RESISTANCE AND CHANGE:
A COMPARATIVE LITERARY ANAYLSIS OF LATIN AMERICAN
FEMALE VOICES IN THE 20th CENTURY.
A Report of a Senior Study
By
Amy Elizabeth Newell
Major: Spanish
Maryville College
Spring, 2011
Date Approved____________, by _________________________
Faculty Supervisor
ABSTRACT
This thesis is a feminist analysis of the work of two twentieth century Latin
American female poets: Alfonsina Storni from Argentina and Julia de Burgos from
Puerto Rico. Focusing on the effects of the patriarchal tradition in the cultural
construction of Latin America, this thesis examines how the works of these two poets
sought to resist and ultimately change the expectations and norms held for women in their
respective societies. The works of Storni and Burgos not only oppose the hegemonic
tradition of patriarchy deeply entrenched in their societies, but they, more significantly,
offer an alternative path. This alternative path is shown through the discovery of their
own voice, an emerging feminine voice brought forth from the midst of a masculine
dominated literary discourse. The influence of the works of Storni and Burgos has over
the past century changed the literary scene for women in Latin America. This thesis
seeks to explore the history of patriarchy in Latin America, how feminist discourse arose
in the midst of this patriarchy, and finally a comparative analysis of the works of Storni
and Burgos. Though this thesis is limited in scope, it offers an opportunity to gain a
deeper understanding of how women were and are viewed in Latin American culture and
society through the poetry of Storni and Burgos, which offer an alternative path to the
traditional patriarchal structure, an alternative path that all are invited to follow.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction
v
Chapter I
Literature Review: History of Patriarchy
Theories of Feminist Criticism
1
13
Chapter II
Analyzing Primary Documents: The Poetry of
Alfonsina Storni
23
Chapter III
Literary Analysis: The Poetry of Julia de Burgos
38
Chapter IV
A Literary Comparison
57
Concluding Remarks
67
Works Cited
71
iv
INTRODUCTION
My cry that is no more mine,
But hers and his forever,
the comrades of my silence,
the phantoms of my grave (Burgos 158).
It has been said that the one who controls language, rules the world. Words
contain power. Having access to words, to language, and to literature has been
traditionally associated with the masculine, and men have historically held the power in
society. Women, sadly, especially throughout most of Latin America, were seldom ever
given the opportunity to use language in any way to have any power in society.
However, in the early twentieth century, the situation for women began to change. The
power of language began to reach even the lowest rungs of society. The result was an
emergence of a feminine voice from the midst of a male dominated social structure of
language and society. This voice declared that everyone has the right to use language
regardless of gender; therefore, implying that are all equal and are all connected.
Appreciating the power of language and its ability to promote reflection and introspection
for ourselves, as well as on our collective past can only bring us a more profound
understanding of the world around us. Studying how language and access to language
can affect a society is an important way to try to understand that society on a deeper
v
level. Particularly when studying other cultures and languages, literature becomes an
essential tool to enable an appreciation for the complexities of life, language, and culture.
This thesis attempts to use poetry to better understand culture, language, and the
human experience of living as a woman in early twentieth century Latin America. From
a broad perspective, this thesis is a feminist analysis of the way that patriarchy has
historically shaped the culture of Latin America, and how through feminist thought and
action, many of the patriarchal constructs so deeply entrenched in the Latin American
cultural consciousness began to change as a reaction to the life and writing of two female
poets. Even though countless examples of female resistance to patriarchal male models
exist in poetry throughout Latin American history, this thesis will concentrate on the
works of two women: Alfonsina Storni from Argentina, and Julia de Burgos from Puerto
Rico.
This thesis is divided into four chapters each seeking to analyze a different aspect
of this study. The first chapter will be an in-depth account of the history of patriarchy as
it is expressed in Latin America. Beginning with colonization and the introduction of the
Spanish language, the Catholic Church, and the destruction of much of indigenous
culture, patriarchy took a strong root in Latin American society. However, there have
been many movements, especially recently in the past century, that have tried to change
the cultural norms and expectations associated with patriarchy. The introduction of
compulsory education and the rise of women’s literary groups in the nineteenth and
twentieth century created the space for the emergence of a feminine voice, and through
this, change was slowly able to occur. This emerging feminine voice led to the creation
of many different feminisms throughout the world. A feminist perspective, though there
vi
is not only one, provides a new framework, an alternative framework by which an
individual can view and interpret the world. Through this framework it becomes
essential to resist the “classical” and involve oneself in a reinterpretation of literature,
history, and therefore, life. According to feminist theories, there must be a reassessment
of roles especially the roles historically occupied by women. Feminist literary theory
seeks to reach down to the archetypes of the collective unconscious in order to access the
parts of all of us that link us together. Most importantly, however, is the aspect of
feminist theory that is a resistance to the patriarchal model in order to eventually change
this model to be a more inclusive and complete model of the history of the human
experience.
Chapter two of this thesis looks at the work of the first poet, Alfonsina Storni
(1892-1938). Storni, who grew up in poverty in Buenos Aires, Argentina, became a
school teacher struggling with poverty throughout her life. She had an illegitimate son
and never married breaking social expectations not only with her poetry but also with her
life. She, unlike many other women of the time period received some praise for her work
during her lifetime. Sadly, after learning she had terminal cancer, she drowned herself in
the ocean. In this section, four poems will be analyzed with some detail. “Tú me quieres
blanca” shows a drastic shift when the feminine poetic voice becomes the observer in the
relationship between men and women instead of being the observed. “La loba”
represents the rejection of socially acceptable societal roles for women and shows an
alternative path of separation. The poem “Hombre pequeñito” explores the concept of
freedom for women from the metaphorical cage of patriarchy. The final poem in this
section is “Peso ancestral,” which investigates the effects of patriarchy on men and on
vii
society as a whole. Through these poems, this thesis hopes to analyze how Storni used
resistance to the patriarchal structures in order to promote change in her society.
The third chapter in this thesis will examine the poetry of Puerto Rican poet Julia
de Burgos (1914-1953). Burgos also grew up in poverty in rural Puerto Rico, became a
school teacher, and was highly involved in the nationalist political struggle in Puerto Rico
in the 1920s and 1930s. She lived in poverty throughout her life, moving to New York
only to succumb to alcoholism and an early tragic death. Today, she remains one of the
most renowned poets in Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America. In this section, four
of Burgos’s poems will be studied. “A Julia de Burgos” represents the internal conflict of
“tú vs. yo” in which the poetic voice offers an alternative path to follow in resistance to
the one presented by the patriarchal culture and society. This poem also explores the
archetype of the “Wild Woman” and how Burgos uses this archetype in her poetry. “Río
Grande de Loíza” is an example of the way that Burgos used sensual semi-erotic poetry
to explore the female connection with nature and the way that the female body is viewed
in society. “Ay ay ay de la grifa negra” investigates how the combination of patriarchy
and slavery has affected and continues to affect the Puerto Rican society. The final poem
in this section is “Farewell from Welfare Island” written shortly before Burgos’s death in
1953. This poem exemplifies the fusion of all voices as one shouting out against all the
injustices of the world. This poem is Burgos’s last stand against a patriarchal and
discriminatory societal structure, and through this poem she passes on the task of
resistance to everyone else.
Chapter four of this thesis is a comparative analysis of the works of Storni and
Burgos. In this section, concurrent themes will be analyzed that are found in the work of
viii
both poets. Additionally, each poet’s style will be compared looking for ways that their
stylistic choices such as the use of free verse, metaphors, and allegories reveal a common
purpose through their writing. Finally, this chapter will examine how their poetry
resisted the hegemonic patriarchal tradition, and how, through the emergence of the
feminine voice in their poetry, change was able to occur in Latin America and throughout
the world.
The concluding section of this thesis will briefly summarize the aforementioned
topics and mention other female poets and authors who have also been influential
throughout this time period. Additionally, a succinct analysis of the current state of
women in Latin America will be undertaken. There is no one right way of thinking about
feminism and challenging the patriarchal state; however, the examples offered through
the poetry of Storni and Burgos are a good place to start. These alternative philosophies,
presented through their lives and work, opened up a whole new world for the women of
this era and for all of us living today.
The power of language taken from the hands of men used by the voices of women
throughout Latin American and around the world has been the cause of great change.
The one who controls language, rules the world or so the saying goes. Women like
Alfonsina Storni and Julia de Burgos are examples of women who found their own voice,
an emerging feminine voice, out of the struggles and trials of daily life in twentieth
century Argentina and Puerto Rico. Their voices took back some of the power and
control in society by choosing to control language at least within the space of their own
poetry. Language, literature, and poetry bring us together and form connections between
all of us as human beings and between the present, the past, and the future. The lives of
ix
Storni and Burgos were journeys of resistance that ultimately led to change. Analyzing
their works will bring a deeper understanding of the obstacles they faced and they way
they strove to overcome them.
x
CHAPTER I
LITERATURE REVIEW: HISTORY OF PATRIARCHY
Yo soy como la loba,
Quebré con el rebaño
Y me fui a la montaña
Fatigada del llano.
(“La loba,” Storni 59)
The discussion of history and literature within the context of Latin America is
quite a daunting task owing to the complexity and diversity that spans across the entire
region. However, in order to understand the lives and work of two of the region’s most
renowned female poets, a few general components of Latin American society must be
investigated, as well as how these structures have changed and shifted historically.
Though each country and region represents different cultures, histories, and ideologies,
there are some themes that can be carried throughout to help gain a better understanding
of the historical situation of women in Latin America. These themes include the societal
structure of patriarchy, the influence of religious ideology, and the way that these forces
have changed due to resistance of women and their changing expectations for themselves.
1
To begin, it is necessary to understand the background of patriarchy and how it
has shaped the general societal structure in Latin America. Gerda Lerner, a feminist
historian and philosopher, explains in her work The Creation of Patriarchy that,
Patriarchy is a historic creation formed by men and women in a process
which took nearly 2500 years to its completion. In its earliest form
patriarchy appeared as the archaic state. The basic unit of organization was
the patriarchal family, which both expressed and constantly generated its
rules and values. (212)
As a social structure and social force in society, Lerner says that society did not
necessarily create patriarchy, but that the two grew up together in a system of constant
exchange. The reciprocal nature of this relationship increased its overall strength, making
the structure very difficult to later change and break.
Lerner, though, is speaking in general terms about patriarchy throughout history.
Latin America, as a region, has a slightly different story. Francesca Miller, a professor of
history and women’s studies, explains in her book Latin American Women and the
Search for Social Justice, that among the indigenous cultures that called Latin America
home until the late fifteenth century, women were viewed in a variety of different ways
(17). Even though labor was often divided based upon sex, women in general were
known to serve in higher positions of prestige and authority such as priestesses,
physicians, and artisans (Miller, Social Justice 18). However, Latin America was
subject to brutal conquest and destruction by Spanish conquistadors following
Christopher Columbus’s arrival to the “New World” in 1492. The structure of the
indigenous societies was destroyed and replaced by a new way, the Christian way, with
2
its new rules, norms, and morals. Colonization and the subsequent acculturation of the
residents had devastating effects on Latin American indigenous cultures, and these effects
have shaped the regions until the present day. Jean Franco, a feminist critic of Latin
American writing, explores in “Si me permiten hablar: la lucha por el poder
interpretativo” the ways in which colonial society created a separation between the roles
of men and women. Men were related to the rational, to reason, intelligence, and the
public place of power, and women were related with the irrational, emotions and the
private places of subservience (115). Women were seen as assets to their male
counterparts, not as individuals with their own hopes, dreams, and ambitions. SkledarMatijevic explains in her article “La tradición de la voz literaria (poética) femenina
hispanoamericana: un hilo ininterrumpido,”
La tradición de la voz literaria femenina hispanoamericana, que nunca ha
sido interrumpida, empezó con la conquista española del continente
americano y es inherente a la expresión literaria en la lengua castellana.
Sin embargo, la dominación masculina es evidente, y ha sido la causa de
que algunas obras escritas por mujeres fueran olvidadas, perdidas, o
simplemente ignoradas (120).
The tradition of the feminine literary voice in Hispanic America, that has
never been interrupted, began with the Spanish conquest of the American
continent and is inherently the literary expression in the Spanish language.
However, masculine domination is evident and has been the reason that
many works written by women were forgotten, lost, or simply ignored.
(Translations mine unless otherwise stated)
3
Not only was the structure of the society determined by the acceptable masculine, rational
leadership, but the androcentric Spanish language with its gendered vocabulary shaped
the Latin American world in a patriarchal relationship of words and expression. As we
will shortly see, feminist theorists today take this gendered language into account as they
strive to analyze literary works from a more objective point of view. This use of language
as power was a technique used by the Catholic Church in Latin America as they strove to
control every aspect of society by maintaining a monopoly of education and language.
Women were automatically excluded from any roles of leadership, education, or power
just for being female. Franco explains that
La debilidad natural de la mujer servía como eje simbólico para afirmar el
poder ideológico del clero, para separar lo racional de lo irracional, la
teología de otras formas menores del conocimiento. (113)
The natural weaknesses of women served as a symbolic focal point to
affirm the ideological power of the clergy, to separate the rational from the
irrational, the theology from other lesser forms of knowledge.
Franco shows how the patriarchal system within the Catholic Church that dominated the
social and political system of the New World used a flawed construct to trap and control
half of the population based on their gender. There was only one appropriate way to be
in society, and that was to be male. Gender determined power, educational opportunities,
and societal status. Religion was one of the most important facets of life within colonial
America especially in the first three or four centuries following colonization. This
religion provided the structural basis for society. Miller explains that the Church’s
“activities touched all classes: through conversion and in the rituals of life. Through
4
baptism, confirmation, marriage, burial. The Church determined social mores and
wielded enormous economic and political power” (Social Justice 27). Within these
religious beliefs, women were secondary to men. However, a contradiction exists in that
the only way for women to receive an education was from within the Church. Some
women, though mostly from the higher classes, found the Church, and more specifically
the convent, as a place of refuge from societal expectations where they could learn to
read and write and think without so much fear of societal discontent.
One of these women, Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz, who is famously yet erroneous
called the mother of feminism in Latin America, did have a large influence on the
promotion of education for girls within the region. Though there were many women
writers before her, such as Santa Teresa in Spain, Sor Juan received grand acclaim around
the world for her original, majestically intelligent, often erotic poetry, prose, and
theological debates. Yet, even within the somewhat safer space of the Church, women’s
voices were still subject to the silencing power of the male authorities that governed the
religious body. After being ridiculed and oppressed by the male leaders of the Church,
Sor Juana’s life would end in self-imposed literary silence in resistance to the patriarchal
structures that tried to trap her voice. By writing about women from an intellectual
perspective, Sor Juana took huge risks that put her life in grave danger. “La capacidad de
la palabra de independizarse de la voluntad del sujeto constituye por lo tanto un peligro
que se salva renunciando toda pretensión de ser autora” / The capacity of the word to
liberate the will of the subject consisted at the very least in a great risk that could
renounce all pretention of being an author (Franco 115). By understanding the power of
the written word, Sor Juana was able to share her own intellectual and feminist view of a
5
world controlled entirely by men. Her literary genius became a model that other brave
women writers could follow as they strove to walk in her liberating footsteps.
Sor Juana, then, served as a model that encouraged other women throughout the
following centuries to take up the pen and begin to find ways to resist the patriarchal
structure, male dominance, and religious ideology. However, they had many obstacles to
overcome. Latin American patriarchal society was not going to easily give up its control
and power of the feminine body, thoughts, reason, and control in society. According to
Lerner, a double standard had been internalized into the thoughts and actions of society.
She states that “men-as-a-group had rights in women which women-as-a-group did not
have in men" (212). Women were confined to private, controlled spaces where they were
expected to act in specific ways without liberty. "Thus they have learned to mistrust their
own experience and devalue it," explains Lerner (224). In other words, women were
victims of a society that viewed them as inferior and secondary citizens without rights, or
voices.
Fortunately, as Lerner explains, there were some women who, due to socioeconomic status, were able to receive an education similar to that of their male siblings.
However, this education taught these few women to "how to think like a man" (224). A
feminine voice had yet to completely emerge in a public sphere, and women were trapped
into speaking, thinking, and analyzing based on the acceptable androcentric models. Yet,
the ability for even a few women to become educated without great social stigma was an
improvement from the era of Sor Juana. This change allowed for the beginning of
various social and political movements to bring women out of their socially acceptable
places in the home, or in the marketplace and put them in the center of government,
6
politics, and the education of other women. Emilie Bergmann editor of the anthology
Women, Culture, and Politics in Latin America explains in the introduction that the
socially acceptable private sphere became public as women became conscious of the
harm that their repression was doing to themselves, their daughters, and society as a
whole. Women became school teachers and writers (5). Women began to step out of the
socially acceptable submissive roles in which they had been raised and began to push the
limits of their participation in politics, education, and literature.
However, this emergence of the feminine voice did not occur as an isolated
incident. The nineteenth century brought about socio-political changes that gave women
more freedom and greater rights, though none of this came without significant battles.
Miller explains how the liberal ideology that sprang up with the multiple wars of
independence from colonial powers in the nineteenth century was the beginning of a new
way of thinking in Latin American society (Social Justice 29). Some women joined in
the revolutionary struggle. In consequence, women were for the first time recognized for
their contributions to the colonial resistance effort which helped them to achieve some
greater personal freedom (Miller, Social Justice 31). However, “women’s legal status
would continue to be determined through her relationship to the male head of the
household, her de facto status defined through her social and economic locus, marital
status, ethnic heritage, and place of residence” (Miller, Social Justice 32). In response,
as the late nineteenth century emerged over the horizon, subtle changes began to occur
within the landscape of feminine relations amongst other women and with the world at
large.
7
Women began to resist the patriarchal societies into which they were born.
Patriarchy, though still the dominant ideology worldwide, began to lose some ground as
the only acceptable societal force. Women began to share their ideas with each other
through a myriad of different salons and literary magazines (Bergmann 9). The education
of women became for the first time a socially acceptable discussion point. Women began
educating other women, first in a series of normalistas (normal schools) and later in
higher education (Miller, Social Justice 67). Miller explains that “education is often
assessed as a tool of the state or church to subjugate or pacify the working classes, to
‘mold’ a particular kind of society . . . [b]ut ideas cannot be so carefully controlled: to
teach an individual to think critically, not just learn a certain body of material, is indeed
potentially revolutionary” (Social Justice 67). In the late nineteenth century, the
realization of the importance of the education of women occurred all across Latin
America as millions of girls began to learn to read and write for the first time. With this
surge in educational opportunities, women in Latin America began to understand the
predicament in which they found themselves. Half of the population was kept under the
control of the other half. Finally, the injustices of the patriarchal structure were brought
to the forefront among female intellectuals of the day. Francesca Miller in her essay
“Latin American Feminism in the Transnational Era” explains that these women decided
that by coming together they could achieve more, and so they took their concerns to a
series of international conferences where they voiced their opinions as a collective in
various statements and treaties that were pushed forward and eventually signed (12).
Miller states that women began to call out for equality in marriage, access to education,
and equal rights with their male peers (“Transnational Era” 12). The fight was not easy.
8
It was a difficult, challenging, and arduous struggle. By 1910 the First International
Feminine Congress took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Women from throughout
Latin America, for the first time, joined together in solidarity with their common goals
and dreams in order to begin a fight that would continue to the present day. What
happened in the world that allowed this break in the structure through which women from
throughout Latin American and around the world could stand up together without fear of
repression, excommunication from the Church, and deceit in order to declare that they
too deserved the same as their male counter parts? Skledar-Matijevic explains that
. . . por una combinación de varias condiciones sociales y culturales las
autoras se sienten más libres de expresarse y se hacen mucho más visibles
en la escena literaria. En voz alta hablan sobre situaciones sociales, sobre
el lugar de las mujeres, incluso expresan sus críticas. (126).
Due to a combination of various social and cultural conditions, women
authors felt freer to express themselves and they made themselves much
more visible in the literary scene. They speak forcefully about social
situations, about the place of women, and they even expressed their
critiques
Throughout Latin America, but especially within the countries constituting the Southern
Cone, education began to gain increased importance. In the 1920s hundreds of schools
had been opened for girls; however, girls still did not receive the same education as their
male counterparts (Miller, Social Justice 59). Even though more women were receiving
an education, equal educational opportunities had not yet been reached. The fight for
equality would continue into the rest of the twentieth century and even today.
9
It is from this historical and cultural background that Alfonsina Storni and Julia
de Burgos, who would eventually become two of the most well-respected, female writers
of the twentieth century, were born and raised. Understanding their histories will aid in
the analysis of their respective corpus of works. The ways in which they used their
poetry will reflect their resistance to the trials of patriarchy and injustice in their lives.
The first of these women, Alfonsina Storni, was born in 1892 to a poor immigrant
family, and she moved to San Juan, Argentina in 1896. According to Conrado Roxlo and
Mabel Mármol in their book Genio y Figura de Alfonsina Storni, Storni grew up with an
alcoholic father and a mother trapped by her prescribed role as a wife and mother (32).
There were instances in her childhood of a promise of a better life, and for a couple of
years; she traveled with José Tallavi’s acting company (39). However, shortly thereafter,
Storni’s father passed away, her mother remarried, and in 1909 Storni entered The
Coronda, a normal school for rural teachers (41). According to Morello-Frosch, author
of “Alfonsina Storni: The Tradition of the Feminine Subject,” in 1911 Storni began to
teach at a primary school in Rosario, Argentina, and in 1912 her only child, Alejandro
Alfonso was born (92). The father of her child was a politician and journalist to whom
Storni would never marry. Due to social pressures of having an illegitimate child in the
early twentieth century, Storni decided to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina so she could
live her life without prejudices and harsh judgments by society (Roxlo 46). Raising a
child alone without a husband was extremely rare in this society and Storni took great
risks to do so. Throughout her life, she held many jobs including journalist, teacher,
writer, and secretary in order to support herself and her son. Writing in the 1920’s in
Argentina, she broke with the “hegemonic tradition [and] undertakes her long journey
10
toward attaining a genuinely feminine and consciously feminist voice and discourse”
(Morello-Frosch 91). Storni spent her life creating a new image of women in Latin
America and “by doing so [she] disposes of the traditional dichotomy of feminine and
masculine gender, a dichotomy that historically is based on the centrality and identity of
the masculine subjectivity that describes, invents, utters the other, be this woman, slave,
or colonized people” (Morello-Frosch 101). Unlike many other women, she actually
gained prestige and awards for her writing and her literary genius. Unfortunately, she
lived a life of poverty, constantly pushing against the injustices of a society in which
women were not granted equal rights or opportunities, as well as dealing with
physiological problems. Sadly, after finding out that she had an incurable disease, she
wrote her final poem in 1938 and committed suicide by throwing herself into the ocean.
The life of Alfonsina Storni will be remembered as one of literary genesis and personal
courageous resistance to the society that tried to keep her voice silent. Her poetry is a
testament to her life and the struggle for women in the world.
The second woman in this study is Julia de Burgos who was born in 1914 to an
impoverished family in Carolina, Puerto Rico. According to María Solá, editor of Julia
de Burgos: Yo misma fui mi ruta and professor at The University of Puerto Rico: Rio
Piedras, her family was extremely poor and Burgos had to witness the death of one of her
little brothers from malnutrition (12). When Burgos was fifteen, her family was evicted
from their home in Carolina and had to move to the slums of Río Piedras (12). Through
poor and disadvantaged, Burgos turned to her studies for support, and at the age of
nineteen she graduated with a teaching diploma and began to teach in many places
throughout Puerto Rico (13). The teaching profession was very difficult for Burgos
11
especially within some of the most impoverished areas of Puerto Rico. She began to try
to publish her poems and writings. Solá explains that “Para cualquier mujer es difícil ir
más allá de esos límites que se le infiltran desde niña, pero lo es mucho más para la que
se enfrenta además a la falta de oportunidades, de tiempo y de dinero”/ For any women it
is difficult to go beyond the limits that infiltrate from childhood, but it is even more
difficult to confront these limits with a lack of opportunities, time, and money (14).
Burgos received some acclaim for her work, but the going was rough. She was
constantly met with obstacles, relationship difficulties with Juan Isidro Jiménez, a man,
who like Storni, she would never marry, and the more overwhelming challenges of trying
to survive the Great Depression (15). A believer in independence from the United States,
she joined the Partido Nacional (Nationalist Party) and incorporated her independentista
(independent) ideals into her writing. She rose up with the majority of the Puerto Rican
population against the United States’ colonial regime in search of a Puerto Rican national
identity (Solá 26). Writing in the Generation of the 1930s, she expressed, through her
poetry, ideas of extreme emotion, passion, and love, while at the same time fighting for
the equality of all human beings in rights and educational opportunities (Solá 23).
Burgos, like other feminist writers, created a new image of women in her writing and
stepped away from the classical descriptions and literary uses of women (Solá 27). Yet,
she constantly found herself on the brink of poverty, oppressed by a society that was not
warm and welcoming to an extremely intelligent woman writer. She moved to New York
in the late 1940s and faced emotional depression and the effects of alcoholism that
resulted in admittance to multiple hospitals and treatment centers (Solá 15). In 1953, she
collapsed on the street and was admitted to the hospital. The nurses did not believe that
12
she was a writer and poet and said she must have amnesia. Soon thereafter, she passed
away in an unconscious state (17). She was thirty-nine years old (11). Her life was a
constant struggle against the pressures of patriarchy and resistance to that inequality that
left her broken and penniless.
Having a better understanding of the ways in which an androcentric, patriarchal
structure of society, language, and family shaped and continues to shape Latin American
society since Spanish colonization can aid one to see how women began to fight against
this structure, and for their own places, voices, and rights to live as human beings, not
secondary citizens. Additionally, a basic understanding of biographical information
about the authors themselves helps to deepen a perception of the struggles and trials these
women faced and overcame with their lives. With this background, it is necessary to
explore basic theories of feminism and feminist literary criticism as it relates to Latin
American literature.
THEORIES OF FEMINIST CRITICISM
With a broad introduction to the historical prevalence of patriarchy, as well as
biographical information of Storni and Burgos, it is now essential to explore how
feminism and the feminist literary critique emerged out of these circumstances. Once
again, the scope of this analysis is unable to encompass the breadth of feminist theory in
its totality. Nevertheless, a general overview will be presented in order to provide an
adequate background to better understand the writing of the women in this study.
13
It is important to note from the beginning that, as Elsa Arroyo, professor of
Hispanic Studies at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, explains in her work Ni
víctimas, ni bábaras, even though there are some common themes throughout feminist
criticism, there is not just one definition of feminism (15). Feminism is not just one
single belief structure, but many interwoven together in a system of mutual support. She
goes on to explain that, as previously explored, feminism did not just suddenly appear,
but was the result of a process of dialogue and exchange among women and men
throughout centuries and different cultures. However, as a general theme, Arroyo shows
how men and women began to recognize the subordination of women and in response
began various techniques to try to “superar esas jerarquías aún en forma individual o
hasta secreto” / to overcome these hierarchies in an individual or even secret form (170).
As previously discussed, women began to resist the socially constructed boundaries of
their lives. They began to strike out and fight back through their actions, words, and
literature. Amy Kaminsky author of Reading the Body Politic: Feminist Criticism and
Latin American Women Writers explains how on a broad spectrum, these first feminists
were concerned with “deconstructing the culturally created (but naturalized), popular,
hierarchical division between male and female in order to understand, and then challenge,
the subordinate position of women vis-á-vis men” (18). In other words, feminists tried to
bring to light the societal constructions that held women back from becoming educated,
and from having an equal standing with men in society.
Additionally, Alda Facio and Lorena Fries explains in their work Feminismo,
género y patriarcado how the feminist critique strives to incorporate all actions and
ideology in order to end the subordination and oppression of women so that every human
14
being can be seen as equal regardless of their gender (25). They continue by saying that
feminism “es una ideología plural y diversa con un solo objetivo político: transformar la
situación subordinada de las mujeres en todo el mundo” / It is a plural and diverse
ideology with only one political objective: to transform the subordinate situation of
women in the whole world (25). By this, one can see that women and men have come
together to fight against the societal forces that historically have kept women locked in
prescribed social spaces. According to Kaminsky, a deconstructionist view is necessary
if we are to effectively analyze past and current works written by women. It is crucial to
deconstruct our views of the ‘normal’ or the ‘classical’ and to realize that only by
analyzing from an objective point of view with the influence of many different
disciplines, histories and perspectives can we effectively perform feminist criticism (19).
Arroyo explains that,
En efecto, el feminismo desnudó a las ciencias y la sabiduría dominante,
demostrando que su pretensión de objetividad y neutralidad no era sino
una máscara del autoritarismo y machismo que intentaba suprimir saberes
alternos. Igualmente, los feminismos validaron la parcialidad y la
vivencia personal como fuente de conocimiento; en fin, que el impulso de
las corrientes feministas abrió camino hacia diversas nuevas maneras de
estudiar y captar la realidad, y, en particular, la forma de comunicación
que llamamos literatura. (Arroyo 17)
In effect, feminism stripped the sciences and the dominant wisdom,
demonstrating that its aim of objectivity and neutrality was not nothing
more than a mask of authoritarianism and machismo that tried to suppress
15
other knowledge. Equally, the feminisms validated the partiality and the
personal experience as a fountain of knowledge; finally, the impulse of the
feminist currents opened the path to different and new ways of studying
and capturing reality, and, in particular, the way of communication we call
literature.
Feminist literature, then, developed out of this new social movement, and in turn the
social movement pulled power and strength from the feminist expression in the literature
of the day. Masiello explains in Women Culture and Politics that “women’s literature in
the 1920s provided a new framework for the reception and interpretation of masculine
symbols of identity. It also offered terms for rereading the deployment of power. For this
realization it depended upon the strategies of disruption produced by the avant-garde- but
it also came into obvious debate with the nationalist tendencies of Latin American
literature as if to reevaluate the programs of the modern state from a distinctively female
perspective” (28). Through literature, women began to resist the “classical” and began to
create a new way of writing in opposition to societal demands and expectations.
Kaminsky explains that “Latin American feminist work can show the resistance and the
agency of women – women who are not only the object of the neocolonialist male gaze
and the creation of the capitalist patriarchal mind, but also the subjects of their own lives”
(20). With this new framework, women could then begin to move forward in resistance
to the patriarchal structure in order to change the situation of women in Latin America.
However, Bergmann articulates that feminist resistance could not begin until
women realized that a “conscious reassessment of roles” was necessary (3). If women
were going to resist the system of patriarchy, then they had to step out of the socially
16
acceptable places, refuse to follow the norms that society had given them, and change the
way they viewed themselves. With these changes, a feminine voice had the potential to
emerge. Morello-Frosch explains how “woman… simply becomes herself, asserts her
identity, authorizes herself, and assumes her own destiny in separating herself from this
tradition, in declaring that it is not and never has been hers” (91). This new
consciousness was vital in the creation of a feminine voice that could be carried on
throughout the centuries by the women who would follow. This feminine voice,
however, would be used in opposition to the dominant powers demanding respect,
demanding equality, demanding a dramatic shift in the structure of society. Masiello
explains how this “oppositional consciousness” was broadly used throughout Latin
America as women took up the pen in resistance to the ‘classical,’ the socially
acceptable,’ and being anything less than equal in society (32). Due to the fact that
women have been
Systematically deinstitutionalized, marginalized, and de-authorized, they
have a relationship to this tradition-text that differs radically from that of
men. It is a discourse of omissions, pressures, and prior denials that can
be, and indeed often are, assumed affirmatively, inasmuch as these leave
the feminine subject ‘free of baggage,’ at liberty to formulate what is her
own (Morello-Frosch 91).
The emergence of a feminine voice in Latin American literature was part of the resistance
to patriarchal claims of superiority and power of language. This voice in Latin American
literature has changed the structure of society to this day.
17
It is evident that the emergence of feminism in Latin America and especially
within the Latin American literary world produced large changes and shifts in the culture,
society, and the literature created. As women such as Storni and Burgos used literature
as a form of resistance, today we must remember the importance of our analysis of this
literature. We must strive to reject our own internalized views of gender and patriarchy
and strive for objectivity. Additionally, it is essential to look to texts that have not
historically been the centerpieces of literary discourse because they did not fit the
acceptable patriarchal mold. Following this idea Bergmann states that
Revising the canon involves two interconnected and reciprocal activities:
looking at the traditionally consecrated texts from new angles and giving
serious attention to little-known texts in a way that changes the contours of
the body of consecrated texts. The change in direction of our gaze toward
these previously marginalized texts changes our perspective on the texts
traditionally considered central and the questions we ask of them. This
change in perspective reveals accepted distortions of the human reality
along familiar binary oppositions such as active/passive and
public/private. In some texts, these divisions and the systems of social
oppression that they support are exposed by the text’s resistance and
subversion. (Bergmann 5)
Resisting the literary norms of the day was no easy task, and equally difficult will be an
analysis of these texts from a feminist perspective. However, Kaminsky brings to the
forefront the importance of language as a mode of power. She states that in the
discussion of language, it is important to note the way that the Spanish language is full of
18
patriarchal implications due to the fact that every word is associated with a gender, and
how society internalizes this gendered language. Kaminsky argues that current “Latin
American political and literary theorists, however, have been painfully conscious of the
struggle to create a language that is not subservient to a colonial past and neocolonial
present” (10). Additionally Myriam Díaz-Diocaretz, in her article included in the
anthology Knives and Angels: Women Writers in Latin America, explores the emergence
of a ‘woman’s voice’ as the authors consciously selected “themes, metaphors, figures of
speech, poetic forms, [and] the implicit or explicit discursive polemics” (90-91). In
resistance to the literary norms of the day, women often did not follow the poetic rules
and standards, but instead let the rhythm take them where it would. This does not specify
their lack of education or poetic ability but simply that they used their poetry as a
resistance to the appropriate norms held in society (Solá 37).
With a basic understanding of how feminism is interpreted in Latin America, it is
necessary to provide a brief background of other literary techniques and approaches used
by the authors themselves and the current day feminist critique. There are basic concepts
that are essential in conducting analysis from a feminine perspective. According to
Arroyo, it is important to focus on what the text reveals about the “lugar de las mujeres
en el contexto social que se reproduce la literatura” (the place of women in the social
context that the literature reproduces) (17). Not only is it important to analyze where the
literary work places and articulates women, but it is also important to note where they are
absent. What does the text omit (17)? In addition, the relationships of women with other
women, women with men, and women interacting with nature are very important as well.
This leads us into the explanation of some important basic concepts regarding the theory
19
of feminist literary criticism. We will explore these concepts in greater depth in the
analysis section of this work; however, it is important to provide a brief introduction to
some of the ways that the works of these two authors will be analyzed.
As a part of the emergence of a feminine voice, women began to write about
other women or about themselves from their own perspectives. Historically, when
women were seen as the property of men, only men had the authority to write about the
body of a woman. Analyzing female bodies from a feminine perspective with a female
voice was a new construction that emerged out of this time period. Women began to find
their voice and claim for the first time the power contained in the words they wrote.
Storni and Burgos’s respective works exemplified this technique in great detail. Works
such as “Tú me quieres blanca” by Storni and “A Julia de Burgos” by Burgos
demonstrate this change that the emergence of a feminine voice had on writing in Latin
America. The themes of resistance are central to these poems as the authors analyze their
own self-conceptions and opposition to the patriarchal construction of society. Another
technique utilized by these writers is the use of archetypal spaces and characters.
Archetypes of space such as the isolated cage of patriarchy in which Storni finds herself
in “Hombre pequeñito” or the desolate Welfare Island from which Burgos writes her final
poem “Farewell from Welfare Island” carry deeper significance and pull on the collective
unconscious found in every human being. Additionally, both women display character
archetypes of the trapped woman, the free woman, the sensual woman, or the woman in
nature. Nature also plays a large role in the poetry of Storni and Burgos. The ocean as a
place of refuge or last resort, or a river as a place of comfort and sensuality are common
themes throughout their poetry (Solá 30).
20
It is also important to take into consideration the literary period in which these
women were writing. Historically, these women were writing in post-modernist period
which was a strong reaction to modernismo. Modernist writers paid attention to detail,
and overly flowery language. However, women writers in this time period often wrote
against the modernist tradition. In reaction to modernism was a movement known as
postmodernism. Postmodernism was centered on the idea of expression of thoughts and
emotions in the simplest way possible often using irony in the search of originality
(Chang-Rodríguez 282). According to Díaz-Diocaretz, irony, “used to show the
patriarchal precedents for women’s fate and for social structures constraining a woman’s
existence,” was an integral part of feminist criticism (97).
Feminist literary criticism attempts to take into consideration the ‘normal’ and the
‘classical’ determined by a patriarchal society and to reinterpret them in light of the
feminine struggle for a voice and for a respectable place of power in society. Analyzing
the poetry of Alfonsina Storni and Julia de Burgos from a feminist perspective will help
to demonstrate how these two women used their talents and gifts as writers to share their
new and constantly evolving vision of women in Latin American society. We must take
into account their outspoken comments, their subtle or blatant irony, and even recognize
the moments in which they remained silent. Taking a deeper look into the power,
wisdom, and intelligence expressed in and through their poetry will grant a more
profound understanding about Latin American culture and society during their lifetimes.
A comparison of their styles, rhetoric, and themes will show how two women with
strikingly similar yet surprising different lives from two distinct countries and cultures
were able to speak from of the large collective unconscious of women who were calling
21
out for equality, for freedom from the cage of patriarchy, and demanding equality in life,
in death, and most importantly in education and literary analysis. Their struggles
encouraged other women writers to follow in their footsteps and continued to open up the
literary world to other ways of thinking about and viewing women in society. They
resisted, and in their resistance they promoted change. Resistance and change: the motto
of two inspiring yet complicated women in Latin American feminist literature.
Bergmann eloquently states that women writers in Latin America
while often, pursuing different aesthetic and political strategies . . . found
resounding unity in their efforts to construct alternative frameworks and
outlets for literary production. It behooves us, then, to follow their path
and determine how the modern canon was opened wide as women in Latin
America embarked upon a distinctive course to find their own voice (5).
In reading their own words, and listening to their own voices, we will be enlightened
about their path of struggle and resistance, and we will be able to see how their words are
changing and forming the literary world to this day.
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CHAPTER II
ANALYZING PRIMARY DOCUMENTS:
THE POETRY OF ALFONSINA STORNI
Now with a sufficient background of the history and feminist theory in Latin
America, it is possible to begin to analyze the poetry of Storni and Burgos on a deeper
level. In the work Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader, editor Mary Eagleton reminds us
that women writers in the early twentieth century were not striving to “fit women into the
male-dominated tradition; they . . . wanted to write the history of the tradition among
women themselves” (1). This break from the androcentric tradition of writing and
society in Latin America exemplified the beginning of a significant shift in perspective
among women writers and the society as a whole. In the examination of literary works, it
is important to keep in mind the way that women have been historically used as objects to
be objectified and analyzed only from a masculine perspective. It is not to say that the
portrayal of women has been absent from literary discourse, but that the portrayal of
women by other women has been severely lacking and unaccounted for (Eagleton 45).
Marta Morello-Frosch explains in her article “Alfonsina Storni: The Tradition of the
Feminine Subject” that writing within the feminine tradition will strive to “ adopt
representations of a collective nature – since it will speak for all women, even literary
archetypes- and will take stock of the possible approaches or alternatives to proclaimed
23
tradition” (91). This theme of creating a new form or a new tradition is illustrated in the
poetry of Storni who recognized that “in the opposition to the fixed concept of tradition,
the reformulation insists on this destabilization process, on the new possibilities ushered
in by change, and especially on a new awareness that results in new identities” (MorelloFrosch 93). Not only did feminist literary theory anchor itself in the philosophy of
resisting the tradition in order to create new techniques and methods, but feminist literary
criticism in the early twentieth century came about as a reaction to the literary style of
Modernism. This rejection of modernist thought is referred to as postmodernism.
Octavio Corvalan explains in his book El postmodernismo how the postmodernist
movement was a reaction to and rejection of modernist themes, especially those
considered to be solely formal, or ‘classical’ in nature (21). Alfonsina Storni was
influenced by postmodernist thought and techniques. A postmodernist and feminist
fighting for the rights of women on the streets, in their homes, and in their own hearts,
Storni used her poetry to directly impact lives around the world.
In the discussion of Storni’s works, various distinctive themes will be taken into
account and multiple techniques will be used to pull meaning and significance from her
poetry. In this analysis, the poems “Tú me quieres blanca,” “La loba,” “Peso ancestral,”
and “Hombre pequeñito” will be studied in depth in search of deeper understanding of
how Storni used her poetry as a form of resistance to patriarchal structures in order to
evoke change for the situation of women in Latin America.
The first poem in this analysis, “Tú me quieres blanca,” (You Want Me Pure) on
the most basic level takes the form of a feminine poetic voice speaking to a male subject.
This poem is from her work El dulce daño (Sweet Pain) found in the Obra poética
24
completa compiled by the Sociedad Editora Latino Americana. The first section of the
poem is directed at Tú (You). It is important to note that in Spanish, and especially in
Latin America that tú is used only in informal settings among very close friends. Usually
when talking to family members and even in most cases a husband the formal Usted
would be used as a sign of respect. By not using the formal Usted form of “you”, Storni
is breaking with this tradition and in a sense re-writing the rules of the Spanish language.
According to Gwen Kirkpatrick in her article “Alfonsina Storni: ‘Aquel micromundo
poético,’” the tú to whom Storni is directing the poem “is the full possessor, not only the
vision which frames her, intact and immobile, but of a different, more structured kind of
physical existence” (387). The poetic voice is addressing this tú not with a feeling of
submission, but rather, with a sense of resistance. This voice is defiant, directly talking
to her oppressor from a position of earned authority and most importantly distance. She
is starting a new program and a new history by confronting the symbolic masculine; yet,
she is not attacking in a malicious way the structures that be, only simply resisting them.
In this poem, Storni’s poetic voice explains the voice’s perception of how men see and
construct women (Morello-Frosch 96). Morello-Frosch informs the reader how Storni
sets up the poem by describing the way that men want her to be. She exposes the double
standard that exists within male-female relationships in which men expect women to
behave in a certain way; yet, the same standards do not apply to the men themselves.
Morello-Frosch explains how, in this poem, Storni reveals in the use of the adjectives
“alba, espumas, blanca, níeva” (dawn, foam, white, snow) the ways that men expect
women to be dependent, passive, and perfect (97). Additionally, the reference to these
adjectives suggests the patriarchal expectation that a woman be sexually pure. This
25
purity or whiteness of which Storni writes reveals how often the value of a woman is
judged solely based on these qualities within a patriarchal framework.
In addition, Storni exposes how women have been and continued to be objectified
by men without any of their own input or opinions. Instead of submitting to the
objectified views and expectations man have for women, she takes the historical standard
of men constructing the image of women and flips it on its head. In this poem, the poetic
voice presents a new paradigm for male-female relationships. Storni incorporates the
ancient relationship and archetype of women and nature and presents a relocation of men
into this nature that they had previously deemed profane, unclean, and unworthy. Elsa
Arroyo and María Solá explain in their book Ni víctimas ni bárbaras how women’s
patriarchal association with nature and man’s correlation to civilization or progress was
the accepted and popular thought throughout much of history (20). Morello-Frosch
shows how “Storni thus reverses the traditional conception of man as representative of
culture and woman of nature, the latter ready to be provided with history by man, who is
the conqueror of the feminine and the natural” (101). In her poem “Tú me quieres
blanca” Storni invites men to
Huye hacia los bosques;
Vete a la montaña;
Límpiate la boca;
Vive en las cabañas
Toca con las manos
La tierra mojada;
Alimenta el cuerpo
26
Con raíz amarga;
Bebe de las rocas;
Duerme sobre escarcha;
Renueva tejidos
Con salitre y agua; (Storni 121)
Flee to the forests
Go to the mountain
Wash your mouth
Live in the cabins
Touch with your hands
The wet earth;
Feed your body
With bitter roots
Drink from the rocks
Sleep over the frost
Renew fabrics
With saltpeter and water;
In the poem, Storni argues that after man has done these things, after he has returned to
nature, and become equal to woman, then he can ask her to be perfect, white, and
submissive. Only when man has returned to nature and rejected the domination of the
double standard, is he allowed to desire the poetic voice to be in a certain way that is not
her true self. In this way, she in essence is feminizing men. Through this poem, Storni is
objectifying men in the same way that men objectify women. Kirkpatrick explains that
27
“it is the change from being the observed . . . to being the observer that marks a change
in Storni’s poetry. Moving from the position of only responding to a set of conditions or
formulaic notions of viewing women’s eroticism, she turns to become the observer”
(387). This poem, though one of Storni’s most well recognized works, exemplifies her
desire to resist the socially acceptable, and to use this resistance to promote change. This
new paradigm is a completely valid alternative to the way that men had objectified and
controlled women for centuries. Her focus on nature as good and not only a wild, savage,
dirty place, but instead a place of renewal, cleansing, and opportunity in the realm of the
masculine world was a novel concept in this time period of modernization and
industrialization.
A further example of resistance in Storni’s poetry can be found in her poem “La
loba,” (The She-Wolf) which was included in her first collection of poetry entitled “La
inquietud del rosal” (The Restlessness of the Rose) published in 1916. In this poem there
are three major themes that are important to touch upon within this study: the use of the
archetype of the wolf as a symbol for Storni and her life, her important connection with
being free in nature while still being a mother, and her resistance of masculine models for
life and the way that women conform to these models. The poem begins,
Yo soy como la loba,
Quebré con el rebaño
Y me fuí a la montaña
Fatigada del llano.
Yo tengo un hijo fruto de amor, de amor sin ley,
Que yo no pude ser como las otras, casta de buey
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Con yugo al cuello; libre se eleve mi cabeza!
Yo quiero con mis manos apartar la maleza. (Storni 59)
I am like the she-wolf
I broke from the flock
And I went to the mountain
Tired of the plains.
I have a son, the fruit of love, lawless love
I could not be like the others, caste of the ox
With a yoke around its neck; free I lift my head!
I want with my hands to separate the weeds
In Storni’s life, she was separate from the mainstream, and she had an illegitimate son
with a man she never married. She continually fought outside of the realm of the socially
acceptable. Due to the way that she chose to live her life, she was always outside of the
flock, separated, alone; yet, most importantly, unlike the majority of other women during
this time period, she was free. María Pérez Gras explains how this poem expands upon
the archetype of the she-wolf, la loba, “como la imagen de la mujer que está fuera de las
convenciones socialas por sus hábitos sensuales, independencia y marginalidad” (as the
image of woman that is outside of social conventions because of her habitual senses,
independence and marginality) (88). The archetype of la loba is known throughout the
collective unconscious as a protector, a fighter, as wild, dangerous, aggressive, as a
symbol of freedom, of nature, and most significantly being all of these things and yet still
being a mother. For Storni, la loba represents the fight against a society that does not
have a place for her or her ideas. She calls for a return to nature claiming that in nature is
29
where woman’s true existence and worth lies. Yet, she makes an important distinction in
that giving up society does not have to mean giving up one’s capacity to be a mother and
nurturer of life. The poetic voice explains how she is the master of her fate and the sole
protector of her offspring. Freedom from man and from societal conventions and biases
is worth more than the protection of a metaphorical shepherd who in reality uses women
for his own gain in the patriarchal world structure. Pérez Gras explores how “La loba
representa a la mujer libre que decide dirigir su propia vida y se aparta del grupo, de la
<<casta de buey/ con yugo al cuello>>” (the she-wolf represents the free woman who can
decide to direct her own life and be separate from the group from the <<caste of the ox /
with the yoke around its neck>>) (92). In this poem, Storni is arguing that women should
be held and should hold themselves to the same standard as la loba and reject the social
construction that they need the flock and the shepherd to keep them safe and secure.
With this poem, not only is she drawing a critique on the societal structure that
holds women down, but also on the way that women, even when given the opportunity,
prefer to stay with the flock. Pérez Gras clarifies that in the poem, “el rebaño simboliza
la masa feminina sometida a la voluntad del hombre” (the flock symbolizes the feminine
multitude that is subject to the will of man) (92). Her poem is directed, not necessarily at
the men who are holding the women back, but at the women who continue to let the men
do so. Thus, her poem becomes a critique of the twentieth century woman when she says
you “No podréis, pobrecitas, caminar sin los dueños” (you cannot, poor things, walk
without the owners) (60). She is bringing to light the fallacy that women think they are
stuck and that they cannot go on without their husbands, brothers or fathers, and cannot
defend themselves. She is making the argument that the she-wolf knows how to defend
30
herself, and not only herself, but also her offspring. Pérez Gras explains how at the end
of the poem Storni offers an invitation for all women to follow her metaphorical footsteps
or paw prints, to leave everything behind and follow her path into the wilderness, into the
true archetypal nature of woman (92). Through this poem, Storni reiterates the
importance of women changing their own perceptions about themselves and the world in
which they live. In essence, she is arguing that until women believe and accept the
notion that they are equal with men and are worthy enough to experience freedom,
nothing will change within the structure of society. Furthermore, however, is the
importance of the risk that Storni took in her life to break away from this structure and
decide to live by her own rules, by the rules of nature. Esther Mocega-González explains
in her article “La resignada rebeldía en la poesía de Alfonsina Storni” the important move
that Storni made to “romper con todos los órdenes” (to break with all the orders) (196).
This quote is supported by Pérez Gras who explains how
“Alfonsina Storni manifiesta en toda su obra la constante pugna por
superar la ubicación marginal que le toca en la socidad por ser mujer,
madre soltera y de baja posición económica y su afán de llegar al centro
para romper con los esquemas jerárquicos del patriarcado”
Alfonsina Storni reveals in all of her work the constant conflict to
overcome the marginal location that touches society in being a woman, a
single mother and in low economic standing and her eagerness to arrive at
the center in order to break with the hierarchical structure of patriarchy
(91).
31
The poem “La loba” is an example of Storni’s life, of her continual connection with
nature and the true essence of women as free and yet still mothers, and with her
discontent not only with the men who hold women in these places but with the women
who let themselves be overshadowed and controlled. The poems of “Tú me quieres
blanca” and “La loba” hold similar themes in that they reject the social construction of
feminine roles and bring to the forefront a new paradigm of resistance to these roles, as
well as a call to action for women to assert themselves in order to accept a new
perspective on life, free life.
This freedom and rejection of masculine control can be vividly seen in the
beautiful and powerful poem entitled “Hombre pequeñito” (Little Man) also published in
her book Irremediablemente in 1919. This poem has received grand acclaim for
expressing essential feminist values in such a clear perspective. The poem begins with a
simple picture: a bird in a cage whose master is a man, more specifically a “little man”.
The reader soon finds out that the bird is a metaphor for a woman trapped inside of a
patriarchal cage. In the first stanza, the bird is asking very politely for the man, the
owner, the one with control, to let her out of the cage, to give her the freedom to fly. This
first stanza with its ABAB rhyme scheme flows beautifully off the tongue with a quick
pleading rhythm. The rhyme scheme continues into the second stanza, but the tone
chances quite rapidly when she says:
Estuve en tu jaula, hombre pequeñito,
hombre pequeñito que jaula me das.
Digo pequeñito porque no me entiendes
ni me entenderás. (Storni 165)
32
I was in your cage, little man,
Little man what a cage you give me.
I say little because you do not understand me
Nor will you understand me.
In this second stanza, the situation becomes a little clearer. She uses the metaphor of the
cage to show how there is little understanding or communication between the bird and the
master. There is a separation between them, literally. The man takes a place of power
outside of the cage with free range of movement and decision making power, and the bird
is stuck inside waiting for the decision of the man to let her out to freedom. This literal
separation also signifies the metaphorical separation that is often found between men and
women in the sense that men and women rarely see the same situation in the same way.
There is a lack of understanding and communication between the man and the bird.
Mocega-González explains that “‘Hombre pequeñito’ es así el poema que señala las
imitaciones del hombre cuando de comprender a la mujer se trata, pero es, asimismo,
patente manifiesto del supremo anhelo de libertad inherente a todo ser humano”
(“Hombre pequeñito” is the poem that signals the limitations of man when it comes to
understanding what women are about, but it is, at the same time, a self-evident manifesto
of the supreme longing for freedom that is inherent in every human being) (195). This
stanza in the poem also brings up the issue that the lack of understanding between men
and women is not something that is easily fixed or ameliorated. Essentially, the poetic
voice claims that even if the man outside of the cage wanted to understand the bird that
he could not. There is too much of a divide between them for that to happen at this time.
After revealing this metaphorical representation of a gap in empathy between men and
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women, Storni moves on to the third stanza where the real shift occurs. No longer is
there a set rhyme scheme, and the tone becomes significantly harsher. There is a shift in
the poem from the shortcomings of man to the deep, heartfelt longing to be free.
The last stanza explains how the woman has fulfilled a possible contractual
obligation to the man by “te amé media hora, no me pidas más” (I loved you for a half an
hour, do not ask any more of me). The woman evidently does not need the man,
therefore she feels that she should be let go, that she deserves freedom. This comparison
of the bird and the woman is brilliant. Women, during this time, were trapped in cages,
in expectations, only to be used for the benefit of the men to whom they supposedly
“belonged.” In this poem, Storni is making a brash statement by exposing the truth of the
common relationship between many men and women. Additionally, like in “La loba,”
Storni brings up another one of her common themes: freedom and liberty. Like her
separation from the flock of sheep, to go out into the wild as a she-wolf, she wants to be
free from the cage of patriarchy in order to fulfill her true nature, to discover her true
essence, out in the wild as a bird. Again her connection with being free, free from
expectations, obligations, entrapment is shown through her poetry. This is not to say that
she is running away from responsibility, because during this time period living on one’s
own as a woman was significantly difficult especially with an illegitimate child; however
it is definitely a desire to be free from unwarranted pressures or expectations. In
summary, the poem “Hombre pequeñito” shows a woman pleading with all of her might
to be free. She tries to be courteous, then more persuasive, and then finally bluntly
exclaims “we do not understand each other, we are the same, please do not ask any more
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of me, and please let me be free.” This poem today holds such symbolic, significant
power of persuasion; one can only imagine the impact it had on the society in the 1920s.
In Storni’s poetry, not only does she speak to the way that women are controlled
and manipulated by the social construction of patriarchy, but also the way men suffer
from the societal expectations imposed upon them. The final poem to be discussed in this
analysis is her poem “Peso ancestral” (Ancestral Weight) published in 1919 in her work
Irremediablemente (Irremediably). In this poem, Storni brings to light the sheer weight
of patriarchy that has been passed down through the centuries. However, in this poem she
shares how not only women have been affected by this weight, but men too have found
themselves victims.
To begin, the title of the poem holds noteworthy significance. The ancestral
weight that she is talking about is the weight of patriarchy that is pressing down on all of
society. She starts the poem with a reference to her father and her grandfather and how
they never cried. This implies the notion that men are not supposed to show emotion
within the confines of socially acceptable behavior. Emotion is something only women
are allowed and expected to carry. Men have to be made of acero (steel). She makes this
point to show how all humans really do need to have emotion. Pretending to be strong
only makes one weaker. The first stanza talks about masculinity as a social construction
of being strong because that is what it means to be male according to the patriarchal
tradition. In the second stanza everything changes, the poetic voice explains how just one
tear fell out of the eye of the man and into her mouth and that the tear was full of poison.
This tear, she says, she learned how to drink it, but even with all of her soul she cannot
support the full weight of patriarchal expectations on men and women. This ancestral
35
weight that women and arguably men have suffered for centuries is too much for all of
society. This poem speaks to the larger macro problem of patriarchy and female and male
conviction that this is the way life and it will continue this way. However, Storni
proclaims in her poetry, that one tear falls down. There is a beginning of something
more, of a little bit of empathy and of the possibility for understanding. It is not much,
and for centuries women have carried the burden of the one tear, of the emotions of all
humans, but through this poem, the poetic voice proclaims that she cannot bear the
burden any more. This is not to say that she is weak, but that she has realized that within
herself, she has reconstructed a feminine perspective and has realized that no longer can
women, too, continue to accept this ancestral weight. This poem represents a shift in
thinking about the effects of patriarchy on society. Storni is saying through this poem
that something has to change and is has to change now.
These four poems show the breadth of Storni’s genius as a writer in a time of
repression for women around the world. As a woman raising a child all on her own, as
the sole support for herself and her family, she called out of the depths of her soul a
voice, a female voice, a voice that had been collectively silenced for hundreds of years.
Storni took this voice and revealed to the world the truth of what patriarchy, and
patriarchal, social constructions had done to the modern world. She challenges these
presumptions and in turn offers her own new perspective on an alternative view of the
world. Her poetry represents the beginning of a long line of female voices that would
soon follow speaking out, speaking up, resisting, and ultimately changing the world for
women today. Alfonsina Storni broke from the flock, she went out in the forest, she
pleaded to be let out of the cage, and she called out the men who maintained a double
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standard for women and who also suffered from the weight of patriarchy. In all, Storni’s
poetry is an invaluable gift for literature in the 1920s and the modern day. Her work was
influential not only in Argentina, but also around the world. Following in her footsteps, a
young woman from Puerto Rico would rise up to continue to resist and ultimately strive
to change the situation for women in Latin America.
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CHAPTER III LITERARY ANALYSIS:
THE POETRY OF JULIA DE BURGOS
Less than ten years after Alfonsina Storni was at the height of her career as a poet
in Argentina, Julia de Burgos emerged from a situation of utmost poverty in Puerto Rico
to become one of the most renowned poets of her epoch. Her poetry resonated from a
place of suffering, and pain as she grappled with some of the biggest questions of her era.
In early twentieth century Puerto Rico, only middle and upper middle class women had
the opportunity to be educated. According to Magali Roy-Fequiere in her article
“Contested Territory: Puerto Rican Women, Creole Identity, and Intellectual Life in the
Early Twentieth Century” not only was there discrimination against women in general,
but those women who were able to receive an education discriminated against those who
could not, thus stratifying society to a greater level (918). It was women like Julia de
Burgos who first began to break through these barriers as she rose from a school teacher,
to a national leader in feminist movements, to a renowned female poet in an era
dominated by male models and structures. Even though Burgos lived most of her life in
abject poverty and died homeless in New York at the age of thirty-nine, she lived a life of
resistance to social norms, fought for women’s rights, and for the Puerto Rican nationalist
struggle. Her resistance is now seen as an essential cultural icon that has transcended
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almost a century and her spirit of resistance continues to reign in the hearts of the Puerto
Rican people today.
By analyzing some of Burgos’s most prominent work, one can see the influence
she had on the literary world in Puerto Rico and the influence she continues to have today
around the world. According to López Springfield, author of the article “‘I am the life,
the strength, the woman’ Feminism in Julia de Burgos’ Autobiographical Poetry,” Burgos
is celebrated because of her “ideological consciousness, her struggle to free herself from
social and literary confinement, to redefine herself, her art, and her society” (701). In
analyzing her work from a feminist perspective, it will be important to keep in mind the
ways that Burgos used her poetry as a force of resistance against the society into which
she was born and to the literary norms to which she was expected to follow. Burgos
“rebels not only against conventional sexual restrictions that are central to white,
Spanish-Catholic patriarchal societies, but also against female archetypes and traditional
narratives of domestic virtue” (López Springfield 707). In essence, by analyzing her
poetry one can obtain a deeper understanding of the struggles through which she lived,
and the way that she broke social norms by writing and living in the way that she did.
Her poems “A Julia de Burgos,” “Río grande de Loíza,” “Ay ay ay de la grifa negra,” and
“Farewell on Welfare Island” are specific examples of the way that her poetry broke with
the hegemonic traditions of patriarchy and forged a new literary and social path in the
tumultuous 1930s in Puerto Rico.
In 1938, Burgos published her first book of poetry entitled Poema en veinte
sucros (Poem in Twenty Furrows). One of her first poems, entitled “A Julia de Burgos,”
presents a common literary theme of the internal conflict between “tú” and “yo” (you and
39
I), justifies a distinction between societal expectations and the alternate path that Burgos
strives to follow, and reiterates the common struggle of all women in Puerto Rico at that
time period. By analyzing these different aspects of the poem, one can understand on a
deeper level the message that Burgos was trying to relate to the world through her poetry.
It is essential to first analyze the dual structure of “A Julia de Burgos.” This dual
structure is one of constant comparison between the yo of the poetic voice and the tú of
the poem also known as the representation of ‘Julia de Burgos’. In the first couple of
stanzas, the poetic voice makes comparisons between the yo and the tú revealing an
important internal conflict.
Tú eres sólo la grave señora señorona;
yo no, yo soy la vida, la fuerza, la mujer.
Tú eres de tu marido, de tu amo; yo no;
yo de nadie, o de todos, porque a todos, a todos,
en mi limpio sentir y en mi pensar me doy.
Tú te rizas el pelo y te pintas; yo no;
a mí me riza el viento; a mí me pinta el sol. (Burgos 61)
You are the serious, proper lady;
not me, I am life, strength, woman.
You belong to your husband, your owner; not me;
I belong to no one, or to everyone, because to everyone, to everyone
in my clear feeling and thinking I give myself.
You curl your hair and put on makeup; not me;
the wind curls my hair; and the sun paints me.
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It appears at first as if there is a sharp internal conflict between the directed subject of tú
and the poetic voice of yo. Aída M. Beaupied explains in her work entitled “Autoreconocimiento y autogenesis en la poesía de Julia de Burgos” that “‘El ‘tú’ y el ‘yo’ en
batalla encarnizada, en oposición destructora, pero al mismo tiempo como inseparables
componentes de una sola entidad humana’” (“The ‘tú’ and the ‘yo’ in fierce battle, in
destructive opposition, but at the same time inseparable components of the same human
entity”) (375). In essence, these two conflicting parts of the poetic voice are struggling
against each other; yet, they still find themselves somehow connected. To demonstrate
this relationship, she uses strong adjectives such as “ropaje, muñeca, mentira social,
hipócrita y de cierta clase” (apparel, doll, social lie, hypocrite, of a certain class) to
describe the tú and other adjectives such as “estancia, humana, sincera, mujer, libre,
Rocinante corriendo desbocado” (dwelling, human, sincere, woman, free, Rocinante
untamed) to describe yo. The words she uses to describe the yo are significant because
through them she is criticizing the “appropriate” adjectives to describe women and in
their place putting words that can be associated with male sources of power. For
example, Burgos compares herself to Rocinante, the old horse of Don Quixote, which has
been recognized throughout the literary periods as one of the most renowned works of
fiction, and by doing so takes the masculine archetype of a fallen hero and makes a major
twist. Burgos explains that the horse Rocinante, is no longer under the control of Don
Quixote, but is instead running free, free from patriarchy and ownership. By doing so she
rejects the archetypal nature associated with this particular work of literature, and
replaces it with her new, revised version. These opposites reflect an important distinction
that Gelpi explains
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Julia de Burgos se inicia en la literatura diciendo yo, explorando la
condición conflictiva de las mujeres de su época. El surgimiento de su
obra está muy ligado al contexto de las luchas que libraron las mujeres
puertorriqueñas en las primeras décadas del siglo. (251)
Julia de Burgos begins in literature saying yo, exploring the conflicted
condition of women in her era. The rising of her work was bound to the
context of the struggles that liberated Puerto Rican women in the first
decades of the century.
Burgos is trying to bring to light the way that women were viewed by society by
presenting an alternate path. She is condemning the societal expectations that the tú has
internalized by revealing an alternate path using the worldview of the yo. By bringing to
light this conflict and the alternative path, Burgos in essence is resisting and rejecting the
norms that society has determined she should follow.
Another important aspect of this poem is the way that Burgos’s uses it to show a
distinction between societal expectations and a new reality of what it is to be a woman.
Beaupied explains how Burgos, through this poem, uses the poetic voice to attempt to
define herself as a woman who, completely contradicting the socially acceptable
definition of what it means to be a woman, ends up rejecting and denying the authenticity
of this socially constructed definition (377). This self-talk or internal discussion is
common in Clarinda Pinkola Este’s famous psychoanalytic work Women Who Run with
the Wolves in which she explains how in every woman from primordial times there has
existed a “Wild Woman” waiting to be let out, and to be free. This “Wild Woman” has
historically come forth through poetry, like the poetry of Julia de Burgos in which she
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recognizes the other self that exists inside of her, the true self, and the one that needs to
be let free. This recognition of the “Wild Woman” is one of the first steps that feminist
writers and women in general have had to take in order to break from the hegemonic
tradition of patriarchy. The realization of their own strength and worth is the beginning
of a revolution and change in the structure of society. However, society and patriarchy
always have tried to make this other self, this “Wild Woman” hide deep down inside of
women, telling women that they have specific roles to play as expressed in this poem.
Burgos represents the alternative. One of the lines in which this “Wild Woman” appears
in this poem is “yo soy la vida, la fuerza, la mujer” (“I am life, strength, woman” 61).
This line expresses the relationship that women in general and Burgos in particular, have
with life and bringing new life into the world. Only from Burgos’s own body can new
life come to be. To be a woman in that era meant to always appear to be weak,
submissive, and subservient. In this line, Burgos asserts that not only is she strong, she is
a woman and she is life and only from her body can life come again. This line is one of
the most powerful lines in her poetry in that she is assertive with a potency not seen in
other works of feminist literature up to this point. Gelpi explains how “. . . se enfrentan
una voz ‘auténtica’ y una voz ‘frívola’, un sujeto que aspira a ser libre y limitaciones que
le imponen la sociedad y la cultura” (“We are confronted with an ‘authentic’ voice and a
‘frivolous’ voice, a subject that aspires to be free and the limitations that are imposed by
the society and culture;” 251) These two voices are essential to the beginning steps of
resisting the patriarchal tradition and show great courage and strength from the part of
Burgos. Not only does Burgos use this poem as an example of the internal conflict in
order to reject societal norms by letting woman’s true nature of the “Wild Woman” shine
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through, she also uses this poem as an allegory for the common struggle of all women in
her society against oppressive patriarchal and colonial forces.
In the last stanza of “A Julia de Burgos,” the poetic voice makes another bold
statement about her future role in the resistance of hegemonic traditions from a broader
perspective. She says,
Cuando las multitudes corran alborotadas
dejando atrás cenizas de injusticias quemadas,
y cuando con la tea de las siete virtudes,
tras los siete pecados, corran las multitudes,
contra ti, y contra todo lo injusto y lo inhumano,
yo iré en medio de ellas con la tea en la mano (Burgos 62).
When the multitudes run agitated
leaving behind them the ashes of burned injustices,
and when with the torch of the seven virtues,
behind the seven sins, run the multitudes,
against you, and against that’s unjust and inhumane,
I will go in the middle of them with the torch in my hand.
This stanza is also extremely forceful in that it is a last statement against the parts of
herself that she does not like and the parts of society to which she can no longer accept as
the ultimate truth. She is bold once again in her resistance to the norms of society and
she almost is offering a strict warning to all of those who continue blindly following the
traditions of patriarchy. She offers no concessions, not even to the “tú” part of herself,
because the “Wild Woman,” the true essence of women, is arriving and she will be in the
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midst of all the fighting and resisting; furthermore, she will be the one holding the torch
against the unjust and the inhumane. This last stanza is a call to arms for all women and
men in her society against the patriarchal structures from the past that continue to
dominate the present.
“A Julia de Burgos” is an example of the means by which Burgos was able to use
the concept of the internal conflict of tú versus yo, to explore the idea of an alternate path
of living life, and a broad call to arms to resist the hegemonic patriarchal tradition and
struggle against the parts of herself that remain trapped by this tradition. Continuing
along the same themes is the poem “Río grande de Loíza” also included in Poema en
veinte sucros and published in 1938. “Río grande de Loíza” is one of Burgos’s most
famous poems because it was written specifically about a well known river named Loíza
that is situated just to the east of the capital city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. This poem is
most widely recognized for its connection to nature, for the means by which Burgos uses
sensuality in a way that was not socially acceptable for women in that time period, and
the link between her own story of childhood and adolescence and the Puerto Rican
struggle against oppression for independence.
As previously explored with the “Wild Woman” archetype, “Río grande de
Loíza” exhibits some of the same characteristics in its deep connection with nature and
specifically the actual river Loíza and its impact on the development of the poetic voice.
In Puerto Rico, nature is very important because of the vast diversity that exists in such a
small surface area. From dense tropical jungles, to dry desert highlands, to three of the
world’s largest and most illuminating bio-luminescent bays, Puerto Rico is full of nature
and the Puerto Rican people generally can feel a connection with that nature. However,
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in Latin American literature, nature is also known to be dangerous and something that is
to be avoided because it is not civilized. For example, the writer Horacio Quiroga
includes the dangers of the natural world as one of the themes most often repeated in his
works. At the turn of the century, with industrialization booming around the world,
nature and the natural world became associated with poverty, uncleanliness, and the
‘lesser’ qualities of being a woman. In this era, the city and modernization were to be
worshiped along with the advancements of technology. This in turn, makes nature seem
backward and not socially acceptable, or in other words, easily comparable for many to
the position of women in society. In this poem, however, Burgos tries to reclaim the
power of nature in her own life as well as in the lives of those living around her. She
explains how the wildness of the river is something that was vital to her development and
something that should be appreciated for its true intrinsic value. Not only does the river
represent an important connection with nature, it also can be seen to be a deep sensual
metaphor for the relationship between men and women. The river in the poem exhibits
many different qualities and is best explained by López-Springfield when she says
Although the river embodies traditional ‘feminine’ properties –
spirituality, affinity to nature, and sensual longing – it also bears
‘masculine’ attributes. The ‘Man River’ is, at once, the source of her
creative longing and a symbol of sexual fulfillment (709).
For Burgos, the connection to nature expressed through this poem is central to her
experience as a woman. Not only is the river the font of her childhood enjoyment, but
offers now a connection to something closer to love and understanding. Burgos writes,
Enróscate en mis labios y deja que te beba,
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para sentirte mío por un breve momento,
y esconderte del mundo y en ti mismo esconderte,
y oír voces de asombro en la boca del viento (Burgos 64).
Coil yourself around my lips and let me drink you,
to feel that you are mine for a brief moment,
and to hide you from the world and to hide you in yourself,
and hear voices of shock from the mouth of the wind.
This part of the poem explores the relationship between the poetic voice and the river, or
metaphorically, a man. For this era, this type of poetry was not socially acceptable
especially if written by a woman. Therefore, not only is she writing about the importance
of a connection to nature in an era that did not value nature, she also is uses nature as an
open metaphor for sensual and sexual relationships. The poem is written as an upward
progression starting slow and ‘innocent’ and gradually building and building as she
grows up and becomes who she is in the present. The sensual connection of the poetic
voice and the river share a coming of age story in which the river has always been there
as a supporting force and also as a teaching tool. At first the relationship is innocent and
naïve. Then it becomes more serious and until finally the river has transformed itself
(figuratively) into a man or, one could argue, into the only type of a man that has ever
really been able to affect not only her body but also her soul on a deep level. In essence,
she is explaining how nature is the only ‘man’ that has kissed her, and has in the end
really understood who she is as a person and more importantly as a woman.
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At the end of the poem the tone shifts suddenly, with the river Loíza changing
from the representation of a man to a metaphor for her people, her country, and her
island. She writes,
¡Río Grande de Loíza!… Río grande. Llanto grande.
El más grande de todos nuestros llantos isleños,
si no fuera más grande el que de mí se sale
por los ojos del alma para mi esclava pueblo (Burgos 66).
Río Grande de Loíza!. . . big river. Great weeping.
The greatest of all of our Isleño tears,
If it was not those greater than from me come
from the eyes of my soul for my enslaved people.
This section of the poem represents Burgos’s interaction and involvement in the political
situation in Puerto Rico during her lifetime. This poem reveals that her concern for her
country was not superficial or merely for appearances sake, but instead a deep trepidation
for her fellow Puerto Ricans. As a political activist for the Nationalist Party of Puerto
Rico, it seems natural that Burgos would include references in her poetry to the national
struggle for independence from the United States. This river, which for Burgos granted
great freedom and understanding throughout her youth and now into adulthood, is now
the river that holds all the tears of the Puerto Rican people who remain enslaved by an
imperialistic and paternalistic ‘father’ figure found in the Unites States. In the poem,
Burgos uses the term Isleño to describe the people living on the island of Puerto Rico.
The Isleño people were some of the first settlers of Puerto Rico and came from the
islands surrounding modern day Spain, specifically the Canary Islands. Using the term
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Isleño to describe the people of Puerto Rico causes the reader to stop and recognize that
she means all of the people living in Puerto Rico from the 1500s. It gives the poem
historical depth and creates a connection to which Puerto Rican people can relate. It
brings to light their struggle against an oppressive regime while at the same time radically
breaching the barriers set up for the acceptable nature of poetry written by women. This
poem pushes boundaries and explores the important themes of the connection with
nature, sensuality from a female perspective, and the connection of the river, women, and
the cultural struggle of Puerto Rico in general.
Not only did Burgos use her poetry to talk about the struggles of white women in
Puerto Rico, she made sure to cross yet another barrier by discussing race lines and
cultural differences in Puerto Rico during this time period. Following the Sugarcane
Strikes (Huelgas de la caña) of the 1920s in which hundreds of thousands of slaves or
indentured servants rose up against the unjust practices and treatment of the cane field
workers. In her poem “Ay ay ay de la grifa negra,” (Ay Ay Ay from the Black Kinky
Hair) also included her in work Poema de veinte sucros published in 1938; Burgos
explores the themes of race, of national identity, and resistance to the way that women,
especially poor women were viewed by a patriarchal society. This poem is a powerful
critique not only against an oppressive colonial force, but also against the way that the
slavery and oppression of the past will be the foundation of the solidarity and harmony of
the future. López-Springfield explains how “[i]n a society where Western cultural
hegemony is deeply valued and where whiteness stands as a paragon of beauty, Burgos
turns to her African-Caribbean heritage, to the mulatta’s beauty, strength, and power to
heal as a unifying archetype” (709). Burgos writes,
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Dícenme que mi abuelo fue el esclavo
Por quien el amo dio treinta monedas.
Ay ay ay, que el esclavo fue mi abuelo
es mi pena, es mi pena.
Si hubiera sido el amo,
Sería mi vergüenza;
que en los hombres, igual que en las naciones,
si el ser el siervo es no tener derechos,
el ser el amo es no tener conciencia (73).
They tell me that by grandfather was a slave
For whom the boss gave thirty coins.
Ay ay ay, that the slave was my grandfather
it’s my shame, it’s my shame.
If it had been the owner,
it would be my shame;
that in men, as in nations,
if being a servant is to not have rights,
then being the owner is to not have a conscience.
This stanza is one of the most powerful stanzas in her poetry. Not only is it a
condemnation of the rules of her current nation but also of those who are continuing to
rule and oppress without a conscience. She metaphorically compares her nation, and
women in general to the slaves and servants in the poem, while at the same time
comparing the ruling classes, the United States, and the patriarchal system to the slave
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owner in the poem. This comparison is strong, and leaves little to the imagination in
terms of to whom she is directing her comments. As a fighter for national independence
and for the feminist struggle for equality among men and women, Burgos speaks frankly
through this poem against the societal structures she views as unjust and discriminatory.
López-Springfield indicates that “Burgos invents an allegory where self and national
identities merge. Puerto Rico’s colonial and racial oppression becomes the terrain for an
exploration into self identity as well as a quest for racial reconciliation” (709). Her
struggle against patriarchal forces joins with the national struggle for independence
against an oppressive colonial regime.
However, the poem does not maintain this harsh but necessary critique throughout
its entirety, but instead turns to a message of hope and understanding at the end when she
explains in the last stanza,
Ay ay ay, que mi negra raza huye
y con la blanca corre a ser trigueña;
¡a ser la del futura,
fraternidad de América! (Burgos 74).
Ay ay ay, my black race flees
and with the white blends to be brown
to be one of the future
brotherhood of America!
It is at this section of the poem that the tone shifts from one of sadness and oppression to
one of hope in a better future where all can be a part of something bigger and better than
what existed today. López-Springfield explains that at this point “[t]he perspective shifts
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from woman as an object to woman as a vitalizing force. Internal time as well from a
past history of slavery to a future time of unity and solidarity” (710). This poem explores
the past atrocities committed against those in society who did not hold the power,
especially the women, and then shifts to a new attitude. This new attitude is the way that
Burgos is using her poetry as a form of resistance to the way that society is currently
structured. She could remain beaten and broken and stay in her place below the owner,
below man, at the bottom, or she could stand up and say that one day, and one day soon,
all will come together under the name of simply being “American” to form a new society
and way of life. By claiming her place in society and using her voice to shout out in
resistance and hope, Burgos reveals how she believes change will occur and it will occur
soon. Her optimism at the end of this poem sheds another light on Burgos as a poet. She
explored deep, difficult areas of the human existence during her lifetime, but she
ultimately believed that some good would eventually come of all that she fought for.
Sadly, she would never be able to see any of the great changes that came from her
resistance to these social norms, but the fact that as a poor, female, school teacher and
writer she resisted these difficulties and ultimately caused great change in the future
shows great wisdom and strength.
The final poem, “Farewell from Welfare Island,” is one of a slightly different
character in that it is written in English; however, the themes expressed therein follow
with the aforementioned themes in Burgos’s other works. Writing in English reveals a
part of the character and cultural heritage of Burgos in that she is living in between
cultures. The culture of Puerto Rico is a mix of the English and Spanish languages and
North American and Latin American cultures. Culturally, the Puerto Rican people are
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not a part of the United States, nor are they their own true national entity. They are
hanging in between, without a true place to call their own. Women, too, remain without a
true place that is theirs and theirs alone. In this era, they fight to break with the
previously dictated spaces in the world of men, but continually finding themselves
hanging in the balance, without a place gain a foothold. This poem represents the fight
that Puerto Rican people in general and women in particular were fighting in the early
1950s and sadly are still fighting even today. At the end of Burgos’s life, she moved to
New York City, fell into a deep depression and alcoholism and ended up constantly going
in and out of treatment centers. This phase of her life can be characterized by nearing the
end of her struggle and therefore feeling the urge to include her own closing, final
comments on what she has found her life to be. Though this poem is one of sadness, it is
also one of camaraderie and communal strength for all of those fighting for freedom in
Puerto Rico and around the world. This is her last chance to make her voice heard in a
world that has only up until this point tried to keep her voice silent. The last two stanzas
of the poem are, in my opinion, the most poignant and they say
It has to be from here,
right this instance,
my cry into the world.
My cry that is no more mine,
but hers and his forever,
the comrades of my silence,
the phantoms of my grave.
It has to be from here,
53
forgotten but unshaken,
among the comrades of silence
deep into Welfare Island
my farewell to the world (Burgos 158).
In this final poem, Burgos bids farewell to a world that has caused her great suffering and
great pain, but she is also encouraging all of her “comrades” to continue the fight. She
recognizes that throughout her life, she was never alone in her struggle against the
patriarchal structures that tried to control her and hold her back. She was never alone as
she wrote her erotic poetry, breaking cultural boundaries and declaring that just because
she is a woman does not mean that she has to hide in her house and not let her true self
emerge to the forefront. Furthermore, this final poem signifies that even though her time
on this planet has come to an end, there are others who are right beside her who will carry
on her resistance and ensure that all of her work was not in vain. Similar to the way that
the small island of Puerto Rico often feels forgotten by the United States government,
Burgos does not want to be forgotten by the Puerto Rican people. This last poem is her
final shout, her “cry into the world.” She is saying that even in death, she has something
to say and her voice deserves to be heard just like the millions of other voices trapped in
houses under the control of men, and the millions of forgotten voices on the island of
Puerto Rico. Burgos has found her own voice, a feminine voice and with this voice she
has resisted all of the male voices trying to keep her quiet. She challenged the
patriarchal structures of author and hegemony in her society.
The life of Julia de Burgos is a testament to that of a true fighter. Like Storni,
Burgos spent her entire life fighting through her poetry and her life against the patriarchal
54
tradition that constantly tried to hold her back. López Springfield explains how “[n]early
forty years after her tragic death on the streets of New York, she is the most celebrated of
Puerto Rican poets. Her popularity has much to do with her ideological consciousness,
her struggle to free herself from social and literary confinement, to redefine herself, her
art, and her society” (701). López-Springfield continues to explain how it was women
like Julia de Burgos who first began to learn to create new “‘female scripts’. . . where
boundaries separating men and women would be surmounted and power relations
revised” (712). María Solá explains how Burgos is an example of a woman who
understood the importance of literature and the importance of her personal vocation as a
writer. Solá writes in the introduction to Burgos’s work that
Para ella era primordial su derecho, y el de toda mujer, a elegir y practicar
una vocación y a consequir reconocimiento. La mujer debe estar activa en
el ámbito de la historia, del pensamiento, y del arte y no solamente como
ser reproductor biológico” (Burgos 47).
For her it was primordial her right, and the right of every woman, to
choose and practice a vocation and to gain recognition. Women should be
active in the field of history, of thought, and of art and not only as a
biologically reproductive being.
Burgos will always be remembered for the ways that she pushed social convention and
fought against the many difficulties that tried to hold her back and keep her silent. She
portrays hope through her poetry that other women in her own society would find their
voices and use their voices collectively to fight back against the injustices all around
55
them. Julia de Burgos is “life, strength, woman” and it is clear that she will forever be in
the center of the multitude with the “torch in her hand” (Burgos 61-62).
56
CHAPTER IV
A LITERARY COMPARISON
Having explored an in-depth analysis of the history of patriarchy, applied various
theories of feminism to Latin America, and analyzed the poetry of two female poets,
Alfonsina Storni and Julia de Burgos, it is now essential to make a couple of brief
comparisons of the works of these two poets. Analyzing the works of these poets
separately was extremely important; however, it is also imperative to explore the
similarities and differences between them in order to gain a greater understanding of the
way that their literature resisted the patriarchal structure and strove to promote change in
their respective societies. The final section of this thesis will explore important
connections between the poetry of Storni and Burgos and the way that their poetry has
caused changes in the literature and social expectations for women in Latin America.
The poetry written by Storni and Burgos provides important examples of
resistance against the patriarchal systems that held the dominant position in their
respective societies. Comparing a few of the themes used by both authors will reveal the
similarities that can be found in their poetry. Additionally, exploring their style of
writing will hope to accomplish the same goal. An analysis will be made of the poems
“La loba” by Storni and “A Julia de Burgos” by Burgos to explore the way that the
57
authors used these poems to provide an alternative path for women in comparison with
the patriarchal structure determined by society.
Through a further analysis of the poems “La loba” and “A Julia de Burgos” it is
easy to see many connections and important links. They are both written with a
disparaging tone towards the women of the era who remain trapped in the cage of
patriarchy, offer a staunch and open resistance to the societal norms women were
expected to follow, and in the end offer an alternative path for those women who want to
break from the hegemonic patriarchal tradition. By examining various examples of the
poetry from the poems already studied in depth it will enable a comparison to be made
between the two authors on these different points of discussion. In Alfonsina Storni’s
poem “La loba,” she writes,
Yo soy como la loba. Ando sola y me río
Del rebaño. El sustento me lo gano y es mío
Donde quiera que sea, que yo tengo una mano
Que sabe trabajar y un cerebro que es sano. (Storni 121)
I am like the she-wolf. I walk alone and I laugh
About the flock. Sustenance I gain and it’s mine
Where ever I am, I have a hand
That knows how to work and a brain that is healthy
In Julia de Burgos’s poem “A Julia de Burgos” she explores a similar theme when she
writes,
Tú en ti misma no mandas; a ti todos te mandan;
en ti mandan tu esposo, tus padres, tus parientes,
58
la cura, la modista, el teatro, el casino,
el auto, las alhajas, el banquete, el champán,
el cielo y el infierno, y el qué dirán social.
En mí no, que en mí manda mi solo corazón,
Mi solo pensamiento; quien manda en mí soy yo. (Burgos 62)
You in yourself does no command; everyone else commands you;
your husband, your parents, your family,
the priest, the dressmaker, the theater, the casino,
the car, the furniture, the banquet, the champagne,
heaven and hell, and what they call society.
Not me, my own heart commands me,
My own thought, I am the one who controls me.
These two selections from both poems offer significant insight into the way that both
authors critique the women of their era who still found themselves trapped by patriarchy.
In “La loba,” Storni reveals that women, unlike her, do not know how to provide for
themselves and are unable to survive on their own. Burgos, on the other hand explains
how women still controlled by patriarchy do not have control over their own actions or
even their lives. These women are subject to the orders and the constraints of the rest of
society, to which they have given, unconsciously, full control over their actions and
thoughts. Burgos explains how she is different, and only she has control over herself and
her life. López-Springfield explains how, by trying to find their own space from which to
write, Burgos “examines restrictions placed on female roles” within society (704). Not
only do they examine these feminine roles, but the authors use these poems to openly
59
criticize the women of this era who were letting patriarchy keep its hegemonic position in
society by staying with the flock, or letting others make decisions and have full control.
These poems are examples of the way that Storni and Burgos used their poetry to make a
societal critique, but not only against men, but also against the women who are silently
allowing the inequality and discrimination to continue due to their lack of action.
Not only do these poems represent a critique of the way that women had, for the
most part, remained in their socially selected roles in society, but these poems also offer a
staunch resistance to these norms that were so widely socially accepted. In each of these
poems, the poetic voice resists the socially acceptable roles played by women in their
respective societies. In the lives of each poet, they too offered resistance in the way they
chose to live without the support of a masculine figure, struggling to survive on their own
merit alone. These two poets resisted the patriarchal tradition, however, mainly through
the words they wrote. As Storni examines in her poem “La loba,” the poetic voice takes
a resisting role against the sheep who are still stuck with their master afraid to go out on
their own. Her poetry is an allegory for her life and the lives of other women who have
chosen to resist the societal norms and who have declared that they do not need the flock
to protect them. According to Morcega-González
Storni es el alma más auténticamente rebelde de nuestro tiempo.
Insatesfecha, la artista se empeña, el mundo en una recia lucha lírica
contra el hombre, la mujer, y, en general, el mundo, para, al final,
instalarse en una posición de resignada rebldía” (191)
Storni is the most authentically rebellious soul of our time. Unsatisfied,
the artist gives the world a strong lyrical fight against men, women, and, in
60
general, against the world, and, at the end, settling into a position of
resigned rebelliousness.
By coming to terms with the “Wild Woman” part of themselves, the “lobas” can
successfully support themselves by resisting the temptation to fall back into the safety of
the protection of the flock and the patriarchal society. Burgos on the other hand, explores
in her poetry another form of resistance. Instead of leaving the flock all together like
Storni claims to do, Burgos resists the flock from within by not giving in to the expected
norms and deciding to make her own choices and decisions. Burgos is saying through
her poem “A Julia de Burgos” how she has chosen to oppose the lack of control given to
women in her society by simply not giving men and society the opportunity to rule over
her. In this poem, though it can be seen as an internal conflict between two sides of
Burgos, it can also be seen as a resistance of Burgos against the society in general. Most
importantly, however, Beaupied explains how through her poetry Burgos realizes that
“para una mujer de su época, el simple hecho de autodefinirse como creadora, en el
sentido artistico. . . implica una gran lucha” (“for a woman in her era, the simple act of
self-definition as a creator, in the artistic sense implies a great fight;” 385). Burgos and
Storni are able to resist the hegemonic society because they have re-defined themselves
through their poetry and have given themselves a new language, an inclusive language
which urges all to resist and to follow.
This resistance is not easy, and comes with many challenges, but also in their
poetry, Storni and Burgos offer an alternative path for those who choose to resist the
hegemonic patriarchal structure of their era. Simply critiquing a problem or an issue in
society is one thing, but being able to explain a valid alternative path is quite the
61
opposite. It would have been simple for Storni and Burgos to rant and rage against the
discrimination and unjust structure of their society, but they chose to go a step further
with their poetry and offer an alternative path or structure that would, they hoped, be able
to change the overarching structure all together. It is through this alternative path that the
true brilliance and strength of each woman shines forth. Storni, in “La loba” explores the
possibility of leaving the flock behind and striking out on her own in order to live her
own life. She offers the imagery for readers to see that it is possible for women to take
care of themselves and their offspring without the help and assistance of a patriarchal
structure that refuses to see their own worth. By using “la loba,” Storni is pulling from a
powerful natural and cultural symbol that has been one of the ways that women or at least
the female gender has been traditionally respected and revered in nature. “La loba” is
example of true self-sufficiency and self-reliance. For Storni to use “la loba” in her work
as a metaphor for an alternative path for women showed great insight into what many
would call the collective unconscious which has been prevalent in each of us since the
beginning of time.
From another perspective, Burgos offers an alternative path for women in her era
through her poem “A Julia de Burgos.” In this poem, Burgos gives a vivid example of
what it would look like for a woman in her society to rule herself, to not give into and
follow without contest the societal norms that do to recognize her true worth as a woman
and as a human being. In this poem, Burgos gives specific examples of how the “yo” in
the poem creates a new path for living life through her resistance to the patriarchal
structure. In this poem, Burgos remains in society like before, except that this time she
no longer is subject to the authority of the patriarchal regime, but instead, she offers her
62
own opinions and makes her own decisions. She has broken completely with the
subjugation of women, but she still remains a vital force in society, whether socially
accepted or not, she remains a part of the societal structure. By offering this alternative
path, one no recognized even by women, Burgos gives the opportunity for change to
occur. Storni, too, creates an opening through which women can seek their own true
independence from the hegemonic tradition of patriarchy. In each of these poems, Storni
and Burgos make strong critiques against the women of their era while at the same time
offering new models of resistance and ultimately providing alternative paths for women
to follow in life that strive to diminish the strength of the patriarchal structure of society.
Storni and Burgos both recognize that the only way for change to occur is if the women
who are subjects of this discrimination and injustice realize their plight and begin to resist
and hopefully to follow these alternative paths set forth by both authors. Through their
strength as women and as poets these two brilliant women offered so much to the literary
world that, in turn, provided the ability for change to occur in both societies.
Not only is it essential to see how similar themes found in the works of both
authors are significant, it is also important in this comparison of the works of these two
authors to discuss in some detail similarities in style of writing. It is important to note
that both women, though they experimented with other forms of literature, focused
mainly on poetry to express the important messages they had for the world. However,
their poetry did not always follow the conventions set before them as correct and proper
poetic structure. Although these two poets did occasionally write some of their poetry
using rhyme scheme and meter, many of their poems were written in free verse.
Traditionally, true poetry was only poetry if it had a structured rhythm and rhyme scheme
63
that was recognized by the literary bodies of the day. Not that free verse was completely
unheard-of during the literary period of Storni and Burgos, but their usage of this style of
writing has something very important to say about the way that these authors viewed their
poetry in light of the literary world. If they had wanted to show their brilliance, like so
many before them, with carefully structured syntax and rhyme, they would have done so,
but frequently using free verse expresses a different desire held by Storni and Burgos.
Free verse does not hope to be constrained or controlled by set patterns and rules. The
purpose of writing in free verse is so that the poetry flows freely without restrictions and
expectations from the reader. Though not initially accepted as true poetry, free verse
today has become an important alternative way to express oneself through poetry. Like
the social movements Storni and Burgos fought for so gallantly in their poetry, they also
used their style of poetry as a form of resistance to the acceptable modes of writing
poetry. By breaking away from the conventions of poetry so tightly held in rhyme and
rhythm, these poets are also breaking with a literary tradition controlled almost entirely
by men. They are in a sense creating a new language, one that is different from the
traditional language that only represents the masculine experience (Beaupied 378).
Breaking from this literary tradition, as women in the early twentieth century, showed
great courage and strength from the part of these two women. The resistance shown
through their poetry in the themes chosen is also visible in the style of poetry used, which
can be exhibited through their use of free verse in almost every poem.
Additionally, both poets used many literary techniques to help express the themes
previously discussed. To go along with their use of free verse in their poetry, Storni and
Burgos also employed many metaphors throughout their poetry to support their themes of
64
resistance to male patriarchal structures. One such metaphor, the use of “la loba” has
already been discussed, but this metaphor can be seen as an attempt to make a
comparison between a free woman and the freedom associated with “la loba” in nature.
Burgos used metaphors such as the river in “Río Grande de Loíza” to represent a
connection between women and nature, or between men and women depending on how
one interprets the poem. Storni, in turn, uses the important symbol of the cage in
“Hombre pequeñito” to symbolize the way that the majority of women in her time period
found themselves every day: trapped in a cage. This symbol is important because it
carries on through Burgos’ poem “A Julia de Burgos” when she describes the way that
the “tú” in the poem finds herself trapped in the cage into which she has let patriarchy put
her. The difference in the use of the metaphor of the cage is that in Storni’s poem, the
patriarchal structure has imposed the cage upon the poetic voice; whereas in Burgos’s
poem, the cage of societal expectations has been internalized and accepted by the “tú.”
In summary, it is important to note how each poet wrote using similar themes, style, and
poetic techniques.
It is through the resistance of women like Storni and Burgos to the patriarchal
male structure of society that a more just and equal society could begin to arise from its
midst. The battle is not over, but through literature, specifically the literature of Storni
and Burgos, other women were able to find the strength to stand up to the inequality and
discrimination against half of the population. By finding comparisons between the works
of Storni and Burgos, it becomes clear that these two women were writing at the
beginning of a huge shift in the structures of their societies. Recognizing the strength and
power of their words and their language helps to show how much can be accomplished
65
when one finds one’s own voice and uses it to promote resistance and change. These two
women working separately, in essence were working together unconsciously, using
similar themes, and writing from similar points of view. Their individual genius
multiples the collective power of their words.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
Having now explored Latin American patriarchy and feminisms, examined the
works of Alfonsina Storni and Julia de Burgos including a comparative perspective, it
becomes evident the influence these women have had in the Latin American literary
world. Without the poetry of Storni and Burgos among a myriad of other voices that
confronted the patriarchal tradition, little would have changed. Without their poetry as a
record of artistic expression of what life was like for Latin American women in their time
period, it would be seemingly more difficult to understand the complexities of gender
roles and societal expectations. By analyzing their work, it becomes apparent how Storni
and Burgos strove to resist the norms and expectations for women in their society;
therefore creating a new alternative path by which change could and has occurred.
Though this thesis is not meant to provide an analysis of the state of women in the world
today, it is important to include a glimpse at how far the world has come, while
simultaneously demonstrating how much still remains unequal and biased.
In order to culminate all that has been covered in this thesis, it is important to
explore a few of the major changes that have occurred since the 1920s and 1930s for
women in Argentina and Puerto Rico and see what the current situation for women is
today in both of these countries. According to Ricardo Szmetan in his article “La
situación social de las escritoras argentinas en las primeras décadas del siglo XX,” that
“en los principios de siglo [XX], donde convenía que las mujeres no tuvieran voz propia
67
sino a través de la vision masculine, tanto a nivel politico, social como literario” (“at the
beginning of the [20th] century, where it was appropriate that women did not have their
own voice at the political, social, and literary levels except from the masculine vision;”
119). Many women began to combat the patriarchal voice in society and began to create
their own voice, a feminine voice. This shift represented a change in thinking across
Latin America. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union in their database about
women’s suffrage, Argentinean women gained the legal right to vote in 1947 and Puerto
Rican women in 1920 (1). However, as formerly discussed, gaining the right to vote
legally did not necessarily change the structure of the society as it operated on a day-today basis. However, having a say in the politics of society, and in effect gaining access
to language in the public sphere was extremely influential for women everywhere. The
emergence of a feminine voice specifically through education and politics has changed
the way women are viewed throughout Latin American and more importantly how
women view themselves.
In the past century, the societies in Puerto Rico and Argentina have advanced in
their treatment of women; yet, like every other nation in the world there is still so much
left to be done. According to a 2010 statistical report by the United Nations entitled The
World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics, women still remain far behind their male
counterparts in everything from education to health to poverty (viii-x). However, change
has occurred. One of the first female presidents in Latin America, María Estela Martínez
de Perón, governed the country from 1974-1976. Additionally Michele Bachelet was
president of Chile and Violeta de Chamorro president of Nicaragua in the past century
and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is currently the president of Argentina. This shows
68
that women, who in Storni and Burgos’s era were trapped in hyperbolic, gilded cages and
controlled by the masculine forces of patriarchy, were able forty years later to hold the
top office in the country. Just because women have been recognized as politically equal
does not mean that women are treated equally in the home and in the workplace. Women
in Puerto Rico have similar challenges as do women around the world. Puerto Rico is a
country where the majority of the population lives under the United States’ poverty line,
it can be assumed that women suffer from the effects that gender and the patriarchal
position has placed on them. However, in Puerto Rico with its developing economy and
politics, women are seen, as least within the educated sphere, as equals. Now whether
that plays out into all areas of life remains to be determined. Upon travel to Puerto Rico,
one can see that there exists a strong feminist movement in higher education that is
striving to promote educational opportunities and end violence against women in their
communities. However, statistical trends show that poverty has been feminized and
women who live in poverty are more likely to suffer from abusive relationships and fewer
educational opportunities. In summary, the past century has seen great changes in the
status of women worldwide, but the effects of patriarchy still remain. Many women have
found their voices and are standing up for themselves and for their fellow females
especially those who continue today almost one hundred years later to find themselves
trapped in a cage or by societal expectations and the effects of gender, race, and
colonialism.
Looking at the changes that have occurred becomes an important reminder of the
chances Storni and Burgos took as women writing in societies not nearly as open and
inclusive as the ones that exist today. As women, Storni and Burgos gained their own
69
voices and used them to resist the patriarchal structures of their respective societies.
They, in turn, used their words, their language as power and claimed a space of their
voices in society. Finding their own voices resisting the hegemonic patriarchal voices of
their past, they reached back into the collective unconscious and pulled up the archetypes
of the “Wild Woman” and la loba. They employed metaphors of the cage and spaces
within nature like Río Grande de Loíza to draw connections between themselves and the
world around them. Storni and Burgos used their voices to criticize the male dominated
structures of the day and also the way that women silently remained trapped by those
structures letting others make decision for them. Most importantly, though, Storni and
Burgos used their voices as a song of hope for a better future, one in which there no
longer is a cage, where all are free like la loba and where everyone can share their cry of
resistance with one collective spirit “contra todo lo injusto y lo inhumano” (“against
everything unjust and inhumane” Burgos 62).
By reading and studying poetry, the cry from the past becomes the song of the
present and the voice of the future. Understanding where we came from can only help us
live better where we are now and give us more hope for the future. Recognizing the way
that women like Storni and Burgos resisted and ultimately changed the social norms of
their era, is an important example of the power that the feminine voice can have in
society. The works of Storni and Burgos offer us strength, beauty, and pain, but most
importantly, they offer examples of resistance that ultimately led to change. Their
journey was not easy, and their poetry is not light, but it offers essential lessons and an
alternative path that all are invited to follow.
70
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