Maria Luisa Bombal’s text “The Shrouded Woman,” written in 1947, discusses the state between life and death. The main character seems to be recounting her relationships with people in the novel who come and visit her body. The narrator recalls events related and moves on towards peace and moving to the afterlife through this process. The novel highlights the role of women in relationships and the role that gender plays in creating a societal norm for how both men and women should act in society. 

One of the themes in the novel is the power men have over women. Additionally how women tend to be controlled by these men. For example; when the narrator states that men “once in their lifetime long to make some great renunciation; [. . .] to tear to pieces a butterfly, in order to feel themselves masters of their own destiny,” (The Shrouded Woman, 166). Additionally, the narrator had reflected, “I persisted in linking my life to yours, not understanding why love should be incompatible with your career,” (The Shrouded Woman, 166). This shows that women in this scenario are somewhat dependent on men, and men can leave women without remorse. The power dynamic is shown when the narrator states that they “not for a moment [. . .] think of the consequences of all this,” with “this” being the relationship that they were in (The Shrouded Woman, 169). In the end, the woman is left with memories of her lover. Therefore, the relationship between a man and woman in this society is one where the woman is dependent on the man regarding most aspects of the relationship, especially with a woman having a more profound emotional attachment to the man. On the other hand, the man is either moved by duty or can leave when they choose to. 

Another interesting notion presented in the novel is the role of death in regards to the act of recalling previous events. It seems as though the narrator questions the role of death and questions whether “must we die in order to know?” (The Shrouded Woman, 176). In this case, the “in order to know,” is related to how the people in the narrator’s lives are honest only after she has passed (The Shrouded Woman, 176). This is another norm that is a part of society, not to be openly honest about your feelings and rather present negative feelings such as ego to repress honesty. 

The questions that I would want to ask for this week are; 

How did gender become a means to decide societal and social norms?

Why does the narrator choose the temporal context of the time between life and death to discuss topics of gender and recollection?

– Muskan Shukla