Week 2: Mama Blanca’s Memoirs
by kenwardt
I personally enjoyed reading the work of Teresa de la Parra this week, and some key themes that stuck out to me included the idea of play we discussed in week 1. There were many times where play was seen in the literature, and connecting them together through the form of play on words and jokes throughout the memoir. The play on names such as Violeta being nothing similar to Violet, and how her overall being was more on the masculine side of things. All the names seemed to be quite funny to Blanca Nieves, due to the irony that each of their names contained. The idea of play/games we discussed in week 1 I found related to the youthfulness that Mama Blanca possessed in her younger days. The amount of joy and charm as she recollected with her past shows that our youthfulness is always with us, no matter the age, so long as we actively seek it out. Reminiscing on growing up with her family brought her joy, as compared to her present life where her sons live away from her and her daughter’s in law are ashamed of Mama Blanca’s living situation.
I loved the way that the memoir was written, and it has been a while since I read anything other than research papers so this was a nice break and a great way to start off the term. To be honest, I forgot how enjoyable reading could be and how you can get engulfed in a good story like Mama Blanca’s. De la Parra used powerful imagery and made it easy to picture the scenes happening in real life, and the stark differences between the sisters were beautifully captured.
Beauty was another key component of the memoirs. The idea that Mama Blanca and her siblings had to always look presentable when guests were around, as to not paint a bad picture about their parents was very true in our society. So long as you look groomed and tidy, everyone assumes you are amazing and can handle your own. But that may not be the case, and we live in a time where everyone is moving very fast and no one bats an eye unless something looks very peculiar.
Overall this reading was intriguing and I am excited for what’s to come with the following books.
My question to you is do you think play is necessary in literature? Why/why not.
“The idea that Mama Blanca and her siblings had to always look presentable when guests were around, as to not paint a bad picture about their parents was very true in our society.”
This is a good point, but I think it speaks more to the question of keeping up appearances. And I’m not sure that Mama Blanca buys into this, right? What does she have to say about appearances in this novel?
Hello! I really enjoyed reading your blog! Especially the part where you said that reading this book was a break from reading research papers, that is so true! I forgot how enjoyable reading was, and like reading actual books that involves your imagination. Thank you for bringing that up. To answer your question, I don’t know if play is necessary or “required” in literature, but it definitely adds on to the flavour of the book, on how interesting it is. But I guess it also depends on how complicated the “play” is in the book, that maybe readers will be too frustrated to read it if it’s too playful that it gets complicated to read. But for me, I think play is necessary in literature because if there’s no play, I feel like I’m just back to reading those research papers that we need a break on.