Mysteries There are two mysteries in the novel, both linked by the problem of immigration status. Paolina and the murdered women are similar in that they are unsure of their positions in American society. This makes them targets for someone like Clinton, a twisted male who seems to need victims in order to feel powerful. Carlotta and other Anglo women have legal status that makes them seem more secure in US society. But the notion of illegal status acts as a symbol of women's position. For, while they may be technically "legal," all women are still symbolically the Other, the Alien, who may be excluded by the physically stronger predatory male. Mothers and Daughters As we see more of Marta and Paolina, their fates and the fates of the illegal women at Hunneman’s are revealed to be increasingly intertwined. Marta is like some of the mothers we have met, not particularly helpful to her daughter and favoring her sons, believing that her daughter does not need an education, while paradoxically admiring Carlotta without seeing what Carlotta has that Paolina could use. But old customs die hard as we saw in the case of Lily’s mother and Esi's mother. And mothers’ submerged jealousy of their daughters still exists today, preventing them from being the effective force in their daughters’ lives that they might have been. One remembers a stunning exception, the narrator’s hero-mother in “The Bloody Chamber.” Marta means well. She tries to protect Paolina – lying to Carlotta about just who it was that gave “Manuela” Carlotta's card. Like many mothers she does not give her daughter enough credit – positive that Paolina could not possibly learn the truth of her parentage. But Paolina is a quick study – her big sister has indeed been a role model for her and she plays detective in order to find out that truth. Trust We see the failure of trust on the part of both Marta and Paolina in regard to Carlotta. But cultural differences and different life stories are hard to get past. The pity is that Paolina could not trust Carlotta enough to tell her what she found out about her parentage, though we have our legal system and our division of people into antiquated national slots (when we are, really, one world), to blame for that. It is highly ironic that this lack of trust almost gets Paolina killed. But equally ironic is the fact that Carlotta herself trusts the wrong man, telling Harry Clinton about Paolina’s disappearance instead of confining in Mooney, who would never have let her down. Another chilling irony occurs when Paolina seeks out Clinton because she has seen Carlotta kiss him and therefore thinks he’s to be trusted. Like Little Red, she walks into danger, not into her grandmother’s hut but her big sister’s apartment. And the wolf is waiting. Sex and Violence Carlotta too is swayed by good looks and charming manners, and her belief in the myth of romantic "wild and crazy" love. Disliking Jamieson, a sour unpleasant bureaucrat but not a monster, she almost falls into Clinton’s trap. In a more conventional story, Clinton would have kidnapped her, and Mooney with his police cohorts would have shown up in the nick of time. But no one comes to rescue her; no one needs to. Her tough combative manner has made Clinton think she is “onto him.” Interestingly there is no direct confrontation, no hair-raising near death experience at the hands of a serial killer, just that one devastating phone call where the mask falls off and Clinton is revealed as the woman-hating predator he really is, the man who just can’t help killing women, the smart ones, since it’s their fault that they’re smart. In comparing Manuela and Carlotta with that chilling phrase "Like you," he shows us that legal status, education, opportunity pale before woman-hating men. Women must use all their resources and acquire new ones – toughness, physical strength, readiness for combat—if they are to survive this kind of hatred. The novel shies away from direct confrontations if in repudiation of the Super Hero, action movie mystique. Even the “chase scene” in the subway station is lacking in media-style violence. Carlotta herself has the opportunity to use a gun but abjures it though she is angry enough to kill. This speaks to her self-control, a remedy offered to us as something we must employ in situations that challenge us emotionally with temptations toward unwise sex or revengeful violence. Women The novel ends as it began, with a woman’s volleyball game, women working together as a team, as Carlotta concentrates not on the game this time, but on Paolina, tucking away her competitive instincts, seen in this novel as an important and valid part of her personality. She is multi-faceted, able both to love others and to protect herself. Paolina is the richer for this surrogate parent, who can make clear to her the complexities of a world where the cowboys are not conveniently marked by the color of their hats! This week I will post a discussion about your final paper. I hope you all do very well. You've been a wonderful class, and I'll miss you. |