Sometimes we are left in conflicts that seem to us to be unsolvable. We feel like picking one side means giving up the other, and so we are perplexed. This usually happens between our emotions and our reason. The feelings push us to the very limits of our desire, while the idea tries to settle us down from the immensity of our senses. In this regard, the body that relates to our emotions is usually in battle with our self that refers to our reason. The author Cesar Aira manages to reveal this conflict of the person and the body in his novel ‘The Proof,’ where he uses different tools to show to the reader that there are decisions to be made and how to make these decisions. The two points that build up to the plot in the novel and therefore to the conflict between the self and the body is the characterization and the narration of events; in the former, the two characters are projected with their differences and their similarities; in the latter, the differences and the similarities of the characters within the plot relates to the decisions that are not made based on rational thinking, but more on automatic desire that pushes the characters to decisions.
Marcia and Mao are the two characters in the story who have very different but also similar personalities. They are different in the way they look at the world; Marcia seems to be more rational in her judgments and optimistic, whereas Mao seems more resentful and full of hatred. Their similarity lies in the way they are prone to their desires, although Marcia knows a reasonable way and Mao doesn’t or is just ignoring it, they still make their final decisions based on their passions. An example of this is when Mao and Lenin stop Marcia at the beginning of the novel. As Mao asks the question “Wanna … ?” (Pg. 100) To Marcia, and continues to insist with reasons such as being ‘in love’ with Marcia, wee her uncontrollable desire for the first time. In the beginning, Marcia tells them to go away, but then because she is curious on the way punks are and how they live their life, she gives in by saying, “I’ve always wanted to get to know a punk, but I’ve never had the opportunity.” (Pg. 111) Here we see how both Marcia and Mao are prone to their desire; Mao is the punk who is looking for a night out with someone, Marcia is the student who is curious about something she has not had the opportunity to talk about. The author, instead of colliding the two characters and creating a classic conflict of characters in a novel, uses the characteristics of the two characters to create a plot that begins with the collision of the characters but ends with combining them because their decisions are based on their desires. In the restaurant scene, we see that Mao is insisting on just sitting and not ordering anything, and later she also is rude to not just the waitresses but also the supervisor. She says, “We’re going to stay as long as we … well like. Ciao. Go call the cops.” (Pg. 139), when the supervisor tells them to leave the restaurant since they are not ordering anything and harassing the waitresses. This situation shows that Mao is not able to deal with situations rationally and responsibly. Marcia, who is also sitting with the girls, is more compromising and reasonable when she says, “I’m going to ask for an ice-cream. That way they won’t bother us anymore.” (Pg.120) Another instant in which the perspective of the two girls differs is when they are talking about a particular waitress. Marcia says, “Didn’t you see she’s deformed? Who’s going to want to … a monster like that!” (Pg. 127) And Marcia responds to Mao’s words by saying, “You’re wrong, She’s not deformed, or ugly, and I bet she does have a boyfriend… Isn’t she pretty in her way?” (Pg.127) We can see how both the characters differ in the way they look at someone who has a different physical appearance. In the scene where Mao lies about the waitress that they are seemingly waiting for and the supervisor goes to question the girl, Mao’s and Marcia’s reactions a very different. Mao seems to be more uncaring about the fact that her lying might be ruining another person’s life, whereas Marcia is more concerned that the waitress would be losing her job because of what they told the supervisor. This shows that Marcia is more conscious of their actions as a group than Mao is. Throughout the dialogue and the events in the market, we see how the characters are prone to their desires. They sit in the restaurant only because they want to, they do not order anything and are rude to the people around them; all this shows that they are not acting like an ordinary, reasonable person would be acting. In this sense, they are acting on their feelings and sometimes bodily desires.
The reactions of the two characters that is based on their desire also put forth the dilemma of the self and body. Although the self and body seem to be the same thing, they are different in practice. Our desire is more related to our body, and our reason is more related to our self. As the body of an individual develops, we discover specific desires and wants that we cannot forsake. An example is Mao; her bodily desire is to spend the night with Marcia, so much that she is accepting Marcia’s proposal to talk first. Marcia is also a little prone to her desire of curiosity. Her body is curious about the way punks are, so much that even though she rejects in the beginning, she accepts to talk to Mao. Both the girls are characterized in the conflict between their self and their body. Marcia by-passes her reason and therefore her self to fulfill her curiosity and hence her body; Mao ignores her rational thought and therefore her self to satisfy her desire and passion and thus her body to spend the night with Marcia. The conflict between their self and their body is also reflected in the way they look at events and people. Mao is negative in the way she thinks and judges people; she bases her decisions on the physical appearance of the girl and on how she feels, rather than listening to her excellent and constructive judgment. Marcia, on the other hand, sees the good side of the girl and remarks on how the girl is pretty for the way she is. This shows that she has a constructive, positive and reasonable opinion based on not physical appearance but possibly character. The differences between these two characters build the dialogue in the restaurant scene, which in return makes the foundation of the actual event that will be happening. Their different characteristics create a tense plot that seems to foreshadow the real event.
The event starts as soon as the girls leave the restaurant, Marcia is disappointed and starts to walk away when Mao and Lenin hold her and tell her to come to a street where they want to talk. Marcia, although reluctant, agrees. This is the first episode in which we can see events unfolding based on desire and not rational thought, therefore based on the body and not the self. Mao is not satisfied because she did not get what she wanted from the beginning, a night with Marcia. So she gives the speech about love and also rhetorically questions why Marcia would think that she is not lovable (Pg. 147). It appears that this speech aims to convince Marcia, who is above the complex that she may or may not have because she is stunned by how beautiful Mao is. Just like Mao, Marcia here is now prone to her body, her desire and cannot-or maybe would not-see the rational thinking that her true self would be telling her: to walk away. Mao continues to talk about how the experience of love is proof that it exists when she says, “Love also always for one detour, just one: action. Because love, which cannot be explained, does, have proofs…” (Pg. 149) The fact that Mao goes into proving that she loves Marcia is yet another evidence that she is prone to her desire because if her love were genuine, the reader would have seen a more romantic, and even softer approach in her characters and the way she dresses Marcia. But rather, Mao starts talking to Marcia by asking her the question, “Wanna … ?” Instead of paving the way, she dives right into what she wants, proving once again that she (Mao) is acting with her desires that are fed by her body, rather than her reason that would be guided by her self. Similarly, Marcia is also prone to her desire as soon as she experiences Mao’s beauty. The author relates, “Marcia looked back at her and had to shut her eyes (inwardly): she was too beautiful.” (Pg. 151) Once again we see that Marcia is in battle with her reason guided by her self and her desire fed by her body. The narration of this event where the characters experience the same thing, which is desired, but in different ways, adds to the building of the conflict between the self and the body.
Later in the supermarket, we see how Marcia and Mao are both similar in acting to their desires as the events unfold but also different in how they act to fulfill their desire. We see how Mao takes over the small office and kills the security guard, purely out of rage as it seems. As she stands with the revolver in one hand and makes a speech about love being demanding and that everything that will be happening in the market if the proof of love, Mao transforms something beautiful like love into something evil like violence and brutality. All this she does only because she is enraged with maybe anger, madness or just hatred. The author does not tell us for sure if Mao is angry, but we do know that her actions are the result of the decisions based on her desires. She wants Marcia to believe that she loves her, she wants to take all the money in the cashiers, which is why she dives into the market, threatens everyone and holds the gun out and says, “Everybody back! Move away from the cashiers!” (Pg. 158) The supermarket events unfold to reveal the plot being centered around the use of the body to prove something to the self, by ignoring the self and acting on the desires brought forward by the body. Mao starts going from one cashier to the next and taking out all the money right after she puts out the electricity. Mao’s leaping and plunging to the money is her body feeding her desire to rob the market and take the money, but her action of switching off the lights is her self-using the reason card and telling her that if she doesn’t want people to see her doing something wrong, she should be hiding in the dark. It is interesting how at this point she does not ignore her reason, which shows that she can use her reason, but does so only under the circumstances in which she sees are useful in fulfilling her desire. Towards the end of the supermarket scene, the events of the plot unfold in the violent and brutal actions of Mao because she is enraged and becomes even more enraged as the time passes. She becomes engulfed by her desire, and as a result, the reader feels like she is becoming dehumanized. Marcia, on the other hand, seems entirely out of the picture. We do not see her acting violently as the other two characters, and more specifically like Mao. However, we also do not see her stopping the violence. She seems to be the passive audience just looking at the scene, except when she runs off with the girls at the end of all the events. This shows that she is either in conflict with her self and her body, where her reason tells her to interfere, but her passion for Mao’s beauty tells her that if she does she will not get the opportunity to satisfy her curiosity; or she is in total control of her self and her body, where she chooses to ignore her reason and listens to her desire and stays out of the events until her partner gets what she wants and then they can take off. This difference in the plot of the events happening also point to the difference in the character’s personalities: Marcia almost disappears when the events are happening, just like the character she embodies that is the feeling of insignificance and not being wanted and her lack of confidence that makes her feel so. Mao, on the other hand, like her dominant and passionate personality, is the dominant one as the events unfold. The only similarity between the characters as the events come about is that they once again act on their desires fed by their body, but not their reason guided by their self. In this sense, the main event that is narrated within the plot also builds to the battle between the self and the body. The reader is left to decide on whether the narration of the plot and the personality of the two girls give a moral lesson on the following desire, i.e., acting with your body or going with the reason, i.e., listening to your self.
The story of Mao and Marcia puts the reader in the position of deciding who is more guilty and whether justice prevails when the individual listens to the desire or the reason. The conflict of the body and the self along with the narration of the plot reveals itself throughout the story to emphasize the differences and the similarities of not just the characters but also the actions and how these actions are done as the violent events happen throughout the story. The reader is confused in deciding whether they sympathize or empathize with Marcia, who seems to be dragged into the events but not precisely pulled. In the end, however, we see that Marcia is as guilty as Mao, because like Einstein says; “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” – Albert Einstein
BibliographyAira, Cesar. The Proof. Translated by Nick Caistor, New Directions, New York, United States. 16 June 2017. Print. 4 August 2017.