Objects and objections: Onetti's ‘tan triste como ella’

Abstract

‘Tan triste coma ella’i is a dense and difficult story. It is particularly tricky to negotiate in view of the fact that there is little interpreting carried out within the story itself. The writing of ‘Tan triste’ places a stress on reference to objects and physical movement as if it were simply ‘raw material’, simply registered as being or happening. I propose to confront this difficulty of reading explicitly, and, after a summary, to begin with an examination ofcertain of the story’s recurrent objects. This will allow me, on the one hand, to make an initial opening in the story, and, on the other, to begin to see the implications of such a search for a system of coherent meanings. What I will ultimately attempt to establish is an open, interactive reading which is alert to the problems of trying to control and objectify the story. ‘Tan triste’ centres on the relationship between a married couple, known as the woman and the man throughout. Their marriage is empty, she being confined at home all day with her baby son, and he not returning from work until very late after he has spent the evening with any woman whom he has managed to arrange to keep him company. The major event in the story is the carrying out of the man’s plan to convert their garden into a series of large fish tanks. While the spring moves into the summer workmen replace the grass and plants of the garden with cement and glass. As the marriage becomes more and more tenuous, the man reproaches the woman for her past relationship with a man called Mendel, who appears to be the father of her baby, and the woman tries to establish sexual relationships with two of the workmen. On the failure ofthese relationships the woman confronts the man about his motives for marrying her and he points out that he can no longer believe in their marriage as she is not now the girl whom he married. Eventually, late in the summer, the woman commits suicide.