Week 1 - De la Parra - Nicholas Latimer - On Maternal relationships & Personality

 I’ve enjoyed reading this book much more than anticipated. At first, I was slown down by the wordiness, but after a few pages very much appreciated the many analogies, extensive imagery, and eccentricity of the writing. I love the feeling that the way the memoir writes is as if it will be rewritten for some theatre performance, recounting every bit of anticipation, climax, and resolution of so many otherwise forgettable moments. This amount of “playfulness” included helped me understand why a theme of “voyeurism” was brought up in the preface. Not only did the editor spy on Mama Blanca when they first met, but became the one to expose her “secrets” (as the writing was unintended for us) by publishing the work. Learning this, I did not expect to be entertained by as much storytelling as was included here. 

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Although it may be more of a shot in the dark to imagine anything about a mother-daughter relationship than what is read in the book (as it doesn't exist in my close family) - there was too much for me to ignore thinking about how Mama treated her children.

One example which stuck to me was how Mama placed a strong emphasis on the appearances of her children. By having changes of outfits on hand for them when they are dirtied in the mud, but of course with her obsession with Mama Blanca’s non-curly-curly hair. Of course, going to extreme lengths to keep it perfect, it was obvious that MB grew self-conscious of her shortcoming - as her mother would ask why she didn't have curls like her sisters. MB recounts being weary, waiting to be called over for another treatment, and even hearing her mother lie to house guests claiming that it was all natural. This became most clear to me when she had gotten into the fight with Violeta - which didn't flare up their mother until she heard that her own daughter had made fun of MB’s straight hair. This intensity that was displayed by the mother upon the daughters explained to me why they would “hide their faces” when guests visited - perhaps a childhood shyness exacerbated by a fear of embarrassing mum with any ugliness? Perhaps it was the recounting of these events and feelings from the perspective of a young and vulnerable child, which we have all been, allowed me to sympathize so much with young Mama Blanca. 

On a lighter note, I was very entertained by the unique differences in personality between the sisters, but most specifically what MB mentioned comparing herself to Violeta. It made me laugh when she admitted to outdoing herself in her one and only chance to redeem herself from the “flycatcher” nickname adopted by her sister. Using every trope of imaginary fiction possible - driving Violeta crazy - I was reminded of the feeling of trying to do something overly generous for someone, which ends up backfiring to the point of being a bother. A classic, innocent feeling which seems to impact the “poets” more than the “soccer players” of the world (to use her analogy specifically). 

To close with this analogy though, my question for you is why “admiration” for their personality differences was one-sided between Violeta and Mama Blanca.