Author Archives: simi2525

I Learned That Romance Studies is NOT the Study of Love

Hey everyone, we have FINALLY made it to the last blog post. I am happy, but honestly I will miss this class a lot. I went into this class expecting to like it because I know I enjoy reading and analyzing books. However, this class succeeded my expectations of what I would learn because we did a lot more than just read. Firstly, the video lectures surprised me because they helped me ground my understanding and feelings on a particular book or event in a book so much better. They gave me guidance as to which contexts and aspects are important and how we should accurately respond and think about them. Another highlight for the class for me personally was the discussion questions. I honestly creating discussion questions because after reading the book, they were real questions I had and I wanted to hear what people thought. I also liked responding to others questions because it provoked me to think about these books even more. I also wanted to mention that I liked reading everyone’s blog posts a lot because I felt there was so much diversity. This diversity in blog posts definetly came from the fact that these assignments aren’t meant to be argumentative and have a point to prove. Instead, they are structured to engage us with the literature in a way we felt was right for ourselves. I would highly recommend this course for someone trying to do the literature requirement, but also for anyone who has space in their schedule!!

Now looking back at the books I read (I chose to read 11) I have some final thoughts. If I had to choose a favourite book it would be either “The Book of Chameleons” or “Black Shack Alley”. Interesting to note, these are two of the books I decided to purchase instead of reading the PDFs and I am not surprised by this. I am NOT a digital reader, I love holding a physical book. Anyways, these two were my favourite books for very different reasons. For the Book of Chameleons, I really enjoyed the whimsical combination of a talking gecko maybe being stuck in a dream with the revenge story of Jose Buchmann and Angela’s tragic uprbringing. It resonated with me because I think it highlighted so many natural human emotions of wanting to find purpose and reason and then the realities that we cannot run away from and how they interfere. Black Shack Alley was another favourite, but for more personal reasons. This book is post-colonial story that dives into the story of Jose and his grandmother M’man Tine living in Martinique. Everytime the book explained how hard M’man Tine worked for Jose, so he could go to school and be fed, it made me think of all the sacrifices and comfort my grandparents and parents gave up to contribute a “betterness” for the generations to come. There were also a couple of parts where skin color is mentioned and more specifically, how lightskin is seen as superior. This wasn’t a significant theme in the novel, but it did connect very well with the rest of the book by examining how many levels colonial practices and values impede onto society. Furthermore, in my community specifically, there are similar values of lightskin, which come from the mistreatment of darker skinned people and European ideologies, which is why it struck a cord with me.

Now, going onto one of my least favourite reads. I was going to say “Combray” but I only read the part that was assigned, not the entire book. Therefore, I don’t think my opinions are completely valid, and I am open to read the entire book in the future. My least favourite book was “The Lover”. It’s not because of the uncomfortableness of the underage relationship the girl was in, but more so that pretty much every single character annoyed me A LOT. I do think I was still able to reflect on the book, but I think that is possible for every single novel you read whether you like it or not.

I am realizing this is a very long blog post, but to summarize, I think I achieved my goals. I completed my contract and I broadened my literary lens so much more within this course.

I want to say thank you to Tesi, Daniel and Dr. Jon Beasley. This class was great and I can tell there was a lot of effort put into engaging all of us in meaningful conversation every week.

My last questions are:

Do you prefer reading a physical book or e-book/PDF
What is next on your TBR list?

How Many Lives Can We Live?

1 Reply

Hey everyone, we have finally made it to the final week of novels for RMST 202!!! I am so relieved this semester is coming to an end. For the final week of books, I chose “Faces in the Crowd” by Valeria Luselli. This book was poignant, challenging and misleading all at the same time. Firstly, I want to note that even though this was not my favourite read, the aspects I did not enjoy definetly served a purpose to the message of the book. After finishing this book, I really thought about how we initially judge people and aren’t usually aware of all the layers to their lives after one meeting. A bit of a personal connection, but it made me think of my parents and how little I know of them outside of them being parents. Even with all their children being adults, in our family things are usually quite hidden away, so there are honestly so many questions I have about my parent’s identities and what is fiction or truth to them.

Now talking about the book itself, the part that most relates to my bigger thoughts and concepts I drew from the book is when she started recalling her past life in New York City and the research she was doing on Gilberto Owen. Her life in New York before her husband and children is completely different, and especially her children, they have no idea their mother has ever even experienced anything like this. The narrator feels constantly neglected and misunderstood in her routine and so she finds something to break her mundane routine, by recalling a time where she was much more free.

Her work in New York City primarily was to translate the Mexican poet Gilberto Owen. However, this quickly becomes the principal thing in her life, to the point where she starts fabricating an entire backstory for the poet and taking other people’s works as well. This made me think about Felix from the Book of Chameleons and how she was also constructing people’s pasts as well. In this though, she is also defining herself by giving so much time and dedication to her work, that the lines of reality versus make belief are blurred, and we readers are a bit confused.

Then, the book decides to get more weird and now all of a sudden we learn Owen’s perspective when he is riding the subway and when he sees the woman as well. Owen’s story in this novel at the end is conflicting and maybe different to what we expect from him while the woman is writing about it. From his perspective, it seems like he wants to fade away actually and we learn more about his struggles with his illness. This makes the readers question how real is Gilberto and what does his fictious story mean to the woman narrator.

Overall, this book was challenging for me to read, but I like that there were so many interpretations that could apply to the book. I liked the woman narrator as well because I think she emulated the complexity of lacking a personhood when becoming a mother and the types of things people may do when they want to feel like themselves. They may become obssessed with a poet, which is ironic because that isn’t yourself (or is it???)

Discussion Questions:

Since the novel includes events from Mexico City and New York City, do we think the different settings also were intentional to highlight the vastly different lives the woman has lived?
Going back to my personal connection, do you think there is something huge your parents have done before that you have no idea about?

I <3 Geckos

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Well here he is. This is Jeeto, my beautiful, intelligent, sassy gecko. He is turning ten this year, but he has never uttered a single word to me before. I accept our non-verbal relationship and I think we mutually enjoy his walks along my arm.

Now to dive into this week’s novel “The Book of Chameleons” by Jose Eduardo Agualusa. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I thought it tied so many genres together in an unique and beautiful way. Firstly, Eulalio being a talking gecko that was once a man is a very whimsical element to the novel. While reading the novel, I found myself happy and smiling because the story unfolding of Felix and Eulalio spending their days together in an “alive” house, where Felix is a constructer of people’s dreams and stories. It all sounds quite peaceful and magical. However, there are also very bleak aspects to the novel, that in my opinion are toned down because of the manner they are told in the novel. For example, the construction of people’s identities is described as creating dreams. The dark side to this is that whoever is coming to Felix has likely faced some sort of immense turmoil, to the point where they must reconstruct themselves, and attempt to blend in once again, like a chameleon. Since Eulalio is the narrator of the novel, I do feel there is a bias towards Felix. Lets be honest, Felix has most likely aided all types of unsavoury characters in changing their identities and furthermore has kind of created a different type of crazy in his realm. This is really proven when we look at the case of Jose Buchmann. Although his rationale of wanting to get revenge on “Eduardo” may be justified, the fact that this reconstruction of his personhood is what got him so close should not be glossed over.

This brings me to my bigger point, which is, everyone has a bad side to them. This novel is written in plain language, yet it is purposefully confusing and slightly misleading. Then, right at the end of the novel, lots of the truth is revealed, including that Angela was Pedro’s daughter and how his wife was slaughtered. To me, the story felt half resolved, half unresolved. This is because of the very last sentence which is “Yes, I have made a dream.” This is where Felix writes in his journal after Eulalio has passed away. This is very controversial. Should we call it the construction of a dream when our true identities are being shaped into something they are not really. Or, can identities be hidden because that is human nature and therefore it is also beautiful.

Discussion Questions:

When Eulalio’s mom tells him that he should choose books over life because they contain sometimes more truth than reality, do we agree with that?

When the house is described as being alive in the beginning, is that because everything is a construct, or something else?

Money To Burn… but seriously why would you burn money?

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Hi everyone, this is my blog post for this week’s novel “Money to Burn” by Ricardo Piglia. Firstly, I want to note how disturbing yet interesting it is that this novel is based on a true crime. Knowing this while reading, it really made me consider the real life contexts and values that existed in South America that led to all of these outcomes.

This may not be shocking, but I did think the most interesting part of the novel was in fact when Dordo, Crow Merles and Brignone set majority of their money on fire. “The bills looked like butterflies of light, flaming notes” (157). This quote really stuck out to me because it allowed me to visualize what their very high and unstable minds were seeing when the money was set on fire, but also because I think it encapsulates other really important themes of the novel as well. So we should ask, why would they burn money? For me, these young men are all living on the outskirts of society. Whether you understand that figuratively or literally, it is really important in understanding their harsh attitudes and erratic behaviours. Dordo for example, is a very mentally ill man who hears voices in his head and has been sexually assaulted in prison by men. This does not change that he is gay, but it sends him into a whirlwind of trying to navigate ideas and norms of himself versus society that are very much in competition to one another. Furthermore, to speak back on his mental illness, he remarks “I already am a bad lot. I’ve been on the wrong track since I was a child. I’m a hopeless case.” (188). This sense of self-awareness is honestly heartbreaking but also explains why he would burn money. For me, I percieved his burning money as a way to finally end the exhausting competition between living in societal norms and conditions and marking the point where he will just give into any primal instinct without a second of consideration or remorse. I would say that Brignone had similar reasoning to partake in the burning of money, but maybe there was more of an element to support Dordo because he loved him and give power over to his drug fueled intuition.

With Crow and Brignone dying in the end, and Dordo being taken away barely alive, the novel comes to a logical conclusion. When the gang burned the money, they sealed their fates as permanent outcasts who were “human waste” (163) according to Commissioner Silva. This novel tells the depicts the story of a heinous crime being commited, but emphasizes the constraints society imposes on people and how often the only way to become free is to simply go.

Discussion Questions:

Do we think that Dordo’s role in the crime would be treated differently if it was committed at a different time and location?
Do we think that all of the inside contacts within the police and border security etc that were involved in the robbery will face any consequences? If not, why?

What Do We Get Out of People?

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Hi everyone, this is my blog post for this week’s novel The Lover by Marguerite Duras. There is a lot to unpack with this book and honestly, there are so many different themes and layers that make this highly inappropriate relationship so complex. Firstly, I agree with what was stated in the lecture, which is that the novel is intentionally told in a way where it is unclear as to who is taking advantage of who. I still hold the opinion that the initation of the relationship is on the man because he is an adult, who has to be held to a much higher level of accountability than a teenage girl who is also being submerged in conditions of poverty and adversity.

Now going to my title of this blog post, I want to ask, what do we get out of relationships, or more broadly, people? This was the theme that really stood out to me the most in this novel because I think if someone were to ask every single character, they would all have completely different responses. What I’m saying may sound obvious, but I don’t think that it is and I will try to explain. The element of danger in inappropriate relationships can often be a feeling both the “predator” and “victim” are chasing together and hence why they engage in an inappropriate relationship together. I would say this is not the case for this novel and instead, their relationship highlights the selfishness and juxtaposing wants and desires people have and how they interact with one another.

The young girl is living in Sadec, Indochina, and lives amongst her mother, her two older brothers and one younger brother. Importantly, the young girl’s father is dead and her mother definetly shows moments of mental instability, as well as poor financial choices that place her family in a position of poverty and profound unhappiness. However, the young girl will return to school in Saigon at 15 years old, where she takes a ferry by herself to get there and by chance meets the man who will become her lover, a wealthy Chinese financier in his 30s. Their relationship becomes sexual very quickly and their initial encounters are described as pleasurable for the young girl, but overcast with the man’s immense fear that they will be caught. However, the affair continues for quite sometime and here are my thoughts. Firstly, the young girl being white is an important factor in my opinion. Although the man already has a decent sense of status because of his wealth and gender, I think he finds his relationship with the girl to be another trophy and sense of security within himself. As for the girl, I do think she gets pleasure from the relationship but because she is immersed in love, care and desire, which is not what she gets at home. Despite the man and the young girl having completely different goals, perceptions, and concerns with the relationship, the unionship stands even if it is immoral.

To me, this spoke to a much larger theme of how things play out in people’s lives. Her autonomy is explored in this novel quite a bit. How she travels alone, the relationships she conducts in her life even with her family knowing. But, I think what this novel did for is point out that the things we think we have control over and are narrating, have another side that equally influences outcomes.

Thanks for reading!!

Discussion Questions:

What does her younger brother’s death mean to her?
Is there anyway to reconcile the fact that her family knew about the young girl’s relationship and did not directly intervene?

Who is Macabea?

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I think this book is the most shocking I have read so far for this class, in terms of what I had expected the book to be about and convey. Before reading this book, I had the understanding that it was about a woman who was living in extreme poverty in Rio, but was unaware of the abysmal conditions she was in. This book was that, but it was so much more.

Firstly, Macabea’s story is narrated by Rodrigo S.M, which I thought was a huge component in defining who Macabea is. It spoke to her lack of autonomy for me. Rodrigo’s narration emphasized using plain and simple language when describing her and her life events because that is what she is, ordinary and likewise to millions of other women. After finishing this book, half of me believed that Macabea was the one to define herself and she was free to linger and inhabit Earth as she pleased, even if it was under the conditions of extreme poverty. However, the other half of me is not very convinced this counts as freedom because this is all contingent to her financial status, which is also related to her lack of education and lack of exposure to the world. Her world is small and constrictive, yet she finds her moments of freedom. For example, she has to work as a typist and she can only afford to eat every once in awhile. But, she is aware of her limits and chooses hotdogs and coca-cola to induldge in, and finds some comfort in making this choice. While this is beautiful, it is also profoundly sad as well.

Macabea rarely mentions concepts, people or other things that are outside of her regular sphere of going to work, spending time with her below average boyfriend Olimpico and her sacred alone time. But, she mentions things like the radio, the concept of culture and very importantly, famous movie star Marylin Monroe. This is where the readers can see a glimpse of her own personhood. However, mainly Olimpico is dismissive, because he is insecure of the fact that he himself is not actually a worldly person. So he makes up definitions to words and does his best to keep Macabea in a box that she had no intention of leaving.

This all changes, when she visits the fortune teller that Gloria advises her to speak with, after Gloria proceeds to date Olimpicos. The fortune teller dives into stories of her experiences with men and her work in prostitution and pimping, which Macabea cannot really grasp, but follows along as she is used to not getting the message. But finally, when she is told this elaborate story of meeting a rich foreigner, Macabea realizes she has never felt hope before, but can feel it surging through herself. This made me so upset to read because only a couple pages later she dies. In Macabea’s world, maybe she did have her hour as a star because someone lit a candle next to her body, but for the rest of the world, I don’t think they saw it that way. All they could see was a dead woman, they don’t know she died with newly born hope and aspirations.

This book made me think a lot about how we have a natural tendency to compare oursleves to others and almost always have a downwards attitude to those who seem like they are not trying, or are doing something in a way we would not. It made me think about the millions of people who live in similar conditions and how misunderstood they usually are.

Discussion Questions:

Do we think that Macabea’s love for coca-cola was a hint that she actually wanted to live in riches and be active in consumerism culture?
Do you think Macabea had the power or voice to define herself, or was she defined by the people in her life and overall by her position in society?

Natalia/Colometa- A Complex Woman

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The TIme of the Doves by Merce Rodoreda was quite a difficult read for me, but regardless, I still enjoyed it and took a lot away from it. Firstly, I think it was especially difficult for me to read because I felt so deeply for Natalia’s situation. Personally, I consider her the embodiment of a resillient, yet weak woman who just wants to be free and rid of all her responsibilities, that increasingly weigh heavier and heavier as the novel goes on. I think this book may strike a personal cord with other people who may have witnessed or heard about more unstable or negative marriages and family stories. Natalia’s life seemed idyllic when she meets Quimet one night dancing, as it seems like something beautiful is about to blossom for her. However, this is quickly met with the truths of reality which include his laziness with Natalia and then eventually, with their two children Antoni and Rita. A rocky marriage is difficult to navigate by itself, but coupled with the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, and it all of a sudden seems logical that Natalia wanted to kill herself and her children.

The Spanish Civil War is brutal for Natalia’s wellbeing, both physically and mentally. Firstly, Natalia is Catalan, and her husband Quimet is clearly pro-republican and moreover, serves in the war for them. This causes Natalia to deeply question her decisions, his morality and even her own for being married to him. However, her suffering is not just internal. The conditions of the Spanish Civil War were traumatic and severe, which caused Natalia to basically be in a constant state of anxiety about money, food and shelter. She was able to get odd cleaning jobs every so often, but the novel is sure to invoke the feeling of undeniable doom, as it is obvious Natalia is getting closer to her rock bottom and does not want to sustain herself or anything anymore. Despite her conflicting feelings towards her husband, when she finds out he is killed, this is when Natalia decides that life for herself and her children is no longer worthy. However, I do not think this is primarly due to the fact of losing a loved one, but instead from a more practical perspective in which she feels it will not be possible to survive without him.

However, we know that she did not kill herself or her kids, because she is recognzied at the grocery store and offers her a job. I think this was my favourite part of the novel. Not just because the profoundly tragic event did not take place, but because of everything else it represented. I think this moment truly shone a light on Natalia’s incredible resillience. Being offered a job at the grocery store is a step in the right direction, but it is also accepting the fact of continuing on with life and being forced to work harder and fight any internal gloom and despair. Natalia took this challenge on, not just for herself but for Antonio and Rita as well. This book made me think a lot about the sacrifices mothers are expected to make and how society often will not give it the attention and gratitude it deserves. When thinking about this book in a contemporary lens, I think it speaks to the huge amount of unpaid labour women do and how this can lead to severe mental health issues and isolation.

Discussion Questions:

Personally, in Natalia’s circumstances and the way the novel was written, I was able to understand why she nearly made the decision she did, but do you think it had a logical foundation?
Do you think her second marriage with the grocer left her fufilled, or is more of an agreement of platonic love?

Race, Family and Colonialism- Black Shack Alley

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Black Shack Alley by Joseph Zobel was a touching read that had so many unique perspectives on growing up. At the core of this novel, we are taken through Jose’s journey of growing up, which is what we have seen in quite a few of the books we have read so far. However, Jose’s experiences of maturation are highly influenced by many outside factors that make his story gripping, upsetting and powerful. Most importantly, Jose is born and raised in a small area called Petit Mourne in Martinique, where he lives with only his grandmother. When reading his childhood recollections of how he would sometimes watch M’man Tine with her hoe, working all day tiring herself out, this made me think about my own personal experiences with watching my parents work. I think watching your parents or caregivers exhaust themselves at an age where you cannot really grasp what labour is or how strenuous it can be, it warps your perspective into being hyper-aware of this struggle you cannot experience yourself. Jose’s coming of age vastly differs from Agostino’s in many aspects, especially the emotional maturity. Agostino was very confused by these new feelings and thoughts about sexuality and appropriateness and this was further heightened by the boys he met. Jose however, from a very young age, showed that he cared deeply about others. For example, when he was going on child-like adventures in Black Shack Alley and then returned to his grandmother’s house where his friends made a mess, he instantly thought of his grandmother. He did also think about the punishment he would recieve, but from a very young age he was able to balance his selfish wants of not getting punished and the weight of the mistake he had made. I think M’man Tine did not mean to force Jose to grow up at a rapid pace, but regardless, her honest messages of how the world worked and forcing Jose to focus on his education quickly made him in touch with the notion of his race positioning himself at an automatically disadvantaged spot in society.

This book obviously discusses race and the inequalities that exist because of it. However, another lens to race that Zobel includes is the internalized hate many Black and other people of color may have about themselves. For example, when Jose’s godmother gives him a chicken as a parting gift because she has not seen him in years and then he goes on to lose it, M’man Tine becomes distraught. This is not because the chicken is gone, but instead it is because she thinks her grandson is doomed to an eternal fate of “being an unlucky black boy”. There are multiple occurences of this self hatred manifesting and it points to a larger message of the novel. While Jose focused on his education and took to it naturally, he had to go to France for schooling in order for his intelligence to be actually recognized and valued in society. Everyone back in Martinique is aware of this, so by this being the standard, it is affirming the racial hierarchy that is ingrained in everyone’s minds, ensuring it will continue onto the next generation.

Overall, I enjoyed this book thoroughly and thought it spoke to power relations and structures in society and critiqued what intelligence can mean by including Jose’s friends Carmen and Jojo, who demonstrated emotional intelligence and what many call “street smart”.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do we think that Jose feels any resentment to his mother for not being with him for so long?

2. Why did Jose’s mother not come straight away when M’man Tine was about to die?

Agostino- A Confused Young Boy

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I had a lot of emotions and thoughts while reading Agostino by Alberto Moravia, to say the least. Firstly, based on the short description of the book on the RMST website alone, I don’t think I would have ever picked this book on my own volition. However, I am quite glad I picked this book, it had a lot of important and interesting themes. Even though there were certain parts that felt slightly uncomfortable to read, by the time I reached the end of the book, I believe that Moravia intended to make the readers feel uncomfortable, likewise to Agostino himself.

First and foremost, I think Agostino unfortunately, is a very lonely and confused young boy. The first few pages of the book where the narrator is describing a serene moment in Agostino’s life, where he is enjoying a beautiful summer boat ride in Italy, with his beautiful mother. This is very misleading and I was uncertain as to where conflict would begin to arise in Agostino’s life. Then, one day when the young man approaches Agostino’s mother and begins to slowly court her, we see instantly Agostino’s world has been completely turned upside down. He feels rage, exclusion, despair from this other man’s presence. This is where one of Agostino’s most important aspects is first highlighted, his loneliness. I can sympathize with the fact it may be uncomfortable to see your mother with a man who is not your father, but his despair is also rooted in the fact that he has no one else to spend his time with, which is quite sad. To attempt to solve his loneliness, he tries to becomes friends with a boy named Berto that is nearby his cabin when he is walking back. Berto, is verbally abusive and malicious to Agostino instantly. For a person who is not desperate for companionship, being told “we only let our friends play” after asking to join in on their game is usually enough of a signal for someone to walk away. For Agostino, he instead interpretted this as: what more can I offer to be accepted? This made me think about how Agostino likely felt very displaced and cast aside by the presence of his mother’s new companion and how he could not bear to belong to anyone or anything.

The rest of the time spent with the boys goes pretty similarly to their initial meeting, with Agostino always being the brunt of the jokes. A central event that turned Agostino from a lonely child to a confused lonely child was when the boys began to joke about his mother’s sexual relations with the man from the boat. This caused Agostino to spiral internally. Despite the fact that Agostino was aware his mother was a beautiful woman, he had never considered her beauty in the context of being a woman to desire and not a mother to look for when needing care and support. Agostino’s deep confusion led to him turning to Tortima to help him likely lose his virginity to another woman to essentially cure himself of his impure thoughts of his mother. He ends up getting scammed for money and nothing was truly resolved. This makes perfect sense because sexual confusion and loneliness are sometimes the first major problems young teens or adolescents will face and rarely are these problems solved over night, or even in the span of a summer.

Discussion Questions:

Why do you think he especially hated Homs, even though all the boys antagonized him?
When Agostino took the boy and his father out for a boat ride and lied to them about his background, do you think he felt any guilt behind this?

Ana Maria- A Product of Her Time

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“The Shrouded Woman” by Maria Luisa Bombal is a beautiful and somewhat tragic unfolding of Ana Maria’s life. The concept of this book is that Ana Maria is now dead and being prepared for her sending off from this life. Since Ana Maria is dead, she is now finally revisiting her entire life and delving into the complex relationships she held with her family, lovers and others. While reading the book, I felt there was an unique lens of objectivity, that is not very common for me to feel while I read fiction. What I mean is that most fiction works that are written in first person perspective, so while I read them, I am thinking about why the story is being told in a certain way and I also try to consider the possibility of the story being different if it was being narrated by someone else. However, her recollection of her memories felt raw and unfilitered and I think this is strongly tied to the fact of her death. To me, this account of her life was herself trying to honour and commemorate the complicated life that she lived.

Now discussing what I personally thought was the most interesting reoccuring theme in the novel, was the potrayal of women and their interpersonal relationships. Ana Maria suffered a tremendous heartbreak early on in the novel, with a young man named Ricardo. This caused her to be submerged in a whirlwind of emotions, but most importantly, I think she became permanently attatched to the idea of being with Ricardo. “You had marked me forever.” (169). This is what she remarks when she remembers how they touched for the first time. I think this is connected to certain gender norms and stereotypes of the time frame of this novel. That being in a romantic relationship with another man as a woman, must mean that you are eternally connected and committed to them, even if this notion is not reciprocated back to you. While Ana Maria shows signs of being in competition with other women in her life, such as her own sister, she is also aware and maybe slightly sympathetic to other women who are battling strong insecurities and uncertainities. An example of this comes much later in her life, when her son Alberto explains a dilemma of the fact that he loves a woman Silvia, but Silvia is convinced that Alberto thinks a woman named Maria Griseldo is more beautiful. In my opinion, this is one of the first and only times we see Ana Maria put aside her competitve nature with other women and admits she understands how Silvia feels, being compared to another woman. I think Bombal did a great job of exploring the complexity and layers to womanhood of the time. It highlighted how in every phase of Ana Maria’s life, there was a man that was a central portion of her life, that she devoted majority of her time and energy to, whether it be Ricardo, her husband or her sons. It also displayed a complicated relationship with her daughter Anita and how Ana Maria almost felt a jealously of her intelligence. I think this novel having a backdrop of the “protagonist” being dead, made the novel quite an different lens to understand the story through.

Discussion Questions:

Do we think that Ana Maria sees Alicia (her sister) in her own daughter Anita?
Do you think there was any real aspect of love for Ricardo, or was it more of an infatuation?