Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sacrificing Self-Control

In "The Idol of Cyclades", Julio Cortazar writes about Somoza and Morand's regression to an uncivilized way of life through an obsession with Teresa and a statue. The materialistic and historical object that was suppose to bring them happiness and prosperity ultimately results in their demise of life and normal, cognitive abilities.
The reader first gets an insight into Somoza's obsession with the statue when it reads, "Somoza confided to him his senseless hope that someday he would be able to approach that statue by ways other than the hands and the eyes of science." (p. 341) He desired a closer relationship with the idol and wanted to be connected with it as the people from its time were. Over time he became consumed with the idea of it so much that he disregarded any previous feelings for Teresa and distanced himself away from her and Morand. In doing this, Somoza is able to focus on learning about the statue's culture and history while building replicas of it. He idolizes the statue as the most important thing in his life and even refuses to share it with Morand when he states, "I'll never give her to you". (p.343) This shows that not only has Somoza become greedy and possesive over the statue but he has also personified it by calling it a "her", giving it connection to human life making his obsession more distorted.
Towards the end of the story the reader is given insight to the statue's true power over Somoza as he begins caressing the idol and referring to it's sacrificial rituals, all of which disturb Morand but he continues to try and comprehend his partner's madness. Somoza's intentions are finally shown when he attempts to kill Morand as a sacrifice after screaming that it was all because of Theresa, saying, "But what good's it going to do you, she never loved you and she'll never love you." (p.344) Somoza is saying that Theresa was so important in his life that when he couldn't have her his obsession with the statue dominated his life and contorted his view of reality. After surviving Somoza's attack, Morand lets Somoza's words about Theresa sink in and lets the statue take over as well as he prepared to kill Theresa.
Through their obsession with needing to be possessive and wanting attention, Somoza and Morand gave their life away to a statue. They lost touch with one another and their friendship deteriorated into dripping blood along with their love for Theresa. Through this the author shows that we shouldn't let material objects or even people have a huge hold on us because not everything is always as great as it seems.
-Amber

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