Kaleidoscopic look at the stories “A repulsive happiness” and “An overprotective mother”

Abstract

Since ancient times, man through the Greek aphorism “Know yourself” has started a search that seems to have no end, from this precept society is a variant to determine the lack of: essence, freedom, empathy and other elements that through literature they are explored. Humanity since its genesis has not stopped “telling” that short but concise verb, reveals the complex need to express lived experiences through lyrics.

In this sense, two stories are brought up that are part of the book A repulsive happiness, written by the Argentine Guillermo Martínez, one of them alludes to the title of the work and is the initial piece, a story with varied nuances which immerse the reader in a metafictional game, where happiness is the central theme and its characters revolve around that sensation, which every subject wishes to obtain. In this way, Martínez opens the door to family secrets, class conflicts and emotional cracks, which are part of the nature of man.

Likewise, the story “A protective mother” is taken up, with which the book is concluded, where the main character crosses the limits of motherhood from an excessive interest in the child, a fascination that emerges in the womb and continues from exaggerated manner

with birth and subsequent growth. You can judge her attitudes or rather combine them with sick love, in this way the woman embodies the prototype of the perfect mother who wants to do everything imaginable so that her child is safe and although the actions she performs are disturbing, it is likely that a mother, as the title says, “protective” justified the character’s actions.

The reader, then, manage to feel identified with the symbolism of motherhood in all its splendor, the one that loves, cares for, protects, feeds, watches over, teaches, and above all is not mistaken... apparently an idealized, almost sublime motherhood. In this order of ideas, the two stories are a network of stories that exemplify the crudeness of the subject before life and its tormented realities.