The role of woman in the writings of Elena Garro:

Abstract

This dissertation presents an analysis of woman's situation and viewpoint as revealed in the plays El arbol and Los perros and the novels Los recuerdos del porvenir, Testimonios sobre Mariana, and La casa junto al rio by the Mexican Elena Garro. The basis of the analysis is a study of the cultural context, the personal relationships and human interaction, and the atmosphere in the texts under consideration. The female characters function as human beings who are easily recognizable in any Latin American society. By studying Garro's women characters we can also assess the racial and socio-economic atmosphere of the setting. In El arbol this is made clear by the confessional element contained in the drama. In Los perros, and also in La casa junto al rio, we see a fruitless search for paradise lost, for the "good house" of medieval belief. In Garro's texts the feminine characters inhabit a mythic space created by themselves as a means of avoiding the violence of the empiric reality in which they live. In Los recuerdos del porvenir this violence is the direct product of military abuse. Masculine discourse is demythified through witness borne by Vicente, Andre, and Gabrielle in Testimonios sobre Mariana as they prove that Augusto's version of the story lacks credibility and lend verisimilitude to that told by the main character. In La casa junto al rio emphasis is placed on the creative importance of both nostalgia and violence as incentives to make the main character, Consuelo, undertake the adventure of seeking her roots under the pretext of finding herself. By examining the way in which female characters are presented in Garro's works, we are better able to ascertain the viewpoint of this controversial writer and experience the political and social dimensions of Latin America as witnessed by women engaged in the important effort of changing their environment into one that is more sympathetic and understandingly human to the woman.