La familia de Pascual Duarte and the Prominence of Fate
It is generally agreed that the tone of La familia de Pascual Duarte is one of extreme pessimism. The novel begins with the re-ordering of the events of the life of the protagonist, Pascual, starting with his childhood and ending with his execution. Since the form of the novel is largely first-person memoir, the vision of life of the protagonist-narrator is all the more important. The pessimism of the novel derives essentially from the vision of life of Pascual Duarte, a vision that becomes increasingly leaden with the shadow of fate spreading menacingly across its path. It is the purpose of this essay to examine the role assigned to fate in the development and texture of the novel. Several critics, notably Ilie, Zamora, and Mary Ann Beck allude to fate as part of Pascual's frame of reference but do not elaborate. Feldman sees the novel as existentialist and rejects the idea that Pascual is "… driven by inexorable 'fate'."
A careful reading of the novel identifies more than forty instances of the presence of fate in the vision of the narrative. Most examples reach us through the protagonist's philosophy of life, as he applies this philosophy to specific situations. Life was already set on the wrong course from the very beginning: "… el destino se complace en variarnos como si fuésemos de cera y destinarnos por sendas diferentes al mismo fin: la muerte." His life will simply conform to this general outlook. Even the highway leading to his town participates in his fate; it is of "… una lisura y una largura … de un condenado a muerte"; that is, leading essentially to death. To indicate the inescapable hold fate has on human life he compares it to the indelible marks of a tattoo: "Hay mucha diferencia entre adornarse las carnes con arrebol y colonia, y hacerlo con tatuajes que después nadie ha de borrar ya…."
Man's purpose, and in particular Pascual's, is seen as the work of supernatural or cosmic forces: "… pero como no nos es dado escoger, sino que ya—y aún antes de nacer—estamos destinados unos a un lado y otros a otro, procuraba conformarme con lo que me había tocado." In this regard, the conception of Pascual Duarte resembles that of Unamuno's Octavio Robleda, who was born in the theater to an assigned role, that of perpetually undermining the character he portrayed and imposing his own. At times Pascual expresses his pessimism thus: "¡Quién sabe sino sería que estaba escrito en la divina memoria que la desgracía había de ser mi único camino, la única senda por la que mis tristes días habían de discurrir!…" and again, as the work of God: "… pero como Dios se conoce que no quiso que ninguno de nosotros nos distinguiésemos por las buenas inclinaciones …"; and at other times, it is the work of the devil: "… el viaje que tan feliz térimino le señalaba si el diablo … no se hubiera empeñado en hacer de las suyas en mi casa y en mi mujer durante mi ausencia," or the lasting impact of original sin: "… pero allí estaría … libre de toda culpa, si no es el pecado original."
Often, the presence of fate is seen in the foreboding, the dark machinations of elemental forces, and are expressed in imagery: the corpse of the unfortunate Mario (whose brief life, too, was dogged by fate) is viewed as "… una lechuza ladrona." Later,...
(This entire section contains 1807 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
this figure will be repeated in combination with the "cypress," which Pascual now points out shortly after Mario's funeral: "El sol estaba cayendo; sus últimos rayos se iban a clavar sobre el triste ciprés, mi única compañía…." As events begin to accelerate further beyond Pascual's control, the nocturnal scene presents its mysterious onlookers: "El ciprés parecía un fantasma, alto y seco, un centinela de los muertos …," and in the tree "… una lechuza, un pájaro de mal agüero, dejaba oír su silbo misterioso." When he leaves the cemetery, disappointment awaits him at home, and so the image of the owl is found personified, in his very home: "La señora Engracia estaba a la puerta; hablaba con las, como la lechuza del ciprés; a lo mejor tenía hasta la misma cara…."
Sometimes fate is painted as a shadow falling across his path: "… la negra sombra": "… un humor endiablado me acompañaba como una sombra donde-quiera que fuese"; and after the death of Pascualillo, "… temía la puesta del sol como al fuego o como a la rabia;… Todas las sombras me recordaban al hijo muerto." Later, when Lola has to tell him about her pregnancy by another man, her "… mirar era como un bosque de sombras." At other times, fate is a malevolent star: he was slowly forgetting the evil and disgrace of his life "… hasta que la mala estrella, esa mala estrella que parecía como empeñada en perseguirme, quiso resuscitarlos para mi mal," and the few times he tried to mitigate his bad conduct, "… esa fatalidad, esa mala estrella … parece como complacerse en acompañarme, torció y dispuso las cosas, de forma tal que la bondad no acabó para servir a mi alma para maldita la cosa." Fate, bringing him sorrow, concretizes his fear expressed as "Siempre tuve muy buen ojo para la desgracia …," as a wicked wind: "… mueren los niños, los niños atravesados por algún mal aire traidor," and the wind grows in fierceness: "… chirría como si quisiera atravesarla algún mal aire …"; and his son, for whose life he fears, breathes heavily and "… el quejido del niño semejaba al llanto de las encinas pasadas por el viento." His son dies, and he remembers the night when "El mal aire traidor andaba aún por el campo." He also thinks that on that night "La lechuza estaría sobre el cíprés."
The figure of the witch also crosses his path. Not only is this figure present in his house as señora Engracia, but it impeded his forward progress even while he was on his honeymoon. His mare was frightened by a "pobre vieja," and so he accidentally knocked her down. Her smile seemed to be "… un presentimiento … de lo que habría de occurrirle," and later, it is his mother, whose very existence would precipitate Pascual's ultimate damnation, who bewitches his path: he returns home from prison, and she "Abrió la puerta; a la luz del candil parecía una bruja."
Pascual's possibilities are also limited by social as well as natural inheritance. He describes the shortcomings of his parents early in the novel as "… defectos todos ellos que para mi desgracia hube de heredar." Lola, too, sees him as belonging to that brood of weaklings like his idiot brother, Mario: "¡Eres como tu hermano!" This simple sentence is an indictment of Pascual's putrid blood, exemplified in the death of his son, who could not resist the elements. It is not surprising, then, that Pascual exhibits qualities of resignation. He views his pending wedding with the following sentiments: "… lo mejor sería estarme quieto y dejar que los acontecimientos salieran por donde quisieran; los corderos quizás piensen lo mismo al verse llevados al degolladero…." When unavoidable scandal occurred, he saw it as "… fatal como las enfermedades y los incendios, como los amaneceres y como la muerte, porque nadie era capaz de impedirlo."
The protagonist's possibilities in life are seen fatalistically in the gestures and manner of other people, in their perceptions and in the repeated situation. When Pascual returned from La Coruña to his wife, her "… cara daba miedo, un miedo horrible de que la desgracia llegara con mi retorno," and she tells him, sensing his murderous thoughts: "Es que la sangre parece como el abono de tu vida…." The situation he is facing is the pregnancy of his wife by another man, an incident which duplicates what happened to his mother and father earlier in the case of his brother, Mario.
Pascual feels the obsessive need to kill his mother. He must remove from his path the last vestiges of the witch, of the figure of menacing death. In so doing, he will also be performing suicide on part of his inheritance. He views the murder of his mother as something that had to be, because of the nature of hate, which he experiences in his feelings towards her: "El odio tarda años en incubar, uno ya no es un niño y cuando el odio crezca y nos ahogue los pulsos, nuestra vida se irá. El corazón no albergará más hiel y ya estos brazos, sin fuerza, caerán…." So he must go forward and do what must be done because "… uno piensa volver sobre sus pasos, desandar lo ya andado … No; no es posible." And so the relentless, neutral, forward progression continues in his life as it does in the life of Unamuno's Octavio Robleda in spite of all the efforts to reverse it; "No, no era posible cejar, había que continuar adelante, siempre adelante, hasta el fin."
Recognizing the unchanging, foreboding landscape, Pascual notes that "… estaba el cementerio … con su alto ciprés que en nada había mudado, con su lechuza silbadora entre las ramas …" and its affinity with his very core, and tries to escape from himself: "La sombra de mi cuerpo iba siempre delante, larga, muy larga, tan larga como un fantasma … Corrí un poco; la sombra corrió también. Me paré; la sombra también paró." And filled with fear, "Cogí miedo, un miedo inexplicable; me imaginé a los muertos saliendo en esqueleto a mirarme pasar." He finally expresses the meaning of his flight from his own shadow: "Quería poner tierra entre mi sombra y yo, entre mi nombre y mi recuerdo y yo, entre mis mismos cueros y mí mismo."
Finally, Pascual capsules for us in biological terms the whole fatal character of his life, a life whose direction was determined very early, perhaps at the conception of life: "¡Nada hiede tanto ni tan mal como la lepra que lo malo pasado deja por la conciencia, como el dolor de no salir del mal pudriéndonos ese osario de esperanzas muertas, al poco de nacer, que—¡desde hace tanto tiempo ya!—nuestra triste vida es!" Pascual Duarte, then, as presented by his creator, Camilo José Cela, is traumatized, abused and cheated by life. He is, in the words of the prison chaplain: "… un manso cordero, acorralado y asustado por la vida," and the entire texture of the surrounding realities contributes to the general fatalistic ambience of his existence.
