El-Tunnel is a psychological narration written by Ernesto Sabato
El-Tunnel is a psychological narration written by Ernesto Sabato about how he was obsessed with a woman he met at an art scene. The story follows Castel’s isolation from society, both in physical and emotional states. Castel tells the tale from jail cells after murdering Maria Iribarne, the only person who understood him. A tunnel is a large trough, with both an entrance, the middle, and the exit. The use of the title, “Tunnel” in this story, depicts a journey through mental disorders, whereby Castel goes through the three stages (Emma1). Before meeting Maria, Castel feels isolated by society and thinks that nobody understands him through his mental disorder. However, after meeting Maria, the tunnel is in the middle, and here he navigates through his condition with Maria. The middle of the tunnel is characterized by the interrogation of Maria to determine how her life was, huge expectations from her, and betrayal. In this phase, his mental condition worsens with trauma and constant depression depicting how he struggles with a mental disorder. Castel’s tunnel comes to an end when mental disorder overcomes him and makes him commit murder. Just like Castel in this story, most people pass through this tunnel in life. A tunnel for most people represents the whole concept of life, whereby individuals have an entry, middle, and end of the tunnel. The title, “El-Tunnel” is thus an apt metaphor, because it directly represents the story’s tunnel through a life of mental disorder. Connectedly, this paper discusses how the story is an apt metaphor by using Sartre’s arguments on “Man Makes Himself.”
Jean-Paul Sartre, in his argument, Man Makes Himself, “says that people must struggle to be themselves, rather than acting in bad faith against themselves. Sartre argues that people must remain who they are, and should, therefore, not make anything of themselves. Using this argument, it is evident to understand how Castel lived his life, wanting to satisfy other people and “No one noticed that scene; they all passed over it” (Sabato, 3). From this quote, it is evident that Sabato wanted to make something that reflected the love, and that demanded love from society. Viewing the expectations from Sartre’s perspective, Sabato lived a life of bad faith by expecting people to love something he had created. In essence, these expectations only broaden his mental conditions. After creating the work, Castel should have expressed presented it just like all the other works. However, he attaches his heart to it, implying that he expects other people to love the piece similarly. Thus, according to Sartre, (1), Castel makes something of himself, by subjecting himself to expectations and pressure from society. In this case, the title tunnel symbolizes the hopes that Castel renders himself to, thus worsening his mental condition.
The metaphoric representation of Castel’s condition as a tunnel is also depicted through his long pursuit for Maria’s love. After meeting Maria, Castel continues to pursue her endlessly, despite getting numerous setbacks. Castel learns that Maria is married and yet follows Sartre’s concept of deciding to maintain their relationship with the married woman. Castle also feels fascinated by Maria’s remembrance of the occurrences at the art exhibition. “Then, you remember it constantly?” Maria’s remembrance of the scene moves Castel, yet Maria is skeptical about letting him know of their encounter (Sabato, 10). In this episode, Castel does not know Maria’s status to deter his passion for her. He instead continues to show his persistent affection towards her, and even plans a vacation with her. The tunnel in Castel’s mental condition is depicted in his acceptance to engage with a married woman and also taking her out on vacation.
The vacation to the estancia is also used in this story to depict the theme of vanity and being. Castle does not care about his reputation, because he agrees to take Maria to a picnic, despite knowing that she is married. In this scene, the odds turn against him, when he realizes that his cousin Hunter is interested in Maria. Castles are completely saddened when Maria is taken by Hunters and plans to escape. The apt metaphor of the Castle’s mental condition is also represented in this scenario because instead of discussing the issue with Maria and Hunter’s, he decides to escape. Castel leaves the garden and expects Maria to follow him (Sabato, 40). Just like in the previous episodes, he expects someone else to understand his feelings. According to leave the yard, and to wait for Maria to follow him shows a mental condition that evolves towards a new phase, just like tunnels. Thus in this scene, Castle’s condition has developed from mere thoughts of hatred and despise into actions. Castle in this scene takes actions in line with his thoughts; thus, the metaphoric evolution of the mental state is presented as the tunnel towards.
The end of the tunnel is in this narration represented with Castle’s decision to kill Maria. After learning that Maria has a sexual relationship with Hunters, Castles is profoundly depressed and leaves the vacation unannounced. Upon reaching home, he is torn between writing a letter to her and not writing it. Castle’s mental stage has greatly evolved in this stage and can be compared to a tunnel near its end. As Sartre argues, “we become inauthentic when we let other people try to be something else” (Sartre (1). Castle is in this stage accrued by Maria’s affection and forgets his purpose and existence, thus becomes inauthentic. Castle understands that Maria is a married woman, yet he still loves her and is highly jealous when he learns Hunters also lovers her. Castle also portrays his deteriorating mental condition though his perception of Maria. In Sabato, (42), Castle labels Maria a prostitute, by stating that she cheats on her husband. Despite having an affair with her, Castle sees her indulgence with another man as prostitution. At this stage, Castle’s mental condition is on the brink of breaking loose.
The killing of Maria symbolizes the end of the metaphoric tunnel. At this point, Castle feels denied and isolated everyone in society. After approaching Maria’s husband in a bid to report the cheating affair, Castle is surprised to understand that Maria’s husband knows the relationship. In this stage, he is overly depressed, and he is broken. Collecting himself, he calls Maria and requests her to agree to visit. All this time, Castle is unable to hold himself lack from the anger induced by Maria. He plans this meeting to execute his revenge, and his plan is a success when he kills her. After killing Maria, the tunnel is over, and his purpose in life is over. As Sartre (1) argues, Castle has become inauthentic and has to go to jail. The need for the tunnel marks the end of a long journey, and at this stage, Castle’s tour is over and has to subject himself to the police.
The metaphoric tunnel, as used in this story, is used both by the mentally disturbed people and all people in the society. Everyone has to go through all the three phases of a tunnel, as depicted in Castle’s story. While for the mentally disturbed people, the tunnel could lead to severe consequences, the situation is different for other people in society. Mentally stable people go through tunnels all their life, with the childhood being the entry into their tunnels and death marking the end of the tunnel. The middle of the tunnel is the most essential part because it the stage that determines how the conditions at the end of the tunnel. Just like Castle, who did not decide to be born a mad man, human beings do not choose to be born into specific situations. However, the middle of the tunnel depicts the years we spend building ourselves. Castle’s middle of the tunnel was characterized by depression and pursuit of love. Most people destroy their end by living a bad life in the middle of the tunnel. To achieve a good ending, one must overcome their desires. For Castel, he was unable to overcome his mental condition, thus end up killing Maria and deciding his fate of a bad end. Similarly, bad decisions ad failures lead to miserable ends.
In conclusion, Castle’s use of the name “El-Tunnel” as an apt metaphor plays a massive role in attracting his readers into understanding the information he presents. Covering the book from Sartre’s concept of “Man Makes himself,” it is evident that Castel is faced with numerous choices in the middle of his tunnel. However, he lets his middle affect the end of his tunnel, by killing Maria and going to jail. Most people have to go through this tunnel in life, with hard choices to make in between the tunnel, and a poor end, determined by the middle.