I’m beginning to think that reading is not for me lol. This was only around 100 pages and I even struggled to finish that within a couple days. But I do feel like it is getting easier with more and more readings. Especially easier than the combray reading we had to do.
Starting off, It’s very intersting that the book starts off with the main character dead in a coffin. To be honest, I had to go back and reread the beginning to figure this out. I think I missed a couple details and thought it was just a metaphor for her life being mundane. It was a first to see something like this in a book and made me really respect the author’s creativity.
Relating to the lecture, from the book we can see the sad reality of how women can be treated as objects rather than people. Ana Maria was still being admired for her beauty even when she was dead. This means that even in death, she was being evaluated and her value was tied to how she looked rather than who she was or other less shallow traits.
Marriage is also shown as more of a societal show. Her husband isn’t a bad person per say, but still made Ana crave for a better connection. Especially because she didn’t freely choose her partner. It feels like the relationship was based more on social expectations and duties. I believe this is what made her more attached to her love for Fernando and even Fred. Because she was unsatisfied in her current marriage, this turned into regret and longing. She looks at these 2 guys and imagines what could’ve been. How different choices may have led to a vastly different outcome in her life.
Another interesting point that was covered in the lecture was the fact that the women in the book were not only isolated from men but also from each other. The story’s characters, like Maria Greselda and Anita, don’t work together to form a strong female family/community but instead create rivalry and competition for approval and attention. At first, this seemed to me like such an immature thing for adults to be doing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it’s not really their faults but rather baked into the social structure that they live in. Because of the limited power and identity they are given, they inevitably have to compete for the small ounces of validation available.
2 replies on “My two cents on the shrouded woman”
“I’m beginning to think that reading is not for me lol.”
Keep at it! (Or change your contract, so you don’t have to read as much…)
And is her life really *mundane*? I mean, in some ways perhaps… she doesn’t really travel, get educated, get a job (all those things that men get to do in the novel). But she does seem to fit quite a lot in despite the restrictions she faces.
Meanwhile, how about a question for us? And don’t forget to use categories (this week: Bombal) and tags (to indicate key concepts and ideas in your post: marriage? isolation? objectification?).
I felt the same way at the start of this course. I was struggling to finish books that would normally be considered short. But with every week goes by, I agree with you, it gets easier.