Donahue, Darcy

Rodriguez, Alfred

English

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Literary Onomastics Studies
Volume 11 Article 16
1984
The Exceptional Function of Some Names in Su
Unico Hijo
Alfred Rodriguez
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Darcy Donahue
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
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Repository Citation
Rodriguez, Alfred and Donahue, Darcy (1984) "The Exceptional Function of Some Names in Su Unico Hijo," Literary Onomastics
Studies: Vol. 11 , Article 16.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/los/vol11/iss1/16
LOS 197 
THE EXCEPTIONAL FUNCTION OF SOME NAMES 
IN .§!! UNICO HIJO 
Alfred Rodriguez and Darcy Donahue 
The University of New Mexico 
Albuquerque, New Mexico 
In his int.eresting study of names in the short stories of 
Leopoldo Alas, the nineteenth century Spanish writer better known 
as •clarln,• Kronik concludes that,for the most part, these are a 
vehicle for the author's generally ironic vision of society. 
Allusive names, therefore, •are most often in line with his m�tier 
as a critic'and satirist,• and it is through such names that this 
writer most' often communicates a concept of a character which is 
far from favorable. Other uses of names include, •symbolic 
effect, the mere desire to be cl.ever, the short story's demands 
for compression and concision, or even straight portrayal of a 
character or situation.•1 Such uses of nomenclature are also 
evident in Alas' novels. It is the pupose of the present study to 
examine the function of various names in his second and final 
novel, su �nico hijo. 
The male protagonist of this unusual work presents an obvious 
ambivalence in his role both as man and husband,2 and thus 
anticipates the modern projection of masculinity in literature.3 
LOS 198 
This is· due at least in part to the at the time unheard of 
transference which Clarfn effects in sexual matters.4 As the 
passive agent, and it could even be said •object• in its modern 
sense, in this dimension of life which has traditionally 
determined sexual roles, Bonifacio, the protagonist, is an 
5 anomaly. 
This being the case, it seems appropriate to interpre·t the · 
selection of the name Bonifacio as involving a characterizing 
function, and what makes.it especially meaningful is the rich· 
complexity which the author achieves through this selection. 
In the first place, the complete name, Bonifacio, openly sets 
forth the physical aspect of the character, his great external 
6 beauty. This phy·sical attractiveness is so often emphasized, 
and exercises such central!� ln the novei's plot, that the name 
selected can only be considered a conscious and calculated device 
on the part of the author. Thus, Bonifacio, dep�cted as his. 
wife's sexual. object, has a name which carries within it· the cause-
of this. subjugation. 
It is also quite significant that the· protagonist is most· 
frequently identified by the familiar and everyday nickname, 
•sonis, • an.appellation which is almost invariably'used by his 
wife, Emma. Through its use-Clarfn achieves another level of 
characterization, since the· insistence o� the first part of the· 
name, whose semantic value is clear in Spanish, sets forth and' 
LOS 199 
underlines the psychological or spiritual aspect of this 
character. The name, almost an epithet, in the circumstances in 
which Bonifacio lives, suffering the physical and psychological 
abuse of his domineering spouse, assumes the clear connotation of 
•meek• or •mild,• rather than merely •gdod.• In effect, each time 
the name •Bonis• is employed,· especially by his wife, the reader 
is openly reminded of the long-suffering and meek nature which 
distinguishes this character. 
Finally, the choice of this name by Clar{n can only suggest to 
the knowledgeable reader an exceptional human situation which 
proceeds from popular Christian tradition: t�e biography of Saint 
Boniface of Tarsus.7 Such a linking through names is, further-
more, in perfect accord with the unveiledly parodic nature of the 
religious allusions which occur throughout the nove1. 8 
Although the plot and characterization of this, Clarln•s last 
novel, is well ahead of much of what twentieth century literature 
would develop in its exceptional inaight into both the masculine 
and feminine psyche, it is significant that the novelist may have 
acquired some of this insight from the Christian tradition of the 
lives of the saints. The story . of Saint Boniface is interesting 
in its human dimension because it reveals an enormous sexual 
aggressivity in its female figures, while the male protagonist is 
seen as a passive participant.9 The parallel with the plot of 
S I . h' . , b , 10 U Un1CO 1]0 19 0 V10US. 
Los zoo· 
At this point it seems worthwhile to underline the intricate 
game of characterizing which Clar!n employs through the process of 
naming just analyzed� The
. 
assigning of an attributive function to 
the names of characters is a universal literary device, and of 
widespread occurrence in the literature'of nineteenth century 
realism which tended to typify explicitly. But this usage of 
nomenclature was somewhat less complex and rich because it was 
unidimensional and,therefore, more obvious 'than that which we see 
in su �nico hijo. In the remainder of this paper, we will suggest 
other even more subtle ways in which Clarfn ma�ipulates nomen-
clature in.this novel. 
The constant use �f allusions and religious paraliels with 
special reference .to the New Testament, is, as some critics have 
d .11 . observe , .. the thematic cru� of the novel. It is not at all 
surpri9ing, then, that th� novelist s�lected a Biblically 
emblemrnatic name to baptize. the most shocking f'ema.le character in 
the work: Marta, the personification of sensual excess in woman. 
In Occidental tradition based on ·the New Testament the emblem 
of Marta and Maria as it occurs in Luke ·lO, xxxviii-xlii, has come 
. 
. 
to represent two opposite sides of woman: Maria -· spiritual and 
mystical subli.mation; Marta - ari obsession with the e.arthly and 
material. Carried to an extreme, as may occur in modern litera-
- ture, the practical materialism of'Marta comes, through a logical. 
progression, to reflect, •the unconscious world of flesh and 
1 2  matter. • 
LOS 201 
Clearly, the fact that Marta is the only feminine name in 
Spanish which coincides with that of an animal, the marten, 
belonging to the weasel family, points toward the earthy and even 
animalistic qualities of a woman so named. It is a coincidence 
which had already been explo�ted literarily with a particularly 
sensual and satiricalecho by Gtngora upon attacking Marta de 
Nevares, one of the many paramours of his literary adversary, Lope 
de Vega.13 What Clarfn does with the Marta of su �nico hijo is 
to take a decisive step - but one well founded on occidental 
traditions of literary representation - which broadens, inten-
sifies and modernizes the feminine emblem. At the same time that 
the name Marta supports the parodic format of the work as a whole, 
it gives life to a very anti-feminist emblem of female 
. l't 14 an1ma 1 y. 
The irony of the name of the woman who becomes Bonifacio's 
lover can only suggest a Clarfn who is both conscious and 
deliberate in the naming of characters. The name Serafina alludes 
to a religious dimension, thereby complying with the novel's 
norm. Bu� this allusion is ironically inverted and made into a 
parody of its original sense. The religious content of the name 
indicates two things clearly: the angelic, and musical 
excellence, since the seraphim by definition form the second choir 
of angels. Serafina is not angelic (her sensuality and sexual 
aptitude are clearly depicted in the novel), and her musical 
LOS 202 
abilities, in a state of total decadence, are the object of 
frequent jokes. 
The ·case of Eufemia, Emma Valcarcel's· personal maid, also 
reveals a possible innovative use of nomenclature by the author. 
As Professor Richmond notes in her thorough edition of the work, 
Clarfn•s allusions to Emma's lesbianism are vague and 
. d' 15 1n 1rect. It has occurred to us that Clarfn, wishing to 
establish in this character a lesbianism which would complete ·the 
picture of feminine depravation which she personifies (and not 
able to or desiring to offer the reader anything that might be 
shockingly explicit),16 opted to do so through . an intelligent 
maneuver of suggestive naming. 
Eufemia, the young woman whom the novel presents in constant 
contact, day and night, with an Emma described in the most extreme 
terms of morbid and eccentric sensuality, seems by her very office 
and condition the logical vehicle for Emma's lesbian tenden­
cies.17 If we assume.that Clar!n counted on the intelligent 
") 
sensibility of his readers to pick up his hints and insinuations, 
and that the reader would be led to suspect at least the 
possibility of an Emma-Eufemia relationship,· it seems appropriate 
to interpret the naming of the young maid in th�se special terms. 
Such being the case, 'it does not seem at all strange, given 
the subtlety of Clarfn•s game of allusions, that he chose the name 
LOS 203 
Eufernia as the key to the true and implicit role which she 
fulfills in Emma's life. The root of the name in question, from 
which the term •euphemism• proceeds, could very well have the 
function of suggesting that this figure's role in the novel, that 
of personal maid, is only a euphemistic projection of her true 
function in t�e work and in Emma Valcarcel's horne. 
, As has already been seen, Clar1n employs the naming of 
characters i.n an unusual way, to characterize as well as to 
reinforce the plot development. This is so much the case that 
even those names which may seem most innocent may have a 
measurable effect upon the interpretation of a given character. 
An example of this would be Emma's uncle, Juan Nepornuceno, a name 
in which Richmond justifiably finds no symbolic value.18 But it 
was not necessary for Clarfn, for the literary effects which he 
wished to extract from the name, that it have any symbolism. In 
contrast to Juan, Juan Antonio, Juan Jose, etc., names like Juan 
Evangelista, Juan Bautista or Juan Nepornuceno allude patently to 
saints, and by association, the saintly qualities they possess. 
It is enough, then, for Clar(n, that the name as it occurs 
throughout the novel allude both generally and directly to a 
religious dimension which reinforces that of the whole work and 
that, in particular, it al�ude to a saintliness which is 
diametrically opposed to the conduct of the figure bearing this 
name in the nove1.19 It represents, therefore, a form of 
linguistic irony which supports the tone of the entire work • 
• 
WS 2� 
In conclusion, a great. part of the naming in su !nico hijo, as 
has been noted by the critics in some specific cases,20 suggests 
a Clar!n willing to employ and raise to innovative levels, the 
technique of including characterizing and novelistic functions in 
the names of literary characters. The preceeding pages prove, we 
believe, the extent to which the author ,achieves his esthetic ends 
through his naming devices. 
Alfred Rodr!guez and Darcy Donahue 
The University of New Mexico University at Albuquerque 
LOS 205 
Notes 
1. J. Kornik, •The Function of Names in the Stories of Leopolodo 
Alas,• Modern Language Notes, 80 (1965), 260-265. 
2. See, for example, M. Baquero Goyanes, •una novela de Clar{n: 
su �nico Hijo,• in Prosistas espangles contemporlneos: 
Alarctn, Leopoldo Alas, Gabriel Mirt, Azor!n (Madrid, 1965), 
pp. 60-79. 
3. The weak and passive male is, for example, a standard fixture 
in Unamuno's narrative. 
4. Both Emma, his wife,and Serafina, his lover, impose upon 
Bonifacio their own sexual style and demands. In both cases 
the sexual aggressivity is shifted in a radical way. 
5. The male who is weak and dominated by the woman is not, in 
Clarfn, as he is not later in Unamuno, of doubtful mascu­
linity in sexual matters. The anomaly in the functioning of 
masculinity is due in both cases to will, and not to biology. 
6. The Latin definition is unequivocal: good face, good 
appearance. 
7. For another literary version, in this case explicit but 
equally insistent about feminine sensuality, see Francisco 
Rojas zorrilla's La vida en el ataud. 
'\; ' 
LOS 206 
8. S�e, for example, F. w. Weber, "Ideology and Religious Parody 
in the Novels of Leopoldo Alas," Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 
43 (1966), 197-208. 
9. The religious fervor and martyrdom of the saint naturally have 
no concrete equivalents in the life of Bonifacio Reyes, but 
his strongly religious attitude, although clearly a parody by 
Clar!n (the Annunciation, the awaited son, etc.), still has, 
with all the parodic provisos, a certain similarity to that of 
the homonymous saint. 
10. In the saint's biography, he is the servant of a rich and 
powerful woman who actively woos and wins him. 
11. See Leopoldo Alas, su &nico hijo, Carolyn Richmond, ed., 
�Madrid: Espasa Calpe, s. A., 1979), P. 1. 
12. s. K. Ugalde, Gabriel Celaya (Boston: Twayne Publishers; 
1978), p.· 120. The reference is to Lazaro calla, the Spanish 
poet's novel in which the nominal paradigm of the New 
Testament is given a universal projection. 
13. ·For the exact context in which this attack occurs# see 
Rennert-castro, Vida de Lope de Vega. (Madrid: Impr. los 
Sucesores de Hernando, 1919), p. 242. 
14. For a study of the anti-feminism in this novel, see P. �. 
Ullman, "The Antifeminist Premises of Clarfn•s su tinico hijo,• 
Estudios Ibero-Americanos, 1 (1975), 57-91. 
15. Alas, Su dnico hijo, p. 191. Richmond's note refers to the 
Emma-Marta relationship. 
LOS 207 
16. The powerful taboo concerning sexual aberration which 
dominated the literature of the last century should be 
kept in mind. We know of no novel which deals with 
homosexuality explicitly. 
17. For the indications of a special, secret relationship 
between Emma and her maid, see Alas, pp. 122, 128, and the 
following quote, 148: •La doncella, en verdad, 'ten!a sus 
motivos para no asombrarse tanto como los ·otros: primero, 
porque las locuras de la se�orita eran para ella el pan 
nuestro de cada d(a, y locuras algunas de un ginero 
, t' 1 d � , • 1n 1mo, secreta, que os emas no conoc1an • • •  
18. See Alas, p. 14, note 6. 
19. Uncle John is, in the novel, the personification of 
avarice, deceit, and lust. 
20. See Richmond's long note concerning Emma's name, for 
example. Alas, p. 1. As will be seen in the same note, 
Richmond sees a personal, sarcastic intent in the name, 
Bonifacio. 
-


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