Character Analysis: The
Automobile Graveyard (Le Cimetière des voitures) — 1958 By Fernando
Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal’s The
Automobile Graveyard (Le Cimetière des voitures) presents a
collection of unusual characters who inhabit a strange world of abandoned
automobiles. Rather than functioning simply as realistic individuals, several
characters also contribute to the play’s religious, social, and absurdist
dimensions. At the centre of the drama is Emanou, whose character and fate
recall Jesus Christ, while Fanchon, Lasca, Milton, Tiosido, and the policemen
help create the unusual community and conflict surrounding him.
Emanou
Emanou is
the central and most important character in the play. He is a musician who
lives among the marginalized inhabitants of the automobile graveyard. His
gentle nature and his relationship with music distinguish him from the violence
and disorder surrounding him. He is not presented as a conventional hero who
uses physical strength to overcome his enemies. Instead, his significance comes
from his innocence, compassion, and willingness to remain among people who have
been rejected by society.
Emanou has a strong Christ-like
dimension. His name, actions, persecution, arrest, suffering, and death
recall the story of Jesus Christ. Arrabal, however, places this religious
figure in a bizarre modern environment rather than a traditional biblical
setting. Emanou therefore becomes both a character within the story and a
symbolic figure whose fate gives the play its religious and tragic dimension.
His relationship with the
people of the automobile graveyard is also important. He does not separate
himself from the poor and socially rejected. He lives among them and shares
their difficult existence. His eventual persecution makes him a representative
of the innocent individual confronted by an oppressive authority. Through
Emanou, Arrabal presents goodness and compassion as vulnerable qualities in a
violent world.
Fanchon
Fanchon is
closely associated with Emanou and represents the emotional and human side of
his life. Her relationship with him provides moments of affection and intimacy
within the otherwise harsh world of the automobile graveyard. She is not simply
a secondary figure; her presence helps reveal Emanou as a human being capable
of love and attachment.
Fanchon's character also
contributes to the contrast between love and violence that runs through
the play. While the authorities pursue Emanou and ultimately bring about his
destruction, Fanchon is connected with companionship and emotional loyalty. Her
relationship with Emanou makes his suffering more personal and emphasizes the human
cost of his persecution.
Lasca
Lasca is
one of the older inhabitants of the automobile graveyard. She belongs to the
strange community that has established itself among the abandoned vehicles and
is familiar with its customs and harsh realities. Her character helps the
audience understand the social world in which Emanou lives.
Lasca represents the marginalized
community that exists outside respectable society. She has adapted to a
world that most people would consider abnormal. Through her and the other
inhabitants, Arrabal shows how people who have been excluded from conventional
society create their own forms of existence and companionship.
Milton
Milton is
another inhabitant of the automobile graveyard. Like the other residents, he
contributes to the unusual social environment in which the drama takes place.
His character is less central than Emanou or Fanchon, but he helps establish
the collective identity of the people living in this strange location.
Milton's importance lies
partly in his position within the community of outsiders. The
inhabitants are not presented as isolated individuals; together they form a
small society of people living among the discarded remains of modern
civilization. Milton therefore contributes to the play's broader picture of
social exclusion and alienation.
Tiosido
Tiosido is
also a member of the automobile graveyard community. His presence strengthens
the impression that the graveyard is not merely an empty place but a
functioning, though highly unconventional, social world. Like Milton and Lasca,
he belongs to a group living outside ordinary social structures.
Through characters such as
Tiosido, Arrabal creates a collective portrait of people who have been pushed
to the margins. Their lives contrast with the authority and order represented
by the police. They help make the automobile graveyard a place where the
rejected and forgotten have created their own form of community.
The Policemen
The policemen
function both as characters and as representatives of institutional authority.
Their primary role is connected with the search for Emanou, his arrest, and the
violence that follows. Unlike the inhabitants of the graveyard, they represent
the organized structures of society and the power to enforce rules through
force.
The policemen are important
because they create the central external conflict of the play. Their pursuit of
Emanou recalls the persecution of Jesus by the authorities in the biblical
story. At the same time, they represent the more general conflict between the
individual and an oppressive system. Their authority is physical and
institutional, while Emanou's strength is moral and spiritual.
The Inhabitants of the
Automobile Graveyard
Although the individual
inhabitants have different roles, they can also be viewed collectively as an
important character group. They are people living on the margins of
society, surrounded by abandoned automobiles and separated from the conventional
world.
Their collective presence is
essential to Arrabal's dramatic world. They represent people who have been
forgotten or rejected, yet they continue to form relationships, seek
companionship, and survive. Their lives create a sharp contrast with the
institutional world represented by the police.
Overall Characterization
The characters in The
Automobile Graveyard are not developed solely through conventional
psychological realism. Arrabal uses them to construct a strange theatrical
world in which human beings, social outsiders, religious figures, and
representatives of authority come into conflict. Emanou stands at the
centre as the Christ-like figure of innocence, love, suffering, and sacrifice.
Fanchon provides an important emotional connection to him, while Lasca, Milton,
and Tiosido help establish the community of marginalized people. The policemen
represent the forces of authority and persecution.
Together, these characters
create the distinctive world of the play, where the personal, social,
religious, and absurd constantly intersect.
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