Throughout “The Parade Ends,” by Reinaldo Arenas, space is depicted in an atypical way, as it is developed through the senses rather than typical visual descriptors. This development creates a skewed and confused sense of space. I think the best example can be seen when the narrator is taken to jail. As he enters the jail, he describes, “the circular cave that endlessly oozes bugs, mold, urine, those fumes, those fumes accumulating, overflowing excrement, and that din, the constant shouting of the prisoners, that beating on the bunks and walls” (108). Typically, the visual description would be described to set the scene for all of the other senses to contextualize themselves in; however, Arenas does not do this, rather he places the other senses above sight. By doing so, the reader is drawn towards the emotional side of the scene, rather than the visual. This can be better seen at the beginning of the story when the narrator is attempting to escape a crowd to follow the her. He describes the journey through the people, “that want, like me, to walk around, change places, turn, and that only cause contractions, wiggling, stretching, convulsions” (99). The reader feels the entrapment, so rather than understanding how large the crowd is, the reader understands the feeling instead. We feel the trap; we cant rationalize the narrator out of the situation, we can only be stuck in the trapped space that the narrator is in. As someone who is very visual, I struggled to understand how the scenes were changing throughout the story, yet I was still able to follow the emotions and the atmosphere of these skewed places. Overall, by not relying on visual cues to develop space, Arenas creates an ambiguous sense of space for the reader, which in turn intensifies the emotion and atmosphere of the story.
I think that this is a really important part of Arenas’ story telling. His utilization of the atypical descriptions of time and space create a very confusing, while simultaneously provocative reading for the viewer. There is a certain creation of a framework that requires intense attention on the readers part, and as you noted, an emotionally provocative reading. I imagine the confusion we experience as a reader is supposed to create a parallel to the confusion of being in Cuba during this story’s events. This intentional depiction of psychological chaos works to evoke great uproar in the reader, in hopes of showcasing his own experiences in a way that allows the reader to experience it too.
Hi Kiri, I agree. I found the space and setting of this story very confusing. It really amplified the emotional turmoil and chaos that Arenas was trying to get across. Its a really cool style when, instead of through describing objects, the emotion is portrayed through the rhythm of the text and ambiguity of what the space really looks like. It made me feel like I was starved and barely able to traverse the harsh landscape of “the parade”.
This is a fantastic reading of space in Arenas’s story. You’ve pointed out the sort of synesthetic atmosphere, which, while challenging, is also deeply effective at creating an empathic response in the reader. Great work!