‘Mama Blanca’s Memoirs’ tells the story Blanca Nieves. One of “Six Little Girls of the Big House.” She was the Black sheep of the family – darker than the rest of her sisters and her hair was not naturally curly. Her mother would go to extremes length to curl it regularly and ensure her daughter Blanca fit in.
In her memoir she writes about the pivotal people, places and events that transpired during her life and influenced her up-bring. She frames their stories in a way where we see what she admired about them, the role they played in her life and the lasting impact they had on her that would reverberate through later chapters like her last encounter with Vicente Cochoco.
A part that seemed interesting to me that I don’t fully understand, is how she meant to portray her father’s relationship with her and the rest of her family. She recounts more interactions between her father with characters like Cousin Juancho and Vincent than with her and her siblings, it seems the only influence her father seamed have on his daughters were his values around health that were enforced upon the girls by Evelyn. Ironically, she mentions something about her father having everyone avoid crowded cities for fear of disease and illness. However, when his property Piedra Azul had to be divided amongst his brothers, he thought it would be a good idea to move to Caracas to start his own practice and for the girl’s education, his initial values around health were no longer at the forefront and Aurora would end up dying from measles.
Towards the end of her memoir, I think a main point emerges, contrary to decision to publish the memoir. After years they decided to take a trip back to the plantation. During the decision-making process her mother tells her “It is dangerous to go back to the sights and scenes that form the basis of our memories”. Having been disappointed by all of the changes made by the new owners and with the passage of time she comes to a similar conclusion stating, “we should fold away our memories within ourselves without ever venturing to confront them with things and beings that life changes”. Although against Blanca’s Nieves’ explicit desires as well as a large realization in the story, Teressa de la Pera publishes the book as a memoire preserving her memories because such was admittedly “in fashion” at the time. I wonder if someone has interpreted this differently? Is it right for her memories to not have died with her if that’s what she desired?
“Teressa de la Pera publishes the book as a memoire preserving her memories because such was admittedly “in fashion” at the time. I wonder if someone has interpreted this differently?”
Just one thing here… as I say in the lecture (and also pointed out in class), we do not know the name of the “editor” who writes the Foreword. This is a novel, and we should not assume that the narrator and the author are the same (and of course, Mama Blanca is a fictional invention).
Also, when you give a quotation, do also give a page number!
Hello! I loved your post. To answer your final question, I first must say is difficult to answer. If we are discussing what is morally correct, I guess that if someone wants to keep their life story private, they should be able to. However, if we consider the literary impact of this novel in Venezuela and Latin America as a whole, along with its contribution to Latin American literature, I must say that the writer was right in using her testimony.