Poor Clara

Roberto Bolano's short story "Clara" is written as an almost bitter memory the narrator has of this woman named Clara. The narrator's struggle with his relationship with Clara has a more 'real' element than most short stories. The reader understands his deep love for her, though he comes across as bitter and standoffish throughout the text. Because Bolano's story is more of the retelling of a memory than a well-thought out story, it seems to lack some story elements. In the 'real world' it is difficult to identify whether a person grows and changes because of the circumstances in his/her life or he/she chooses exactly how his/her story is going to be told. While a writer can control the outcome of his/her story by deciding whether the story will be character driven or plot driven, we don't entirely have that luxury in real life. This is reflected in "Clara." To  say that this story is almost entirely driven a character or a plot would take away from the point Bolano's is trying to make in this story.

It can certainly be argued that "Clara" is character driven, because Clara's instability, insecurity, and indecisiveness are a result of the decisions she made. She quit high school and tried "all those one year diploma courses supposedly leading to job opportunities that desperate young people keep jumping at or falling for." Her first marriage ended quickly, and her first husband was abusive. Her second marriage didn't last, because she slept with a guy from the office and her husband began seeing another woman, also. Her insecurities and mental instability seem to be direct results of her choices, which would make it seem that the story is character driven. After all, this story  is about Clara and without Clara, there wouldn't be a story.

On the flip side of the token, it can also be argued that the story is plot/theme driven. Had Clara finished high school she could have gotten a 'real' job. Had she won the beauty contest, she wouldn't have faced such deep depression so early on. Perhaps if Clara's first husband wasn't abusive, they would have stayed together and lived happily ever after. Perhaps he could have helped her through her depression and mental illness; after all, he got rid of the rats she was afraid of. 

Though it is hard to distinguish whether this story is distinctly plot driven or character driven, I think that adds to the story. Life cannot be broken down like that, and that is what makes this story more real. Clara could not handle the things life threw at her, and though the narrator seems frustrated with who she was and had become he still loved her deeply. Bolano wrote the story in a way that it could not be broken down as either plot or character driven; the plot and the character enhanced each other and kept the story moving.