Acto II se encuentra la familia en un barrio pobre de San Juan, irnicamente llamada "La Perla".

Ellos viven al lado de un bar ruidoso y Lito se presenta como un enlace entre la familia y el establecimiento de este. Se infiere que Luis est involucrado en el juego y en una relacin amorosa ilcita con la esposa del dueo. Al final de este acto, Luis no ha tenido xito en 5 trabajos en las fbricas e, irnicamente, termina siendo un jardinero para una familia adinerada, por lo tanto volver a la tierra que l tena la esperanza de huir. Chaguito ha asumido todas las influencias de la calle y sus resultados robos en la crcel. Los primeros hilos de la prostitucin de Juanita aparecer, animado por su amigo, Matilde. Ella se debate entre su educacin tradicional y el atractivo de las calles y sin xito intenta suicidarse despus de un aborto. Doa Gabriela est angustiada por el dolor y acepta la sugerencia de Luis de otro movimiento, esta vez a la ciudad de Nueva York como una solucin a sus problemas.

La Carreta
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(December 2010)

La Carreta
Author(s) Ren Marqus

Country

Puerto Rico

Language

Spanish

Genre(s)

Dramatic play

Publication date

1940s

Media type

Print

La Carreta (English: The Oxcart) is a 1940s play by Puerto Rican playwright Ren Marqus. The story follows a family of "jbaros" that in an effort to find better opportunities end up moving to the United States(see Puerto Rican migration to New York). The story is divided in three acts, each focusing on a specific location. The first act begins with the family preparing to move from the countryside to San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, in search of a "better life". The second act takes place a year later in San Juan, specifically in La Perla slum, where the family has moved. The final act takes place yet another year apart, in The Bronx, New York, where the family has ended, looking for a better life. The most recent production of the play stars Johanna Rosaly in the role of Gabriela. It was performed on March 2009 in Caguas and Santurce in Puerto Rico and will return to the stage in September and October 2009 in Mayaguez and Santurce. The show is produced by New Moon Productions and directed by Pablo Cabrera.

[edit] Characters

Chaguito: a mischievous adolescent, very street wise, who hates school and is extremely aggressive and disrespectfulhe ends up arrested for theft. Doa Gabriela: a widow and mother of Chaguito and Juanita and stepmother of Luis; she has a strong character which is undermined during the transition to the city; she is bound by her role as mother and is very protective of the insecure Luis by supporting his decision to move the family, thereby stifling her true feelings Juanita: the character who experiences the most development in her transition from a docile personality to a strong, politicized one; she challenges the traditional concept of honor and the double standard that obligates women, not men, to maintain the family honor, which she defies by becoming a prostitute; her political development comes as a result of witnessing the oppression of minority groups in New York City, especially through judicial inequalities Don Chago: Doa Gabrielas widowed father who is stubborn in his refusal to follow the family when it leaves the farm for the city; he symbolizes the strength of traditional values through his idealistic love of the land and his nostalgic treatment of the old days; he is very sensitive and intelligent with definite anti-government, anti-capitalistic, and anti-clerical tendencies; he stays behind to spend his remaining days in a cave and dies Luis: Doa Gabrielas oldest son (he is actually the son of her husband and another woman) who assumes leadership of the family; his idealism takes the form of love of progress exemplified in machines and industry; he is completely assimilated into the mechanized world and is insensitive to his surroundings; he dies, ironically, from a freak accident at the factory

Germana: a nosey neighbor on the farm who tries to marry her daughter off to Luis, to no avail Lito: a lively, happy-go-lucky boy who lives in the familys neighborhood in San Juan Matilde: described as a plump 35 year old who encourages Juanita to enter into the life of prostitution in La Perla, San Juan Doa Isabel: 44 year old former teacher who now helps her husband, Don Severo, at the saloon; she is described as tall and slender, well-spoken and well-dressed; has a brief affair with Luis, who is really interested in her niece, Martita Paco: 30 year old Puerto Rican writer and radio announcer who meets Juanita in New York and proposes marriage Lidia: 26 year old friend of Juanita in New York; slender and tall with long hair and bangs Mr. Parkinton: 40 year old American preacher, described as tall and thin, with a patronizing attitude towards the Puerto Ricans he is trying to convert

[edit] Synopsis Of The Play

Act I takes place in an unidentified mountainous region outside of San Juan. The familyDoa Gabriela, Luis, Juanita, and Chaguito, are packing for their move to San Juan. There is a great deal of tension in this scene as the family remembers nostalgically its traditions as they break away from them. Don Chago, the grandfather, refuses to move, and unbeknownst to the family, intends to live out his days in the solitude of a cave. He is Marqus personified in his love of the land and his attitude against industrial development. He blames his deceased son-in-law for the familys inability to keep up with the mortgage payments and the subsequent loss of the farm. Luis, technically the head of the family now that his father has died, decides for them that a move to the city will bring prosperity, and they unquestioningly follow out his wishes. In reality, Luis is the son of his father and another woman, but is accepted totally by Doa Gabriela, who cautiously guards this secret from him, not realizing that he indeed knows. Luis strong determination to secure a better life for his family in a mechanized world can be seen almost as overcompensation for the gratitude he feels as an undeserving stepchild who enjoys the rights and privileges of a blood-relative. Juanita is ambivalent about the move as a local farmer, Miguel, is now courting her. Her mother worries about the sexual implications of this relationship and is relieved to know that it will be severed by their move. Ironically, her attempt to preserve the family honor fails when Juanita falls into prostitution in the city. There is a touching farewell scene as the oxcart approaches to carry them away and their nosey neighbor, Germana, provides comic relief. Act II finds the family in a San Juan slum, ironically called The Pearl. They live alongside a noisy bar and Lito is introduced as a liaison between the family and this establishment. He infers that Luis is involved in gambling and in an illicit love affair with the owners wife. By the end of this act, Luis has been unsuccessful in 5 factory jobs and ironically ends up as a gardener for a wealthy family, thus returning to the land he had hoped to flee. Chaguito has taken on all the influences of the street and his thievery results in incarceration. The first threads of Juanitas prostitution appear, encouraged by her friend, Matilde. She is torn between her traditional upbringing and the lure of the streets and unsuccessfully attempts suicide after an abortion. Doa Gabriela is distraught with grief and accepts Luis suggestion of yet another movethis time to New York City as a solution to their problems.

Act III develops in Morrisania, a Puerto Rican area of the Bronx. It is wintertime and they are suffering the bitter cold for the first time. Juanita is working and rents a room in another part of town. Luis is disgusted by her independence and wants her to move back so that he can support her. She refuses a marriage proposal by a Puerto Rican radio announcer who perceives her sensitivity beyond her citified faCade. Doa Gabriela refuses to confront Juanita by not believing in the obvious source of her income. She is overwhelmed by the changes in the family and gradually loses her fiery spirit. She silently accepts her fate, continuing to accept whatever Luis plans for them. Luis is obsessed by his job in a boiler factory as he provides the family with the trappings of a better life. The play ends as the tragic hero succumbs to his flaw when the machine which he idolizes causes his death. The family returns to Puerto Rico to bury him, again ironically, in the land which he fled.

TYS20S512

| La carreta es una obra teatral donde ni la geografa, ni las oportunidades, ni las tantas adversidades logran alejar el rbol de sus races.

Ren Marqus nace en Puerto Rico en el ao 1919. Atrado por la tierra, decide estudiar agronoma para luego cambiar de profesin[1] y dedicarse a la escritura. La influencia de la tierra, sin embargo, no muere en el transcurso, por el contrario, sus frutos simplemente se trasplantan a otros terrenos. Es en su obra primera, y quiz la ms representativa de su repertorio, donde Marqus estampa su sello agrnomo-creador regalndonos un drama donde el personaje principal es la tierra. La carreta (1952) es una obra teatral donde ni la geografa, ni las oportunidades, ni las tantas adversidades logran alejar el rbol de sus races. La trama de La carreta se lleva a cabo en el campo, en un barrio en la ciudad de San Juan, Puerto Rico y en el condado del Bronx, en la ciudad de Nueva York. Luis es un joven de veinticuatro aos, cuya ascendencia se desconoce, quien, impulsado por la prdida de las pocas tierras que les quedaban a l a su familia, guiado por su instinto patriarcal y movido por su amor a las mquinas[2], se lleva a su familia a vivir a la ciudad. El joven suea con hacerlos felices dndoles todo lo que no han tenido y ofrecindoles una oportunidad para superarse en la vida. Luis carga con su madre de crianza, Gabriela de cincuenta aos de edad, y con sus hermanos Juanita de diecinueve y Chaguito de quince, dejando atrs a su abuelo Don Chago de setenta y tres aos. El viejo se rehsa a abandonar lo que conoce y ama, su tierra. La familia se muda a La Perla, un barrio de mala muerte en la ciudad de San Juan, pensando que all, al contrario que en el campo, se realizaran como individuos. Ya en la ciudad las calamidades que los aguardan son numerosas. Luis no consigue un trabajo estable; Chaguito cae preso por ladrn; Juanita, reaccionando a un embarazo producto de una violacin, intenta suicidarse; y los dolores de cabeza de doa Gabriela parecen no tener fin. El barrio, aunque con vista al mar, es un chiquero ruidoso y apestoso y la casa, una pequea/gran pesadilla. En su bsqueda por mejorar la situacin, tanto suya como de su madre y su hermana, Luis decide entonces viajar a New York. En una selva de cemento donde echar races parece imposible, afloran otros inconvenientes. Ya la falta de comida no es tema principal de preocupacin, pero s lo son el fro, el idioma, la impotencia, las injusticias y la falta de educacin. En medio una profunda insatisfaccin y guiado por su curiosidad o ignorancia o curiosa ignorancia, Luis muere tragado (devorado) por una mquina en su lugar de trabajo. Doa Gabriela y Juanita entonces deciden regresar a su campo a reencontrarse con sus races y, de una buena vez, esperan cortar su mardisin[3] de raz.

El campo, El arrabal y La metrpolis como llama Marqus las tres estampas[4] de su obra, dividen la historia acorde con la situacin fsica en que se encuentran sus personajes principales. No obstante, hay referencias en la obra que indican una estructura ms bien circular. La obra comienza en el campo, en el barrio como sus personajes lo

llaman, y sugiere que all terminarn las sobrevivientes del trasplante, doa Gabriela y Juanita, las responsables de sembrar los rboles y los frutos futuros. En la primera estampa, Don Chago hace uso de un smil para glorificar y personificar la tierra. ste expresa: [] Y la tierra, sea ma o ajena, sigue siendo la tierra. Tiene el mehmo olol, y el mehmo olor cuando llueve, y se deja trabajal como una hembra humilde. Y eh mejor que una jembra polque pare sin gritoh ni ahpavientoh. Y a mh, que pare lo que uno quiere. (19) Del mismo modo, doa Gabriela, en la ltima estampa y al momento en que decide regresar a su pueblo, dice que [l]a tierra no se abandona [...] Eh la tierra que da va (171). Ambos personajes aluden a la tierra como un ente de infinito y mgico poder. Tanto as, que incluso es la tierra la culpable de que, al alejarse de ella, las cosas hayan ido en picada para esta familia. La mardisin de la tierra! La tierra es sagr (171), plantea doa Gabriela.

El diccionario describe la tierra como el [p]laneta en que vivimos; patria; pas, regin, entre otras cosas (Vzquez; nfasis mo). Me pregunto si la visin de Marqus va ms all de su tierra Puerto Rico y su plan es extender su ideal por todo el territorio donde vivimos, a lo que consideramos nuestro pas, a nuestra patria. Por otro lado, tanta devocin y respeto por la tierra motivan a indagar qu significa la tierra? Segn el diccionario de smbolos la tierra es [u]no de los cuatro elementos de la tradicin clsica y un concepto cargado de muchas asociaciones simblicas (down-to-earth, earthiness, earth mother, Ill see you under the earth first). En muchas cosmologas antiguas, la tierra es representada por una diosa maternal (Gaea en griego, Tellus en latn, Nerthus en alemn y Papa en polinesio) [] En el sistema clsico (occidental) de correspondencia, el elemento tierra se asocia con el temperamento melanclico, black bile (bilis negra), otoo, y con el rencor. [] En la tradicin islmica, la tierra es importante por ser el material de donde se formaron los primeros humanos[5]. (Biedermann 110, 111; traduccin ma)

Slo podemos aludir, sin certeza alguna, a las razones precisas del por qu Marqus utiliza el smbolo de la tierra como matriz de su planteamiento. Sin embargo, lo que s podemos concluir es que ya sea guiado por la tradicin que sea, Marqus plasma en su obra su amor por la tierra; esa tierra borinquea movida por una la situacin poltico-social de la poca, y que ante sus ojos, estaba perdiendo su borinqueidad.

Inspirada por el recurso de personificacin, pens entonces en despersonificar. Despus de analizar a los personajes principales, y guiada por las pistas que supuse dej plasmada el autor en su obra, contempl la idea de hacer de esta familia un rbol cualquiera. Un rbol que, como el Coqu, desnace[6] fuera de su hbitat. Juanita, violada, despojada, ultrajada, representa la flor que como sta se abre para que los pjaros coman de ella[7]; Chaguito podra representar la hoja verde que, movido por el temporal, cae; Luis, el tronco recto y fuerte, aquel que sostiene el rbol; Gabriela y Don Chago, las races que alimentan con su sabia bruta el rbol. La tierra, entonces, es la cultura, lo autctono, lo que no se vende, ni se compra, ni se abandona. Lo que uno lleva consigo independientemente de dnde a una la planten. Considero que es el autor quien, literalmente, sugiere esta lectura metafrica, simblica. Es el mismo Marqus quien, en una de sus acotaciones, sugiere que el rbol ha sido mudado. Marqus anota: [] Luis entra por la izquierda. Se ve ahora nervioso y taciturno. Hay algo terriblemente perturbador royendo el alma de este jbaro transplantado (119). No se puede mudar un rbol sin que traiga consigo sus races. Para desgracia de esta familia, tampoco se puede sembrar un rbol en selva de cemento. El rbol o se adapta a los cambios climticos o se muere. Juanita (Flor) y doa Gabriela (Raz) se regresan a sembrar la semilla, su semilla; la semilla que luego echar races y esas races se convertirn en troncos que luego tendrn ramas y hojas y flores y frutos y estos continuarn la cultura borinquea; aquella que slo nace en Puerto Rico. Obras citadas Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism. Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them. Trans. James Hulbert. New York: Meridian, 1994.

Marqus, Ren. La carreta. Ed. Francisco M. Vzquez. 22 ed. Rio Piedras: Editorial Cultural, 1983. Vzquez, Jos Antonio, ed. Diccionario Enciclopdico. Barcelona: Olimpia, 1995. Notas

[1] Marqus estudi literatura en Madrid y a sus veintin aos, aproximadamente, se inicia en la escritura. [2] En Puerto Rico, los aos cincuenta se recuerdan como los tiempos de la industrializacin borinquea. [3] En su obra, Marqus representa los fenmenos fonticos del dialecto puertorriqueo no slo semntica sino tambin gramaticalmente. [4] El autor nombra estampas los actos de su obra dndoles, de este modo, un sentido ms de realidad que de ficcin al drama. [5] One of the four elements of classical tradition, and a concept charged with many symbolic associations (down-to-earth, earthiness, earth mother, Ill see you under the earth first). In many ancient cosmologies the earth is represented by a maternal goddess (Greek Gaea, Latin Tellus, Germanic Nerthus, Polynesian Papa) [] In the classical (Occidental) system of correspondences, the element earth is associated with the melancholy temperament Black bile, autumn, and the spleen [] In Islamic tradition, earth is important as the material from which the first humans are made. [6] Neologismo mo.