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

284 reframing latin america
The two women sat quietly. Nacha devoured little by little another
small mound of salt. Laura listened worriedly to the howls of the coyotes
that fi lled the night. It was Nacha who saw him coming and who opened
the window.
“Señora . . . He has come for you,” she whispered to her in a voice so low
that only Laura could hear it.
Afterwards, when Laura had already left with him forever, Nachita
washed the blood from the window and chased off the coyotes, who came
in to her century, a century ended in just that instant. Nacha checked with
her ancient eyes in order to see if everything was in order: she washed the
coffee cup, threw the cigarette butts stained with lipstick into the waste
can, set the coffee pot in the cupboard and turned out the light.
“I say that señora Laurita was not from this time, nor was she meant for
the señor,” she said in the morning, when she carried breakfast to señora
Margarita.
“I no longer feel at home in the Aldama house. I am going to look for
another job. I told Josefi na.” And when the maid wasn’t looking, Nacha left
without even collecting her pay.
Discussion Questions
• How does Garro’s story typify magical realist literary structures?
• To what class does Laura belong and how does that determine which
women possess voice and agency?
• Considering Garro’s social status, political activism, and eventual
exile, how does she fi gure into Angel Rama’s concept of the lettered citizen?
Does Garro successfully give a voice to the nonlettered citizen?
• In the story, Laura’s cousin-husband makes a reference to the whitening
of Laura. Is this suggested as a cultural improvement? How is it refl ective
of discourse speaking through Garro’s text?
• How might Garro’s story be considered a foundational fi ction? Recall
Sommer’s notion of a foundational fi ction as a union between characters
symbolizing two oppositional sides, which serves as a metaphor for nation
building.
• How does Garro’s construction of women and indigenous people differ
from and/or resemble that of Sarmiento and Gallegos (as well as that of
Octavio Paz—from what you have learned of him from our introduction)?
notes
1. Biographical information on Garro can be found in Angel Flores,
Spanish American Authors: The Twentieth Century (New York: Wilson,