Sacred Families: Analysis of Major Characters
"Sacred Families: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate dynamics between several interconnected characters, highlighting themes of control, identity, and the interplay of power within familial and romantic relationships. Sylvia Corday, a professional model, embodies artificial beauty and navigates a complex relationship with Anselmo Prieto, her lover, who is fixated on controlling the female form. Their interactions reveal a disturbing yet fascinating commentary on gender and autonomy, as Sylvia manipulates her and Anselmo's identities through acts like disassembling and reassembling, reflecting the fragility of selfhood.
Anselmo's wife, Magdalena, initially perceived as submissive, gains agency by learning to dismantle her husband, representing a shift in marital power dynamics. This theme of disassembly recurs in the relationship between Roberto Ferrer, a dissatisfied husband and failed artist, and his wife, Marta Mora, who struggles with her inability to bear children, leading to their deteriorating connection. The narrative also includes Sylvia's son, Mauricio, who seeks independence from his mother's controlling influence, ultimately finding his identity apart from the expectations imposed upon him. Through these characters, the text examines the broader implications of familial roles and the search for individual identity in a world shaped by societal pressures.
Sacred Families: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: José Donoso
First published: Tres novelitas burguesas, 1973 (English translation, 1977)
Genre: Novella
Locale: Spain
Plot: Psychological symbolism
Time: The early 1970's
Sylvia Corday, a tall, slender professional model with the perfect artificial beauty of a mannequin. While her husband is away, she enters Anselmo's room without eyes, mouth, or arms. After they make love, Sylvia asks Anselmo to give her a mouth by cutting one out of red paper. She then directs him to draw in the rest of her face on her head, which resembles a featureless egg. After they make love a second time, Sylvia removes Anselmo's penis with vanishing cream. She becomes a friend of Magdalena, Anselmo's wife. Sylvia teaches her how to disassemble her husband, pack him into a suitcase, and reassemble him at will. She also initiates the swapping of their husbands' penises.
Anselmo Prieto (pree-EH-toh), the narrator and Magdalena's husband. He is obsessed with the need to control women. He becomes attracted to Sylvia when he finds her incomplete and helpless in his room. Giving Sylvia a mouth and creating her face with makeup demonstrates to him that a woman's being depends on man's will. When he realizes that his penis is gone, he attacks Sylvia and removes her face with vanishing cream. He considers psychiatric treatment to restore his virility, but guilt and fear of revealing his impotence make him decide against it. He ignores Ramón's warnings and is disassembled by Magdalena without his knowledge. After she reassembles him, he discovers that he is whole again but still does not realize that his wife can disassemble him again at will.
Magdalena Prieto (mahg-dah-LEHN-ah), the seemingly timid and submissive wife of Anselmo. She learns from Sylvia the technique for dismantling Anselmo. She packs the pieces of Anselmo's body in a suitcase, safeguarding his penis in a small velvet bag in her purse. She takes the suitcase with her when she meets Sylvia for coffee.
Ramón del Solar (rrah-MOHN dehl soh-LAHR), an architect and Sylvia's husband. He tries to warn Anselmo about what Sylvia is teaching Magdalena.
Roberto Ferrer (feh-REHR), a middle-aged dentist, the husband of Marta Mora. He fancies himself to be a talented amateur painter. He has just bought a new apartment, built and decorated to reflect his marriage to Marta and their identity as a couple. When Marta shows indifference to the disappearance of Roberto's best painting, Green Atom Number Five,he confronts her with her major shortcoming: She is barren. As their possessions disappear from their apartment, he fears that if he leaves the apartment he will be unable to find it again. He no longer attempts to hide his dissatisfaction with his marriage, and his relationship with his wife deteriorates rapidly. His final effort to recover their missing possessions fails, as does all hope of saving the marriage.
Marta Mora, Roberto's wife, who cannot have children. She admits to Roberto that she does not think highly of his artistic talent when his favorite painting disappears. She despises Roberto for his love of the art objects in the apartment. She runs into traffic and is hit by a car while trying to retrieve her mother's cabinet from a moving van. After her hospitalization, the condition of the apartment deteriorates in pace with her relationship with Roberto.
Sylvia Corday, a model who did not want motherhood to interfere with her professional life. Mauricio's rejection of her maternal overtures of friendship greatly upset her. She wants to become a part of his life and acquire his affection by giving him material things. When he finally warms up to her and wants to have the things she wants him to have, she is overcome with joy.
Mauricio (mow-REE-see-oh), Sylvia's thin, pale, adolescent son. He resists his mother's attempts to make him a part of her freethinking, materialistic lifestyle. He walks the streets of Barcelona whistling tunes from Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, hoping his music will connect him with someone on the street and give him an identity. In the Vallvidrera forest, he meets a street urchin who looks just like him. They change places. The urchin puts on Mauricio's clothes, returns to Sylvia's apartment, and obliges her in everything. Mauricio puts on the urchin's clothes to start a new, independent life, free of the adults who have been trying to mold him in their image.