Mexican Gothic

“Girls were supposed to follow a simple life cycle, from debutante to wife. To study further would mean to delay this cycle, to remain a chrysalis inside a cocoon.” 

Noemí ponders her mother and father’s very traditional notion of what it means to be an affluent young Mexican woman in 1950. Their notion of the life cycle is profoundly conservative, and it is one against which Noemí rebels not only in Mexico City but also once she arrives at High Place. This quote provides insight into the narrow range of acceptable ways to be a woman; its inclusion at the start of the novel introduces an important element of the feminist Gothic, which is the critique of gender roles. Also notable is Moreno-Garcia’s use of imagery from the natural world that highlights transformation, both the successful kind and the interrupted kind, which foreshadows the many transformations that take place in the novel.

“Many formerly thriving mining sites that had extracted silver and gold during the Colonia interrupted their operations once the War of Independence broke out. Later on, the English and the French were welcomed during the tranquil Porfiriato, their pockets growing fat with mineral riches. But the Revolution had ended this second boom.” 

The Porfiriato is the long period between Mexican independence and the start of the Mexican Revolution. This passage provides important historical and political context for situating the Doyles as European interlopers who use the cover of their privilege to exploit Mexicans and Mexican culture. This context is an important part of Moreno-Garcia’s critique of Europeans’ influence in Mexico.