Lionica Oconitrillo Thesis

Única Oconitrillo was a teacher and “she was let go when the shortage of professionals was over” (37). After being fired, Única’s life went into a downward spiral and she found herself living in the dump. The dump was a place in Río Azul where trash was disposed and people lived. The dump can be described as “an ant hill of women, men, and children of indecipherable age, rats and mice, dogs, and buzzards, and hundreds of thousands of insects” (24). When Única arrived in the dump “several founders of the divers’ community welcomed the teacher and helped her to put up her shack, at times even with pieces generously donated from neighboring shacks.” (26). This led Única to be optimistic and she said, “there’s nothing here, but you can find everything”

(27). Divers were helpful upon her arrival but Única learned that she had to be independent. For example, “as a recent arrival, she learned that if she wanted water she would have to go down the hill with a bucket” (27). After living in the dump for a few months, she went to church and was told by the priest “not to come back until she found work and could appear decently in the house of God” (31). Única was disappointed to hear this and it made her feel sad. In the story, it says, “the entire morning the feeling of having offended the priest weighed heavily on her like a curse” (31). That situation showed how people that lived in the dump were not accepted because they were not groomed and well dressed. Única didn’t return to the church, but one day the dump found their own priest. The new priest was Carmen and he was called Oso Carmuco because he walked like a bear.
One day while searching through the trash at the dump, Única found the greatest gift, Bacán. In the story, it says, “like so many things of inestimable value, Única found the child in the trash” (36). Bacán gave Única’s life a new purpose because she had someone to love unconditionally. Única was a great mother to Bacán and would use her skills as a former teacher to teach him to read materials from the dump. One day Única and Bacán discovered a “man lying unconscious in the trash and they dedicated half the morning to the arduous task of resurrecting him” (39). A first the man didn’t talk much, but later he revealed that his name was Mondolfo Moya Garro. Mondolfo explained to Única how he arrived at the dump, he said “That day I got early in the morning…I looked at the old photos of my family…I opened the cage for the canary, I locked the door to my house and ready or not, I threw myself into the trash” (43). Mondolfo lived in with Única and Bacán. He slept on a cardboard alone while Única and Bacán slept on a cardboard together. At first, Mondolfo struggled in Río Azul, he wouldn’t eat and wanted to die of hunger. He didn’t start to dive immediately, “he would approach the edge timidly, where the waves of waste would break, he would stand there getting his feet wet, smearing his shoes” (49). Eventually, Mondolfo became a diver and that was good because that allowed for his family to more things from the trash. Mondolfo made an amazing gesture to Única when he allowed her and Bacán to sleep on the cot that he found.
In the beginning, Única and Mondolfo had a friendly relationship, but that changed when Única found a can of squid in the trash.

The can of squid was a delicacy and when Única found it she was excited and said to Mondolfo, “Monboñombo, look at what my Guardian Angel put in the trash for me!” (109). They shared the squid and that night Única and Mondolfo’s relationship changed. That night “they sat down on the road by the shack. He pulled the easy-open tab and the can revealed its generous contents” (109). The author continues to describe the night using expository description, “Mondolfo had the courtesy to spear first, offering her a piece of squid to mouth, and her stomach did a double traction flip” (109). They continued to feed each other and Única was nervous because she was unfamiliar with that kind of feeling. They kissed and Única expressed how she has “never been kissed” they continued and “they took each other’s’ hands and devoured each other on Mondolfo’s cardboard” (109). After this Mondolfo asked Única to marry him, she said yes, and Oso Carmuco was asked to marry them. The wedding happened quickly and people were excited as “nothing else was talked about in the dump, and Oso Carmuco walked around a nervous wreck trying to memorize the Wedding Mass” (115). During the wedding, everyone was happy for them as they “broke out into applause, some threw trash up in the air, they shouted and the whistled”

(117).
A language used in the story was imagery.

Imagery was used to describe the cold conditions in the dump. The cold conditions were too much for the divers and they were “wrapped in burlap sacks that they used as blankets, but the cold wind seeped through everywhere. The grey sky of clouds used in the north and dragged to their country by the winds’ garbage truck” (132). Additionally, there was imagery when it was described how Bacán’s chest was kept warm during the cold, “rubbing it with alcohol until the bottle ran out, and then they used bottles of perfume, rancid ointments and old balms the Única would pick up” (130). Dialogue was also when Única spoke to Mondolfo about the cold weather. When Única was upset with Mondolfo for bringing God into the conversation, she said, “If you continue blaspheming, I’m going to get a divorce”. Another example was when Única said, “that’s how he gets with the flu” when Mondolfo said Bacán was turning yellow (131). The tone at the beginning of the story was optimistic. Única was optimistic about living in the dump and tried to see the world in a bright light. The tone later changed to depressing when Bacán died. Bacán’s death caused her to change and age. After Bacán’s death, “days ran together rapidly, undifferentiated, identical and interminable. Única would only drink a teaspoonful of sugar water” (161). A subtheme in the story is that there are good people everywhere. For example, when Bacán died and the divers to help out. Some people

came to visit like “don Retana who dragged his eighty-five years old to Única’s shack, his horrific arthritis” (163). Another example is when Mondolfo announced to the dump that they would be leaving and “Osos Carmuco accompanied them to the Puntarenas bus station, he embraced them tightly, he kissed Única and he told her choking up that she had been his mother too” (164).