To pretend and to lie, anything but accepting defeat

(The shipyard, illustration by Juan Pérez Ortiz)

Second entry:

It has been clear from the beginning that Larsen had no real reason to return to Santa María, much less to establish relationships with Jeremías Petrus and his ruined shipyard. Just upon his arrival to Puerto Astillero, Larsen quickly notices the state of decay the company is in, he recognizes there is hardly anything left to salvage, not even the office building, which appears to have been abandoned for several years. Even the two remaining employees, Gálvez and Kunz, are aware of this, yet they continue attending to their duties as if nothing had happened because they know the reality outside is even more miserable. And so does Larsen by accepting the position of general manager.

Numerous questions may arise at this point. Why does Petrus keeps insisting in maintaining a no longer functional company? Why do the remaining employees stay there instead of seeking other job opportunities? Why did Larsen accept to work there despite knowing the conditions of the shipyard, even being aware that he would receive a non-existent salary? The answers to these questions can be found in how Onetti constructs these characters and the world that surrounds them, although it is not always evident.

If we pay close attention to the fragments of Larsen's past that the narrator dares to reveal every now and then, we can infer that Larsen is past his forties or even his fifties. Therefore, there is little he can do now but hold onto the little confidence in himself that remains. No longer able to seduce and deceive as easily as he did in his youth, nor having the energy or ambition to pursue risky endeavors, he finds himself needing to find some stability before resigning himself to accept old age and everything that comes with it. The last place where he found some degree of success was Santa María, so returning there could be seen as a last attempt to make a safe bet; or the way around, having realized how pointless his current struggles are, he pretends to ignore it in hopes of forgetting the lack of meaning of his life as a whole. 

The same thing could be said about the other characters. Petrus deludes himself into believing that a plea can be made to the court to have the company fully operative again some day instead of coming to terms with its inevitable  failure. Meanwhile, Gálvez and Kunz, being native to Puerto Astillero and knowing the town's impoverishment caused by the shipyard's closure, prefer to keep pretending to work there, even if they themselves don't believe the lie, rather than accepting that they are hopelessly unemployed. All of these situations become particularly significant when we realize reality is not that different. More often than not, there are times when, in the wake of the apparent lack of meaning in our lives, anything, as futile as it may be, can become a lifeline to keep us from sinking into madness and depression.

Source of the image:

• Cervantes, C. C. V. (s. f.). CVC. Juan Carlos Onetti. Santa María. Espacios. El astillero. (7 de 31). https://cvc.cervantes.es/literatura/escritores/onetti/santa_maria/astillero_07.htm