Summary          Conclusion          Questions               Bibliography
 

Biography of Onetti
-born in Montevideo on 1909; died in mid-90’s in Madrid
-lived in Buenos Aires: 1930-34; 1941-55
-forced to exile to Madrid after his arrest and imprisonment
-worked many odd jobs, including soccer ticket vendor, grain inspector, and waiter
-gained international support in mid-60’s when translations became available in English, French, and Italian

Introspection in Onetti’s A Brief Life
When concentrating on one particular theme throughout the novel, A Brief Life, we were able to analyze one of many messages being sent from the author to the reader from a multiple perspective, or to be more technical, a polyphonic mindframe.  The theme of introspection creates a framework in which the novel is able to expand in depth and become ever more complex as the novel lengthens.  The introspection performed by the main character Juan Maria Brausen allows supporting characters to evolve in the novel.  Although characters were able to evolve throughout the novel, the question of whether they really existed in the reality of the plot or were just creative uses of Brausen’s imagination became ever more prevalent.
The use of introspection by Brausen was an outcry for him to realize who he truly was on the inside.  The search within his inner self brought to light new lives.  When analyzing the theme of introspection and how it plays a major part in a novel, the thought process of introspection tends to complicate the content.  This is because the reader is forced to decipher what is fact or fiction, when in retrospect everything is fiction.  So the reader must analyze the novel from many different perspectives just to make sense of the content.
By bringing multiple perspectives into account, it really doesn’t matter if the situations or characters actually existed in the reality of the novel, or just characters that existed in Brausen’s mind.  The reason why it doesn’t matter is because once a person in reality or a character in a novel engages in activities such as reading, performing, dialogue between two people, or just the use of imagination, the present only exists for a brief moment, and after that brief moment, the only recollection of that event is your memory.  So the question of whether these supporting characters really existed in the novel doesn’t matter, because the only thing that is certain is that they do exist in Brausen’s mind and left up to the reader to decide what is real and what is fantasy in the novel.
Maybe this could have been a major point of Onetti’s, in that he was trying to engage the reader into performing introspection on themselves.  The following paragraphs will examine how one outer shell of a person can contain many individuals within themselves, and the only way to find out what is inside of yourself is by breaking yourself down like Onetti does throughout the novel.
Juan Carlos Onetti, as well as any other human being, is heterogeneous.  Within oneself, he or she has different personalities that have their own unique lives.  In his work, Juan Carlos Onetti brings his four different personalities, partially true and partially created, and their lives together in one human mind.
First, Juan Carlos Onetti makes a distinct division between his external and  internal personalities. Juan Carlos Onetti’s external personality is what is seen by other people and is represented by Onetti in the book:  "His name was Onetti, he didn’t smile, wore glasses..." (Onetti 187).  The outward appearance is very superficial.  It does not deal with the inner struggle and chaotic state of the inward consciousness.
Second (and the most confusing), there is internal Juan Carlos Onetti, that is to say, how he sees himself.  Juan Carlos Onetti creates "I" to narrate, but also is this "I" himself (especially when making philosophical comments about nature of life, love, etc.). "I" tells the reader about La Queca, Ernesto, Gertrudis, and other characters that are present in this book.
In its own turn, part of "I" is represented by Brausen.  Brausen is a "normal" side of "I" (and also of J. C. Onetti), for he conforms to the society’s norms.  Brausen writes for money and worries about his job.  To save himself from poverty (both physical and moral) he creates Santa Maria and its inhabitants, Diaz Grey, Elena Sala, and Lagos.
In order to finish the script and to construct Elena Sala and her relationship with Diaz Grey through Arce’s relationship with La Queca, Brausen creates Arce.  The disparity between Brausen and Arce grows:  "I was Arce at the regular drunken parties with La Queca, in the growing pleasure of beating her, amazed that it was easy and necessary to do it" (Onetti 141).  Arce becomes Brausen’s tool to kill La Queca.
Towards the end of the novel, story of Diaz Grey, a narration within a narration, finishes with death of Elena Sala.  La Queca dies too.  Arce dies together with them and Brausen revives:  "I felt that I was waking up ? not from this dream, but from another, incomparably longer, that included this one and in which I had dreamed I was dreaming this dream" (Onetti 219).  Later, "I", the narrator returns to the beginning, to the time when he started creating Diaz Grey:  "The hotel was on the corner of the square, and the construction of the block of houses coincided with my memories and the changes I had imposed when I was imagining the doctor’s story" (Onetti 267).  Awaken from the long dream of Santa Maria, Brausen and Arce merge (to some extent) into again unified personality "I".
However, Brausen and Arce are not only created by "I", but are also real parts of "I", which in its turn is a part of Juan Carlos Onetti.  For all that writer creates comes from his consciousness.  The inability of Juan Carlos Onetti to bring order and peace to his soul, to find his homogenous identity, is evident in his doubts and his anguish while choosing a mask for the carnival.  The search for oneself is eternal and very often excruciating:  "If only it were possible for me to understand myself, to bring it together and understand it all, and give it to this fellow in a short, unemphatic sentence" (Onetti 242).   Onetti finds out that it is impossible.

Theme of Loss
There is an underlying theme of loss in A Brief Life.  Gertrudis and Brausen experience loss in the novel, and with each loss there is always a new creation, a birth.
The novel begins with the removal of Gertrudis’ left breast. She does not only lose her breast; she loses Brausen’s intimacy and eventually their marriage fails.  In the eyes of Brausen, the loss of Gertrudis’ breast almost marks the loss of Gertrudis as a person. He cherishes her the "old" Gertrudis and even uses an old photograph of her to create another "Gertrudis-Elena Sala", a new Gertrudis with two breasts.  He daydreams that "she would enter smiling into the office of Diaz Grey-Brausen, this Gertrudis-Elena Sala whom I met that night, who had looked at me closely as I drank and ate with Stein, and who had slouched in her chair, patting her head, bashful and absorbed and always smiling" (26).  The loss of Gertrudis has lead into the birth of a new character, which will be an avenue of escape and fantasy for Brausen.
 Not only does Gertrudis experience loss in the novel, Brausen experiences a loss of personality and identity with the development of the imaginary characters he creates.  Brausen admits to the reader that he is no longer himself when he thinks, "I disappeared on the indeterminate day when my love for Gertrudis ended; I was subsisting on the double secret life of Arce and the country doctor" (126).  He purposely creates characters with exciting lives to fill the void and hole growing in him, and continues to live through these imaginary characters in his head.  It is easier for him to create non-existent scenarios and characters in order to escape his life and reality.

Our presentation lasted an hour, and was followed by discussion. The discussion was ignited by questions, raised both by our small group and the class.

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Questions:

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Bibliography

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Felix—Theme of Introspection
Lindsey—Bio of Onetti and Theme of Loss
Varya—Chronological Analysis of Main Character’s Introspection
 

Our small group had the responsibility of leading seminar on Onetti’s A Brief Life. Each of us came up with one theme to present to the class: Felix talked about introspection, then Varya tied her diagram into Felix’s topic.  Lindsey researched about Onetti’s life history and also chose the theme of loss as her topic for discussion.  On top of that, we brought questions to the seminar to engage the class in discussion.  The three of us were proud of how the seminar went and felt that we engaged the group enough to discuss important questions and make the seminar interactive.