Renato Bley

Renato Bley is a wealthy landowner near Fortín Tiburcio whose marriage to Simona Gaetán turns into years of domination and abuse. His death in a flood, which Simona witnesses without saving him, ends her confinement and gives the novel’s account of her life a decisive break between captivity and freedom.

Identity and Courtship

A widower aged thirty-nine, Renato had known Simona for years through her parents’ restaurant in Buenos Aires. She was twenty when she began to see him as an answer to her troubles. His wealth, good looks, dancing, and conspicuous courtship appealed to her vanity, while her deepening conflict with her mother helped make marriage seem like a way out. Renato stayed in Buenos Aires for six months and repeatedly asked her to marry him, eventually winning her agreement despite her mother’s warning.

Marriage and Control

The newlyweds settled on Renato’s estate near Fortín Tiburcio, a small settlement by the Arroyo Salado. The immense, sparsely populated plain and the austere house, shared with Renato’s sisters Augusta and Salomé, left Simona far from her old life. At first, he was affectionate and gave her a mare; she learned to ride and gradually came to love the landscape. That early contentment did not last.

Renato continued to travel to Buenos Aires, increasingly leaving Simona at the estate with his sisters. They watched her closely and fixated on whether she would become pregnant. When a doctor in Junín told Simona that Renato was sterile, she relayed the news to Augusta. After Renato returned and learned she had consulted the doctor, he assaulted her. The revelation of his infertility did not lessen his power over her; instead, blame was turned against Simona.

For seven years, Renato governed the ordinary details of his wife’s life: her clothes, shoes, hair, meals, outings, and the distance she could walk from the house. He alternated rewards and punishments according to his own will. Simona, once rebellious and self-willed, became afraid to question her submission. Each April, Renato promised to take her to Buenos Aires for her birthday with her mother and sister. The visits came with violence intended to keep her from speaking before the trip and discourage her from staying afterward. Affection and violence coexisted, while Simona came to feel responsible for her treatment and for failing to bear a child, although Renato was sterile.

Death in the Flood

During a flood, Renato and Simona drove out together to reach cattle caught near the river. Renato went down to rescue the animals, and Simona lost sight of him. She heard him call for a rope and saw him clinging to a small root that soon broke. The water carried him away before she could act. Simona says she wanted neither to kill him nor to save him, and did neither; she watched as he struck a rock and disappeared downstream.

After four days and three nights of rain, the rain stopped at that moment, though the river remained fierce. Simona walked back slowly, remembering her mother and crying, but no longer feeling lost or afraid. Instead of returning to the house, she went to Fortín Tiburcio to report what had happened. The gendarmes later took her to the estate. Renato’s remains were found over several days, and the remains of his head could not be identified with certainty.

Release and Significance

Renato’s rule over Simona depended on both isolation and her belief that she was to blame. His death does not erase the years of control, but it changes the terms of her life: she leaves the estate to seek help rather than returning directly to the house. The flood brings together the physical destruction of Renato’s world of property and authority and Simona’s first unhurried movement beyond it. Her decision not to save him is presented as the culmination of a relationship in which he had made her life subject to his will, not as a simple act of revenge.