The Invention of Morel: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Invention of Morel" is a novel centered on a fugitive from Venezuela who takes refuge on a seemingly deserted island. As he records his experiences in a quasi-philosophical diary, he discovers that he is not alone; a group of individuals, the projections of a mysterious machine invented by a scientist named Morel, is present on the island. The fugitive becomes infatuated with Faustine, a beautiful French woman among the group, despite never having interacted with her. Morel's invention captures a specific two-week period of the group's lives, allowing them to exist in a loop, although this comes at the cost of their mortality once the recordings conclude. Faustine remains oblivious to both the fugitive's presence and to Morel's affections, illustrating her role as an object of obsession rather than an independent character. Other figures in Morel's group add complexity to the narrative, while an editor provides commentary that questions the narrator's perceptions. The interplay of love, desire, and existential reflection emerges as central themes in this thought-provoking tale.
The Invention of Morel: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Adolfo Bioy Casares
First published: La invención de Morel, 1940 (English translation, 1964)
Genre: Novel
Locale: An unidentified island
Plot: Science fiction
Time: The twentieth century
The narrator, an insecure, paranoid fugitive from Caracas, Venezuela. He is the only real character in the novel, which is his quasi-philosophical diary, written on an island that he believes to be part of the Ellice, or Lagoon, Islands in the Central Pacific. He does not mention his crime(s) but does admit to having been condemned to life imprisonment, a sentence that he repeatedly characterizes as unjust. He believed the island to be deserted until the day he began the diary, when a group of approximately a dozen people appeared in what appeared to be abandoned buildings. He is afraid that they will discover him or, worse, that they have come in search of him, but he quickly realizes that they have no interest in him; in fact, he seems to be invisible to them. He becomes infatuated with one of the intruders, a French woman named Faustine. Eventually, he falls in love with her, despite the fact that he has never spoken to her and that she has no consciousness of his existence. He discovers that the intruders are the projections of a machine invented by Morel, the leader of the group. Themachineisabletorecordaperiodoftimeinthelivesof this group and then project it ad infinitum. The only drawback is that the individuals die after the period recorded by the machine. The narrator's quest is to discover how to insert himself into the eternally recurring two-week period in which his beloved dwells. He discovers how to turn on the machines, and, after memorizing the sequence of events of the previously recorded two-week period, he records himself in various situations with Faustine. In these situations, he makes completely appropriate responses to conversations and events, despite the fact that no one knows he is there. His diary ends in ambiguity between feelings of good fortune and bleak anguish over the fact that he will never enter into the consciousness of Faustine.
Morel, a scientist and technologist, tall, bearded, dark-eyed, and slightly effeminate. He is the inventor of the machines that record and project in space and time, and that are capable of capturing feelings and emotions. He brings a group of people to the island to record a two-week period surreptitiously and achieve with them a kind of immortality in both body and soul. Morel loves Faustine and is rejected by her, a situation that is a source of hope for the narrator.
Faustine, a dark-haired, tanned Frenchwoman given to watching sunsets. She is the object of the narrator's quest and is also pursued by Morel. She remains aloof, in disdain of Morel and completely unaware of the narrator. All that is known about Faustine is found in the comments of the narrator's diary. The irony is that Faustine, the object of so much concern on the part of the narrator, never emerges from his obsessive observations to attain independence as a character.
The editor, who supplies footnotes to the text of the diary. The notes cast doubt or pass judgment on certain affirmations of the narrator, such as the possibly mistaken assertion that the island is part of the Ellice Islands. The editor also claims to have removed certain extraneous or impertinent material from the diary as published.
Dalmacio Ombrellieri (dahl-MAH-syoh ohm-bray-LYAYree), an Italian rug seller in Calcutta who told the narrator of the island and described it as a perfect refuge despite its reputation for being the center of a mysterious, fatal illness. Ombrellieri helps the narrator get to the island.
Alec, Dora, Irene, Haynes, and Stoever, some of the people who make up Morel's group. Bits of information are attributed to them by the narrator.