traga el dolor sUenciesamente. No espera la disculpa, no
la hay, da lo mismo majarlo, es una piedra. (70)
Scenes such as this one are offset by Ught-hearted flu-tation, or
humorous stories. However, another serious type of fragment found
in Part One is a criticism of Costa Rica:
Una perqueria, una selemne, abseluta, centundente,
infinita, gruesa, clara, resenante, melediesa, subUme,
pestUente, incontrovertible, despiadada, vertical,
geometrica, incandescente, cordial, estimulante,
contagiosa, flerida, meridiana, luminesa, trascendental,
purisima, fabulesa, sagrada, bestial, primitiva,
aristecratica, refinada, vulgar y espumesa perqueria. Una
simple perqueria. Para verla con un eje sebra. (78)
By far, the majority of Costa Rican authors in general, and nearly aU
of Costa Rica's women writers, have written social criticism. Carmen
Lyra's hints of social injustice in En una silla de ruedas later became
strongly pronounced in her essays. Carmen Naranjo's Io5 perros no
ladraron also paints a bleak picture for the common middle-class
Costa Rican citizen. However, very few have said that in Costa Rica
"Todo aqui huele a mierda, porque todo esta untade. Ni siquiera vale
la pena sacudir, menos barrer. La mierda esta a flete y adentro.
Cenferme mas se excava, mas apesta. Una perqueria. Una tragica y

139

sustanciosa perqueria. No hay excepciones" (79), as in this excerpt.

In this part of her diary of a multitude, Naranjo reports a sentiment
felt strongly by seme, and te seme degree by many. Here, Costa Rica
consists of layer upon rotten layer, without hope of improvement, as
it constantiy grows: "Uueve mierda aqui, pura mierda ha calde en
este largo invierne. Y necesitames esconderla. Para ese Uaman a les
periodistas, para que inventen la tranquUidad y la paz . . . Ni los
mejeres peetas del mundo pueden quitar este olor" (79). The attack
en Costa Rica includes every part of society, beginning with the
government:
El gobiemo, un asco; la universidad, una charlataneria;
la educacion, la hipecresia patentizada; les comites, el
mal gusto destUande; la poUtica, la organizacion del
atrace; el himne nacional, la explosion de la cursileria; la
bandera, la legitimidad de las baratijas; la raza, la
pirateria del ceite; la geegrafia, un panal expletade; la alta
clase, la censagracion de las dantas; la constitucion, un
miedo absolute de vivir; el presidente, un orangutan
disfrazade de abeja; las camaras, seciedades de ladrenes;
les ministres, les hazmerreir del memento; les periodices,
la mediecridad con suscripteres; las instituciones, la ergia
de la masturbacion mental; les desfUes, la perqueria con
sus titules; las calles, la perqueria expuesta en vitrinas de
cedaze; las casas, la perqueria puertas adentro; el cine, la
perqueria sentada; el teatre, la perqueria aplaudiende; la
zona residencial, la perqueria perfumada; el barrio pobre,
la tinica perqueria sincera, con las ventanas abiertas para
que se huela en todo su alcance. (79)

140

Altiiough the situation seems intolerable, according to the same text,

the condition of Costa Rica comes as a surprise to many Costa Ricans.
Naranjo peUits out that the Costa Ricans disguise theu- reaUty by
wearing masks:
idue mascaras quisieran poner se! En la iglesia la de
piadoses, con la fuerza ascendente de un cuadre del
Greco; en la panaderia, la de visitantes casuales que en
ese momento se acerdaren del pan; en la farmacia la de
seres saludables que sole estan curieseande; en el cerreo
la de les importantes que mandan y reciben mensajes
urgentes y sustancieses; en la calle la de les que saben
donde ir con el tiempo medido porque el tiempo de ellos
vale; en la cenferencia la de los que entienden cada
palabra y saben su sentido secrete; en el teatre la de
receptores tinices del goce justificade per su presencia . . .
(80).
Part One of Diario de una multitud concludes with a short fragment
about how kitchens are unorganized and dirty:
jOh el deserden fee de las cecinas! Un plate sobre
otro plate y les sebres derramandese. Tenedores con la
grasa perfilande las getas de agua, les cuchiUes, las
cucharas, las cucharitas, con pedazes de algo
interrumpiende su color de plata. Una mirada que no
sabe per donde empezar, un cherre de agua sobre un
silencio desesperante de oUas sucias. . .
El cielo esta abierto: (221)
This last fragment is very symboUc of Part One. Titied "Hilos," this
first section is just that: an assortment of threads, disconnected yet
tangled and often disagreeable, Uke the kitchen above. Also like the

141

kitchen. Part One is where the novel is formed, put together. Like
raw ingredients, the fragments are placed together in a pot te form
something else, which begins te form in Part Two, and reaches a
synthesis in Part Three.
The kitchen is also symbolic of the workplace of the woman.
While contemporary literature does not necessarUy present women
working in the kitchen, the act of nourishing and feeding is
symbolically associated with woman and motherhood. Again,
motherhood is in danger, as the kitchen of life has been abandoned
and left in disarray.
The second part of Diario de una multitud is titied "Claves."
It functions as a key te interpreting Part One. This section also
consists of fragments, yet they are structured te reflect the ideas
presented in Part One. The first fragment questions the reasons
behind Part One, and tries te provide meaning:
Se trata de . . . ^Se trata? Si se trata de algo, ^para
que negarle? Se puede tratar de muchas cosas, depende
quien este per delante y cuales puntos de vista tenga. El
precese viejo y nueve de la vida y de la muerte. jdue
vanidad! Esa cosa de empezar que va siempre a un fin.
El despertarse lento del suefie y el cavar despaciese en
busca del suefie, sobre un paisaje de caras, de caUes, de
casas, de lugares expuestes y secretes, con la geta
amariUa del tiempo. El tiempo un infmite hUe sUi clave,
un menstme sagrade con ansias de regrese y una
compulsion de mas aUa, mas aUa, mas alia siempre. (225)

142

Naranjo uses these short fragments to present contemporary society

and explam how it functions. She paints an accurate picture of
human nature as well as the factors which form culture and change.
life is unpredictable and unreUable. The collage of voices and
descriptions which make up "HUes" is an unpredictable example of
life. "Claves" provides an honest and frank view of life. Life is
messy, like a dirty kitchen. It is often unjust and te the dismay of
human beings in general, it dees net care te make sense:
Se trata de una interrupcion en el curse normal de
algo tan cenecide come desconocido. Cuando se abre un
Ubre de cuentos y se interrega sobre la cara de les
personajes, todos men tames las brujas sobre las brujas
internas, las princesas en las Uusienes de las princesas,
los principes y los reyes en el metabelisme que dames a
nuestras creacienes de imagenes. Un silencio de caras y
mascaras recerre las histerias, un mundo de contactos se
extiende para aprisienar el sUencie en la trivialidad de le
cotidiano, una forma de crecer en parecidos, en las dulces
asociacienes de la pebreza. (229)
The last section of Diario de una multitud is entitied "Tejidos."
While "HUes" presents random strands of Costa Rican reality, and
"Claves" tries te explain them, "Tejidos" provides a vision of an
uncomfortable reaUty which reUes en chaos and instabUity. In this
last section, Naranjo connects fragments of conversation with
multiple narrators. "Tejidos" begUis with a meeting organized by
young people searching for change. Their goals are ideaUstic, yet
143

violence is tiieir only metiiod of action. TheU- vision of Costa Rica is

pessimistic. Luz Ivette Martinez comments tiiat this section:
. . . se trata de una optica de mundo de prefimdo
desencante. Carmen Naranjo legra ubicar la ebra en el
espiritu de la epoca y este se le manifiesta a traves de las
voces que sen representativas de la clase media la cual,
en gran medida, ya se habia censolade para 1970, pero
sin haber legrade satisfacer las expectativas que se
esperaban para el pais desde les suceses de 1948. (403)
During the meeting, the young men chaUenge an elder man who has
sUpped whUe walking, and accidentally puUed down one of their
signs. They interrogate him as if he were a spy, or someone trying to
sabotage their work. Their barrage of questions becomes insane and
an obvious waste of time. Meanwhile, ethers are smoking marijuana
and net accempUshing anything.
Later, in a pubUc meeting, an accidental push sets off a riot and
the young people begin te raid houses and stores in the central
market. They run from the poUce, breaking windows, looting homes
and businesses, as well as setting fires. The frenzy builds and many
join: "<?due pasa aqui? Nadie le sabe, pero es muy divertido, le
regale esta piedra, tirela, es una gran experiencia, animese, no sea
idieta, tirela, a cualquier parte, mire esa ventana es un bianco
perfecto. jVio que Undo! Se la apeo" (277). In this state of chaos,
the young men believe that the revolution that they have dreamed

144

of and planned is happening: "jEstallo la revelucion! jVivala

anarquia! Cerramos" (277). Voices of reason are scattered through
the shouts and orders; they remaUi unheard and lost in the
uncontroUable mass of people: "Muchachos, per ultuna vez, les mego
recapacitar, nos hemes vuelto locos, esta no es la revelucion que
sofiamos. Callate de una vez y ayudame a traer cajas, este ardera
tambien" (277).
The first reaction of citizens net involved in the crisis is te
accuse and place blame:
Me informe per el radio y pense que era una
exageracion, come siempre. Parece mentira, una ciudad
tan tranquila y la gente con su cara de buena gente. Te lo
habia dicho, el comunismo esta latente, este fue apenas
una muestra. Per le que me han centade, no fue para
tanto: una decena de muertos y unos cuantes incendies.
idue brema mas tragica!, todo empezo per un cohete que
se cenfundio con un tire. El responsable de este debe ser
acusade de criminal. A les universitaries nunca les hacen
nada, acaban siempre per disculparles, sen hijos de rices.
Ellos empezaren el saquee. (286)
First te be blamed are these associated with leftist ideas.
Communism, although present in Costa Rica during this time, was
often ignored or thought net te exist within Costa Rica by
conservative citizens, and spoken of as "latent communism."
According te these citizens, seciaUst ideology was forced upon Costa
Rica by outside infiuences: "La culpa es de Fidel Castro y del Che
145

Guevara, esos bandoleros han sembrade el deserden en todas partes.

No, la culpa es de les que no se han decidido a acabar con eUes,
penerles una bomba atomica es lo que se merecen" (289). Placing
blame continues until the president as weU as the govemment is
guilty.
Diario de una multitud ends without closure. The goals are not
attained by the youths, Uistead, many have died unsure of the cause
they were fighting for. Society refuses te Usten te the
revolutionaries, and the same problems stiU exist. Nothing has been
resolved. The unrest will lead te further unrest:
idue inesperada tragedia! Tragedia si, pero no
inesperada, todo ha side incubade lentamente, veamos las
. causas: Ubertinaje en materia de ideas, falta de auteridad
para mantener a la gente en el sitio a que pertenece y
perdida abseluta de les principles cristianes. Es cierte,
estamos viviende en una ciudad descempuesta. No nos
pongames tragices, este es sole un signe para estar
alertas. Si el gobiemo no respende, prepararemes
nuestro ejercito particular. Eso mismo, en guerra avisada
no mueren seldades. Dentro de un tiempo seran otros los
que Ueren, le premete. (291)
Yet the reaction among the organized revolutionaries is ambiguous.
While seme react in a positive way, "Muchachos, me siento bien, es
como si me hubiera Uberade de las ideas" (296), ethers are
humiliated and feel that they were ui error:
Muchachos, nos equivecames en todo. Nuestra
estrategia fallo, nos hemes precipitade. En vez de
146

conciencias despertames apetites. Inecencia, juventud,

Uusienes, come se quiera Uamarlo. No se sale a caminar
para ensefiar a otros les caminos. Prunere hay que
ensefiar a andar. Ahora sole nos queda esperar a que nos
Uamen. (296)
Carmen Naranjo's novel points out many of the problems that
post-revolutionary Costa Rican society faces. WhUe the intentions of
the revolution of 1948 were justifiable, many of the original aims
and goals were lest sight of Ui the excitement. Today's society lives
with the dissatisfaction of having expended such energy and effort
for accompUshments far smaller than these hoped for. Blame is
pointed toward the famUy itself, which as a unit, is faUing miserably.

Sobrepunto
Another novel by Carmen Naranjo which deals with the
disUlusion felt by Costa Ricans after the 1948 Revolution is
Sobrepunto, This novel was pubUshed in 1985, after being kept in a
drawer for twenty years, which would place its composition around
the same time period as Diario de una multitud. Unlike Diario de
una multitud, Sobrepunto is a novel which actually deals with the
1948 Revolution, ratiier than just tiie achievements, or rather, the
shortcomings of the revolution. Sobrepunto is a much mere personal
novel. Although equaUy fragmented, tiie fragments represent the
thoughts of a sUigle person who is looking through a diary written
147

during the years of the Revolution. At tunes the fragments are

interpreted as the actual diary, other tunes the fragments are
metatext which reflects present tiieughts en the past evoked within
the pages of the diary, and ether fragments are unmarked dialoguepresumably conversations remembered from the past, usually with
or concerning a young woman named Olga. The fragments jump
from the past te the present, as he remembers and reflects on the
Ufe of Olga, who has since committed suicide. The characterization of
Olga, and of the man reading the diary, must be formed by the
reader whUe reading the fragments as a whole.
Luz Ivette Martinez uses the following quote from Sobrepunto
to further explain the importance of seeing the fragments as a whole:
Ahora se que no hay nada desnudo en el universe.
La pintura es un signe de les sigles. Se pintan los
hombres unos a otros, se descubren sus desnudeces y la
revelacion es un ilustrar las memorias, es un crear los
propies espectaculos, es un atreverse al juege de les
angeles rebeldes. Se pinta un arbel para ser arbel o se
abstrae en descempesicienes que le vuelven al nombre
pure, la primera pintura del mundo. Un material eterne
recargado de imagenes detras de un secrete, el misterio
de ser come se es, la version de la reaUdad en el goce de
crear la sobrerrealidad. Ahora esta todo clare: un punte
que tiene conciencia de si es un sobrepunto. Cada ser,
ahi, en su version e en mi version, es un sebreser. En la
misma forma cada cosa es una sebrecesa. (11)

148

Martinez explaUis tiiat "Fiel a su empefie de cembmar las distintas

manifestacienes del arte. Carmen Naranjo utiUza en esta ebra la
tecnica del 'puntUUsmo' pictorico" (Martinez 334). Naranjo poUits out
that the world itself functions in this way. It is only by looking at
these fragments as a whole that we can form an Uiterpretatien; and
at the same time, it is only the fragments that we can grasp: "Desde
siempre el mundo ha side una lectura incentenida, Uisaciable y no
tendre tiempo de leer, no pedre alcanzar la velecidad con que les
signes se extienden" (15).
The characters that Naranjo presents in Sobrepunto differ
greatiy from the average Costa Rican citizen. The main character, an
unidentified male, is the sen of German immigrants. His thoughts on
Costa Rican society are interesting since he is an outsider, who sees
things about the society that Costa Ricans themselves cannot. Often
his diary reflects the differences in hew Costa Ricans think and react
compared with his own thoughts and reactions. In large part, he
considers Costa Ricans unable te de things for themselves. His own
family has arrived peer, with nothing, yet they prosper when they
work. They have opened a smaU neighborhood store, which sells
meats, fruits, and canned goods. These stores, caUed pulperias,
common throughout Costa Rica, are often run by immigrant famiUes.
While many Costa Ricans work hard, according te the young German,
149

tiiey do so in mindless ways which seldom better theu- situation. The

foreign observer notes that Costa Ricans tend te base their hopes
upon the unexpected; the luck that waits for them right around the
comer:
Una voluntad inmovil y caprichesa les une a todos. Se
esperan les mUagres come si el cielo se pudiera romper
en mUes de pedacites y caer con resas, no con signes, ni
siquiera con mana, sine con biUetes. El linice mUagro
creible en nuestro medio es la Uuvia de dinero, que baje
perpendicular desde el cielo y Uegue a las manos en
forma directa, suene y engerde les belsUles. Aqui el
estribUle es "si yo tuviera plata".... EUes quieren le
. comedo, lo facU, le briUante, le irrespensable, la carcajada
vestida de fiesta... (40)
According te the young German, Costa Ricans are content te await
their fortune and luck. They complain about their economic
condition, yet their solution wiU come from somewhere beyond the
realm of their control. Most of them believe strongly in the lottery
system, seeing only the number of bUls wen, rather than the number
of odds against winning:
Aqui el juege eterne es el de la leteria: un ntimero, Ugade
debaje de las almehadas en la esperanza de suefios
certeros, las pintas en las alas de una maripesa
incensciente a les signes de su propia figura estetica, las
placas de un vehiculo, el dia del sertee, la fecha de
nacimiente, el vaticinie del horoscope, las sensacion
permanente de que la suerte Uega. La fe absurda del
descreide, el sentimiento irracional del Uuse, el planeador
en el viento de la antipeesia cetidiana, el salteader
irrespensable de les rites naturales para jugar a la fe de
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un acierto per el sUnple afan de acertar, el encegido

derrotista que ageta hasta su sexe en las sefiales sobadas
de los cammes viejos, la gente que se marchita esperando
un cambio de viento que barra les males agueros. (40)
The young German perceives this aspect of Costa Rican society
and rebels against it. He beUeves in making his own future and net
waiting for it: "Yo cree en mis manes, cree en el cercenamiente de las
esperanzas facUes, cree en la liquidacion de las Uusienes vanas" (40).
He is hopeful about the future, and has a strong faith that it will be
better than the current situation: "Tambien cree en las nuevas cosas
. . . en el sincere deseo de mejorar, en el esfuerze de sembrar la
tierra, de abrir nuevos senderos, en el balbucee de las primeras
letras y en el grite eterne de adelante" (40). Of course, he has the
perspective of one whose family has achieved these things. There
was plenty of hard work en their part, yet many who worked were
not.able to attain such success. His view is biased and harsh toward
Costa Ricans.
EquaUy critical is his reaction toward Olga. Olga is the daughter
of a prostitute and a wealthy man from an important famUy. WhUe
the father dees net care te acknowledge Olga, his parents buy her
from the prostitute, in order te raise her as their own. They spend
time Uving abroad, in Cuba as weU as in the United States. Although
she is brought up in the best of famUies, attends the best schools and
151

has money, she dees not fit Ui. Her cu-cumstances are known by aU,
and the stigma of being the daughter of a local prostitute feUows her
constantiy. Looked down en by her peers, she is a very neurotic,
unhappy person. She longs for attention, positive or negative. She is
often the subject of the diary of the young German:
. . . y ves queres el vestido ajustade y vistese, las
entradas atractivas al camaval de les mementos
luminoses, les ojos detenides en tu cuerpo esbelte, la
camara detras de tus mejeres poses, les principles de las
bienvenidas, el aplause espentanee, el merite de estar
come una mufieca incensciente, la vitrina de ere, el siUon
mulUdo, les dias claros y tranquUes, y que le demas, le
dure e incomede, se reparta entre les otros. (41)
The young German's friendship with Olga is strong, although often
critical. Within his diary, he has also kept the correspondence
between them during the times in which she lived abroad. Her
letters and cards are short, run together, without punctuation. Her
letters are very much like the personaUty of Olga, impulsive, and
without time for the norms of society: "regresare pronto he sacado
unas notas maUsimas pero me gane un trefee bailande la rumba en el
baUe de graduacion de las mas pesadas unas tentas que crelan que
nuestro pais esta mas aUa del BrasU" (66). In one of her last letters,
she begins with: "ejala que no te hayan matade porque quiero
ensefiarte la celeccion de vestidos que me he comprado sobre todo
uno reje que te fascinara . . . " (66). This time period coincides with
152

tiie Revolution of 1948, in which the young German becomes deeply

involved. The pessibiUty that he might be killed is very real,
although it is never taken seriously by Olga. In a solemn letter he
writes, yet never sends te Olga, he reveals his commitment te the
Revolution, and the reasons why he must go: "Te escribe porque me
voy a la revelucion y no se si te velvere a ver. duiero decirte que no
soy tan duro come siempre te has imaginade, apenas un muchacho
que le die per reflexienar y se perdio un poco en les laberintos de sus
ideas" (67).
The young German has been involved with the Revolutionary
movement for several years. In his letter intended for Olga, he
begins to ratienaUze his decisions by recounting the history of his
involvement:
^Te acerdas hace dos afios cuando me fui a la mentafia?
Le hice casi come un juege. "iduien se anima? Pues ye
me animo". En ese entonces sabia muy poco le que es esa
palabra con miles de caras: pueblo. AUa lejos alguien
hablaba de ese y decia que estabames ahi para servir al
pueblo, para darle Ubertad, para defender sus derechos.
Bajames triunfalmente y algo se hizo, porque el
entusiasmo nos habia Uenade de fe, luego empezaren a
desaparecer las caras detras de la palabra, quedo hueca,
fria, hasta Uego a ser vergonzesa, alguien dije que era de
mal gusto hablar del pueblo. (68)
As he records his rationale, he foreshadows his own bitterness which
he will have to face when all is said and dene:
153

La revolucion es una cadena y en un punte determinado

vuelve, ya no a avanzar hacia nuevos derreteros sino a
defender les derechos que ha creado. Voy a defender
conquistas en las que no cree, pero voy a terminar con les
odios, a decir respeten esta paz, acabemes este juege de
bandides y buenos, reunamenes en cualquier punte,
tiremos las armas, y empecemos el camino de regrese
para mirames las caras unos a otros sin vergiienza,
seguros de que no hemes Uenade las despensas mientras
muchos se mueren de hambre, seguros de que no
hablamos en nombre de nuestro interes sine censcientes
de los que nos necesitan, elvidande les apelUdes y les
parentescos, con las puertas abiertas a le que nos
incemeda, decidides a sacrificames per les otros,
dispuestos a censtruir sin envidia, anuentes a aceptar
nuestres defectos y, sin seguir burlandones de eUes con
geste complaciente, tratar seriamente de superarles. (69)
Years later, while rereading this diary, alone in the house, he
remembers the Revolution with bittemess and regrets.
Ahora quemo mi rifle y tambien mis recuerdos, no quiero
ser parte de esa triste historia, pero las llamas que se
levantan, me traen de nueve mi rostro suderese, mi
propie rostro de piedra que no arde, que se retuerce en
busca de un Uante ignerade de tanto jugar a les simUes de
la hombria, un rostro que empieza a senreir come si
gimiera, un rostro que me golpea en mi propia cara y me
pregunta que es la muerte. (72)
Although the Revolution faUed in terms of what the revolutionaries
wanted, the young German can see with the wisdom of hindsight that
the initial motivation and the initial spark which begUi a revolution
are most often lest in the chaotic events which feUew. The fact that a
successful revolution is an exception te the rule is part of the
154

inherent characteristics of such movements. He considers his own

participation necessary and proper, yet at the same time he has
many regrets and remorse for having been a part of this time in
Costa Rican history.
The German continues his interest in poUtics and civil rights by
studying law. Eager te pursue a career as a poUtician, he enters the
political realm yet finds that he is net able te participate in the
political games. The political reality that he encounters leaves him
with disillusion like that which he felt after the Revolution:
No he terminado mi carrera y ya soy un fracaso come
poUtico. Me acegieren con cierte entusiasmo, pero hacia
preguntas que penian palides a les caudiUes. El per que
no se admite en pelitica, menos el come. Me atrevi a
preguntar per que se hacia un pacte, per que se votaba
una ley, per que se escegia tal candidate, per que se hacia
un nombramiente, per que se quebraba la Unea del
partido, per que no se daban explicacienes, per que no se
pedian cuentas sobre les gastes, per que siempre los
mismos, per que la juventud se reservaba para la buUa,
por que no se oia la vez del pueblo, por que se utiUzaban
caciques en les peblades, per que no se renevaban las
ideas, por que no se tenian en cuenta las mujeres, a los
campesines y a les ebreres, per que no se hablaba clare,
por que no se apagaban les murmuUes. (143)
Much as with his sentiments toward the Revolution, the German
continues te search for justice. His frank questions and chaUenges to
the system as it exists are tee threatening te secure him a political

155

pest. Instead he becomes a lawyer, limited te divorces and family

disputes.
ParaUel to this regret is the young German's Uivelvement m the
life of Olga. Olga's friendship with the young man is never very
clear. It appears as tiieugh they never became mere than friends,
yet they are very intimate in theU thoughts and feelings, and there
are circumstances Ui which a physical relationship is tempting for
both of them, an aspect which the novelist leaves ambiguous. He is
often critical of Olga, stressing the fact that she should ignore her
feelings and consider everything she already has: money and social
status, and regardless of the stigma attached te her circumstances, a
tremendous education and experience living abroad. He faUs to
understand her tormented feeUngs. Aware that she suffers and is
haunted by her background, he tries te understand her better by
looking for her mother Celine, the prostitute. Once he fmds Celine,
he establishes a routine of conversing with her from time to time,
just to get te knew her. Yet she disappears within the city and many
years go by before he sees her again. Like her daughter's life, hers is
out of control. Years later, she appears as a used and abused woman
aged by time. Only then the German mentions his relationship with
Olga, who is new dead, and he reaches for her through a false

156

connection witii her motiier. The mother's reaction is one of shock

and sUence.
Looking back through his diary, it is evident that he does net
wish to think of Olga, " . . . me encuentro sus ojos tristes y Uoreses,
presiento su voz ahegada en un lamente, quiere olvidar, no oir, no
ver, y eUa se asema per el presagio de una ausencia sin regrese"
(145). She is a painful memory that he cannot lose. As he reads she
continuously returns to haunt him.
The relationship between Olga and the German changes ever
time. They share an intimate friendship as children and adults, as
weU as a professional relationship; he serves as her lawyer and legal
counsel during her divorce and ether problems. Mostiy, his is a
passive participation, as he Ustens te her complain about her social
status, her feelings en leve, her confessions of failure and her desire
te die. As a lawyer he can faciUtate her divorce and as a legal
counsel he can solve seme of the legal problems that she creates, yet
as a friend, much Uke the young Revolutionary, he faUs te change her
situation. He fails te cenvUice her te keep en livuig.
Olga's feeluigs of Uiadequacy are apparent from her
conversations with the young German. Also, the fact that she
attempts suicide several times before she fUially succeeds, reveals
profound emotional problems. Yet Olga lives her life as a constant
157

party. Things are fun and problems are trivial. Much Uke the Costa
Ricans that he describes m his reflections en the reasons behind the
Revolution of 1948, Olga is one who waits for a deus exmachina to
come in and solve her problems for her.
Luz Ivette Martuiez examines the characterization of Olga Ui
Naranjo's novel. Olga is focused en status, clothes, parties and men,
and Martinez points out:
Sobre Olga pesan su origen, su sexe y su intremision
en un medio social que no le quiere recenecer y ceder un
espacie. Carmen Naranjo se aparta de la situacion
especifica de la mujer casada, que vive cefuda al maree
estrecho del hogar y cuyas frustraciones sen objeto de
consideracion per parte de las nevelistas que han tratade
el tema, y nos enfrenta ahora ante una mujer que se
activa secialmente, que posee dinero y Ubertad para
gastarle, pero a quien se la priva del derecho de "ser".
Ese es su conflicte porque sus actitudes y sus actes tienen
que respender a le sancienado per el medio social. El
conflicte se manifiesta cuando ella agrede abiertamente
esos convencienaUsmes. (330)
Unlike earlier Costa Rican novels in which women are presented as
struggling te overcome hardships such as poverty, or abandonment,
Olga has been saved from poverty and left to deal only with her
abandonment. She has wealth and she has married and given birth
to two children. Yet she stUl has to confront a society which leeks
down upon her origins as the daughter of a prostitute.

158

Olga is not a strong character, and she dees net commit to any
cause or goal. When she taUcs of leve and of Miguel with the young
German, he can see through her fagade:
-/Per que tan pesimista si aneche te confesaba su
amor?
-Porque hey no me ha Uamade y ya sen las dos de
la tarde. Siente que me muere de ansiedad, necesito que
me repita su amor y saber que las dudas y temeres no
son ciertos.
Y sobre la mascara se unen los pedazes en gestes
todavia rotes con huecos en que se perfila una herida
abierta y el hambre viciesa de le lejane, de le impesible,
de le que tuvo un memento y desprecio y despues quise
con la furia de un capriche y despues porque estaba cerca
y despues volvio a querer porque habia desaparecide. El
juege de las distancias y las cercanias, el circule infernal
de las medidas, el alcance irreversible de les adioses en la
fugaz hora de las decisienes, que no se piensan ni se
meditan ni se quieran y se apeyan en la costumbre
tormentesa de les regreses y de las Uamadas. (145)
Olga seeks a relationship with Miguel mostiy te fill a void in her own
person. Yet the relationship is much more complicated than just
patching holes. She is net intended te be a wife, a mother, but a date
for a party, an adornment for a man te wear and flaunt. However,
there is littie substance beneath the mask. Very shortiy after the
novelty has worn off, she speaks very differentiy of Miguel: " . . .
Miguel me cansa, no tiene imaginacion, es el hombre mas aburrido
que existe en la tierra... con el me siente encerrada y marchita...

159

iEstoy h a r t a ! . . . es un belete para viajar al desierte... repite lo

mismo dia tras dia... es frio, no quiere sentir . . . " (146).
The divorce between Miguel and Olga is friendly enough. They
both have found ether levers and together they seek the legal help of
theu* German friend. As seen as their divorce is finaUzed they
celebrate with a big party, mocking the sacred institution of
marriage. In the same way, Olga as a youth participates in the
clandestine activities in the Revolution of 1948 from time te time.
Yet like her marriage with Miguel, these clandestine activities seen
become boring and tiresome. She dees net believe in the causes
behind the Revolution; it is doubtful that she understands them.
Nevertheless, it is something exciting to de at the moment. When
Olga tires of these activities, she simply casts them aside, much like
Miguel.
Carmen Naranjo's novel presents a bleak representation of
Costa Rican society. After the CivU War of 1948, the country suffered
many disUlusionments. Many people beUeved in the Revolution, and
like the young German, they fought for a better country. However,
many also shared in the simUar experience of watching the
momentum behind the movement die away. Ui large part, this was
due te the fact that many participated as did Olga. For many young
people the war was simply a form of rebeUien and excitement.
160

There was Uttie need for a tme cause or purpose te become caught
up in the momentum. Nevertheless, when the activities became
difficult and threatening, the excitement were thin and the activities
were abandoned. Much Uke Olga who laughed at these who
continued to participate Ui the stmggle of 1948, many quit in the
middle of the cenfUct. For these like the young German who
remained, the outcome was net what they hoped for, and their
disUlusionment was doubled by the lack of commitment from, or
concern of those who had abandoned the fight.

El caso n umero 117.720

In 1987, Carmen Naranjo pubUshed El caso numero 117.720,
awarded El Premie Nacional de Cultura Magon in 1986. Much Uke
her earlier novels. El caso numero 117.720 is presented in
fragments. These fragments consist of unmarked conversations,
interior monologue, and excerpts from medical reports. Although
this type of fragmentation is typical of Naranjo's previous novels, in
El caso numero 117.720 there is also a narrative voice which
intrudes in the conversations, questioning the vaUdity of the
statements of the speakers, but which is net allowed entry into the
thoughts of the interior monologues available te the reader. Again,
as in Naranjo's previous works, the reader is required te be an active
161

participant ui order te understand the situation, deciphering the

clues to determine who is speaking and about what.
There are five identified characters within the novel; the main
character being Antonio, a young man who has become UI with a
mysterious disease, which baffles many doctors. The reader is
privileged to both the conversations of the characters who see and
talk about Antonio, as weU as Antonio's own thoughts, which are
these of a person who is mentaUy UI. Although Antonio's thoughts
are accessible, and moderately decipherable te the reader, he is
unable to communicate in any form with ethers around him.
Antonio spends most of the time closed up in his room.
Unidentified voices allow the reader te see that he stays in his room,
and the family protects him from visiters:
En esta esquina le vimes tantas veces.
-Cuando era alguien con su carpeta de papeles.
iPebre tipo! Dicen que no dejan verle.
Per supuesto, hacen bien. Otra cosa seria abrir su
cuarte come un circe. Mas de une hasta pagaria per
verle. El joven sefior que tanto premetia, ahora con sus
Uagas y la mente perdida.
-^Por que hablamos de el todas las neches?
Merbesidad, cree yo. Ademas, es el plate cemtin del
vecindarie, que si la sirvienta dice, que si la sefiora ya no
sale, que si se muere o si vivira indefinidamente, que si le
han encerrado en un cuarte, que si se le Uevan al
extranjero. (18)

162

Later, withui his own thoughts he reacts te nurses and medical

procedures which suggests his presence in a hospital, yet even when
he is dying, conversations indicate that he is stUl kept Ui his room.
Voices comment on his mother's efforts te care for him at home, and
the maids comment en the condition of his quarters.
Antonio becomes the case study for many physicians, a
mystery that they cannot solve. Ui the foUewuig speech te the
medical community, one doctor notes:
El case es interesante, per le general le sen, sobre
todo si une piensa en les sintemas y en las circunstancias.
. . . Si se hubiera podido estudiar el case antes del estado
actual, tendriames mas elementes de juicie y pedriames
haber determinado las causas. Desgraciadamente el
presente es un juege de efectes desraizades de les
motives, la ciencia se preecupa de tender las redes de un
punte a otro, aunque a veces nos enredemes en tantes
hUos. Dentro de un apariencia inconexa les movimientos
de enlace sen lentes, pues per cada acierto de Unea
tendida con desarreUe inicial, intermedie y fm, se pierden
aquellos hechos que sole ensefian sus finales y no sus
comienzos. (9)
Within the speech, the special medical consultant indicates that the
mystery will not be solved by the medical profession of his day, as
"el caso 117.720 es el apunte de un misterio para otros mas
adelantades en el future" (12). The physician takes his leave
insisting that "es todo lo que pedemes hacer con el case 117.720, un

163

expediente complete para el estudio de futures cientificos. Mi

vanidad se cencreta a cemprender mi Umitacion" (13).
Outside of the medical community, the descriptions of Antonio's
disease reveal mere about his situation. Nurses, or perhaps maids,
comment on his physical appearance:
"-Es un pobre imbecU, con mirada UiteUgente.
-La tengo miedo. Me parece que de pronto nos va a merder.
-Es come un nifio grande.
-Horrible! Me escalefrie al verle" (14).
Characters passing by in the street talk about him, repeating
rumors that they have heard from ethers. Antonio, who was once
very handsome, smart and successful, new rants and raves, and
inflicts his body with wounds:
"Dicen que se le abre la came . . .
Dicen que gime espantesamente" (19), are comments often
repeated in the novel.
Antonio's family interprets his illness in different ways. His
mother, AmaUa explains te a friend that "--Del mal de Hodgkin ha
pasado a muchas otras enfermedades, sin que todavia sepamos a
ciencia cierta el diagnostice definitive, para mi ese ha perdido
importancia ante la reaUdad de su estado" (37). Although she claims
that the classification of his Ulness is net important, she is the only
164

character who continually attempts to name his UUiess. His sister

Lucrecia views his circumstances Ui a much different Ught:
- . . . Su diagnostice sobre Tony es muy clare. Cree
que ha sestenide una larga lucha espUitual centra el
ambiente y ahora el conflicte es mas Uitense, una guerra
atrez entre el cuerpo y el alma.
-No entiende.
-Lucrecia tiene sus teerias, es un poco espiritista y
sostiene que la vida es una depuracion. Para ella Tony se
esta depurande.
-idue imaginacion! Deberia ser neveUsta.
-Cuando la eige decir esas cosas me caUe, porque
habia come si estuviera Uuminada. Ella asegura que Tony
nunca ha sido de este mundo y per ese es dificU
cemprender su case. Dice que no ha vivido, sUie que se
ha figurado vivir. Cada trepieze se ha convertido en un
dure golpe. Se le imagina sofiande la reaUdad y
despertando sin poder acemedar las imagenes del suefie
con las reales. (53)
Lucrecia's ideas are related by Antonio's ex-wife, Marta, when
talking te her current boyfriend's sister. Marta, however, dees net
attempt to analyze or explain Antonio's Ulness. She has faUen in leve
with Juan, a man she was seeing before her divorce from Antonio.
Her thoughts are en her future rather than her past, and Antonio's
iUness is simply a sad misfortune which dees net concern her.
Antonio's interior monologue provides ether interpretations of
his situation. Although he dees net think or realize that he is UI, he
perceives himself as different from all ethers, and alone because of
these differences. He first refers te himself as the executioner of
165

"ants," and later he describes hUnself as a pine tree with beets. He

sees his surroundings as tiirough a microscope, concentrating on
spiders and ants, uistead of people, whose large eyes are seldom in
focus. Of major unpertance is a crack overhead, through which he
would like to escape:
duisiera meterme per esa hendija. Veo la arafia que esta
empefiada en hacer certinas. Todos les dias las
desbarate y todos les dias las vuelve a hacer. No la he
podido pescar. El dede no me alcaza hasta donde cuelga
de un hUo y se mece. Hube un memento en que la vi
cruzarse per mis ojos. Es un centre negro con peUlles
suaves, que enreda y desenreda para hilar certinas.
AraAita, araAita, acercate un poquito mas. No se acerca,
sabe que la voy a matar. Me tiene miedo. Me cenece
come el verduge de las hormigas. (13)
Although acutely aware of his surroundings, Antonio reacts
Uttie to the people who pass through his room. He has disconnected
himself from any communication with them, yet he can identify the
objects that they bring: "Me trajeren unos Uquides amariUes en la
mafiana; otros espeses en el mediedia, con unas pastiUas que casi no
puedo tragar. Vinieren ojos extrafios" (13). Once they have come, he
experiences a different perspective en his surroundings. Perhaps the
pUls and the thick yellow liquid are pain medicine, which alter his
abUity to think and reason. Once they have left him, he is no longer
after the spider, but rather, the spider grows large, and comes after
him:
166

Ya se han ido. Me hicieren tragar una sustancia espesa y

unas pastiUas amargas. Cerrieren al cerrar la puerta. Me
dejaren las manes atadas. duizas las asuste, gemi
demasiado. La arafia entra per la hendija y va creciendo.
Tengo miedo. Mucho miedo. La arafia ladra, gmfie y
trata de arufiarme. [sic] Me tU-e al suelo y una silla se
quiebra sobre mi cuerpo. Tengo ganas de gritar y me
aguante. Cuando grite, me asuste hasta ye mismo.
"ZQue ha pasado? iPebrecite!
Alguien recege mis pedazes del suelo y me pone
sobre la cama. La arafia huyo asustada. (15)
Antonio envisions himself as completely unique, different from
all ethers: "Soy como un pine que da remelachas. Perfectamente
ridicule, la cempleta perfeccion de le imperfecte. Las remelachas se
encienden cuando menos pienso. Me esconde, me huyo, me evade. El
olor del pine corre matizade con el briUe reje" (19). This image of
being a pine tree which produces beets is rather gruesome. The
"remelachas" appear ever and ever in the novel: spongy, bright red,
problematic spots, which refer to the swollen, open wounds that
cover Antonio's body. The pine tree image is often associated with
the smeU of pine, which may be attributed te the use of an antiseptic
to clean his room or his seres.
In addition te the ants, the spider and his self-image of being a
pine tree with beets, several ether images, such as frogs, present
themselves within Antonio's interior monologues. One of note, which
actually communicates with Antonio, is the blue magician:
167

Descanso placidamente en mi huece. Uega el mage

vestido de azul. Sombrero y guantes azules, saco y
pantalenes azules, camisa y cerbata azules. Cara, ojos,
dientes azules. Me hace grandes reverencias, que dejan
una estela celeste. Me encante con ese mage, me mira
como si yo estuviera realmente entre Venus y Mercurie.
(77)
The blue magician arrives bringUig "seUes inconfundibles," which,
according to the blue magician, "implican una metamerfesis cempleta
del ser" (77). When Antonio asks to see them, he is told that they
cannot be seen, but rather, they can only be understood. To
demonstrate hew they can be understood, the blue magician begins
te spin his hat above his body, flashing blue reflections around the
room and creating a distraction as he transforms himself into five
different "selles." These attach themselves each to a different wall,
and one Ues en the fleer. After a few minutes, Antonio becomes
worried, as the game has ended toe seen, and the blue magician dees
not return. When he dees return, he spins out of the "seUe" resting
on the floor. As he appears in his previous form, the "selles"
disappear:
jCarambal, usted es en verdad un mago. Se senrie con
satisfaccion y me mira con su mirada azul.
^Comprendio?
Le contesto que no, pero vi.
-Ese esta mal.
Le dige que ver es suficiente y le pregunto que
debe cemprender.
168

- d u e todos tenemos selles per les lades que

. queramos, si nos penemes a girar en la lecura de generar
calor. Los seUes sen la muerte de une mismo.
Cuando le iba a preguntar mas, entran les angeles,
tres apenas, con sus arpas. Se tienden casi a les pies del
mago y le dige que quieren girar y tener selles.
-Les angeles sen ya un selle eterne y no pueden
girar. Su linice movimiente es ascender e descender.
Pero eUes saben cantar. Cantemes con ellos. Juguemes el
juege del canto de la gana. EUes cantan primero, despues
yo canto y luego usted sigue. (78)
The seals brought by the magician represent death. Each seal
represents a different destiny. The angels that sing for Antonio have
already been given a seal, or a destiny. He waits for his own destiny
to be determined.
Antonio's uniqueness brings loneUness and solitude. He
questions his condition and within his mind, attempts to question
others:
Cuando me canse de matar hormigas, vuelvo a
pensar. Pienso en les pines con remelachas. ^Habra
muchos? duiero cenocer otro pine con remelachas.
Ruege, implore. Unas sembras que entran me dicen que
si, otras que no. duizas no haya otro pine con remelachas.
-Vamos, saque la lengua. iSaque la lengua!
Un pedacite de pleme frio se me mete per el cuerpo
y me hace cesquiUas. duiero reu", pero mi risa asusta.
Una sembra se alarga per mi propia sembra. ^listed
conoce un pino con remolachas? SL Ensehemelo, jpor
favor!. MaAana le traigo un espejo. Esa sembra siempre
me dice las mismas cosas. Un dia de estos la voy a matar
como a una hermiga. Come a una hermiga gigante. Ya se
que soy un pine con remelachas. (21)
169

Antonio's soUtude has existed since before the onset of his

iUness. His ex-wife, Marta, teUs AmaUa that he would close himself
in his study with his books and papers as seen as he arrived home
from work. He had his own room and spent Uttie time with his
family. His family situation, complicated and difficult, has created
many strained relationships. When AmaUa sits with him and cries,
he questions her identity and aUudes te past disappointments:
Sus dedos se detuvieren en una remelacha enerme,
que se revienta en mi frente. Algo me recerdo esa mano
fria, que cae pesada sobre las cosas. iNo! No me recerdo
a mi madre. EUa tenia les ojos azules y se perdio un dia
entre las piedras. Ella tenia las manes delgadas, que
daban sombras come pufiales... Mi madre nunca tuvo
tiempo para Uerar. Recuerdo que no vine en navidad,
porque otro nifio nacio. Recuerdo que Uegue sole a la
escuela, porque une de tantes se murio ese dia. Recuerdo
que no estuvo en la iglesia, porque otro empezo con las
remolachas en la garganta. Recuerdo que muy poco
hablamos, porque cuando hube tiempo eUa mencieno un
ayer mal relatado y ye le hablaba de un presente
inconcluse, sole para caUar un future que no podia
en tender. (49)
AmaUa is net recognizable te Antonio in her new role as a care-giver.
She is portrayed as formerly cold and speUed, coming from a wealthy
family, where she was never required te de anything for anyone
other than herself. Littie of her past is shared with the reader, other
than fragments of conversations in which people say negative things
about her:
170

-Ayer eUa estaba en misa con su mantUla hecha a

mano. Todavia cree que la iglesia es un lugar donde se
exhiben lujos.
-^Rezaba?
-Imploraba. Estuvo de rediUas large tiempo, con la
cara entre las manes. Cuando se levanto, le vi les ojos
rojos, habia Uerade. Tambien vi sus pulseras y sus
aniUos. Esos rices no pueden encentrar el camino de la
humUdad. (29)
The unidentified speakers in the conversation above also relate hew
she.has married several times, and that her family made its money
in business and poUtics, a powerful combination.
AmaUa is also superstitious; in addition te attending mass, she
seeks spiritual help from a psychic, who reveals AmaUa's past by
drawing cards. AmaUa's emotional reactions persuade the reader
that the psychic speaks the truth. It appears that Antonio will be
her second child that she has lest. Even though she suffers, the
psychic reassures her that her future will be bright and full of
happiness:
Vea cartas mas buenas: el mar, la luna, las estreUas
. andaran de su parte. Este otro grupe representa el
pasado, que casi no tiene carga porque el presente feliz
en afectes le ha hecho olvidar. Ha sufride usted, pero ya
casi no le recuerda. Tuve que afrentar series problemas
per intrigas y envidias, todo ya superade. Fijese que las
copas y les ores vencen a les bastes y a las espadas. Este
grupe es el de la famiUa, ha dejado en el sole cince cartas:
el rey de bastes, el rey muerte y elvidade, con el echo de
ores, que significa herencia ya recibida, las lagrUnas que
se caiman y el sol que amanece con mas fuerza. (23)
171

Uke the five seals revealed te Antonio by the blue magician, AmaUa
draws five cards te reveal her destiny.
The questions asked by AmaUa reveal an anxiety ever past
problems between herself and Antonio. The reader, unaware of any
specific problems between AmaUa and Antonio, can deduce their
existence, as AmaUa net only consults a psychic, but also asks Marta,
Antonio's ex-wife, about Antonio's feeUngs for the rest of his family,
and most impertantiy, about herseU:
Y todavia con la imagen incemeda ante les ojos,
Marta hace un esfuerze per seleccienar las mas opertunas
palabras.
-Usted no se puede ni siquiera imaginar la
veneracion que le tenia Tony. Sabe que su fetegrafia era
la linica que guardaba en su bUletera. La queria mucho, a
veces hasta tuve celos de su devecion. En cuante a la
famiUa en general, nunca le ei el mener repreche, queja e
manifestacion de hestiUdad. Se energuUecia de todos, en
especial de Margarita y Lucrecia. Tony no era rencoreso
. . . clare que no tenia por que tener rencor . . . (129)
The relationship between Marta and AmaUa has suffered, as AmaUa
cut ties with Marta during the divorce. Marta's conversation with
AmaUa is net reliable, as Marta fears that Antonio's family will try te
take what he has left for her and their chUdren once he dies. Her
words intend te appease AmaUa, and better her chances of receiving
Antonio's money. AmaUa, weU aware of Marta's intentions, cannot
trust Marta's opinion en the absence of anger en Antonio's part, and
172

she spends Antonio's last days beside him, begging him for
forgiveness for somethuig unknown to the reader.
Marta's character is not weU developed in the novel. She falls
in love with Juan while still married te Antonio, before the Ulness
has set in. According te Marta, the divorce was Antonio's suggestion,
and she convinces ethers that her divorce from Antonio was of
mutual agreement, without hurt or pain. However, because of the
public attention Antonio's Ulness has received, she has had te
maintain a discreet relationship with Juan. Juan, in turn, has found
this distance favorable, as he has recentiy met and fallen in leve with
someone else, and dreads having te tell Marta that he wUl net marry
her after Antonio dies. Marta, portrayed as naive, uninteUigent and
insensitive, remains unaware of Juan's actions and intentions
throughout the novel.
Juan's sister, net important enough te have a name, appears
twice in the novel; once, in a conversation with Marta, and the second
time, speaking with Juan. She constantiy finds fault with everyone,
criticizing their actions and decisions. She first appears in Marta's
home, looking at a picture of Antonio, and questioning Marta's
reasons for stiU having a picture of her ex-husband displayed in the
bedroom:

173

"-^Cuando vas a quitar esa fetegrafia?

-Ni siquiera le habia pensade. Sera porque no me esterba,
nunca la veo. Ahora que me fijo . . . Tony tenia les ojos tristes.
-Mas bien tiene cara de idieta" (54). The sister net only
criticizes Antonio, but she also speaks poorly of his sister Margarita:
"Siempre fue vanidosa y muy segura de eUa misma" (51).
In her second conversation, she meets Juan in a restaurant to
talk about Marta. Juan's sister has become suspicious of his long
absences, and she fears that he has found another woman:
Me alarma sinceramente tu irrespensabilidad.
Tenes a una buena mujer, bastante sufrida per cierte,
esperando un matrimenie que sabes muy bien no se
efectuara. Y asi ya tan cempremetide te penes a jugar de
tenorio con una inecente criatura.
iOh las mujeres y sus clasificacienes! Cuando
dejaran de jugar de casita . . .
-No te pengas payase porque me pareces mas
irrespensable. (114)
Although Juan's sister has sided with Marta in her attack en Juan,
her motives stem from finding his irresponsible actions annoying,
rather than true concern for Marta.
Antonio's character, difficult te define in its fragmented form,
provides Uttie insight Uite the person he may have been in good
health. No longer whole and complete, Antonio is tormented by fears
and problems which are net realistic te the reader. Ui his

174

hallucinatmg state, he remembers parts of his past out of context, as

weU as what he imagines the world to be outside of his smaU room,
leaving room for many different interpretations:
^Cuando empece a olvidar? Nose. Un dia me embarque
hacia el absurde. Este absurde que tiene peces de celeres,
que a veces saben a carameles y se me meten en la boca
cuando tengo ganas de vomitar estos Uquides espeses y
amariUos. En el cielo se pintan palabras. Caler, cansancie,
jaqueca, fastidie . . . Tengo que encentrar una ventana y
escapar. duiero ver una calle cempleta y caminarla. A
veces logro escaparme y Uego hasta les parques. Les
nifios juegan con largas serpientes. Les advierte que no le
hagan, que les van a picar, que se van a morir. Me miran
. come a un loco. Regrese al absurde, a nadar hasta el
infinite. (27)
The action of warning the children jumping rope comes between
comments on his iUness, intertwining his memories with his present
circumstances. Antonio cannot really leave te walk in the park,
leaving the reader te question whether he imagines this, or whether
a real part of his past has resurfaced. The manner in which these
events or happenings are placed in the middle of his perceptions of
his hospital room, medicines, and affirmations of being a pine tree
with beets, gives validity te Lucrecia's explanation of his illness, as
Antonio dreams reality, and lives in "el absurde":
Un huece en el vacio. Per fin cemprendi que eso era la
vida. Un huece en el vacio. Las manes tienen les huecos
mas infinites del mundo. En ellos cabe todo, mas de lo
que puede retener un hombre. Hice un cone con las dos
manes, un tube calide, suspendide en el vacio y me meti
175

por el. Y me meto por un huequito y me salgo por otro.

Algiin dia alguien me dije eso, al termmar una historia.
Yo me meto en el huece y no saldre mas. Ahora se que he
Uegado al punte UimovU, donde todo esta suspendide.
Tengo el pele fletande en el aire; el rifion despegado; el
corazon come el de la arafia, gumdande de un hUe; los ojos
fijos en un laberinto sUi fUi. (40)
The image of the labyrmth continues tiireugheut Antonio's
monologues, as he speaks of labyrintiis, and also maneuvers through
them. The third person omniscient narrator explains these
labyrinths to be a game:
Les laberintos se ferman cuando una vez se adelgaza
y siente que ha perdido les vincules de algo anterior. La
vez se convierte en una no vez disfrazada de sUencie,
como la necesidad imperiesa de un deseo en el juege
inconcrete de las saUdas. Tambien puede ser la no voz en
el deposite de les largos monoleges que perdieren la
secuencia y elvidaren les estimules. O quizas la no voz en
el inicio de parlamentes sin lenguaje en que un rostro
heroice decora el espejo profundo, cuando se pierde el
ritme presaice de les recenecimientes. El laberinto es un
juege de veces y ecos, en que faltan les Uamades y los
nembres. (43)
Antonio has become a non-voice, as he struggles through his
labyrinth. The narrator indicates that the labyrinth forms when the
voice becomes weak and loses itself. Antonio provides few clues as
to why he has retreated into the labyrinth; several mentions of
stressful situations between Antonio and AmaUa remain

176

unexplained. Antonio's memories, pieced tegetiier, reflect difficult

situations m which he made decisions he would later regret:
Un dia cerre la puerta a un hombre mance, pedia un poco
de pan. Me exaspero, le grite que debia trabajar, le acuse
de querer el dinero para emberracharse, le dije parasite,
vividor, cememierda. CaUade se quedo nUrandome,
mientras movia el mufion con un geste en que gemia su
linica mano con la deceracion siniestra de lilceras que
supuraban la suciedad amariUa de la piel abierta. Ese
mismo dia le di un prestame a un tipo que me Uamo
generoso con un olor limpio. idue asco! E retrato de una
hormiga con mis ojos. (92)
Antonio remembers a woman, perhaps named TrUii. He
comments en her gestures, "Le gustaba quedarse caUada mientras
sus manos jugaban con el velle de mis brazes" (41), remembering the
way she treated him, but dees net explain the end of their
relationship in a clear manner: "Ye tambien eche todo lo de ella al
huece del mundo. Tenia muy poco. Un rize amariUe que eUa a eter,
una camisa Uena de berenas de camisa, una media que se le mojo en
un no y le guarde en mi bolsillo, unas pastiUas para les nervios . . . "
(41). What happened te Trini, whether Antonio has buried her
memory or actually buried Trini remains a mystery.
Antonio's relationship with Marta involves another stressful
situation. The reader knows only Marta's version of the
deterioration of the marriage, which she relates twice: once te Juan's
177

sister, and once to Antonio's mother; both times Marta must make
her audience think highly of her, and not suspect that she caused any
difficult problems. According te Marta, Antonio's withdrawal from
their marriage, into his books and papers, occurs before their second
child is born. Marta is UteraUy shut out of his world when he closes
the door to his study. In his thoughts, she recurs, an image of
physical comfort and at the same time, an unmet respensibiUty:
iJurais querer a esta mujer? Si, lo juro. Ella fue al
principle come un pecho enerme en que me encerraba
dias y neches, en que no existia la sed, ni el cansancie, en
que sudaba come en un desierte y encentraba la brisa de
los amaneceres. Despues era un refugie, un refugie de
escendites cenecides, en que a veces bestezaba. No
puedo mas, Yo tampoco, Esto es absurdo, Tambien lo
creo asi. Ella fue la primera que mencieno el absurde.
Ahora nada en el sin saUda. (26)
Within Antonio's thoughts, Marta gives up en the situation fu-st,
railing the effort put into theu- relationship, or rather, lack of effort,
absurd.
Antonio moves back and forth between his present and his
past reaUties. JudgUig his past, he has played a game with tune, and
lost: "Crei, en la prUnera parte, que debia trabajar dure y fuerte,
para descansar despues. Me encentre con la dolorosa verdad:
cuando el descanso Uego no vaUa la pena... Debl haber descansade
mucho al principle, para trabajar cuando ya nada vaUera la pena"

178

(101). In tiie absurdity of his new-found reality, Antonio not only

reflects on his mistakes, but he also provides formulas to avoid
future mistakes. His fu-st example explains hew te enjoy life:
Habia una receta para divertirse. Era simple:
contemplarse en el primer espejo y senreir hasta
encentrar el rostro hermoso. Si no era posible, quebrar el
espejo y tragarsele entere. En les dos cases batirse por
dentro muy fuerte y saUr a la caUe. Gritar a la gente:
felicidad e salud y pesetas e hermanos. Abrazar a los que
se encentrara une, dar gritos y olvidarse de que se
divU-tio. (101)
In the same manner, Antonio buUds formulas explaining hew to cry:
" . . . coger la almehada mas blanda, enterrarsela en el rostro con les
ojos abiertes, bien abiertes; recerdar todos les golpes y gelpearse de
nuevo en el estomage con mucha fuerza; luego revelcarse en el suelo
con honda lastima" (101); hew te feel, and hew te think: " . . . se
quita une les zapatos y se pone a andar sobre piedras puntiagudas.
Cuando no se aguanta el dolor, se busca una siUa y una beteUa de
alcohol, que se derrama de golpe sobre les pies" (102). These
formulas, constructed by Antonio, emphasize seU-punishment and
the self-infliction of pain. Instead of being formulas for livuig, they
are methods of self-destmctien. The vision of the nurrer
fragmented, then swaUewed, is Uteral fragmentation. His formula for
"creating" is the most horrifying of aU:
La receta de crear sole la pueden aplicar les que tienen
verdadere temple. Es quizas la mas sencUla: se prepara
179

un cuchiUe bien filese, se le da aun mas fUe para que

quede casi transparente, entonces se cortan tajadas de
uno mismo, que se adeban y se frien. Una receta
exquisita para les dias martes y viemes. (102)
Agam a painful fragmentation of self is central te Antonio's formula,
a fact that denies the value of the individual as an entity. These
formulas are net only self-destructive, but they actually produce the
opposite results of what Antonio says. His formula for creation
produces self-destruction.
In addition te the formulas, Antonio longs te write about his
present Ufe, what he has discovered in his new reality: "Con un lapiz
podria gritar a les hombres que es necesario caer del todo, que deben
dejar de sostenerse, que en el vertigo esta la esencia, que en la caida
esta la vida. iduiere un lapiz!" (56). The act of writing, not reaUy a
pessibiUty for Antonio, recurs throughout his thoughts.
Antonio wishes te write for the purpose of communicating his
new thoughts en life te ethers, as well as te try te explain why he
kUls ants and plans te kiU the spider. The spider, as she spins her
webs, trying te wrap Antonio, as she would wrap much like an insect
trapped in her web, symbeUzes death within Antonio's mind.
Spiders have long been considered symboUc of death and fear. Also,
the German phUesepher M. Schneider points out the foUewUig:
. . . spiders, in theu- ceaseless weaving and kiUingbuUding and destreying-symbolize the ceaseless
180

altematien of forces en which the stabiUty of the universe

depends. For this reason, the symbolism of the spider
goes deep, signifyUig, as it dees, tiiat "centmueus sacrifice"
which is the means of man's centUiual transmutation
throughout tiie course of his life. Even death itseU winds
up the thread of an eld life Ui order te spUi a new o n e . . .
weaves the thread of each man's destiny... (Cirlot 289290)
Antonio fears the spider and believes his only recourse is to kUl it
before it kiUs him. In addition te symbeUzing death and destiny, the
spider also appears to represent Antonio's mother. Freud used the
spider to symbeUze mother, and as the conversations around Antonio
indicate, he has a very strained relationship with his mother. At the
end of the novel, Antonio is kept in his room, out of sight from
ethers, bound in his bed, moved and tended te by many hands, as if
he were trapped in a spider's web awaiting death. As his mother is
in charge of his care, making the decisions, perhaps she serves as the
image of the spider.
. Antonio fights against death, even though he dees net want te
return te his former reality. The ants play a part in the deterioration
within his logic. Unlike the one spider, there are many ants, which
take pieces of Antonio as they pass through:
Me manosean. Miles de hormigas Uegan y me
despejan. Me quitan pedazes de erejas, me Umpian el
veUe, me carcemen las mejiUas, me reban la piel de la
nariz. Ya no siento les cuatre dedos de las manes. Se les
Uevarian tambien. Irian parades, esbeltes, porque eran
181

largos y agUes. Esos dedos que tecaban y veian, palpaban

y sentian, corrian y encentraban.
-Hay que Umpiar tambien el cuarte.
-Clare, debemos quitar las basuras. Esto parece un
chiquero.
-iMira! Una arafia horrible salto per ese agujere.
-Estas nerviesa. Aqui sole hay cucarachas. (140)
The nurse, bathing Antonio, sees a spider as weU. In Antonio's eyes,
the nurses' fmgers, or ants, are slowly takUig him apart, bit by bit.
In their attempts to care for him and brUig him back into their
world, they are slowly pulUng him away from his own, different
reality.
The past problems in Antonio's thoughts de net resemble his
present concerns, such as the spider and the ants. Often he sees the
ants when nurses enter his room te bring medicine. The pricks and
stings, characteristic of his experience with the ants, are net unlike
the shots and ether medical procedures Antonio undergoes:
La hermiga me muerde, empieza a chupar mi sangre
y se convierte en una serpiente larga. Sus cemilles
delgades van penetrande profunde y la serpiente se mete
adentro. Me anda per todo el cuerpo con mi propia
sangre. iAy si pudiera cegerle la cabeza y aplastarla! Ya
no siente el dolor. La serpiente me hace cosquUlas per
dentro. Voy a tener que reirme con les dientes desnudos,
sin labios. ( I l l )
The "ant bite" continues through his body, reUeving him of aU pain
and feeUng, as he no longer feels his own Ups. The ants, whether

182

tiiey be nurses, or msects, represent a nuisance which prevents

Antonio from being alone Ui his labyrinth.
The nuisance of the ants dees net compare with the hatred
Antonio feels for the spider. The reader is aUewed into Antonio's
thoughts as he becomes mere and mere delirious, and physically and
mentally disintegrates:
El otro cede tambien . . . me jalan . . . algo se guinda
de m i . . . el cansancie . . . un rumor . . . una plancha... no
me Uaman . . . ya no tengo nombre . . . soy un pedazo . . .
un pedacite . . . se va . . . se esta cayende . . . vuele . . .
golendrina . . . siempre te quise . . . ahora . . . ahora . . .
-Voy a Umpiar su cara.
-Tal vez peniendele una almehada.
Estoy cayende . . . leve . . . pluma . . . doy vueltas . . .
seUes . . . ^donde dejare los selles . . . suave . . . liviane . . .
v o y . . . (149)
Antonio appears te be dead, yet at the beginning of the following
chapter, once again he is thinking clearly, apparentiy surprised te be
aUve as well. The nurses cannot believe that he is stUl breathing, but
they feel certain that this will be his last day. He waits for the spider
te come once again; this time without fear, and with infinite patience:
"Puede esperar le que me anteje. He estado viviende en el infinite.
Un minute, dos, tres, no tiene importancia. Estare per siempre. He
ganade la eternidad" (151). This time when the spider comes to
Antonio, he dees net fear:
Ya viene. Oscura, con sus mil patas, segura de si
misma, come todas las fieras, caminande despacio. Se que
183

estoy amarrado, pero asi la vencere. Me mira, me mide.

Todo lo adivmo en esta oscuridad. Trepa con lentitud.
Cree que le sebra el tiempo y desea saberearle. Sube.
Espera. Se para en mi sexe. Le amfia. [sic] No me mueve.
Conozco sus tmcos. Ahora se aguantar les deleres y he
vencido el miedo. (152)
The spider continues upward, and Antonio waits. Without fear, his
patience is Uifmite, and he has planned his trap:
Sube por el cuello, deja las patas atras y se asema. De un
salto Uega a la boca abierta . . . espere, se cenfia, se
adentra . . . entonces aprieto les hueses desnudos de las
mandibulas . . . trage su Ucer sanguinelente, horrible,
terturante, amarge, quemante. Se revuelve, se encoge, se
retuerce, grita, gima, patalea en su mUesima pata. Se
queda quieta, fria, en un deserden de miembros
inmoviles. La escupe con fuerza... iHe vencido! iSiempre
supe que venceria!
^Todavia?
-Si. Hay que temar una decision.
Ahi la arafia, un algo que ya no es, aqui ye, un
venceder.
-^Llegara al amanecer?
Llegara.
Una brisa dulce y mansa me cobija . . . ahora hare la
cancion de la arafia muerta.
-Aqui esta la almehada. (153)
As Antonio celebrates his victory ever the spider, a pUlew is placed
over his face, to release hUn from his paUi and suffering. Antonio's
mother makes tiie decision te end his Ufe, altiiough who places the
piUow over his face is left ambiguous. Very much lU<e a spider
covers her victims in her web, Antonio is covered Ui the piUow.
184

Anotiier repetitive Unage in Naranjo's novel is the act of

devouring. Antonio is devoured by ants (or needles) that suck his
blood, ants which slowly take him apart, ant bites (mjectiens) which
numb his body, as weU as his own recipes which involve selfcannibalism. The fmal encounter with the spider is also an act of
devouring, as the spider enters his mouth and he crushes it with his
jaws.
The novel ends with a speech given to the medical school which
contains parenthetical references te what happens in the room where
the speech is presented:
Sefieres (la pausa tiene saltos de acrobata) el case
117.720 ya ha side aclarade (hay palabras que levantan
ojos). Les cases dificiles cuando se resuelven parecen
muy sencUles (la curiesidad es un sudor sece). Asi es este
(las pistas aparecen come circules de elfates derramades).
Nunca pensames en las censecuencias de una presion
emocienal sistematica, con el desgaste consiguiente del
organismo (un esquema de esqueletes treta en cada
mirada). (153)
Physicians blame Antonio's condition en the excessive emotional
stress he has experienced, combined with various ether conditions,
such as a sad chUdhood, chronic asthma, and unstable bleed pressure.
The medical report ends assuming that "El case 117.720 (podria ser
la cabala de un ntimero?) ya esta clare y su claridad es senciUa come
todas las claridades (le profunde fue el mejor invente de un miepe).

185

iAlguna duda?" (155). Naranjo's novel E caso numero 117.720

presents a pessimistic view of tiie individual and the human soul.

Conclusion
AU of Naranjo's novels can be considered pessimistic in this
way, as they Unply that tiie individual has been dehumanized and
the future is apparentiy hopeless. In Los perros no ladraron the
protagonist is net even given a name. His day is determined by
routine and his future has been mandated by society. His job is one
that any person could de and his individual efforts are worthless.
Although he is tormented with what decisions he should make
regarding an iUegitimate child, he really has Uttie choice in the
matter. He can maintain his psuede-relatienship with his lever and
become a psuede-father figure te the child, but he cannot change his
reality and his "real" role as husband and father within his true
family.
In E responso por el niho Juan Manuel, the individual dees not
truly or fully exist. Juan Manuel, created and destroyed by ethers,
has been denied the right te exist. As a creation he cannot even be
given eye color, as the four men cannot agree en what color his eyes
should be. He is the product of a coUective, he is net an individual,
and without the group, he cannot exist.
186

Anotiier common theme tiiat is shared by Naranjo's novels is

the disintegration of the family. The Unage of motiier, more tiian any
other famUy member, has become warped. The traditional
expectations of motherhood and gender deny women the opportunity
to participate as equals in Naranjo's society. Women are stripped of
value and strength and left to whine and complaUi about their
condition. In seme cases, such as in El responso por el nino Juan
Manuel, the role of woman/mother has disappeared entirely. In
Sobrepunto the biological mother of CeUne seUs her chUd net
wanting any further contact with her, having no concern for her
future. In El caso 117.720 Antonio envisions his mother as
malicious and evU and he refuses te believe that she could be the
care-giver that frequents his bedside. Instead, he confuses her
image with a spider that tries to kill him.
Naranjo utUizes a very new and complex form of narration
within her novels. With the exception of the interior monologue, the
text consists of unmarked dialogue, often requirUig several readUigs
for the reader te decipher who might be speaking. Ui the case of
Diario de una multitud, the characters who speak are never
identifiable, and theu- identity lacks importance.
Due to these innovative writing techniques and writing style,
Naranjo's works have received international attention and awards.
187

In 1966 Naranjo received the Premie Aquilee J. Echeverria for her

novel Los perros no ladraron. E responso por el niho Juan Manuel
received both the Segunde Premie de la Novela en los Jueges Flerales
de Guatemala in 1968, and the Premie Nacional de Novela Aquilee J.
Echeverria in 1971. She also was awarded the Premie de Novela del
Censeje Superior de Universidades Centreamericanas for the novel
Diario de una multitud, and she has received various awards for her
short stories. In 1977 Naranjo received the Orden Alfonso X El Sabie
from the government of Spain.

188

CHAPTER V
ANACRISTINA ROSSI

AnacristUia Rossi was bom m 1952, in San Jose, Costa Rica,

where she completed elementary and secondary studies. After
finishUig high school, she centUiued her university studies in
London and Paris, in the areas of dance, theater and languages.
Her first novel, Maria la noche was published in 1985 by Editorial
Lumen, S. A., in Barcelona. Seen after the novel's publication, she
was awarded the Premie Nacional de Novela from Costa Rica.
However, the novel received a negative reception from the Costa
Rican pubUc. In an interview by Aurelia Dobles, Anacristina Rossi
admits that her novel was never understood by the Costa Rican
pubUc:
Siempre senti que Maria la Noche fue una novela
incomprendida. En su memento fue atacada y hasta un
periodista Uego a decir: "refieja el mundo putesco de la
pretagonista". No sole en Costa Rica, tambien en Espafia
se suscitaron comentarios que me han deUde: un
periodista me dije que ye escribia come Juan Garcia Ponce
(el escriter erotice mexicane), que tenia sus mismos
defectos y virtudes. Ese me gelpeo porque ye queria
plantear toda una tesis: les Umites del cenecimiente
racienal y si puede haber otro tipo de cenecimiente,
pasando per un desceyuntamiente del lenguaje y per le
femenino, que podria ser una forma de razenar distinta.
(1)
189

Altiiough Maria la noche received a peer reception Ui Costa Rica

when it was first pubUshed in 1985, the prestigious French press,
Actes Sud, discovered the novel in 1997 and convinced
AnacristUia Rossi to aUow tiiem te translate it into French and
pubUsh it in France. NUie years passed between the fu-st
pubUcation of Maria la noche and Rossi's second novel. La loca de
Gandoca (1994), released Ui Costa Rica by EDUCA. La loca de
Gandoca resulted in a completely different experience for Rossi, as
the book immediately sold ever 40,000 copies Ui Central America.

Maria la noche
Anacristina Rossi's first novel, Maria la noche, is in part
autobiographical, taking place in London in the mid 1980s. Antonio,
a graduate student in his thirties, finishing a dissertation en economic
theories at Oxford, has come te London from the Canary Islands, and
has found a South American roommate, Ezequiel. Ezequiel, handsome
and wealthy, comes from a poUticaUy influential famUy, and being
very attractive te women, has a busy social life. Antonio envies
Ezequiel, who net only finds time for his playboy lifestyle, but still
finds his studies easy as well. Antonio, en the other hand, in London
Uving on a Umited grant in order te finish his dissertation, finds

190

hunself overwhelmed witii teachmg respensibiUties, divorced and

lonely, as weU as facing writer's block.
TryUig te break out of his routine and misery, Antonio invites
Ezequiel to a local pub, where, although he claims, "Ye detesto los
encuentros casuales en les pubs" (20), he meets Mariestela, a young
woman from Costa Rica, also UvUig Ui London. They begin a very
complicated and difficult relationship, as she leads a behemian
Ufestyle, ignoring aU social and sexual taboos.
Antonio's relationship witii Mariestela begins during the most
difficult part of his research. As he pursues controversial theories en
economics, he also delves into Mariestela's past te better understand
her present. By asking her te talk about her past, which is sordid
and horrible, he unconsciously faces his own problems with writer's
block, and buUds confidence in his own theories. As he spends mere
and more time worrying about Mariestela, he spends less time trying
to make rigorous rules for his own investigations, and allows himself
freedom te work at odd hours. Before he knows it, he has finished
and turned in his work, which receives praise as well as publication
offers. In the meantime, his situation with Mariestela worsens, as he
becomes convinced that she truly Uves in danger from her past,
which seems te be abstract, evil and supernatural. As his own
investigation into economic theory ends, se dees his investigation into
191

tiie life of Mariestela. She teUs hUn tiiat she and Octavia, her
roommate and lover, are going away for a few months, but he knows
that they wiU never return. However, he longs te see her again, and
retuming several times Ui search of her around her eld apartment,
he fmds it uninhabited and deserted. Neighbors Uisist that the
apartment has been empty ever since an EngUsh woman was
murdered there years age.
The novel's end is ambiguous, with Antonio insisting she had
been real, and the reader wondering whether Mariestela did exist, or
whether she was a figment of his imagination, invented as a result of
the extreme stress he experienced working en his research in
London. Regardless of whether or net Mariestela exists within the
novel, Rossi develops this female character much mere se than
Antonio's character, and uses her narrative te explore the
psychological aspect of feminine sexuality. Mariestela, human or
supernatural, is a subversion of the Central American woman, or
mere specifically, the contemporary Costa Rican woman.
Mariestela is the most compUcated person that Antonio has
ever met. Beautiful, in a striking way, she has long, thick, curly, wild
hair, light freckles, and amber yellow eyes lU;e a cat. Antonio fmds
her provocative and fascinating and theU intimate relationship
begins as seen as they meet, as he feUews her heme and spends the
192

night. He also finds her frustrating, as she wants conversation

instead of physical UitUnacy. Once when Antonio presses the issue
after some time has passed, she responds by aUewing him to make
love to her, yet she remains cold and unresponsive. In an effort to
fUid out what makes Mariestela frigid and unable te have a normal
physical relationship, Antonio begins te question her about the past.
Mariestela had previously avoided talkUig about her past, only
acknowledging that she arrived in Europe following abandonment
when her father brought her en vacation:
Al Uegar a la ciudad europea me ensefio les
monumentes principales, y despues me sento en una
esquina peniendeme a la par mi vaUjita: Ne la perdas,
ya vengo, no te movas de aqui, voy a cemprar cigarros.
Come les nifios estan Uenes de esperanza le espere, le
aguarde cententa tres horas, cince, diez, varies dias sin
comer y sin dormir con el braze alrededer de la vaUja.
En vane. Cuando tuve que aceptar que no velveria,
me sacudio el pecho un soUeze terrible, un soUozo
profunde mucho mas grande que ye misma, y que apenas
cabia en mi exigua estructura. Pero a la gente que pasaba
le deUo tanto que lo sofoque, y se me quedo adentro,
haciendeme para siempre una persona melancoUca,
censtituyendeme, determinante come una prueba,
agotador come el ultimo canto de la sulamita. (86-87)
Antonio learns that the abandonment by her father was
preceded by an abandonment by her mother, who had aspired te
become a pianist, and lest the opportunity te de se when she became
pregnant with Mariestela and was forced te marry. Never loving
193

Mariestela's fatiier, she grew mere and mere resentful of her

situation. Her husband's family came from Umon, where they
farmed tropical plants, such as cacao. Leaving the capital city to live
in the remote, savage, humid zones of the Atiantic coast was a
constant punishment for Mariestela's mother.
Once her daughter was bom, she rejected her, blamUig her for
her misfortune. The mother's bittemess became mere and more
intense as Mariestela grew elder, leading te emotional as weU as
physical abuse. The father once believed that the bruises came from
falls and chUd's play, yet as Mariestela grew, he realized the truth.
In Chapter 16, the mother speaks for the first and only time as
the narrative voice, revealing the intensity of her dislike for her
daughter, her husband and the Atlantic coast:
Este lugar que odio infinitamente porque no amaina,
lugar que odio come le odio a el y come te odio a ves, hija
primera, con una rabia sagrada y demencial, podria
enterrarte debaje de la casa e abrirte la piel con un
cuchiUo al reje vive, tu presencia me ha cerrado el future
y me ebUga a merdisquear un presente inmovil que sera
para siempre identice a si mismo; ver tu cabecita crespa y
tus ojos de miel estrangulados, asfixiades, para abeUr asi
la primera evidencia de una union que no debio haberse
consumade,... mis fines dedos blancos de pianista
apretande con deUcia tu cuello hasta que esa carita, que
me observa siempre con una mirada de interregacion, esa
carita sorprendida, temeresa, se convierte en una cara de
dolor y se va peniende merada, hasta que gritas y el
imbecil de tu papa viene corriendo y te tengo que soltar,
con una sumision que me exalta la crueldad, con un amor
194

que excita mi deseo, no le decis la verdad, no decis nada,

y te vas al rincon adonde nadie te vea y te pregunte de
que son esas marcas en el cueUe. (198)
Mariestela knows as a smaU chUd tiiat "motiier" dees net
represent shelter, affection and unconditional leve. Denied normal
care and needed affection, Mariestela seeks contact with animals, and
occasionally with ether people. As a young girl, she finds a large boa
which she names CristUia. The snake wrapped around Mariestela is
symboUc of the absence of the mother's care. Mariestela carries
Cristina everywhere, even sleeping with her at night. The mother,
already hating Mariestela, cannot accept the snake. Finding
Mariestela and Cristina in the bam, the mother takes the snake from
Mariestela. She makes sure that Mariestela feUews her, and once
they are behind the bam, she cuts the snake Uite pieces, opening
each piece in order te shew her what Cristina leeks like en the inside.
As Mariestela grows, se dees her mother's hatred. Mariestela
relates te Antonio hew one night her mother came and took her te a
clearing in the woods. There waiting, were several women with long
haU- and a man holding a knife. The mother offered her daughter to
them, to be tied up and laid fiat en a stone, as a sacrificial offerUig:
Senti la cuchiUa hundirse en la parte de abajo del
estomage, y bajar todavia mas, hasta el final. Al pruicipie
no senti nada, pero despues un dolor agude y afUade
empezo a repartU-se per toda la parte de abajo del cuerpo,
como si me estuvieran quemando toda per dentro. Las
195

tres mujeres y mama se carcajeaban de mis quijides

guturales, y luego ya n o . . .
-iCaUa, caUa, Mariestela! Per dies, que historia tan
horrible, eso no pude haber ecurride asi. Esos son tus
fantasias hemicidas respecte a tu madre, tus fantasias de
matar a la mama, pero invertidas. ^Cemprendes?
-Okey. Pero mira.
Se levanto la falda y bajandese las bragas me
ensefio dos cicatrices tenues y prefundas, come de
cesarea. (202)
Antonio refuses te beUeve Mariestela's story, thinking that the scars
could be the result of ether health problems requiring clinical
procedures. However, he dees beUeve that Mariestela's version of
acquiring the scars is her reality, and that seme terrible events have
happened in her Ufe te convince her of such gruesome pessibiUties.
Mariestela continues te relate horrific events te Antonio, including
her mother's attempt te kUl her by driving her into large pointed
stakes, which instead, kiU her horse Flicka.
Mariestela's lack of reaction to her mother's abuse is what
psychologists caU learned helplessness:
Helplessness can be learned as an adult and also as
a chUd. The strongest people can lapse into helplessness
immediately after a severe physical or emotional trauma.
. An otherwise self-empowered individual abruptiy
becomes frightened, irrational, unable te make decisions,
and simply unable te cope . . . In general, the reaction is
most severe where another human being, rather than
nature or chance, is a perpetrator. (Breggin 107)

196

As a result of feelmg helpless, Mariestela does net exhibit a reaction

to the abuse she experiences. She dees net teU anyone about her
situation, nor dees she try to avoid her mother.
Throughout Mariestela's childhood, her mother has brief
moments of remorse, occasionally lengUig for a normal relationship
with her child, and thereby makUig Mariestela's situation
ambivalent, more dUficult and confusing:
A veces le daba remerdimiente, seguramente,
porque me temaba en brazes, me besaba. Y per esos
arranques tal vez, ye la seguia queriende, ya que nunca
pude ediarla en esa epoca, a le mas temerla e sufrir. No,
no pude, porque cuando me estrechaba carifiesa ye sentia
que habia Uegado al paraise. (186)
Mariestela's unconditional leve for her mother reappears throughout
her story, although at times she questions her own motivations:
"Aiin mas perdida que antes, ecultande las heridas que empezaban
ya a cicatrizar, y ecultande con igual o mas vergiienza ese amor
absolute, desgarrade, terce, estiipide, ese inmenso ameredie per mi
madre" (213). Every time that the mother shews even the smaUest
amount of affection, Mariestela forgets everything bad that has
happened, characteristic of unconditional leve, yet net reciprocated
by the mother. Instead of distancing herself from her abusive
mother, Mariestela begins to blame herseU for the hardship and
abuse she faces, as she imagines her mother's reasons for her anger:
197

. . . la vi jovencita, todavia adelescente, su carrera de

pianista estropeada, y la vi casandose, y la vi embarazada
sUi dejar de ser adelescente, y pese demasiado y quise
devolverme hasta la no existencia, Uberarla, senti les
golpes que le habia dado a esa panza malvenida e
incemeda, y fui ye la que le pedi perdon .. .(233)
Mariestela's reaction of guUt is typical of abused chUdren.
Psychologists suggest that this guUt stems from the desperate need
to see good in the parent:
GuUt, shame, anxiety, numbing, and chronic anger
are ultimately self-defeating reactions. In childhood,
they may have served seme limited purpose. If the
sexuaUy abused six year old blamed herself rather than
her fatiier, this may have kept her from being further
injured by him. Or it may have maintained her much
needed faith in her parent's ultimate good intentions.
(BreggUillS)
Only after the death of Flicka, does Mariestela feel true hatred for
her mother: "Senti un dolor agude que me certaba la respiracion, un
dolor mas extense que el espacie entre las galaxias, un odio, una
impotencia, el deseo de buscar a mi madre y hundirle un cuchiUo en
el mismito corazon" (242).
In addition te the abandonment and abuse inflicted by
Mariestela's mother, ether traumatic events Ui Mariestela's Ufe
worsen her condition. One such event is witnessUig her friend Negro,
a large black man from Umon, perform an abortion en one of the
mares on the farm. Without warning Mariestela, Negro reaches into
198

tiie mare's vagUia and works the fetus out of her body, covering
himself and the sand around them Ui bleed. Then he wraps the fetus
in a sack, explaining that white people wUl pay him a let for it.
The act of kilUng the horse's baby and selUng its body is very
much like the experience Mariestela has as her mother's chUd. She
also is rejected and unwanted from her very first days in the womb.
Her life has been one violent confrontation after another, and a safe
haven dees net exist for Mariestela, as even her friends such as
Negro are capable of equaUy destmctive and brutal acts.
The theme of destroying chUdren continues throughout the
novel. Mariestela witnesses a horrific scene when police discover
dead babies, apparentiy tortured before their death, in a supposedly
deserted house. Later she also witnesses the murder of Negro, by
the people responsible for murdering the children. The murderers
consist of four men and a woman. The woman always has her shirt
unbuttoned and it is rumored that she is sexually abused by the
men. When Mariestela sees them, she is approached by the woman,
whose sexuality frightens Mariestela. Years later, in Europe, while
listening to Mariestela's narrative, Antonio begins te see or imagUie
the same characters. In the first encounter with Mariestela in the
bar, Antonio approaches her in order te save her from someone
about to choke her from behind, who fits the description of the evil
199

woman in her dreams. While never stated, this appears te be the

reason that Mariestela needs Antonio, someone capable of seeing her
phantoms. Later m the novel, he finds Mariestela lying prostrate
with a cross painted in bleed across her chest. Standing ever her is
the same woman, heldUig a knife against Mariestela's neck. The cut
miraculously heals and the bleed vanishes as he chases the woman
away. The event remains unexplainable, and becomes more
compUcated when Antonio fmds a picture of the same woman, and
discovers that it is an eld photograph of Mariestela's mother.
These events which Mariestela Uves and relates continually
return te the figure of "mother." All contain violence, abuse, and
death, and most involve destructive, violent sexuality. SexuaUty
functions as a method of communication throughout the novel. When
Mariestela and Antonio attempt levemaking, Antonio finds her te be
frigid, and unable te participate in the act. However, sensuality is a
major part of her persona, and sex is a major part of her life, as she
is sexuaUy active with Octavia, her female roommate, and ether men
apart from Antonio. Mariestela reaches for something beyond a
physical relationship with Antonio:
-Cuando te vi, quise. No te desee, te quise. duise
tus ojos negros y graves y brillantes, tu atencion. Per
primera vez en mi vida no se ttataba de seduccion ni de
jueguitos de apareamiento; se trataba sobre todo de
palabras. Y ahora puede querer tacte, las yemas de mis
dedos flerecen y se regecijan al contacto con la piel de tu
200

cara o de tus manos, gracias a la palabra. Es una

celebracion, un reconecimiente, una fatiga. No puede ir
mas alia. (26)
When Mariestela is confronted by Antonio about her inabUity te
enjoy a physical relationship with him, she blames her inhibitions on
him; as he has only experienced sex as a form of physical pleasure,
and never as a form of communication. Mariestela tells Antonio that
"No es culpa de nadie, simplemente no sabes tocar a una mujer. Tal
vez porque para un hombre aprender a tocar a una mujer es
descubrir su propia parte femenina" (36).
Octavia is brought into their physical relationship by Mariestela
in an effort te solve this problem. Antonio is extremely
uncomfortable with this situation until he beguis to communicate
with the two women, and he is suddenly free te express himself in
ways he had never been able te before. By his role first as a voyeur
and later as a participant, he begins te understand tiie erotic
intUnacy expected by Mariestela, in addition te physical pleasure.
As Mariestela teaches Antonio about eroticism, it is apparent
that she dees net have another equally effective form of
communication, a flaw which Umits expression only tiurough physical
contact. Mariestela can only release happiness, sadness, remorse,
nostalgia and anger tiirough physical contact. For example, when
Antonio sees Mariestela with a handsome young man in a bar, he
201

witnesses tills type of communication. Antonio determines that tiie

young man, Alberto, is a compatriot of Mariestela since he speaks
with a similar accent and uses a simUar vocabulary. As seen as they
arrive, they begin te dance:
BaUaban bien . . . con ese ritme interne de cadera a
cadera que delata la Uifancia tropical, el disfmte
instintive de ese dificU arte, baUar a dos, que a fuerza de
moverse enlazades, de hacer dibujos y sincepa juntos,
silenciesa y alertamente juntos, sUicrenia de hombres,
cintura, cabeza, pies, un estomage sintiende el otro
estomage, le da vida a una fler vielenta y mutua que va
abriendose, estallandese en el pubis, y desciende
estallada e invasera per les muslos, centaminande el aire
de cercania y jadees. Vi su cuerpo musical y clare,
estrecho come el taUe de una mata linica y sola: neniifar
de pantanes, lUa de agua. (210)
As they dance, Antonio witnesses their silent communication of joy,
anger and finally, extreme sadness:
De pronto empezaren a reir y no paraban ..., reia
eUa come nunca la habia viste reir cenmige, tintineande
pendientes y cientes de pulseras. Artificial marafia...
Luego se puso seria, seria... y entonces le paso el
dorse de la mane per la mejiUa lisa, impecablemente
rasurada. Ye sabia que iba a traicienarme, que me estaba
abiertamente traiciendando. Le empezo a besar
avidamente con fruicion, y despues con una
desesperacion de huerfana. No le besaba: le merdia, se le
comia; en cada movimiente, al acercarsele e al ladear
Ugeramente la cabeza, habia una furia y una
desesperacion infinitas. Y luego le abrazo come
queriende cenfundirse con el, perderse en el. Y cuando
por fin se separaren, pude ver que mejUlas abajo le
corrian incentenibles las lagrimas. (210-211)
202

Later in the novel, Alberto returns, and this time Mariestela presents
him to Antonio, who experiences a strange jealousy of Alberto as
weU as of Mariestela. During the evening they spend together,
Alberto's comments indicate that he grew up with Mariestela:
"Alberto me comunica en vez muy baja que a el esos senes [de
Mariestela] le cenmueven mas que ningunes, porque les conocio y
acaricio cuando eran todavia incipientes cuemecites de gacela" (251).
As before, when they were dancing, Alberto and Mariestela continue
to communicate through touch. Antonio's jealousy fades as he
realizes that they are siblings:
En el memento en que les veo besarse descubre el
parecido. Sen exactes, pero eUa con su pele negro de
reflejos caeba, y el tan ruble, que habia que observarlos
asi uno al lade del otro, centrapuestes, para darse cuenta.
El mismo color de ojos. La misma luz-luz prepia-en las
pupUas. La misma prepercion entre les rasgos. Y, clare,
esto ya la habia netade, identica vez. Me atreve a
preguntar:
^Sois hermanos?
No dicen ni si ni no. La pregunta sUnplemente no
lesinteresa. (254)
Antonio suddenly identifies with them as one and the same, and he
aUows himself te be seduced by Alberto. The sexual taboos of nicest
and homosexuaUty are ignored, as Antonio discovers what Mariestela
caUs "su propia parte femUuna."

203

Uke many other characters in the novel, Alberto disappears

after passing the night with Antonio and Mariestela. The events
which surround Antonio are unbeUevable and Ulegical. The
character of Mariestela is the biggest mystery, beUig very real, yet at
the same time, associated with the impossible. The horrific childhood
she has had, and the continual abandonment she has faced would
explain many of her present difficulties. For example, her reactions
to the present, her fears and her desperate need for physical
affection and contact are direct results of her conditioning as a chUd.
However, many things cannot be explained. For example, Antonio
often sees her wearing a silk scarf, without a seam, around her neck.
According te Antonio, there would be no way te put the scarf on, it
would have had te have been sewn en. Mariestela teUs of her
mother's desire te strangle her, and Antonio sees her mother
reaching for Mariestela's neck in a bar in London, years after she left
Costa Rica.
The scarf continues te be symboUc of the mother's rejection
and hatred of the child. Ui another scene, Antonio sees Mariestela as
the date of Oxford's leading economist at an event sponsored by the
school. The situation is impossible, as Mariestela dees net have
connections witii the school and neitiier dees she knew Lord LaghUn,

204

tiie economist. When Antonio recognizes Mariestela, he notes that

she is wearing the silk scarf, and beneatii it mns a trickle of bleed:
Tengo el estemago revuelte, sude frio y me invade una
desagradable sensacion de Urealidad, porque bajo el
collar de fUigrana hindii la mujer Ueva trazas evidentes
de sangre, ademas le ha apretade el braze en un gesto
afectuose. Lord LaghUn le susurra algo al eido y al
velverse de perfil no me queda ya la mener duda: es
Mariestela. (152)
This is net the first time that Antonio has seen Mariestela with
Lord Laghlin, as months earlier he overheard Lord LaghUn speaking
with Mariestela in her apartment and later, he witnessed Lord
Laghlin dropping her off at the apartment in a car. Mariestela, who
always speaks openly of her relationships with ether men, dees net
understand what Antonio has seen when he confronts her with these
situations. Ukewise, when he works up his courage to speak with
Lord LaghUn, the economist thinks Antonio is extremely stressed,
under too much tension, denying or claiming net te understand what
Antonio questions him about.
While Mariestela's character denies a relationship with Lord
LaghUn, there are conversations between Mariestela and Octavia
indicating that she also sees an elder married man, as weU as a
fragment in which Mariestela narrates an encounter with an
unidentified person, presumably Lord Laghlin:

205

Eso es lo que querias, en el memento de respU-ar. Eso es

lo que querias, tecarme; tocar mi braze despacite,
acariciarlo como quien no quiere la cosa y tiene al mismo
tiempo todo el derecho de la tierra, diciende cemprendes
nena, con la condescendencia a la que te da derecho ser
mucho muchisime mayor que ye, podrias ser casi casi rru
papa. Lo que querias era temarme la barbiUa y hacerme
alzar los ojos hacia ves en actitud de hija incestuesa,
provocada, dulce e tiema, pero en todo case seducida per
la auteridad sexual de este sefior de ojos sofiadores que
esta aqui deminande el mundo a partir de decumentos
importantes. (145-6)
There are two possible interpretations of the strange
ambiguities involving Mariestela. One being that Mariestela leads a
very behemian lifestyle, without purpose, very damaged by her
traumatic past, unable te tell the truth and unable te maintain a
healthy relationship with Antonio. The ether interpretation is that
Mariestela exists only within Antonio's imagination, and symbeUzes
the obstacles he must overcome te reach his own professional
expectations. In the first scenario, Mariestela may very weU have a
secret relationship with Lord Laghlin, and she may disappear for the
above reasons. However, the second scenario is equally plausible, as
Ezequiel never meets Mariestela throughout Antonio's relationship
with her. In fact, Antonio and Mariestela are never together with
other people that Antonio knows, but only with friends of Mariestela.
Mariestela's friends are supernatural and perfect. For example,
Octavia, larger than Ufe, incredibly beautiful, with a perfect
206

physique, exists without a past, present or future. She appears and

disappears without explanation, and when Antonio asks what she
does or where she goes, he receives no logical answer.
Ukewise, Alberto and the three "Davids" (three young
imeducated Turks who come from very lew socioeconomic
backgrounds, but are able to discuss UiteUectual phUosophies at great
length), float in and out of Mariestela's world, seciaUzing with
Antonio during drug-induced episodes.
The novel's name itself, Maria, la noche, is symboUc of
Antonio's relationship with Mariestela, a relationship confined te the
hours when he has finished his day's work, when he should be
sleeping. This is the time of dreams, and his relationship with
Mariestela certainly has a dreamUke quality.
The novel begins with a fragment narrated in first person,
possibly by Antonio:
Te encentre a lagrima viva en una cueva chupando
dede y no querias saber nada de este mundo, tenia tres
dias de estar ahi con el mismo vestido, sin comer. En la
cartera venia tu identificacion, Uame a tu casa en Lendres
y me dijeren que habias dejado todos les cuademes
tirades en el pise, la escuela sin pagar, la puerta abierta,
el viento entro en tu casa, barrio tus pertenencias,
dilapido tu estancia. La muchacha que me contesto tenia
la voz muy triste, me pregunto que adonde se te pedia
encentrar, les hacias falta. (7)

207

The fragment specifies a period of two months that this person

spends with the young woman found in the cave. During these two
months, the narrator discovers that the young woman bears scars of
physical and emotional abuse. She demonstrates that she has
extensive knowledge of minerals, fessUs and stars, yet she never
utters a word. At the end of two months, like Mariestela, she
disappears.
After this first fragment, the novel proper begins with
numbered chapters. Within the chapters, the text is divided into
sections with blank lines between the sections. Each section change
indicates a change in time, or event, or a different perspective on the
same event. There are three narrators within the numbered
chapters: Antonio, Mariestela and Mariestela's mother. The mother
only has one fragment which is inserted within a section in which
Mariestela narrates, which discusses Mariestela's chUdhoed.
The voices of Antonio and Mariestela change constantiy
throughout the text. These changes, although net marked, are easUy
noted, as Antonio analyzes the situation, and provides an interior
monologue fiUed with self-introspection and questioning, and
Mariestela provides an account of actions and events, lacking indepth analysis or interpretation. Mariestela's narrative jumps from
present to past, often retelUng events of her chUdheed. Although her
208

narrative lacks the analysis of importance these events had, she dees
talk of feelings and emotions, all negative and all pertaining to
traumatic experiences involving fear, hate, pain or guUt.
The fragments often contain dialogue as weU, either
conversations from the past, or present conversations. Dialogue is
unmarked, but unlUce unmarked dialogue in the works of Carmen
Naranjo, speech is easily attributed te the character because of the
developed styles in their narratives, as weU as vocabulary usage.
Most apparent is the use of the vesetres form, by Antonio and the
voseo form, by Mariestela:
due locas sols. Me cuesta entender ese derroche
corporal, ese eretisme generaUzade, sin descriminacion,
incompatible con una relacion estable . . . tus histerias me
recuerdan las actitudes liberadas pseudevanguardistas
de consume, tipo el film Emmanuelle,...
Esa pelicula es un signe de les tiempes, no la
condenes tan rapido, adeptas una actitud muy meraUsta.
(96)
The polyphonic structure and unmarked dialogue of Rossi's
novel does not insist en the same reader participation as does
Naranjo's narrative. Rossi's divisions are obvious and easUy noted by
the reader, as Rossi develops her characters' thoughts and feeUngs,
whUe Naranjo dees net.

209

La loca de Gandoca
Nine years after tiie pubUcation of Maria la noche, Rossi
pubUshed her second novel. La loca de Gandoca, which received a
remarkable reception in Costa Rica, seUUig ever 40,000 copies. Uke
Maria la noche, La loca de Gandoca is Ui large part autobiographical,
focusUig on a woman who has retumed from studies in Europe te her
home Ui Costa Rica on the Atiantic coast in the pert city of Umon.
Far from the character of Mariestela in Maria la noche, Rossi creates
a soUd, real character, Daniela, in her second work. Over the course
of the novel, Daniela meets Carles Manuel, they marry, have two
children and buUd a smaU heme en the Atiantic coast. Daniela
discovers that Carles Manuel has a serious drinking problem and
after several difficult years, he is killed when he drives his car off a
bridge, intoxicated.
The tragic story of Daniela and Carles Manuel is buUt around
Daniela's efforts te step the development of the Gandoca Reserve, a
project which will bring urbanization and tourism to the Atiantic
coast and cost Costa Ricans their natural resources in exchange. The
novel is based en a true series of events which actually happened on
the Atiantic coast. Anacristina Rossi participated in these events by
way of writing La loca de Gandoca, which alerted many Costa Ricans

210

to the pessibiUty of losuig theu: natural resources to foreign

investors.
The novel itself does not feature an innovative style as dees
Maria la noche. The story is mostiy Unear, aUowing Daniela te recaU
happier times in the past when Carles Manuel was weU. It is
narrated in first-person, as Daniela teUs her story. The novel ends
with Daniela being told te write the novel:
Y Bete agrego entonces, "la palabra es la historia". Ves
dijiste, "Si, pero la palabra escrita". Y es que, Daniela, les
negros ni siquiera hemes tenide la palabra oral, esa que
se Ueva el viento.
Robinson se levanta, sefiala el mar y me ordena:
Ahora mismo vas a empezar a escribirle. due no se
deshaga en el aire, come el grite melancolico del curre.
Le hago case. Me levanto, voy a mi casa, saco papel
y un boUgrafe y empieze. Se me hace un nude en la
garganta. Empieze per el principle. Escribo: "Odiabas les
boleros. Carles Manuel..." (139)
This last line completes the novel's circle, as the novel begins with
"Odiabas les boleros. Carles Manuel..."
Rossi's second novel sharply contrasts with Maria la noche in
terms of the narrator's presentation of the Atiantic coast. In Rossi's
first novel, Mariestela escaped from the Atiantic coast of Costa Rica,
an area she described as rotting with disease, violence and incest. In
Rossi's second novel the Atiantic coast is depicted as a mesmerizUig
paradise:
211

Me gusta salir al amanecer porque es come el

primer dia de la creacion, la extension de agua y la
extension de cielo se van separando. Las garzas azules se
lavan las patas. El mar esta tibio come las sabanas que
acabe de dejar, tibio come tus brazes, tibio y salvaje mar
del Refugio Gandoca Ueno de espenjas rejas y cerales de
fuego... Yo amaba desde la infancia la Uuvia y la selva
. . . Oigo quebrarse las elas en el herizente y el agua va
adquiriendo la textura del vidrie esmerilade. Sale el sol.
En la humedad de les majaguas y les arboles de uva,
suefie. (17)
Within the novel, Daniela finds it difficult to accompUsh her goals as
a woman. The government offices refuse to Usten te her complaints
and turn her away without fear of repercussions. Significantiy from
the feminist viewpoint, she finds that by presenting herself as a man,
she is treated with respect and her words are acknowledged. She
develops a disguise and a personaUty as "Ucenciade Jorge Bescese."
Daniela's disguise is uncomfortable for the family:
Cuando abre la puerta, mi hijo mener siempre se
destemUla.
iAqui viene mami disfrazada de hombre!
Cree que es un juege que hago para el, tiene apenas
tres afios. le alze, le bese, le dige que soy su tie don Jorge
Bescese. Me hala el bigete y nos divertimes un rate con
el personaje. A veces estoy tan cansada que me siente a
comer con ellos sin quitarme el disfraz. Anita, la
empleada demestica, se preecupa y mientras sUve la cena
me echa miraditas. (122)
The authority that the disguise gives Daniela is comfortable. She
wears the disguise at heme often just te distance herself from her
212

real situation of impotence as a woman. Absent from La loca de

Gandoca is the terrible mother figure present in Maria la noche.
However, the fact that Daniela must assume the persona of Jorge
Bescese indicates that Uttie credibiUty is given te women.
Rossi's second novel almost serves as a retraction for the
earUer presentation of the Atiantic coast of the banana repubUc that
she presented in Maria la noche, Daniela as mother cares for and
nurtures net only her three sens, but also fights te protect the earth.
V^Ue the "banana repubUc" was beUttied, ridiculed, and presented
as grotesque in the earlier novel, Rossi leans te the ether extreme in
La loca de Gandoca, incorporating in a positive Ught the African and
Indian cultures that live en the Atiantic coast. Influenced by the
African culture present en the coast, Daniela caUs upon Yemanya and
Oxum, deities from the African-Carribean tradition te help her live
through the death of Carles Manuel:
-Yemanya, Yemanya, grite desesperada, "su cuerpo
sin vida". Ese cuerpo que ye amaba mas que a mi misma,
tibio y deseante. Le cebraste ves.
Ye no, respendio inmediatamente la diesa, fue en
el no. Les ries sen de Oxum. Reclame a el.
Fui a reclamarle a Oxum. Habia mirade el rio con
tanta tristeza que no habia viste las latas en el fondo, las
betellas plasticas que traia fletande y una espuma
amariUesa acumulada
Tambien caian al rio les
desagiies de varias cabinas. Se me revelvio el estomage.
Entonces la tristeza se me mudo en rabia, deje de
pensar en la muerte de Carles Manuel y en lugar de
213

reclamarle a Oxum decidi reclamarle a la OficUia de Vida

Silvestre. (76-77)
Although the quest for Oxum is left behUid when Daniela is
confronted with a problem that she can control, her respect for the
African deities is real, and te please Yemenya she refuses to cut her
hair.
Likewise, Daniela admires and respects the Bri Bri and Cabecar
Indians that also share the Atiantic coast. She agrees with her friend
Gloria that "Hay una gran diferencia entre el indie y el bianco . . . Vea
usted las zompepas, come ellas trabajan todas juntas, lUnpian y
cuidan todo su terrene. Asi es el bianco, es muy trabajader, pero
destruye la naturaleza" (138). The foreign-based tourism projects
which Daniela fights against are much like leaf-cutter ants that will
come into the reserve and "clean it up," leaving behind neat and tidy
civUization, yet destroying the true beauty of the coastal zone.
Rossi ends the novel with Daniela's coming te terms with the
events that have transpUred during the year. Carles Manuel had
been iU and unable te cope with his druiking problem. Although she
wanted to help hUn, she was not able to solve his problem. The
Atiantic Coast is m danger and tiie native people may net be able te
correct the situation. Daniela certaUily cannot solve this problem
either, but she refuses te quit the fight. The novel ends with the

214

future of the Gandoca Reserve uncertain and stiU in peril and with
Daniel's attempting to write a novel which wiU open the pubUc's eyes
to what reaUy is happening on the Atiantic Coast.

215

CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS
Throughout the Twentieth Century Ui Costa Rican Uterature,
women writers have played an Unportant part in the development of
the novel. Net only has tiiere been considerable gender equity in
terms of Uterary production, but women writers have been
responsible for develepUig innovative writing techniques which have
Uifluenced Costa Rican authors of both genders Ui subsequent
generations during the Twentietii Century. They also challenged the
social stmcture of Costa Rican society with their controversial and
thought-provoking themes and characters, and through the medium
of writing, brought about tremendous social change.
Beginning in the early 1900s, Carmen Lyra developed her
narrative technique of interior monologue placed between
polyphonic narration in her novel En una silla de ruedas (1918).
Lyra's novel set a precedent for future novels in terms of narrative
voice and non-linear time. It is significant te note that Lyra
developed tiiese techniques far from the cultural centers of the world
in the early part of the Twentieth Century. Perhaps equaUy
important, Lyra aroused the social conscience of the Costa Rican
people with her novel which subverted the long-held myth of the
216

idylUc Costa Rican family. These negative dipictiens of the famUy are
not mspU-ed by the disUke of heme and chUdren, but uistead, reflect
the fact that too often women were given no ether option aside from
the marriage of convenience which then became the locus of
exploitation and abuse. Lyra contUiued te point out the flaws and
inequities of society m her essays which sparked social pretest
movements and chaUenged the govemmg system. Working as a
poUtical leader, Lyra helped form the Communist Party of Costa Rica
in 1931. Although Lyra was exiled from Costa Rica after the CivU
War of 1948, she was later honored posthumously as one of Costa
Rica's greatest authors when the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly
awarded her the titie of Benemerita de la Cultura Nacional,
Lyra's writing greatiy influenced Yolanda Oreamuno, Costa
Rica's second major woman writer. Oreamuno's novel, Larutade su
evasion (1948), created a new level of narrative, using a complex
layering of narrative voices, with a main character who is dying and
often considered dead by ethers around her. Oreamuno created a
new type of interior monologue which would interact with ether
conversations, much like Juan Rulfe's Pedro Paramo, published six
years after Larutade su evasion wen an international award in
Guatemala.

217

Uke Lyra's novel, La ruta de su evasion questioned the very

foundation of tiie Costa Rican family. The female characters withUi
Oreamuno's novel suffer from tremendous emotional and physical
abuse. For the fU-st tune Ui the history of Costa Rican Uterature, an
author addressed domestic violence, a subject previously taboo. The
home presented in the novel is an urban middle-to-upper-class
home, a new subject for the novel, which traditienaUy was set in
rural areas, or suburban parts of the central vaUey area, as in Lyra's
En una silla de ruedas.
Like Carmen Lyra, Yolanda Oreamuno would die in exUe for the
opinions that she expressed about Costa Rican society. First ridiculed
by Costa Ricans, she would later be given the highest respect as a
writer who had developed Uterary styles and techniques, decades
before they became popular among ether Latin American authors.
She also was one of the first writers to held society accountable for
its treatment of women, a theme that feminism would develop mere
fully at a much later date.
Yolanda Oreamuno's treatment of the urban city would
continue Ui the works of Carmen Naranjo, who at times used the city
itself as protagonist, as in Diario de una multutud, Naranjo has
received international attention for her innovative narrative
techniques which require of the reader a constant participation in
218

order to decipher the progression of her novels. Naranjo constructs

her novels without a narrative guide, using unmarked dialogue and
non-linear time, creating a picture the reader must see as a whole,
rather than piece by piece.
In her novels, Naranjo addresses the problems of the
bureaucracy which was created after the civU war in 1948. The
Costa Rican bureaucratic system has become worse than these of
most Latin American countries, as it employs ever twenty percent of
the Costa Rican work force, one of the highest rates of government
employment in the world. The bureaucratic system has caused
aUenation and dehumanization in contemporary society, one of the
major themes of Naranjo's works. In her first novel Io5 perros no
ladraron (1966), the bureaucracy strips the people of all
individuaUty and purpose. This reaUzatien causes one employee te
commit suicide, rather than being reduced te a mere cipher in the
system.
WhUe her novel concentrates on the bureaucracy, it also paints
a depressing picture of the Costa Rican famUy. Oreamuno's novel
presented a family which was exttemely unhealthy and
dysfunctional, but the heme Naranjo presents, like the workplace, has
disintegrated to the peUit that it exists only as a formaUty, a contract.
Love and effort do net matter and are not necessary. All of these
219

ideas are presented with unmarked dialogue in the form of

conversations by unidentified characters.
In Naranjo's novel Responso por el niho Juan Manuel (1911),
she takes her narrative technique a step further by mixing
unmarked dialogue with long, non-linear interior monologues.
Neither the monologue nor the dialogue is attributed te a speaker,
and the reader must coUect clues and information from the ideas
presented to deduce who is speaking. In addition te creating a truly
unique Uterary style, Naranjo also creates an intriguing story, in
which the main character is a figment of the imagination, an
invention of a group of friends. This pseudo-existence is only
permitted as a collective existence, much like the worker in the
bureaucratic system is worthless outside of the whole.
Naranjo's novel Sobrepunto (1985) offers an interesting
account of the civU war, as a German immigrant recaUs a friendship
with a young woman during the time of the war. She has long since
committed suicide, but as he finds his eld diary, she comes back in
his thoughts and he relives part of his past. Naranjo buUds a
compUcated text of fragments which are non-Unear, unmarked
dialogue, or narrative in the form of a diary entry or Ulterior
monologue which adds comments. Although tiie events take place
long before the present-day bureaucracy is estabUshed, Naranjo
220

presents a society in 1948 which is unconcemed about the present,

and rather ambiguous about the issues which brought about the civU
war. She also writes about the civU war Ui her novel Diario de una
multitud (1974). StmcturaUy mnovative, Diario de una inu/titud is
unclear thematically untU it is read as a whole. Consisting of three
parts, each part explains the ethers, once aU three have been read.
The three parts consist of seemingly unrelated fragments in which
society itself is the main protagonist.
Naranjo's latest novel, E caso numero 117.720 (1987), has as a
main character a person who is net only dying, but mentaUy UI and
unable to communicate with society. His family members and
friends speak around him while his interior monologue relates in
part to their presence, although they remain unrecognizable to him.
Being mentaUy iU, or different from the rest, continues or extends
Naranjo's thematic presentation of the group versus the individual,
investigating how modem society has progressively decreased the
possibUity of individuality.
Anacristina Rossi is Costa Rica's first woman author te set her
novel in a foreign country. Set in London, England, Maria la noche
examines the Costa Rican family from a distance. The portrait Rossi
paints is horrifying, as she presents an abusive, incestuous and
violent family. Even the land itself rets and mildews on the Atiantic
221

coast where the character of Mariestela has grown up. TechnicaUy,

Rossi's novel uses many of Naranjo's techniques of unmarked
dialogue and fragmented interior monologue. However, Rossi
develops her characters much mere se than Naranjo, and the dialogue
and interior monologue are easily attributed to the correct
speaker/narrator. While Naranjo's novels are sometimes shocking
and grotesque, Rossi's novels are much mere se, with vivid
descriptions of torture, incest and homosexucdity. Rossi's novel
introduces an investigation in psychoanalysis, as the main character
helps his lover work through her terrifying past. Rossi's character
narrates these strange events that happened in a distant land of
Costa Rica, now surrounded by the architecture of London while
Ustening to Elton John en the radio. The use of various intertexts,
from essays on economic theory, te well known soft-pom films, gives
the novel a post-modern, contemporary fiavor. While the novel
addresses events in Costa Rica, it could be about many places. Rossi
brUigs a very intematienal flavor te Costa Rican Uterature.
Rossi's second novel La loca de Gandoca (1994) agaUi features
characters from the Atiantic coast in Costa Rica. Unlike Maria la
noche, this novel is mostiy lUiear Ui time, having a first-person
narrative. The land and the people living en tiie Atiantic coast
provide a pleasant change from these presented in Rossi's first novel.
222

La loca de Gandoca recreates tiie tragic story of an alcehoUc married

to a conservationist. The novel was extremely popular in Costa Rica,
seUUig over 40,000 copies. The controversial urbanization of the
coastal reserves found its way into the hands of the readUig pubUc,
thanks to Rossi's novel. Creatmg a social awareness of the pending
loss of natural resources, Rossi's novel has been widely influential.
All four authors have presented works which address problems
in Costa Rican society. The situation of the woman in Costa Rica has
steadily improved ever the course of the Twentieth Century as
women's movements have grown in strength and number. However,
woman's overaU presence in the novels discussed in this dissertation
is generaUy one of impotence and helplessness. In particular, women
fail in the role of mother. Notable is the fact that the authors
themselves employ cross-gender writing, as their main characters
are often men, and many women characters are portrayed through
male eyes, judged by masculine opinions and centroUed by a
patriarchal society.
Female characters are weak in these novels. In Una silla de
ruedas, the mother figure, Cinta is Uicapable of taking care of her
chUdren. Before she abandons them, she has given her motherly
duties over te Candelaria. Candelaria Ui tum cannot maintain the
home once CUita leaves. Mercedes, the daughter, is sickly and dies
223

and Graciela is tetaUy dependent en her crippled bretiier. Ana Maria

is somewhat stronger, but must be saved at the end of the novel by
Sergio, as she has become pregnant and is unable te care for herself
and a chUd.
Oreamuno presents the mother figure as net only weak, but
dymg. Teresa's reflections on tiie past as she Ues dying present a
weak, manipulated woman, abused by her husband and net
respected by her sens. Ukewise, her daughter-in-law Cristina,
SimUarly weak and submissive, dies whUe giving birth te their first
chUd, unable te become a mother.
The women in Carmen Naranjo's novels are also typically weak.
In Los perros no ladraron, the mother has no power in her home, no
control over what happens in her sen's life, and the things she asks of
her husband are considered merely nagging comments by the male
protagonist. In Responso por el niiio Juan Manuel, the titie character
has no mother at aU. Juan Manuel has been created without any
maternal help. The only woman in the novel, a waitress in a cafe, is
later described as disgusting and revolting. The theme of
homosexuality dominates the implied relationships between the four
men. Women are net necessary. In Diario de una multitud, there
are no developed characters, but the first section implies that the
kitchen of life is filthy. The kitchen, traditienaUy the workplace of
224

tiie woman, has not been cared for. It is constantiy dirty, women
have constantiy faUed. hi Sobrepunto, the motiier CeUne has sold
her chUd to another famUy, and when grown, the daughter cannot
hold her own marriage together, nor can she care for her chUdren.
Irresponsible and weak, she commits suicide. The mother figure in
El caso 117,720 suffers from feeUng guUty. It is never revealed for
what reason, but she has dene somethuig for which she must beg
forgiveness from her sen. In her sen's U-ratienal mind, she is
associated with a devouring, predatory spider, symbolically the exact
opposite of what motherhood should be.
Rossi provides the most exaggerated example of motherhood
gone awry, as Mariestela's mother actively seeks the death of her
child and enjoys seeing her daughter suffer. This archetype of the
EvU Mother, full of seU-hate, constitutes the ultimate subversion of
the image of mother. In Rossi's second novel, the figure of Daniela is
far from evil. Although she is indeed a mother, the relationship
between Daniela and her three sens is hardly mentioned. However,
as she tries to defend the Gandoca Reserve from encroaching tourism
and urban development, it becomes apparent that she would receive
a better response if she were a man. By dressing as a man, she
receives an audience from the various committees and organizations
in charge of the possible development. At times she is tee tired te
225

remove her disguise and even spends time at heme with her chUdren
dressed as a man. This switchUig roles is an interesting way of
devaluing the Unpertance of the traditional mother role.
In addition te presenting a problematic family stmcture, these
women writers paint a fragUe picture of Costa Rica. Lyra's Costa Rica
suffers from injustice and social stratification which oppresses the
poor. Oreamuno's Costa Rica is fuU of secret violence and abuse
hidden behind closed doers. Naranjo's Costa Rica has become a
horrific bureaucracy where people no longer exist as individuals, but
as part of an emotionless, useless collective. Rossi's first descriptions
of Costa Rica in Maria la noche are extremely negative, set within an
unreaUstic nightmare. In her second novel, Costa Rica is painted in
an opposite Ught, an ideaUzed paradise which is being threatened by
man.
Not only have these four women authors introduced innovative
writing techniques te the Costa Rican novel, they have also presented
controversial themes and visions which have melded intellectual and
social thought. With their strong statements and sometimes shocking
presentations of reaUty, these women writers have caUed attention te
real problems existing within Costa Rica, and have positively
influenced the future.

226

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