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

272 reframing latin america
Garro’s narrative breaks with tradition, but these breaks are often countered
by the class and gender issues that she leaves unchallenged. Garro
uses an upper-class spokesperson, but her ideal audience is indigenous, like
Nacha. Unlike other Boom authors, however, she does not claim to represent
an indigenous perspective, even though she celebrates Mexico’s indigenous
past by having her character prefer it to the mestizo present, from
which both Laura and Nacha disappear by the end of the story.
Semiotic critics of magical realism argue that Boom authors succeeded in
part because they reaffirm for Western readers the West’s hegemony, pushing
Latin America further into its peripheral position of the Other. They
claim that magical realism fi xes the identity of Indians and marginalized
people as nonlinear, nonscientifi c, and superstitious, in stark contrast to the
West’s self-defi nition as progressive and rational. Perhaps most important,
authors in the Boom remain lettered citizens. They are highly educated men
who live abroad and often hold political positions. Although they purport
to speak on behalf of impoverished masses, they themselves, for the most
part, have not lived the realities of that life; they dictate Latin America’s
identity from far away. Even if she was not accepted as a peer among this
group, Garro shared many characteristics with male lettered citizens, thus
situating her at once outside and inside the center.
Elena Garro, “It’s the Fault of the
Tlaxcaltecas” 5
Nacha heard them calling at the kitchen door and froze. When they insisted,
she opened it reluctantly and looked out into the night. Laura appeared with
a fi nger over her lips in a sign of silence. She was still wearing the white
suit, burnt and soiled with dirt and blood.
“Señora!” whispered Nacha . . .
“Nachita, give me some coffee . . . I’m cold.”
“Señora, the señor will kill you. We had already given you up for dead.”
“For dead?”
Laura stared in amazement at the white tiles, drew her feet up on the
chair, clasped her knees and became pensive. Nacha put the water on to boil
for coffee and looked sideways at her mistress; she couldn’t think of anything
else to say. Laura rested her head on her knees, she seemed very sad.
“You know, Nacha? It’s the fault of the Tlaxcaltecas.”
Nacha didn’t answer, preferring to stare at the water that wasn’t boiling
“Don’t you agree, Nacha?”
“Yes, señora.”