I would agree with Cardwell in saying that the characters in the novel are under the influences of nature in an uncontrollable way:
At base, nature is inimical to man. Nature’s unconscious forces, controlling man at the instinctive and subrational level, overshadow his spiritual and intellectual qualities and his pretensions to rational idealism.
The huertanos are controlled by nature, they must yield it in order that they can survive. At the beginning of chapter three when Batiste and his family first come to the huerta he works extremely hard on his land trying to cultivate it and “tame” it as if to make it his own. As Cardwell points out, the lands seem to have life, we are told they possess veins and arteries and this suggests that man and the lands he works on are intrinsically linked. A small but nevertheless interesting point on this matter is apparent at the end of chapter two. When Barret murders Don Salvador he uses a sickle, a tool of the harvest. Blasco is showing the reader how nature and the farmer, Barret have become connected, he uses the tool he has used everyday to cultivate his fields to commit a murder. You have to ask yourself whether nature, in the background to alcohol consumed in the tavern has affected Barret in such a way that he has been drawn to killing another human being, undeniably, it has.
On the other hand it is important to consider the view that the critic McDermott holds. She takes the viewpoint that the novel has less of a deterministic outlook to it and that we should see the cause of the occurrences in the novel as “Pressure of Circumstance.” This means that fate has not put the characters in the position of being poverty-stricken, it is just a historical and social inheritance. This viewpoint moves away from the idea of hopelessness as, from my point of view it is linked to the idea of determinism and fate. If we see the novel in such a way that McDermott does, we can say that there is hope for the characters and that, in fact their struggle or protests are not in vain. I do not agree entirely with this outlook because the circularity of the novel suggests a hopelessness, Batiste has not permanently achieved anything by the end of the novel: “ Huirían de allí para comenzar otra vida…”. In my opinion the circularity of the novel does suggest a deterministic idea and therefore ends on a pessimistic note.
The structure of the novel is a very important factor to take into consideration when discussing the question of hopelessness and fate in the novel. Blasco opens up with a colourful and radiant picture of Valencia, the opening two lines do not give any indication as to what the following hundred pages will contain, possibly Blasco is telling us that we see the world on a superficial level first and then begin to think about its inhabitants and their hardships. The main significance of the opening paragraph is that the beginning of the day is described this descriptive mould also occurs again at the end of the novel. The general circularity of the novel suggests that the same story that we have read could occur again and again. Batiste and, in fact the peasant population of Valencia will struggle against the perils of life for eternity.
I agree with Medina in saying that the pauses in the main story, such as Roseta’s love affair with Tonet are important. As Medina says they offer us “…momentary hope, but collapse in tragedy.” This would not, as the title quotation suggests show an essence of optimism from Blasco but rather pessimism. The moments of joy for the characters in the novel are purely fleeting.
Chapter eight is also important structurally in the novel. It makes the reader feel a sense of hope for Batiste and his family and displays compassion from the villagers. Blasco creates this sense of hope for the future of Batiste and his family in order to induce the reader into a more dramatic, emotional climax to their reading of the novel. However, Blasco tells us at the end of chapter eight that Batiste’s hope for the future is naïve: “Batiste, siempre inmóvil, miraba como unidiota las estrellas…”. Still Blasco maintains the façade of optimism at the start of chapter nine: ”Todo era alegría, trabajo gozoso.” The happiness has ended by the end of chapter nine and alcohol is the direct catalyst to the downfall of Batiste, as it was for tío Barret.
The story of Barret introduces the theme of doom to the fields that Batiste will later come to work on. They are referred to as, “…campos de muerte” Blasco, in this instance is hinting to the inevitability of Batiste’s decline once coming to those fields, we pity him because we get the sense from Pepeta’s flashback that all will not be well at the end of Batiste’s struggle against the various forces in the village. Barret’s decline is very similar to his:
Batiste’s story is in many ways a repetition of tío Barret’s tragedy: ill fortune, exploitation and the power of human instinct serve to break a hardworking tenant peasant and force him from his land. Both men steal water, both react with a strong emotional identification with the soil, both lose their horses, borrow form the landlords, take up a gun in anger and fall prey to the effects of alcohol.
In my opinion this idea reiterates the theme of the hopelessness of man in the novel. Both Batiste and Barret are hardworking, honest men but yet despite all their efforts and protests against hardships they still end up committing acts of murder.
In my opinion it is possible and there is evidence to suggest that in the novel the idea of doom and fate control the outcome of Batiste. In terms of this particular theme, tío Tomba is the most important character, he seems to be quite detached from the village and villagers and he can see exactly what is going on. When he first meets Batiste, he says of the fields: “…te portarán desgrasia.” And later on in the novel after the death of Pascuelet, Tomba confirms his prophesy that the fields would bring Batiste misfortune: “Todo lo que ocurríá ahora lo esperaba él…”.
Tío Tomba realises the futility of the situation in the huerta and knows what will happen to Batiste in a semi-prophetic way. Batiste’s will to survive is unparalleled to the power of the fields, the huertanos and the sense of fate and destiny I have already mentioned. Tomba is similar to the reader, he is in a neutral position and watches the situation from a distance, like the reader he sees the events in the village as relevant to each other (one causes the other) it would be possible to say that the chaos theory is applicable to the story. By this I mean the way that each chapter follows on to the next and events in chapters all have consequences for the next ones.
Batiste’s struggle is an extreme one as he has the whole of the village fighting against him. There is a clear example of this when Pimentó threatens him at the end of chapter three: “En su voz, trémula de rabia, vibraban condensados todos los odios de la huerta.” The water tribunal is a link in the chain of events that lead to Batiste eventually reaching his breaking point. He has such a huge force to contend with in the shape of the huertanos that it seems impossible for him to survive in the novel. In chapter four we read that: “El odio silencioso y reconcentrado le seguía en su camino.” The hatred is so intense that it is passed from the parents to the children in the school who bully Batiste’s children and are responsible for the death of Pascualet in chapter seven. The sense of hopelessness in the novel for Batiste and his family is portrayed in the way that all the anger directed towards them comes from groups of people. For example, the group teasing of Roseta lead by Pimentó’s niece and the constant abuse directed towards Batiste’s sons on the way home from school.
In my opinion Blasco, through this novel sees humanity in a fairly negative light. Although the huertanos are standing up for their principles and Batiste has broken their ”law ”, they never see him for who he actually is and rather as a symbol of anti-compliance with their land boycott. Blasco presents Batiste as a good man whose personality becomes warped by the huerta: “¡Redíos! Ahora comprendía él, hombre de paz y padre bondadoso , por qué los hombres matan.” Batiste becomes more and more consumed by an uncontrollable rage as the novel progresses and his family are more and more affected. Obviously any father would react in an extreme way if their son died but Batiste becomes consumed with animalistic rage:
Era terrible el aspecto de aquel hombréton tranquilo y cachazudo, en cual despertaba la fiera, cansada de que la hostigasen un día y otro día. En sus ojos inyectados de sangre brillaba, la fiebre del asesinato;
It is important to realise the distinction here between a simply angry reaction to this extreme event and Batiste’s action. The previous calm, caring man has been transformed into a murderous animal, he has become helpless to his instincts. It is as if he has absorbed into his personality all the rage and anger in the huerta. This episode of rage passes and is transferred to tears but it returns later on, in chapter nine in the tavern when Batiste strikes Pimentó with a stool.
This aspect of momentary anger is interesting as it demonstrates how helpless we really are to our animalistic instincts. Batiste’s character is a formidable one the majority of the time but those occurrences where his character changes for a short while are the moments that have the largest affect on his life. Despite resorting to murder, Batiste always maintains his personality, lying in bed, he realises what he has done and has an attack of conscience and sees the ghost of Pimentó who he begs for forgiveness. This contact with the ghost could be interpreted as a symbol of an outside force ruling over the huerta that fits in with my previous idea of mysticism in the novel.
Moving away from the idea of outside forces in the novel, the existence of the tavern in Alboraya is directly the most significant, physical aspect of it. It could only be said that Blasco sees alcohol as having a negative affect on the men in the novel. Both Barret and Batiste go to the Tavern before committing their violent acts. Alcohol plays an important part in the lives of the huertanos as it is a way of escapism from their brutal and hard lives but its abuse inevitably leads to violence. Interestingly both Barret and Batiste are sober men but their brief entry into the Tavern causes them to lose their inhibitions towards violence. The alcohol that they drink causes them to become animal-like and uncontrollable.
In conclusion, in my opinion the novel is one of protest and of hopelessness. Batiste does display great determination throughout the novel but the important fact to remember is that by the end of it, he has come back to where he started, with nothing. I believe that Blasco Ibáñez’s displays nothing but pessimism for the factors that cause Batiste to fail in the Valencian lands. There is a sense all through the novel of hopelessness and I think that Blasco intended the reader to instinctually know that Batiste was not going to be able to protest or struggle enough in order to succeed against all of the obstacles put in his way.
Bibliography
Ibáñez, Blasco. Edited by Mas, José and Mateu, Maríá Teresa. La barraca, Madrid, Cátedra, 2000
Medina, Jeremy. The Valencian Novels of Vicente Blasco Ibañez, Valencia, Albatrós Hispanófila, 1984
Cardwell, R. Blasco Ibáñez: La barraca, Critical Guides to Spanish Texts, London Grant and Cutler, 1994
Smith, Paul. “The Reliable Determinant: Alcohol in Blasco Ibáñez’s Valencian Works”, Ideologies and Literature, 2, no.2 1987
Ibáñez, Blasco La barraca, Madrid, Cátedra, 2000, p.205. Subsequent page references are from this novel.
Medina, Jeremy. The Valencian Novels of Vicente Blasco Ibañez, Valencia, Albatrós Hispanófila, 1984, p.62.
Cardwell, R. Blasco Ibáñez: La barraca, Critical Guides to Spanish Texts, London Grant and Cutler, 1994, p.43
Medina, Jeremy. The Valencian Novels of Vicente Blasco Ibañez, Valencia, Albatrós Hispanófila, 1984, P.62
Medina, Jeremy. The Valencian Novels of Vicente Blasco Ibañez, Valencia, Albatrós Hispanófila, 1984, P.62
Smith, Paul. “The Reliable Determinant: Alcohol in Blasco Ibáñez’s Valencian Works”, Ideologies and Literature, 2, no.2 1987, P.193.