Monday, May 11th, 2009...11:37 pm
How far are you willing to go for your family?
Reading Garcia Marquez’s “The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother,” makes me question the extent of family deity. As children, most of us are taught to respect the elders and to listen to what our parents/guardians tell us to do. While we may not always like what we are told to do, they are usually very reasonable and managable. Erendira, on the other hand, is given so many chores to do that she has to rest and work at the same time, in order to get all the chores done. This clearly depicts Erendira as a “good girl” but let’s be realistic here, how can anyone still be loyal to any family member if they are treated in such a matter?
And to make things worst, when Erendira is so overwhelmed with exhaustion that she falls asleep without putting out the candle, her grandmother forces her to pay her debt through prostitution! It’s no wonder that Erendira plots her grandmother’s murder – anyone else would have snapped or ran away a long time ago!
..
And to discuss something not related to the title of the blog: the relationship between Erendira and Ulises. Did Erendira really cared about Ulises or was it because she was his first experience that she took particular interest in him? Was it because she was aware of how attached Ulises would get to her that she manipulates his attraction to help her kill her grandmother? Or did she really have affections for him but was drawn more to the possibility of freedom that she runs away from him at the end?
If Erendira intentionally manipulates Ulises, then she would no longer be the innocent Erendira described in the title of the story. Perhaps the torture and abuse that her grandmother put her through changes her personality to someone more cruel..
3 Comments
May 12th, 2009 at 3:42 am
As a creature of the night, I am posting this quite late.
I was a little disgusted when I was reading the first half of the story. It reminded me of the historical event, “The Rape of NanJing,” where the Japanese invaded China. As the Japanese soldiers took over the villages, women were captured and were used as tools for sexual release. Erendira is in the same situation where she has to work until she feel like her kidneys are to explode.
Filial piety is important but not to such an extent. She was treated like a servant. Her attitude reminds me of Gregor. The response to ever command was “Yes, Grandmother.” She passively accepts her orders to work aimlessly to satisfy a greedy old hag.
I too get the impression that she wanted to use Ulises’s naiveness, but not from the beginning. She probably didn’t have to murder plot in her head when she met him. I think she just wanted to meet another kind loving soul. She was caring to the truck loader that loved her back. So I guess she took a particular interest to Ulises because he is not like the other men. The whole evil plot where the woman manipulates the man reminds me of a Shakespeare play. I think it is Macbeth. Even though I think murder is an extreme solution, I was routing for Erendira from the beginning. The grandmother had it coming…
May 12th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
It seems like Erendira is like her grandmother. It seems like Erendira loves Ulises, and is protective of him, just like her grandmother loves Erendira, and is protective of her. Maybe this is a type of love we haven’t discovered yet.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I think I would agree more with Cathy’s questioning… When I read through “Innocent Erendira”, I also wondered whether or not Erendira really cared about much in life. She submitted so easily to her grandmother’s wishes– even when she had the chance to get away from her grandmother (after her impromptu marriage), she didn’t take it. The author described it as a kind of “spell” that the grandmother had over her, but I think that in reality everyone has a choice, and for some reason Erendira chose to go back to her unhappy lifestyle. She never fought back against her grandmother, who (without her servants and connections, ironically paid for by Erendira’s work) is a pretty powerless person. Her inability to “rescue” Erendira from the mission is a testament to that.
I also doubt that Erendira is as “innocent” as the title would imply. Even before she convinced Ulises to kill her grandmother, she had been tempted to kill her. Or at the very least, harm her by pouring the boiling water into the bath. I think Ulises appearance was more of a convenient means to her ends.
Leave a Reply