Analyse and discuss the subversion of gender AND/OR racial hierarchies in Elena Garro’s short story ‘La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas’.

Garro attempts to deconstruct preconceived notions about both women and the native Aztecs in the patriarchal Latin American society of the 1960’s. Their cultural identities as marginalised social groups are explored by juxtaposing the past and the present through the two worlds of the conquest of Mexico in the 16^th Century and contemporary Mexico City (the main site of the conquest).

Garro breaks the female silence through the use of narrative discourse by allowing Laura to speak for herself. She is the main protagonist and it is a first-person account about her own experiences. This places her at the centre of the story at a time when it was difficult for women to even publish their own novels in Latin America. Laura was a housewife in contemporary Mexico but the text is not told through her husband’s view point. Men were traditionally in charge of the household and by extension their wives. He would have been able to limit her speech but in this story, Laura is in full control. There is a third person omniscient narrator in the form of Garro herself, but Laura is powerful enough to absorb this voice and make it part of her testimony because they have very similar views. As Nanfito says, Laura is able to “articulate her own authority as a woman”[1] and in doing so has become self-aware of her own identity which culminates in her own decision in the end in which world she chooses, the past or the present.  Laura was given a voice during a period when women did not have one, allowing for a sense of female awakening and empowerment.  

The kitchen is the only place that women were able to express themselves freely in the household. It is here that Laura begins her story to her servant, Nacha without fear of judgement and interruption. There is no space for men in the kitchen, it was “the quintessential space for encompassing women’s values as passive and relegated to the domestic sphere”.[2] Laura is trapped inside the rest of her own home as if it was a prison, her husband and her step- mother lock her in her room to stop her from running away. She is able to leave with el primo marido through the kitchen window[3] because it is "[un] puente para comunicar no solo al exterior sino tambien al pasado”.[4] The use of the word “pasado” gives the kitchen a timeless aspect, it was a place that women had always come to be safe. It is a concept that is able to travel across the two different time zones in the past and the present. Nacha erases all traces that Laura has been there, “limpio la sangre de la ventana, y espanto a los coyotes[5]”. The “sangre” invokes images of violence, the kitchen was a place where women were able to escape the violence of their husbands and the outside world. The secrets that are told in the kitchen are protected by other women and do not travel to the rest of the house. The men do not know what happens in those areas which gives the women power as they are able to keep their secrets. The kitchen was not just an emotional escape but also a physical one for women, allowing them to escape from male power.

The myth of La Malinche is revised, rewriting the relationship between women and national identity which had traditionally seen women as traitors of the conquest. Men were responsible for creating this myth, "national identity was essentially masculine identity”[6] but through Laura’s narrative style she is able to take control of it and shift the blame onto the Txcaltecas. La Malinche was seen as the original traitor, the “Desirable Whore or the Terrible Mother” [7] because she helped the conquistadors during the conquest. All women were branded as such and are forced to “assume their feminine identities as traitors”[8]. Laura engages with two different types of historical texts within the story that depict the conquest from two different authors and viewpoints. Bernal Diaz Del Castillo’s Historia verdadero book supported the Spaniards. On the other hand, Octavio Paz El laberinto de la soledad favoured the side of the Mexicans and their lose of identity. This implies that the notion of official truth needs to be revised in relation to history because past texts tend to link to the traitorous actions of La Malinche. The Txcaltecas were an indigenous Nahua group who served as allied with the Spanish Conquistadors to defeat Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire. By placing the name in the title of the story, she makes it immediately obvious that Laura refuses to surrender to traditional gender stereotypes that saw women as solely responsible.

Laura further diminishes the connection between women and the world “traidora” by giving women themselves the decision and power to call themselves that name. She is appropriating the male narrative by claiming that it is no longer the male rejection of the myth that is important but the female acceptance of that stereotype. By using the word “traidora” so liberally and even calling Nacha one, Laura is taking ownership of that title. By applying it to all the women she is lessening the importance of the word. Nacha even condemns herself by replying “Si, yo tambien soy traicionera”[9] when asked “Y tu, Nachita, eres traidora?”.[10] The specific word “traicionera” used by Nacha is different to the word “traidora” used by Laura. It is typically used in association with lovers. Nacha saw a connection with La Malinche, especially because she herself is a native woman and because La Malinche decided to help the Europeans due to her love for Cortazar, one of the main conquistadors. It can also be a reference to the love between el primo marido and Laura which was adultery as she was still married to Pablo. Rather then this being seen in a negative light, it shows that Nacha understands the sacrifices that one has to make for love and the betrayal was not done out of malicious feelings. This female solidarity in agreeing with each other underscores the poverty and ridiculousness of the name. Nacha calls Laura the diminutive nickname “Laurita”[11] after her confession, further demonstrating that intimacy had been established between the two of them. Women had to support each other in order to usurp male history from within by taking control of these male ideas and making them their own.

The white dress that Laura wears is a symbol of female guilt, furthering suggesting that she has accepted her role as a traitor and in doing so has become self-aware of her own identity which ultimately gives herself more power. The white dress represents the purity of the Aztec culture before it was “manchado de sangre”[12] by the violence of the conquest. It is the representation of the blood that women were responsible for spilling which visually brands them as traitors. The use of the word “manchado” suggests that women are never going to escape that label but Laura has accepted that and continues to wear the dress despite the stains. In contemporary Mexico City the national religion was Catholicism. The white of the dress was a symbol of her purity in her marriage to her husband Pablo and the red stains can be interpreted as a physical sign of her moral corruption by having an affair with el primo marido. Red was a colour that was associated with the devil and evil in religion. Women were associated with the immoral characteristics of Eve and of being emotional and fickle beings. Men represented the opposite of these values in Latin American society, they were strong and reliable leading figures. Laura refuses to take the dress off because the blood stains are an act of resistance against the conformation to the male patriarchy. This further suggests that Laura and to some extent other women have accepted the idea that they are seen as traitors and will not let other men influence their perception of themselves.[13]

Another interpretation of the dress can be linked to the resistance of Aztec culture against European influences. The whiteness of the dress is a symbol of the whiteness of the conquistador’s skin when they first imposed themselves on Mexico City during the Conquest. It is a reference to Laura’s modern life because Native dresses were normally brightly patterned. It is also a blank state that Dienstibier referes to as a palimpsest between the past and the present of the two different worlds.[14] It is first described as a “traje blanco quemado y sucio de tierra y sangre”[15] whereby the “tierra” and “sangre” have created a new story, the story of the violence of the conquest of Mexico. It gives the dress a new meaning as it links Laura to her native identity and her identity as a modern housewife. It creates the idea of the mestizo identity which is the mixture of the two worlds together. The dress has time travelling properties, it is the only object that is able to appear in the two different periods of time. It is a reminder that one should not forget their past which was made their present, a topic that was often discussed in the Latin American literature of the 1960’s. The cyclical nature of the dress- appearing in the first paragraph of the story and ending with Laura leaving in it - suggests that Garro wanted the modern mestizo identity to return to its indigenous roots. The government in Latin America had been encouraging the population to renounce their native roots and therefore the dress acts as a subversion to these racial social expectations.

The dress is a symbol of how the glory of the Aztec culture had to deal with being a nation of mixed origin.[16] Laura has been bleached of her native identity. Not only is she wearing a white dress but her skin has become white as well, “está muy desteñida, parece una mano de ellos.”[17] The use of the word “ellos” adds contempt because el primo marido is not even able to bring himself to say specifically who it is. When he first sees her, he “reacts in horror at their resemblance with the Other, the white European”[18]. Laura has become “destenida” because the white dress has become a symbol of the surrender of the native identity to the Europeans. This is in stark contrast to the colour of el primo marido who is seen in shades of black with “el pelo negro”[19] and “se quedó quieto como las panteras”.[20] Black is a very strong and bold colour and the metaphor of “panteras” is a warrior cat who is strong and able to fight for itself. This contrast in colour creates a duality between the two different characters and their backgrounds because the colour white is seen as washed out in this instance and lacking strength or vitality of life. Laura almost seems to represent the European other, especially in comparison to her indigenous husband who still has the power to remain true to himself and not become influenced by the European culture.

Garro subverted the traditional view of the native Aztecs as represented through the comparison between Pablo (representing the mestizo identity) and el Primo Marido (representing the native identity). Traditionally, the native identity was seen as inferior because they had been defeated during the conquest. Briante observed in her writings, those in the position of colonial power classified the indigenous Americans in one of two ways: God’s most innocent child or as a cannibal.[21] El primo marido is kind and gentle compared to the aggressive behaviour of Pablo with whom Laura “le miraba la boca gruesa y el ojo muerto”.[22] There is no love in the relationship between them and even though Pablo physically looks like el primo marido, he has no soul as seen by the description of “ojo murto” and “boca gruesa”. El primo marido is persistant in his pursuit for Laura because he genuinely cares for her, “Me agarró con su mano caliente, como agarraba a su escudo y me di cuenta de que no lo llevaba”.[23] By Laura becoming his “escudo”, it also gives women power because she has the power to protect him from harm and she also has the power to hurt him by rejecting him.  It was a direct speech from him and not told through the narration of Laura which suggests that he is capable of eloquent speech on contrast to Pablo. This shows that he sees her as an equal, as some that is valuable to him whereas Pablo sees her as an ornament and does not treat her like a real person. The native identity is more capable of humanity than the mestizo identity even though they are supposed to be socially and morally superior. 

In many instances, Garro has subverted traditional gender stereotype and racial hierarchies- el rimo marido is seen in a positive light. However, in some aspects Laura is still seen as a submissive female figure. Laura is only able to achieve self- redemption by choosing to run away with el primo marido, she was not able to find it by herself. There is also a sense of guilt for abandoning el primo marido in the past which one could argue she did to preserve her own well-being. The conquest was a violent act (as shown by the blood stains on her dress) and she flees to marry a white male, Pablo. This indicates that she married him for protection against the conquest as she was not able to protect herself. Even though she made the decision to go with el primo marido because in that instance the white men had more power than the Aztecs. Even though Laura has fully realised her identity between the past and the present, she is not fully a free woman. Laura also chose el primo marido which suggests that Mexico itself wanted to return to its pre-mythic past as they were tired of being oppressed by the White Europeans culture who had taken away their culture and identity through the conquest. Garro was successful in subverting the traditionally negative view of the Native Aztecs.

Bibliography:

Primary text:

Garro, Elena, “La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas”, in La semana de colores (Universidad Veracruzana: Xalapa, 1964)

Journals:

Briante, Susan, “Hijas de la Malinche: Contemporary Representations of "el buen o el mal salvaje"”, The Billingual Review, Vol 24 (1999)

Cypess, Sandra, La Malinche in Mexican Literature from History to Myth (Texas: Texas University Press, 1991)

Dowling. H. Dowling, “The Erotic Dimension of Elena Garro's "La Culpa Es de Los Tlaxcaltecas"”, Chasqui, Vol. 28 (1999)

 Ed, McIntyre, Kellen Kee, Phillips. E. Richard, “Women and Art in Early modern Latin America”, BRILL (2006)

Garcés, Elizabeth, Relocating Identities in Latin American Cultures (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2007)

Nanfito. C. Jacqueline, “The Narrative Art of Elena Garro: Timeless Spaces of Remembering Engendered in "La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas"”, Letra Femininas, Vol 29 (2003)

Spita, Silvia, ‘That Fast Receding Towards the Past That Is Women’s Future: “La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas”, in Between Two Waters: Narratives of Transculturation in Latin America (Texas: Texas A & M University Press, 1995)

Websites:

Dienstbier, Alexandria, Re-Fashioning Gendered Mestizo Identity: A Dress Woven with Guilt and Betrayal in La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas. (Indiana University) http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v39/dienstbier.htm accessed: 19/12/2018

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[1] Jacqueline C. Nanfito, “The Narrative Art of Elena Garro: Timeless Spaces of Remembering Engendered in "La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas"”, Letra Femininas, Vol 29 (2003): pp. 133

[2] Ed, Kellen Kee McIntyre, Richard E. Phillips, “Women and Art in Early modern Latin America”, BRILL (2006): pp. 207

[3] Lee H. Dowling, “The Erotic Dimension of Elena Garro's "La Culpa Es de Los Tlaxcaltecas"”, Chasqui, Vol. 28 (1999): pp. 34

[4] Elena Garro, 'La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas', in La semana de colores (Universidad Veracruzana: Xalapa, 1964), pp. 126

[5] Ibid, pp. 136

[6]Cited in Dowling, The Erotic Dimension, pp. 36

[7] Sandra Cypess, La Malinche in Mexican Literature from History to Myth (Texas: Texas University Press, 1991) pp. 9

[8] Silvia Spita, ‘That Fast Receding Towards the Past That Is Women’s Future: “La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas”, in Between Two Waters: Narratives of Transculturation in Latin America (Texas: Texas A & M University Press, 1995), pp

[9] Garro, Tlaxcaltecas, pp. 124

[10] Ibid, pp. 123

[11] Ibid, pp. 124

[12] Ibid, pp. 130

[13] Alexandria Dienstbier, Re-Fashioning Gendered Mestizo Identity: A Dress Woven with Guilt and Betrayal in La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas. (Indiana University) http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v39/dienstbier.htm accessed: 19/12/2018

[14] Ibid

[15] Garro, Txcaltecas, pp. 123

[16] Elizabeth Garcés, Relocating Identities in Latin American Cultures (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2007), pp. 117

[17] Garro, Txcaltecas, pp. 130

[18] Nanfito, The Narrative Art, pp. 131

[19] Garro, Txcaltecas, pp. 130

[20] Ibid, pp. 130

[21] Susan Briante, “Hijas de la Malinche: Contemporary Representations of "el buen o el mal salvaje"”, The Billingual Review, Vol 24 (1999), pp. 254

[22] Garro, Txcaltecas, pp. 127

[23] Ibid, pp. 134