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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2023
What is to be found at the historical beginning of things is not the inviolable identity of their origin: it is the dissension of other things. It is disparity.
(Michel Foucault)Opening
The historical beginning of El pozo is actually the earliest incident recounted from the protagonist's life. It takes the form of a strange scene at a New Year’s party, in which he, bored with the festivities, tricks Ana María, a girl towards whom he feels a mixture of hatred and attraction, into going to the gardener’s shed with him. Once he has got her there, he attacks her.
As in the above quotation from Foucault, the concept of an origin is not arrived at by means of peeling back layers in order to reveal an original essence. Rather what is manifested is an image of flux, of dissension, perhaps of a constant dialectic.
Certainly, the incident referred to above raises many questions. The exact nature of the attack is never really clear, as a close look at the passage shows:
La agarré del cuello y la tumbé. Encima suyo, fui haciendo girar las piernas, cubriéndola, hasta que no pudo moverse. Solamente el pecho, los grandes senos, se le movían desesperados de rabia y de cansancio. Los tomé, uno en cada mano, retorciéndolos. Pudo zafar un brazo y me clavó las uñas en la cara. Busqué entonces la caricia más humillante, la mas odiosa. Tuvo un salto y se quedó quieta en seguida, llorando con el cuerpo flojo. Yo adivinaba que estaba llorando sin hacer gestos. No tuve nunca, en ningún momento, la intencion de violarla; no tenía ningún deseo por ella. (1982:15)
[I grabbed her by the neck and I threw her down. I got on top of her and twisted my legs right round her till she couldn't move. Only her bosom, her big breasts, moved in desperation, angry and exhausted. I took one in each hand and twisted them. She managed to get an arm loose and sunk her nails into my face. Then I went for the most humiliating, most hateful caress. She gave a little jump and immediately went quiet, crying with her limp body. I guessed she was crying but keeping still. I had never at any moment intended to rape her; I didn't desire her]. (1991: 7)
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