SPACE
Image from: http://venganzatoxica.blogspot.com/2007/08/espacio-revelacin.html?showComment=1188889500000
*Internal:
In
this section we will make an analysis of the internal space of the hypertext The Monkeys from different concrete and
personal perspectives.
The
narrator of the hypertext places the action in several areas along the history.
Taken together, all the characters live in one place, a place which Benedetti
referred to us as “an ancient kingdom”.
It is curious, and it is worth mentioning that the author of the hypertext does
not give a specific name to any of the places and spaces where the story takes
place.
This
is surprising, but it is nothing new. Many other authors of tales such as the
Brothers Grimm have done this before Benedetti and, in general, the fairy tales
about princesses, witches and others tend to overlook these details, starting
in the same way with "Once upon a
time, in an ancient kingdom ..."
In this way we assume that the author has placed the story in an ancient
kingdom not for anything in particular, but simply on the basis of the start of
the tales of a lifetime, following the tradition.
Also,
placing the story in this kingdom of ancient tales and starting in this way the
author can have a clear intention: he wants that at the beginnig of the
story the reader thinks that is a
common tale, based on old stereotypes, like the typical stories of princes and
princesses or villagers terrorized by wild beasts. Well, once it has begun with
the words "Once upon a time...," the reader believes that this is the
typical fairy tale, but later is surprised to find that the story is written
from a modern perspective,that has much differences from any other ancient
tales and uses words from the XX and XXI centuries that not usually appears in
the stories:
Abatreia´s
voice rose with hysteria. “Dark martial arts, you say. Doy you mean, ninjitsu?”
Both,
dark martial arts and ninjitsu are words of the current era. This makes the
story modern and different.
The
next space where the action takes place is in the room of one little village
without a name. Again, we can see that the author is not interested in the
mention of the name of the village where lives some of the characters.
This may be because the author does not consider important the names of the
kingdom or the village of the history because they are not relevant or have
influence throughout the narration. The story is not as long as for having to
put the characters in a place with a name in concrete.
Therefore, the village in the story is not pretty or rich, is the opposite. The
room where women met to talk is old and smells like pee.
“Ours is
not a fertile village, agriculturally or parturitively. If one of these lads is
a monkey this year...” – Adriatica.
This
makes us reflect on the fact that the author has written the story from a
social-marginal perspective in which the poor are crushed by the richest, in
this case the king.
This aspect keeps a strong symbolism with the real world.
As I have appreciated reading other stories in the Fairy Tales of Benedetti,
his stories are focused on the form of social criticism from several aspects.
Perhaps the author intended to represent the poor society of nowadays facing an
absurd but hamful situation, as often occurs in real life.
The
third area in which Benedetti placed the action of his hypertext is the castle
of the king.
There is no specific description of how the castle is decorated (if has
pictures or furnitures, etc).
This lack of description of the space could be because the author no needs to
mention the wealth that has the king,
because as king he has power and most people think he lived surrounded
by wealth.
They also may not have described the castle probably because it considers most
important the behavior of the king that
their possessions. Benedetti is a man who focuses on the actions of the
characters and not in their descriptions.
It's
like say: What matter if the king is rich and is surrounded by riches if it's a
stupid? Only cares about himself and not for improving the lives of his
subjects.
The castle represents the greatness in the smallness.
It could be another social criticism that would suggest that those who have
more power and money are the less able to do good things.
That
the author puts the action in several areas ( the village and the castle) may
have a specific symbolism. He want to say that in the story, two opposing
sides fitght face to face, two oppositte sides that nowadays are in conflict
yet. We are talking about the poor and the rich people. The village would
represent the poor and oppressed who struggle to improve their situation and
the castle represents the powerful and tyrant man subjecting those around them,
like the men who works at the multinationals.
If
the action had been localized in one area it is possible that this difference
was not so visible.
In general this is a story with social character which presents scenarios such
as those of medieval folk tales, mixed with contemporary terms.
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
©Marta Soler Gamero /marsoga@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press