Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers: A Short Story by Gabriel García Márquez
‘Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers’ is a compelling short story penned by the renowned Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez in 1949. Remarkably, this work emerged when he was just twenty-two years old, marking it as one of his earliest, yet profoundly impactful stories. Its brevity is notable, spanning a mere four pages, yet it encapsulates the essence of Márquez’s thematic depth.
Narrated through the voices of three sleepwalkers, the story unfolds the tragic tale of a woman who plummeted from a second-storey window and subsequently retreated into a state of emotional and psychological paralysis, becoming akin to a living corpse. This narrative serves as a grim exploration of existence devoid of purpose, where the protagonist wills herself to vanish from the world while still physically present.
Summary
The narrative perspective oscillates between one of the three sleepwalkers speaking on behalf of the group and a collective voice encompassing all three, a stylistic choice characteristic of Márquez’s unique storytelling. The focus is on a woman who has languished in isolation for several years, residing, possibly, with the three men. One fateful day, she confides in them that she will never smile again, a proclamation they take to heart. As a result, she retreats to a cold corner of the room, sitting alone on the floor, shrouded in darkness.
The narrator reveals that the three men—who might be brothers or even her sons—lack the audacity to wish for her release from this stifling existence, preferring instead to maintain her in this frigid state of suspended animation, a life that resembles death.
Recollecting the night of her fall years ago, the narrator describes how she descended from the second-storey window, landing face-down in the courtyard, her body seemingly a ‘lukewarm corpse’ before rigor mortis set in. Following the incident, her memories become vague; she recalls hearing a cricket chirping, perceiving it as an ominous force intent on demolishing the wall of her room. On one occasion, she fell asleep against the wall, convinced that the cricket lurked just beyond, attempting to break through. In another instance, she claims to have seen the cricket inside her mirror, believing it had transcended the glass to reach her. In response, the men attempt to rid their home of all insects.
Before declaring her vow to never smile again, the woman had frequently roamed the house at all hours, her movements echoing through the night. However, upon deciding to remain seated on the floor, she has adhered to this choice ever since. The men find themselves yearning to hear her weep once more, wishing to pretend that her cries signify the rebirth of the woman in a new form.
Analysis
The early short stories of Gabriel García Márquez often exhibit the influence of modernist literary figures, including Franz Kafka, while also displaying traces of Faulkner’s style in ‘Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers’. The narrative is deliberately elliptical, leaving the nature of the relationships between the three men and the woman ambiguous. We know she is older than they are, and the narrator’s mention of her being ‘surrounded by healthy sons’ raises the question of whether they truly are her children or if it is merely a poetic expression.
The woman’s experiences reveal her susceptibility to both auditory and visual hallucinations, particularly surrounding the cricket she hears and sees. This ambiguity raises questions about her mental state; has she been driven to madness by sleep deprivation? The narrator notes her own tendency toward somnambulism, as he often hears her wandering through the house at night.
Ultimately, we are left pondering the trauma that may have led to her gradual withdrawal from life until she becomes immobile, expressionless, and barely existent. One might interpret the story as an allegory for dementia, viewing the woman as an elderly mother who has retreated into her own mind, unable to engage with the world around her. The narrator’s admission that he and the other men lack the ‘courage’ to wish for her release through death lends weight to this interpretation, illustrating their internal conflict regarding her suffering.
Symbolism
In ‘Bitterness for Three Sleepwalkers’, the symbolism of earth plays a significant role. When the woman falls, she comes up with a mouthful of dirt, a metaphorical foretaste of death as the narrator notes that it must have already ‘tasted of sepulchral sediment’ for her. The cricket also serves as a potent symbol, representing a communication attempt with the woman, perhaps embodying a harbinger of death or a messenger from another realm seeking to connect with her. The fact that she perceives the cricket in her mirror suggests a deeper reflection of her inner self, possibly a voice striving to reach her, whether it be her former self yearning for resurrection or a future self beckoning her toward death.
The cricket’s insistence on trying to break down the wall further complicates the symbolism; is this wall a barrier between life and death? While the story’s ambiguity compels readers to contemplate these questions, Márquez intentionally leaves them unanswered, allowing us to grapple with the profound existential themes woven throughout the narrative.