Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

210 reframing latin america
to go around any way he pleased, the fact that it did not matter if the peons’
obscene speeches disturbed the silence, or if he neglected his appearance or
forgot his little refi nements.
Now, on the contrary, it was necessary to return from the rough toil of
pursuing and herding cattle with a bunch of fl owers for the young lady of
the house, to change his clothing, get rid of the rank odor of horses and
cattle clinging to his skin, and sit down to table to give an example of good
manners and maintain an agreeable, carefully regulated conversation.
Thus, while Santos was polishing away her rusticity, Marisela served
him as a defense against the adaptation of the roughness of his environment,
the irresistible force with which the wild, simple life of the desert
puts its seal on anyone who abandons himself to it [. . .].
But there was something else, something not included in his refl ections,
but in his soul, nevertheless, changing the feelings of this civilized man,
overcoming all obstacles; there was Marisela, who seemed the spirit of the
Plain, of its ingenuous, restless soul, wild as the paraguatán fl ower that
perfumes the thicket and sweetens the honey of the wild bees.
Discussion Questions
• How do the portrayals of civilization and barbarity by Sarmiento and
Gallegos differ? How are they similar? How do they refl ect their respective
historical contexts?
• In what way do Doña Bárbara and Marisela offer contrasting images
of women? In what way does Gallegos make clear that one of them should
be encouraged as a foundation of the new nation and the other destroyed
as a threat?
• Since Santos has lived both in the city and on the plains, does he
represent the plains or the city or both? Why is this issue so critical to
Gallegos’s image of the nation? It might help you to again consider how he
differs from Sarmiento’s representations of the city and the pampas.
Introduction to Doris Sommer’s FOUNDATIONAL
FICTIONS
In her 1991 book, Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin
America, Doris Sommer reveals a trend among Latin American authors in
the nineteenth and early twentieth century to write romance novels that
serve nationalist ends. Doña Bárbara is one of those novels, and the next
excerpt offers Sommer’s analysis of it. In brief, she reveals that Gallegos