Traditionally, Latin cultures have a strong patriarchal tendency towards favouring the man’s power and control; women are, habitually, seen as belonging in the home. In the three short stories seen here: The Tree by María Luisa Bombal, Blame the Tlaxcaltecs by Elena Garro and Luvina by Juan Rulfo, we are presented with two female central protagonists in the two former stories, and a narrative, in the latter, which portrays a supernatural town, the reader is presented with a terrifying force which both compels and controls the town’s residents in much the same way as a patriarchy controls and limits women. In The Tree, Bombal presents Brígida who defines herself by the failure of her marriage and spends a lot of time considering her husband – she allows her femininity to be discussed in terms of marriage and children. In Blame the Tlaxcaltecs, the reader is presented with the character of Laura who repeatedly takes the blame for things – forever stating that “you can blame the Tlaxcaltecs” (Garro 74). Laura represents the repressed and ‘blamed’ feminine masses – the scapegoats of patriarchal society. These three stories represent feminist theory through their various protagonists and their treatment by society.
In María Luisa Bombal’s The Tree, the reader is presented with the character of Brígida who is coming to terms with her failed marriage. She is presented in such a way that she appears to define herself by this event. It becomes clear that she only married him originally because her sisters had married and she felt that she needed to assert her femininity through an act of marriage also: “at the side of that solemn and taciturn man she felt less guilty for being what she was: foolish, playful and indolent” (Bombal 34). In short, Brígida married her ex-husband, Luis, because she felt that he helped to define her as something other than a silly girl – she allowed herself to become smothered by him and re-materialised as a serious, respectable wife. The story focuses on her coming to terms with why her marriage failed despite her openly admitting that she had never loved him – implying that the marriage was doomed to fail from the very beginning. She speculates as to why Luis married her and allows herself to consider that she might have just been a pawn. She remembers his treatment of her: “Never paying full attention to what she said. He smiled, yes - a mechanical smile. His caresses were plentiful, but bestowed absentmindedly” (Bombal 37). She laments these un-focused, unequal attempts at marriage and affection – demonstrating her inability to truly separate herself from her husband’s lacklustre attempts. However, by the end of the story, she reconciles these thought and realises her anger at Luis’ treatment of her – she no longer laments his jaded affections and instead, she finally reaches the serious and respectable state which she had hoped to achieve through marriage – instead, she achieves it through her reconciled thoughts about her divorce.
Elena Garro’s Blame the Tlaxcaltecs, Laura is presented as being a figure who is blamed for all sorts of things. Jumping to the wrong conclusion, Laura’s husband accuses her of having an affair with an Indian man and both he and his mother begin to blame Laura: “’I didn’t think you’d stoop so low’ the boss said and pushed her onto the bed” (Garro 84). Laura takes the blame for an act she hasn’t committed and displays her false guilt as a result, rather than defending herself. Laura’s husband tries to control her: “After that, they kept Señora Laura in the house for days” (Garro 84). The effect of this is an allegorical one – Laura’s husband comes to represent patriarchy as a whole: controlling his wife (womanhood). However, once again, feminism prevails as Laura leaves her husband for the Indian man she is accused of committing adultery with. This is a defiant act which demonstrates Laura’s growth and the overall refusal of women to be ‘kept down’ by the male patriarchy in society.
The final story, Luvina by Juan Rulfo, takes a different tact and instead of central female protagonists, Ruflo uses an entire town – the town of San Juan Luvina – to represent the controlling force of patriarchy. It is important that the narrator describes how he sees Luvina’s women at night: “I saw all the women of Luvina with their water jugs on their shoulders, their shawls hanging from their heads and their black figures in the black background of the night” (Rulfo 58). By having the supernatural event of the women all fetching water, at night, en masse, is a deliberate one done to demonstrate how the town has control over them – in this story, the town represents patriarchy and the social institutions put in place that dictate the expectations of women – the women seem powerless to resist, much like women caught in the wheels of the patriarchal machine.
In conclusion, these three stories accurately represent feminist arguments that centre on the control and implementation of a patriarchal regime on women. In some instances, the women break free and allow themselves to become strong, female figures that do not conform to social expectations alone but rather. Traditionally, Latin culture is male-dominated and in these stories, the reader is presented with a culture which is changing and maturing.
References
Bombal, María Luisa. “The Tree.” Title of collection. Place of publication: publisher, date. Print.
Garro, Elena. “Blame the Tlaxcaltecs.” Title of collection. Place of publication: publisher, date. Print.
Rulfo, Juan. “Luvina.” Title of collection. Place of publication: publisher, date. Print.
