The story of Catalina de Erauso is a shocking and interesting tale of one woman’s adventure. I had never heard of Catalina de Erauso before reading the extract from her memoir. Her tale seems fictional to me; I find it difficult to believe that all these events actually happened, it also bothers me that I will never know the truth. I can’t deny the fact that Catalina was a brave young woman, what child would have the confidence to leave everything they know, and continue on a journey on their own? Catalina’s story paints a picture of the unimaginable at that time, it’s filled with action and adventure, and so it’s easy to understand where it’s popularity stems from.
What I found the most interesting of Catalina’s memoir was her ability to remain concealed. Her father and mother did not recognize her. This can be seen when Catalina’s father is searching for her, and even though she can hear the anguish in his voice when he says that he’s been looking for his daughter, she decides to run away from him. For me, that shows that Catalina was very strong, and not only that but for her to be able to leave him despite seeing his pain is remarkable. We can see that Catalina misses her family, she ran away from the convent and left her family, and yet she still attends her mother’s mass, at her old convent. She acted like she had no idea what was going on, but to pretend must have been a difficult task, considering that her mother was sitting steps away from her, and didn’t even recognize her.
Another interesting part of the memoir had to be when the pope let Catalina continue with her adventures despite the fact that she had chosen a path that was considered unusual for women at that time. She could continue on her journey as long as she remained a virgin, the fact that she was dressing like a man was not even considered an issue. This made me question why the Catholic Church was more concerned about keeping Catalina, a woman, pure. Maybe it was because she had made a great contribution to the Spaniards, and they would prefer her to remain a part of their armada. I can’t say that Catalina’s story changes my perspective on colonists, as she did similar things too, but I still find her story to be astonishing whether it’s fiction or not.
I agree with you, I was amazed how she was able to pull of a disguise and that this story can possibly be fictional. Her journey did intrigue me because there was a lot going on and she went to so many places, but there are times when I feel like this story might be to good to be true.
I felt the same way as you when I was reading the story! I find it quite ridiculous how no one actually recognized her, even her closest family members. During our class discussion on tuesday, our group also talked about how the church allowed her to continue as long as she remained a virgin. We felt like that while they are trying to remain the catholic ideas of being a virgin, we felt like the church was more of a political figure, it seems like it was more important to them of whether or not she is beneficial to the church. Thanks for sharing your thought!
Though I personally believe that it was her thirst for more power and freedom that eventually led her to become a conquistador, your writing paints her in a completely different light. Great job!
I also was amazed with her ability to keep her identity hidden. She seems to come close to revealing her identity so many times just to escape right before. I also agree with your point of how it was odd that the church only cared about her purity and disregarded her crossdressing as a problem.