Through amazing imagery and unique poetic style, Mama Blanca’s Memoir painted scenes into my mind. Certainly a good read. It also uses a lot of contrasting structure within its logic and imagery scenes, like “Cousin Juancho tempered the fury of his complaints with the gentle rain of his advice.” The smooth transitions between chapters made the text a nicer read, and even though each chapter is separated by a focus character, the story progresses linearly through the chapters in order.
I was drawn to the social hierarchy that unfolded within Piedra Azul throughout the story, specifically around the Blanca family. Papa, or Juan Manuel, is introduced as the head of the house, and god of the farm. His comparison to god, too, was a pretty extreme example but I think is used accurately when described from the perspective of a child. The mother was more simply described as a just a loving and caring figure. This set up an interesting contrast between the method through which Papa and Mama would enforce their thoughts onto the girls and the farmhands.
Evelyn was a pretty unique character to me, as she was never given a whole chapter to herself, was not related to family by blood, but was still very influential throughout the story. Her portrayal as an enforcer was also in the theme of a kingdom, which I thought fit the childlike lens the book is written in. Early on though, the story mentions she speaks English, which I wonder has to do with her position in the house, or says anything else on the perspective the writer has on English speakers. I really enjoy studying the impact translation and language has on the meaning of something, and was going to focus on this theme though the text, but couldn’t find much else on this topic.
The other characters introduced are described as more and more impoverished, yet the text still describes the farmhands like Cochocho and Juancho as rich in other factors of life, especially experience. Juancho was incredibly wise, and loved to debate, often winning, but was poor. Cochocho was poor but knew how to do many valuable and indispensable tasks around the farm. I really liked how the writer values this richness of wisdom and intelligence as more important than richness in money, but ending the story with her stating that she learned the importance of money in the city.
Violeta sometimes surpassed Evelyn’s control due to her independent and confident nature, so she stood out both in the hierarchy I am portraying, and in importance between the sisters. Interestingly though, Blanca Nieves considered herself superior to Violeta, but still respected her intelligence. These two characters, equal in the hierarchy, were often opposites, as Violeta was incredibly assertive and grounded, while Blanca Nieves was more complying, with her head in the clouds.
Question: What was your favorite line of imagery that was used in this reading?