Hey everyone!
The Shrouded Woman has to be my favorite novel we have read so far. Right from the beginning, it captures its readers by enticing them with the life of this woman who is now dead. We are captivated by the details put into the setting and the relationships that the woman has with the people around her. I found that her descriptions of her childhood were enticing to read because everyone has some relatability to her childhood. The long hours of playing and pranking, the naive senses of fears that children had when they are young. Slowly we are taken through the stages and journey of Ana Marie’s life.
I found the connection of nature with the story to be very intriguing. The storminess during her attempt to find Ricardo, during her miscarriage, or the day she met Maria Griselda are all examples of how the author used nature to set the tone and foreshadow aspects of scenes.
The use of flowers was also quite peculiar to me like the forget me not flowers that were mentioned a couple of times. One question I had in my mind whilst reading was: what was the meaning and or importance of the scene where Fred found the Cineraria? The flower seemed to have induced a sense of fear and or foreboding in Ana Maria. It seems to be tied to her realization of their almost death.
Essentially, reading this book induced a feeling of the slow passing and forgetting of all the stages of life and the injustices that occur due to it. One of my favorite pieces of wisdom from this book was when Fernando brought to light how Ana Maria used the words “insignificant betrayals” (p. 246) which showed that Ana Marie did feel betrayed to the end but now she was downplaying her feelings regarding the betrayal. It was interesting how her feelings regarding a lot of things remained the same but she manage to gain more clarity about them and come to peace with them. This was especially the case with Fernando who she did not like to the very end. She also recognized her lack of love for her husband and came to accept it. One thing I was especially curious about was whether her narrative was correct? Did being dead give her an overall sense of truth or did it only give her clarity regarding her truth only?
Bree
January 31, 2022 — 11:52 pm
Hey! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the novel. I like that you paid attention to the narrators use of nature in relation to the story. I never thought about the symbolism that was being used with the different kinds of flowers. thank you for sharing 🙂
Jennifer Nagtegaal
February 2, 2022 — 1:37 pm
“it captures its readers by enticing them with the life of this woman who is now dead.”
Yes! You’ve nailed it. What a narrative hook, and one that, as Jon mentioned in his video lecture, was rather incomparable at that time.
Nier zhang
February 2, 2022 — 6:51 pm
Hey. I think the way you are thinking is really special. But I’m not sure if she realize her real feeling or not. When she look back her life, what she feels is unhappiness. I think sometimes people might be partial due to the experience.