The Old Gringo and Reflections of Oneself

The Old Gringo was an interesting read indeed. This book touches on memory, life, death, religion, revolution, and history. It recounts the journey of a man who travels to Mexico during a civil war, to die a fulfilling death. The Old Gringo, later revealed as the author Ambrose Bierce, leaves behind little, other than a suitcase filled with miscellaneous objects and books, including the story of Don Quixote and a few of his own books. He encounters a self-proclaimed general, Tomas Arroyo, who has burned down the estate or “hacienda” of the Miranda family in an act of revenge. The Old Gringo also meets an American woman named Harriett Winslow, who was meant to be the schoolteacher for the Miranda family but is found jobless after the family fled before facing Arroyo’s oppression. Harriett is a stubborn yet strong woman, as she refuses to leave the hacienda in spite of protection and responsibility to the Miranda family. The Old Gringo seems to see himself in Harriett and confides in her, however I am not sure if this is driven by romantic or familial/familiar feelings. 

The hacienda is described as a “miniature Versailles”, as it contains a room with floor to ceiling mirrors. Mirrors and seeing oneself becomes a recurring theme within the book, with the Old Gringo repeatedly asking Harriett: “Did you look at yourself in the mirror?” (40, 49, 54, 60, 61, etc.). Mirrors are objects used to see a reflection of oneself, as we are all aware, but how does this play into the reality of the story? What do you think the significance of this question/trope was and do you think it sheds light onto the stories of these characters and how they are intertwined? 

Similar to W, or the Memory of Childhood by Perec, there is a separation of reality and fiction, and the book discusses dreaming and imagination repeatedly. This is discussed on page 52 (amongst many others), where the Old Gringo navigates “options [in] his head”, where he goes back and forth between the realities of his situation, including that he does not fear his own death but rather came to Mexico to die. 

Something that really stuck out to me while reading this book was the treatment of women, especially Harriett Winslow. I found it appalling the way women were spoken to or regarded as. “Well what can women be but sluts or virgins” (49), discussions about rape and scenes of abuse were often shocking to read and made it difficult for me to fully appreciate the text. It made me think about the challenges that women historically had (shown through this text), but that there are also issues and barriers that women continue to face in the 21st century, much later than when this book was set. 

Blog Post 3: The Shrouded Woman

The Shrouded Woman was the first book (up until this point) that I enjoyed reading. I appreciated the female author, and I found it was easier for me to identify and empathize with the narrator, Ana Maria. I found it fascinating to read a story from the perspective of a dead person, as this is obviously something unknown to humanity and is not the most common in literature (from what I know of). I found this novel creative and it’s unfamiliarity allowed for a certain sense of mystery and thrill. While reading, we are placed into a world of binaries: life and death, love and hatred, the strange and the familiar. We learn about Ana Maria’s family ties and dynamics, and interact with her family and friends as they visit her dead corpse. Maria Luisa Bombal writes so intimately that she provides readers with clear, strong images with which to reflect upon. 

I enjoyed the presence of multiple female main characters and the femininity that surged from the book, something we have not had in the past couple books we have read. Although the women were strong characters, they all seemed unhinged and/or confused or distracted. On the flip side, the men were all fairly tame and controlled. Though this stereotypical (and often sexist) portrayal of women bothered me slightly, I enjoyed the centring of the women and having the men as more supportive roles in the background of the women’s stories, especially Ana Maria’s. 

Ana Maria tells stories of different men in her life, and we see how her identity continues to shape and change throughout the course of the book. With Ricardo, her first love, she seems enamoured with him, eventually driving him away. There is then Alberto, a man whom she is forced to marry by her father, who seems to be abusive and is a central figure in the loss of her identity. As different characters come in and out of the story, we learn about vivid memories with which Ana Maria revisits. In the first dozen chapters, I found Ana Maria’s honesty malicious and thought she was a hostile and spiteful woman. However, my views of her changed around chapter seventeen, where we really get to know Ana Maria on a more personal and deep level through her relationship with Alberto.

Throughout the book, Ana Maria grappled with what seemed like a certain desire to live again. At the end however, she says, after her body is taken from the bed and put into a coffin, that “she does not feel the desire to rise again” (249). As a reader, this was a compelling ending to the story.

How do the constraints and desires with which Ana Maria deals with throughout the book compare to the non-fictitious world with which women live? How does Maria Luisa Bombal represent women and femininity in her writing?

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