When reading Teresa de la Parra’s “Mama Blanca’s Memoirs” I was struck by its overwhelming theme of memory, and how remembering far away details through a youthful lens (as Blanca’s memories are of childhood) can completely transform the way we remember the truth. More specifically, I was really moved by how the story toys with the idea of how being young can sugarcoat memories into sweet recollections of innocence, and how painful it is when you finally realize the reality of these memories and the fact that you cannot hold on to ‘sweetness’ forever.
Memory in this novel speaks to how class and hierarchies are not things people are born with, but rather things that are enforced and learned as people transition to adulthood, and how isolation plays a huge role in the perception of class. Blanca Nieves and her sisters are raised in an upper class family, on the plantation their family owns, and are socialized as having “each and every thing” to serve them (19). Blanca and her sisters, in turn, come to understand their place in society without ever truly experiencing different levels of class, apart from their plantation workers; Blanca doesn’t think any less of the workers, but there is a sense that she also does not see the workers as her equals.
Expanding more on the plantation workers, the relationship between them and the girls highlights the playfulness of childhood that is a central theme of the novel, and also the difference in how the adults and children view the workers. There is constantly the feeling that the children take the workers much less seriously than their parents, seen in how the girls treat Evelyn, the stern Trinidadian worker meant to keep the girls in line who has to deal with the six young girls who run wild and can’t be tamed. Vicente Cochocho, one of my favourite characters, encapsulates the gap between adulthood and youth, as the girls adore him and regard him as a friendly jack-of-all-trades and “teacher of philosophy” (70). As the girls lack the societal education of their parents, they don’t think too much of Vicente’s shabby, unrefined nature and adultery, contrasting the harsh opinion held by their Papa, Don Juan Manuel, who sees Vicente as the lowest of the low.
The way the girls innocently view life also touches on the relationship between appearance and essence, which I think is most notable exemplified in Blanca’s curls (or lack thereof). While all of her sisters have bouncy ringlets, Blanca’s hair is unfortunately straight and requires her Mama to spend a lot of time manually curling it. This means Blanca gets much time to bond closely with her mother, but also reinforces the idea of female beauty standards that must be met by upper class women in order to be ‘accepted’. This is Blanca’s main ‘struggle’ in life, her appearance needing to be perfect, which I think is juxtaposed by Cochocho’s lowly, scrappy appearance, and how this is the least of his worries due to his status.
My question to you:
Apart from Blanca, what character stood out the most? Which character embodied the central themes of the novel to you?
neko smart
January 15, 2023 — 6:44 pm
Hey Julia,
Some interesting observations here, from the role of isolation in the perception of class to the impact of upperclass female beauty standards on Blanca and her hair.
In response to your question, Cousin Juancho stood out to me the most, perhaps because the narrator lingers on him for so long. As you wrote, memory is a core theme of this novel and Blanca certainly has plenty to say about Cousin Juancho. I like that he’s unpredictable, sometimes irritating in his desire to prove how much he knows of the world to those around him, yet a character readers can sympathise with; despite his best intentions, his kindness is often misunderstood by those around him.
Great question and great post!
Julia Moniz-Lecce
January 15, 2023 — 9:58 pm
Hi Julia,
Great post! I agree about the theme of memory and I also talked about how social classes are things that get conditioned in us as we age. It was really cool to read your interpretation of this as well. I never really thought about how isolation factored into it. When I read the novel, I was actually a bit confused on their place in society because of the lack of detail in comparison to others, which makes a lot of sense now that you brought in how isolation can change one’s perception and influence on their social class. Really cool observation and question, I look forward to discussing it further!
Jon
January 16, 2023 — 8:31 am
“There is constantly the feeling that the children take the workers much less seriously than their parents.”
Yes, perhaps, but don’t they also see them more as people, whereas the parents are more likely to see them simply as employees? Is that a less serious perspective or simply taking different things seriously?
Jon
katherine
January 16, 2023 — 4:10 pm
Hi Julia,
I think Vicente is the most interesting character in the novel as a complex personality overlooked by the owners of Piedra Azul. His disappearance at the very end of the book still puzzles me as his fate remains unclear: “Either he took suddenly sick, or some enemy had him killed” (68). We don’t know if he actually died! This unresolved ending makes his character curiously compelling and mysterious.
Katherine
Nicholas Latimer
January 16, 2023 — 6:30 pm
Hi Julia!
I loved what you finish with here. I wrote about the maternal relationship, as well as its interaction with beauty standards (in this book) as well, and how seeing this process through youth eyes is a little more heart-touching than recounting a fond memory of one’s mother.
However, I did not really register the idea that Blanca, as a consequence of her shortcoming (lack of curls) would actually benefit more than her sisters through this quality time with her mum (while her hair is constantly being treated and fixed)… So I am very glad you brought this up – as I had mostly reflected a negative tone as a response to the self-consciousness that would have been instilled in her.
owen chernikhowsky
January 19, 2023 — 10:39 pm
My vote is for Cousin Juancho. Compared to Vincente and Daniel, whose chapters mostly focus on their interactions with the children, Juancho’s chapter is a thorough character study, almost self-contained in its separation from the rest of the book. Given his relatively upper-class background in comparison to the others, I wonder if de la Parra modelled him off of people she met in France, in addition to her memories from childhood.