Wow. Teresa de la Parra’s “Mama Blanca’s Memoirs” was such an interesting read and made me feel nostalgic in a way. The second paragraph in the Foreword, where she wrote “It was not kinship that bound me to Mama Blanca, but mysterious spiritual affinities that in the commerce of souls weave the brief or enduring web of sympathy, friendship, or love, which are separate stages in that supreme joy of mutual understanding”, I felt sadness, loss and somehow nostalgic. This sentence really captured my interest and drew me in to the text.
Throughout the reading I was really drawn in by how everything and everyone was described in such a specific and particular way, that on the one hand you knew exactly what the narrator was conveying, but at the same time it was left up to your own imagination. The way scenes and situations were described really stood out to me because the perspective was from a child (Blanca Nieves childhood), but things were described in a far more intricate way. The narrator’s use of descriptive language like this, brought in a sense of realness to it and it made you forget that everything that was being told was from a child’s perspective. Something like “…my independent soul, my inviolable soul, which Evelyn could not take by the arm, did indeed resist!” (30), was interesting to think about when imagined being said in a child’s voice.
Besides the descriptive language, the relationship dynamics that were brought in between Blanca and her sisters (especially Violeta), and her mother was something I felt most people could relate to (I definitely could). The argument and fight between Blanca and Violeta really stood out to me (mostly because I could relate it to my brother and myself) and it captured my interest how seeing Violeta crying put Blanca in distress, and made her start crying. It was such a contrast from what I was expecting the scene to end up like. From where the scene started to where it ended was sweet but is also got me thinking about how that fight must have been so significant for the narrator to recount it, when describing her childhood. The argument could have just been a dumb story that was meant to be funny, but if you traced it back to where the fight started you would realize just how significant Mama’s need for Blanca to have curly hair was and how it affected the way he childhood progressed.
The constant need Mama had to ensure that all her daughters had the same curly hair, made me feel sorry for Blanca because she kind of lived in her childhood in a lie. Now, it may seem like I am exaggerating but the fact that Blanca’s hair was mentioned through the text, kind of proved just how significant it was to her that her mother was constantly trying to “change her”. Again, this reiterates the idea of how small things that may not seem as significant when you’re a kid, can actually have a big impact on you. It can change the way you view your childhood and yourself.
Overall, I would say this reading was quite interesting and the visuals that were painted in my mind, will stay with me for a long time. The different detailed descriptions kept me visualising throughout the text and had me thinking about my childhood.
Question to think about: Was there a particular scene that was described, that made you think back to your childhood? And if so, how did you feel when recalling that memory?
“she kind of lived in her childhood in a lie.”
Do you think that there are any other ways in which Mama Blanca’s (Blanca Nieves’s) childhood was a “lie”?
Jon
Hi Alizey,
Thanks for you post!
A scene that stood out to me was the girls playing near the mill, surrounded by nature, and seeing the natural progression of work coming from the millhands. They walked up to the millhands, asked them numerous questions, to only run away and ask other millhands the same questions. This to me is the epitome of childhood – a time of free-flowing question asking, of curiosity, yet at the same time of a unrelenting liveliness and running-about. Blanca Nieves speaks to how much the mill means to the girls, whether it be wanting to bathe with their Mama in the stream, or want to eat sugar cane from the surrounding foliage. All this depicts, in my view, the seeming perfection of childhood innocence. There is no acknowledgement of hardships nor inequalities during these scenes near the mill, which centralizes the mill as a place of youth, vibrancy, and the utmost freedom of creativity and exploration. There are many moments in my life, mostly in my childhood, which I have felt this sense of freedom – and one should acquaint themselves with that feeling whenever possible. It may not be likely that one can experience this feeling all the time, but when it appears, welcome it into your life.
Take care,
Curtis HR
Hi Alizey,
I like your take on the text’s descriptive language. I talk a lot about milk in my blog post, but the description/scene of how the sisters eagerly awaited for their daily milk serving reminds me of the nostalgic quality of food or drink. I, for example, always associate hot chocolate with the holiday season because of my experience drinking it during that time as a child.
Katherine
Hi! I agree that some aspects, especially the relationships between women were very relatable but otherwise the work actually left me feeling like I’d really missed out on something. I was exclusively raised in major cities, which in all honesty I have at times been slightly smug about (I’m not proud). But this work was, as it itself alludes to, almost a piece of romanticism. It made me long for a past that I can never have and will likely never even truly understand.
Hi Alizey,
I also noticed how much of De La Parra’s writing utilized nostalgia and the overarching theme of “play.” Additionally, while touching on aspects of conflict and social inequalities.
The poetic form of writing, along with childhood stories, did make me think of my childhood as well. Nostalgia was a prominent theme that came up form me when I read this sentence in the forward that says, “Contrary to what the rich and mighty of this world think, life’s slender comes not from what it gives but from what it promises (8)” as it reminded me of when I was growing up and my grandmother stressed to me that it is more important to be rich in love than it is to be rich in material items.