What surprised me most about reading Maria Luisa Bombal’s “The Shrouded Woman” was the absurdity of how the narrator’s every moment goes against her own expectations and there is something spiritual about the fact that the narrative is carried by a dead woman (The Shroud) as there is a feeling you get that nothing really matters at all. The experience of diving into her perspective gives me the sense of hopelessness through massive efforts to keep those we love close to us, even though they might not feel the same about us. It reminded me of a F. Scott Fitzgerald quote: “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” The writing itself is compelling in its nature because it serves as a memory of the life of a deceased woman and can even be regarded as a mystery of being misunderstood as a woman to a man which is exhibited at the fact how the dead are quick to be forgotten. Sometimes not existing or being seen can be mistaken for being dead, which opens up many avenues of thought. The definition of life and living one properly seems impossible for the narrator to comprehend.
Bombal’s narrative approach fills the reader of a desolate past and a metaphorical way of showing the present. It’s not the fact that Antonio sometimes treats the narrator with indifference, but the fact that he is not even aware that he was. People tend to forget about the good times, but the bad ones somehow remain to be remembered. The narrator was not only physically dead, that was not so important as to be obvious, but she felt dead when she was alive as well. The personality she develops is centered around her existence, each thing that she does and thinks as part of her testing the world before she comes to accept it— but she never does, which is the problem and the address of it through this particular writing. Her reflections are what keep her together as the world she envisions herself loving falls apart. This can also be a metaphor for how a man gave Ana Maria the world, but she was not able to do with it. “One does not sleep with impunity so many nights beside a man, young and in love!” (223). In general, the world could be a metaphor for the man. It is a way of establishing the perception of women and their basic needs that never seem to be met because there is a struggle of understanding on how love should be communicated between lovers just as much as with friends. I think Bombal has created an exceptional voice that makes us feel like the narrator is dying on the inside with how she describes her environment.
My question would be: What is the argument about death in the story and what does that have to say in its relation to life?
Hi David,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I was also thinking that love should be communicated between family as well, as in the novel there are referrals to sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. I think that this is a really important point in this novel — the narrator wasn’t feeling love the way that she wanted, but I wonder if she was doing a good job herself at showing her love to others. We must ask ourselves whether or not our narrators are reliable, as there are two sides to every story.
To answer your question at the end, I don’t think there is a particular ‘argument’ about death. I view it as more of a perspective: that death is not necessarily something so negative and there can be a sense of peace that comes with it. What do you think?
This was a really great post, keep it up!
Hi David! I love your question and the thoughts you bring up about the text. The first thing I can think of is how lenient we are when we’re dead. Almost like we allow ourselves to be kind because we don’t have to suffer the consequences of our vulnerability anymore. Like, as living, we feel we give up a bit of ourselves every time we compromise with kindness. I think we need to act as though we were dead.
Hi David! Thank you for your post. You made an especially good point about the use of metaphorical techniques to connect the past to the present using the woman’s narration. Her inability to feel loved by Antonio makes her emotionally dead and misses her times with Ricardo. To answer your question, I think the novel suggests that there are no right or wrong answers in life, and what we get in the end is just a recollection of all the memories we had. As a result, it is unwise to be fearful of death but choosing to enjoy life is the better option.
“she felt dead when she was alive as well.”
Yes, I think this is an important point. In my ways the life she describes is one of missed opportunities and suppressed desire. It’s as though she hasn’t been able to live as fully as she might have wanted… which is perhaps also why death is felt as a form of something like liberation.