Sobre el autor y la obra
-
Federico
Gamboa
o
Vida:
1864-1939
o
México
City
o
Influenced
greatly by naturalism
o
One of the first writers of novels about urban
society (Franco says: Some of the first novels of urban society were published
during this period, dealing with the moral sickness of members of the middle
classes)
-
This work is influenced by naturalism
-
Work was really important in Mexico; became a
classic
Political/social context
-
One of the first novels about urban society;
deals with moral sickness of middle class (Franco)
-
Reflects Mexico City under Porfirio Díaz’s
dictatorship
Comps
-
Realismo and
naturalismo. Authors: Echevarría
(earlier, under “From Independence to Modernismo”), Quiroga; Gamboa.
Summary and Social Significance of Text
This enduring classic of Mexican literature
traces the path to ruination of a young (19 years old) country girl, Santa, who
moves to Mexico City after she is impregnated and abandoned by her lover and
subsequently shunned by her family. Once in the city, Santa
turns to prostitution and soon gains prominence as Mexico City's most
sought-after courtesan. Despite the opportunities afforded by her success,
including the chance to quit prostitution, Santa is propelled by her personal
demons toward her ultimate downfall. This evocative novel—justly famous for its
vividly detailed depiction of the cityscape and the city's customs, social
interactions, and political activities—assumed singular importance in Mexican
popular culture after its original publication in 1903. The book inspired
Mexico's first "talkie" and several other film adaptations, a music
score, a radio series, a television soap opera, and a pornographic comic book.
Naturalist writer Federico Gamboa,
who was also a lawyer and politician, reveals much about Mexican mores and
culture at the start of the twentieth century and beyond, from expectations
regarding gender roles to the myth of the corrupting and decadent city. In
describing how Santa is at the mercy of social problems beyond her control,
Gamboa provides a rich historical portrayal of widespread conditions in the
years leading to the Mexican Revolution.
More detailed summary
(Wikipedia)
La historia de Santa se desarrolla en una casa de citas en la ciudad de
México en la época porfiriana. Muestra el lado oscuro de una hipócrita sociedad
conservadora que por un lado promueve la moral y los “valores de la época” y
por el otro de manera fortuita practica las más terribles bajezas y vicios
morales.
Santa es una joven de 19 años que llega a un burdel propiedad de doña
Elvira, donde de inmediato la someten a rigurosos exámenes físicos y análisis
de médicos para determinar si es una joven sana y sobre todo un “producto” que
genere dinero a la ambiciosa e inescrupulosa doña Elvira. Durante la primera
noche en el burdel Santa no quiere comer ni convivir con los clientes, pero es
obligada por doña Elvira, su primer cliente es un gobernado. Al mismo tiempo
conoce a Hipólito (el pianista ciego que anima el burdel) y a Jerónimo un niño
que ayuda a la anciana.
Cuando Santa y el gobernador se quedan solos en la habitación este se queda
dormido y cuando al fin despierta, le pide a santa le cuente su historia. Ella
comienza diciéndole que proviene de Chimalistac, donde su madre y sus hermanos
trabajan en una fabrica. Cierto día llega un regimiento de soldados y conoce a
Marcelino Beltrán, un militar de alto rango y mayor en edad que ella. Que con
sus argucias consigue que Santa se entregue a el. Producto de ese embauco
santa, queda embarazada.
Cuando ella lo busca para decirle lo que ocurría , este se desentiende
tanto de santa como del bebe. A los pocos meses ella aborta y su madre y sus
hermanos la echan de la casa. Mientras va caminando por la calle se encuentra
con Pepa que le dice que puede darle trabajo. Es así como termina en casa de
doña Elvira.
Santa se convierte rápidamente en la preferida de los clientes y por
supuesto de doña Elvira. Por otro lado su amistad con Hipólito crece, al menos
eso cree santa, pues en realidad para Hipólito santa no es una amiga … es el
amor de su vida. Para alimentar su ilusión Hipólito siempre le pide a Jenaro
que se la describa pues el no la puede ver.
Cierto día “el rubio”, uno de los clientes , le pide que se vaya a vivir
con el. Sin imaginarlo, Santa , conocerá al “jarameño” quien es un torero
español con quien inicia un coqueteo. Un día los policías se llevan a doña
Elvira y a Santa por no pagar impuestos y el jarameño saca a santa de la cárcel
con la promesa a la policía de que Santa no se prostituirá mas. Ahora será su
concubina.
El Jarameño la lleva a la casa de huéspedes conocida como Guipuzcoana. Todo
transcurre en calma hasta que ella empieza a sentirse sola y en su necesidad de
atención lo engaña con Ripoll. Uno de los inquilinos. No contaba Santa con que
un día en que la corrida de toros se suspendió, el Jarameño llegaría antes de
lo previsto y la descubriría con Ripoll. Hecho que provoco que el Jarameño
terminara su relación y ella se viera obligada a regresar a casa de doña
Elvira.
Los primeros días, aparentemente todo estaba bien o tal vez mejor, pero a
medida que pasaba el tiempo fue dándose cuenta que los de la casa no gustaban
de su presencia por se la preferida de los clientes y de doña Elvira. Un día sus
hermanos la localizan y le comunican que su madre ha muerto pero que antes de
morir le concedió su perdón. A pesar de esto ellos la desconocen y le piden que
jamás los busque. Al día siguiente ella va a la iglesia a rezar por el descanso
de su madre y el grupo de mojigatas la corren violentamente pues ella es mujer
de la vida galante.
En su desesperación Santa acepta la vieja propuesta Del Rubio de irse a
vivir con él. Pero el la maltrata y ella se sume en el alcoholismo. Luego de un
tiempo el rubio la corre dejándola en la calle. Santa va con la competencia de
Elvira, pero la rechazan pues esta en muy malas condiciones físicas, terminando
así en un burdel de mala muerte. Donde le dan el nombre de Loreto y del cual la
echa pues siempre tiene dolores de estomago.
Después de una noche de borrachera amanece con un joven de 17 años que un
año antes le había declarado su amor. Ella quiere quedarse con el pero sabe que
no es bueno para el chico. Es entonces cuando manda a buscar a Hipolito, el la
lleva a su casa con ayuda de Jenaro. En agradecimiento, quiere entregarse a
Hipólito pero los dolores de estomago no se lo permiten, solo pueden pasar la
noche abrazándose y besándose.
En un momento de honestidad, Santa le confiesa a Hipólito que antes rechazo
su propuesta por ser el demasiado bueno para ella. Hipólito la lleva al doctor
y le dicen que tiene cáncer de estomago pero que la pueden operar para alargar
un poco mas su vida. El acepta pagar la operación pero a la mitad de esta santa
muere. Su última voluntad fue que Hipólito la lleve a enterrar junto a su
madre.
Al final se ve a Hipólito frente a la lapida que solo dice “Santa” y el
dice: “Santa Maria, madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros los pecadores…”
Personajes
-
Santa – protagonista, joven de 19 años; se convierte
en prostituta en la ciudad de México
-
Doña
Pepa – trabaja al burdel
-
Doña Elvira – la dueña del burdel donde trabaja
Santa
-
Hipólito – el pianista ciego que anima el burdel
-
Jenaro – un niño que ayuda a Hipólito
-
Marcelino Beltrán – el novio de Santa, quien la
traicionó cuando se embarazó
-
El Jarameño – un torero español que comienza cierta
relación con Santa
-
La Gaditana – otra prostituta quien se enamora de
Santa
-
Ripoll – otro amante de Santa
Temas/ideas
importantes
-
Estilo de escritura
o
Third person limited narrator, focused on Santa
o
Sentimental tone
-
Influence of realism
o
Contrast
between rural and urban settings/values
o
Transition
from rural area to urban area
o
Objective
vision of reality
o
Omniscient
narrator
o
Focus
on middle class
o
Colloquial
and popular language (regionalism)
-
Influence of naturalism
o
Observation/examination
of social environment (México City)
o
Determinism – Santa’s fate is set and
unchangeable
o
Scientific perspective – idea that sex is part
of natural human behavior
o
Surprising twist at end of story – Santa’s death
during surgery
o
Sense that nature is indifferent to human
struggle
-
Gender
o
Idea
that women are constantly abandoned by men; it’s a common fate of women (Santa
is just one example of many)
§
“the
ancient promise that men always utter and women always believe, the never-kept
promise of eternal love and fidelity”
o
Idea of
identity crisis/conflict: woman (decent) vs. prostitute (filthy)
o
Idea
that men don’t really care about women usually; they just want to have a good
time and don’t care about the consequences. (Example: the lieutenant that Santa
fell in love with and got pregnant by)
o
“Woman,
it has been said, is a microcosm of nature, the matrix of life, and for that
very reason, the matrix of death, too, because life is constantly reborn out of
death”
-
Idea of
capturing the essence of Mexico City
o
Observation of the social classes, and the
middle class in particular (Santa’s clients serve as a good example)
o
Laws/regulations surrounding prostitution –
health enforcement regulations
o
Influence
of positivism (reflected in everyone’s interest in Ripoll and his work on the
submarine)
o
Some
serious passion for the bullfighting gig (Jarameño)
-
Social class
o
Santa
comes from a poor working class family from the country
o
Prostitutes
are part of the dregs of society
-
Nationality / National pride
o
Many of
the prostitutes are Spanish; while Santa is Mexican
o
There’s
an interesting Spain vs. Mexico element – many people in the text (such as El
Jeromeño for example) are from Spain and have some major Spanish pride.
However, there are also characters from Mexico who have pride in their
relatively recent liberation from Spain
-
Morality
o
Santa
loses a moral sense of what her beauty means as she gets used to being a
well-loved prostitute
o
Determinism
ties in here – once you lose your morals, you can’t recuperate them (Santa
exemplifies this)
o
Some criticism
of alcohol (“that great enemy of the mankind that constantly spurs us toward
our own undoing”)
-
Religion
o
Play on
Santa’s name, since it means saint, and she’s a prostitute
o
Santa
refuses to speak the Holy name “so as not to profane it with her impure lips”
o
Santa’s
feeling of great guilt and repentance when she goes to a church to pray after
her mother’s death (Chapter Four)
o
Jarameño’s
“gypsy superstitions”
Apuntes del texto
Part One
Chapter One
-
Santa’s arrival in Mexico City, at the brothel/whorehouse/burdel
-
Detailed description of the district of Mexico
City that she’s in (naturalism –
observation of environment)
-
Santa meets doña Pepa, the manager of the
brothel; Pepa has aged out and nobody wants her anymore (sad fate of the
prostitute)
-
Religious play on Santa’s name (since it means
saint, and she’s becoming a prostitute…)
-
Doctors examine Santa (health law – prostitutes
have to be registered so as not to spread disease)
-
Elvira gives Santa instructions/rules on how to
do the job – has to bathe regularly, treat men well and flirt with them. Santa
freaks out and wants to leave; Elvira flips out on her and Santa submits.
-
Santa meets the blind pianist, Hipólito
-
Santa’s first night at the brothel – she reacts
badly when a man grabs at her, and is later forced to sleep with the same man,
a governor. The man is so drunk that he falls asleep.
Chapter Two (Santa’s story)
-
Santa’s story is “the old story of poor girls
who are born in the country”
-
She had a simple Christian upbringing in the
country in a pueblo outside of Mexico City. She was a pampered and innocent
child/adolescent; much loved by her brothers/family.
-
Description of how Santa started her period
(“became a woman”); her emotional mood (PMS)… Naturalism, scientific perspective, interest in human body
-
Santa’s brothers who work at the factory near
the pueblo – social class (they are
poor, working class)
-
Repetition: “It is a moment for melancholy”
-
Change of the military detachment in the nearby
pueblo – some new handsome young men about. Santa begins a little flirting
relationship with one young lieutenant… they became lovers; she’s in love but
he’s a player and just wants to get some. It’s a big deal when Santa loses her
virginity; she starts to freak out about her family rejecting her and panics as
she realizes that lieutenant Marcelino doesn’t want to marry her. In the midst
of all her problems, she meets doña Elvira, who offers her a job as a
prostitute in the city. Soon, lieutenant Marcelina abandons Santa. She realizes
she is pregnant, but miscarries; however, her family discovers what happened
and throws her out. (loss of honor)
Chapter Three
-
Santa’s developing friendship with Hipólito, the
pianist
o
Santa doesn’t realize that Hipo is starting to
fall in love with her
-
All the men love Santa for her beauty and
virginal appearance. They want to “bruise her” (comparison with a forbidden
fruit).
-
Santa gets used to being a prostitute and rather
than seeking a way to escape the profession, she “falls victim to her bad
instincts” (naturalism)
-
Hipólito tells Santa his life story – he was
born blind, father abandoned them, lost his mother when he was little because
she left him at School for the Blind, his very sad childhood/youth
-
Santa’s first serious lover at the brothel,
Señor Rubio – he offers for Santa to go live with him. Santa’s behavior is
influenced by Hipo’s advice; she doesn’t go live with this guy.
-
Another man interested in Santa, a bullfighter
named El Jarameño. There’s some tension/chemistry between them.
-
Description of Santa waking up with a customer.
Any passion faked during the night is totally gone in the morning; they’re both
apathetic and annoyed and just want to separate now that the flesh has been
satisfied.
-
A group of the prostitutes (including Santa)
goes on some outing in the city with el Jarameño. They go to dinner and then
some sort of patriotic festival or something.
Chapter Four
-
Description of a restaurant/bar, Tivoli Central
(commonly frequented by prostitutes and rowdy men), during the day, in its
off-time, and then as the night begins. (realist/naturalist
observation of social environment)
-
A dance late in the night at Tivoli Central –
Santa frequents these dances and has a favorite table which they also reserve
for her and her admirers.
-
Santa has fully transformed from a simple
country girl to a relatively high-class prostitute. She is popular amongst the
men and knows what she’s doing by now. She sometimes fights roughly with the
men when she gets drunk.
-
The bullfighters (toreros) are kind of like
their own separate little social class. They are almost all Spaniards and are
nostalgic for the patria. El Jarameño frequently shows up at the Tivoli to
watch Santa.
-
Hipólito also shows up at the Tivoli frequently
to “watch” Santa.
-
One night, Santa is feeling particularly adored
by her various lovers. Suddenly, she sees her two brothers enter the bar
(Tivoli). They come to talk to her, and speak to her a bit roughly, and then
tell her that their mother has died. They say that before her death, their
mother forgave Santa everything and never cursed her. Yet, they do curse her
and don’t want anything to do with her.
-
Later the same night, Hipólito finds Santa and
comforts her. He sends her to a hotel for the night so she won’t have to take
any clients at the brothel.
-
Santa imagines that maybe this is her
opportunity to change her life and find decent work.
-
She goes to a church and prays for her dead
mother. “She thought it was mortally sinful for a prostitute to enter a
church.” “Prayer was made for us, the miserable ones who were not able to
resist temptation and have more need of mercy.” Santa’s great feeling of hope
in the church; meanwhile everyone looks at her in disgust; some of the
religious dudes throw her out. (religion,
morality)
Chapter Five
-
Santa’s bitterness and anger after her mother’s
death
-
Metaphor – she says she feels like a rock
rolling down a hill out of control
-
Santa’s still torn between Señor Rubio (who had
offered to set her up in a house as his mistress) and El Jarameño (who she
still hasn’t slept with).
-
Meanwhile, poor Hipólito is totally in love with
Santa (and tortured by his inability to have her) although she doesn’t realize
it. He toys with the idea of paying to sleep with her, but can’t get the nerve.
He asks the kid that helps him, Jenaro, to describe her to him in detail.
Later, he’s even more tormented since he can imagine her more clearly.
-
One of other female prostitutes (la Gaditana) is
in love with Santa. (religion:
referred to by Hipo as an abominable love, the “ancient sin against nature”)
-
Santa and Hipólito talk about love and he
reveals his love for her.
-
Some police (“Sanitation Agents”) arrive to check
the brothel out. They take Santa away because she didn’t get her weekly health
checkup after her mother’s death. Everybody starts to freak out a bit. El
Jarameño goes with Hipólito to look for Santa; she has been forced to stay in
the hospital for the night. El Jarameño is able to get her out the next morning
by claiming her as his mistress, officially withdrawing her from prostitution.
-
Santa leaves the brothel with El Jarameño.
Part Two
Chapter Six
Background info:
-
A boarding house with several rowdy, joking men.
Many of the tenants are Spanish; there’s a bit of a spiel on the poor noble
Spaniards who are now forced to work in a country that was once theirs. (nationality, national pride, Spain vs.
Mexico)
o
“And to think that this petty republic actually
denied its debt to them, pretended not to recognize it, refused them fair
compensation!”
o
Constant rivalry over which Spanish
city/province is best
o
This whole
scene is pretty realist and naturalist, since it’s focused on this
sort of “middle class” of Mexico City, and is observing behavior.
-
Introduction of the character Ripoll, who’s a
Spanish engineer and a tenant of the boarding house. He’s widely respected for
his intellect and technical knowledge. He’s working on building a submarine.
o
The rest of the tenants’ interest in Ripoll’s
submarine and engineering career could reflect the positivist nature of the city at the time (under Porfirio Díaz) – a
fascination with progress and technology
-
When El Jarameño arrived as a tenant at the
boarding house, he instantly became popular and kind of eclipsed Ripoll’s prior
popularity. Ripoll becomes bitter, especially as his plans with the submarine
fail. Later, he and El Jarameño kind of make friends.
Back to present time in narration:
-
El Jarameño brings Santa home to the boarding
house and they immediately become lovers. Their “love” is a big deal
-
Changed attitude of Jarameño right before a
bullfight – he is more somber and doesn’t want to have sex with Santa due to
superstition/fear. He refuses to allow Santa to come watch him fight. Major
drama around Jarameños preparation – almost ceremonial. He prays and gets
dressed in special outfit.
-
Jenaro comes to see Santa on orders from Hipo.
-
Santa has a nice life as a “matador’s mistress,”
but she’s gradually falling out of love with Jarameño because she’s bored; she
wants to live in the limelight.
o
“The experiment with a decent life had bored and
displeased her, probably because her fall was irreparable” (morality, determinism)
-
Santa betrays Jarameño by having sex with the
other tenant Ripoll while J is out at a bullfight. They’re discovered in the
act by J. He is furious and wants to kill Santa, but can’t get his knife open. In
his efforts he knocks over the image of the Virgin where Santa is praying
desperately, so he obeys his “gypsy superstitions” (religion) and throws her out instead of killing her.
o
Idea that Santa betrayed Jarameño because now
that she’s morally corrupt, she’s destined to do bad
Chapter Seven
-
Santa immediately returns to Elvira’s brothel
and sinks back into life as a prostitute.
-
“She would not try to change; she would continue
being bad. Her plan, since she could not resist being bad, was to use evil as a
weapon, willy nilly” (determinism,
morality)
-
Costume ball in the city at night
-
Hipólito meets with Santa and officially
declares his love for her and asks for her to love him in return, even if just
a little bit. Santa doesn’t completely reject Hipo, but she says she’s not
going to accept him yet… “maybe I will love you in the future.” She kisses him
once as a “charitable obligation.”
-
The other girls are jealous of Santa now that
she’s back and super popular again. They’re planning to spread a rumor that
Santa’s super sick, so that no clients will want her.
-
Santa’s planning to go live with Señor Rubio.
-
A stupid fight breaks out in the brothel because
the men are drunk. (Criticism of alcohol).
One man is killed. (Naturalism – human instinct
towards violence). Comparison with Cain and Abel (Biblical allusion).
Chapter Eight
-
Trial for the murder of the man at the brothel. All
the prostitutes have to testify as witnesses.
o
Santa and Hipo talk while they wait; they talk
about Rubio. Hipo’s extravagant visions of a happy future with her.
o
They are all forced to wait several hours for
their turn to testify, late into the night.
o
Suddenly, Santa takes a chill and starts to feel
sick.
-
Santa is sick with a fever and is delirious in
the night; she starts spitting up blood. She has pneumonia, but she manages to
get over it after some time. El Jarameño helped pay for the medicine necessary
for her recovery, although Santa never knew that.
-
Santa moves out of the brothel to be Rubio’s
mistress. Rubio gets sick of Santa quickly and begins to ridicule her.
-
Santa becomes an alcoholic. She can feel the
sickness returning. She also cheats on Rubio constantly. After a while, Rubio
throws her out as a drunk.
Chapter Nine
-
Santa is in decline after leaving Rubio’s house.
-
She looks for a brothel to go to (somewhere
different from Elvira’s) but is rejected in the classier places due to her
dubious reputation.
-
She goes to a tavern and meets a young guy. The young
guy has been enamored of her for a while, and gets with her while she is
wasted. Santa enjoys his adolescent vigor.
-
Santa continues to decline, she is sick and
hiding it so that she can continue to work (it’s probably syphilis). She sells
her jewels to bribe the Sanitation Agents to leave her alone. She goes from
brothel to brothel; nobody wants her anymore. She resorts to alcoholism.
-
Hipólito begs Santa to change, get help for her
illness, and just live with him already. Hipo gets desperate and nearly rapes
her once. He eventually abandons her to her fate.
-
Santa falls into the very dregs of the city. She
ends up in one of the poorest, dirtiest, shabbiest brothels in the city. Her illness
continues progressing, and she eventually sends for Hipólito with word that she’s
dying. He comes and pays what she owes at the brothel and takes her away from
there.
Chapter Ten
-
Hipo takes Santa to his house. Santa thanks him
for all his love, but doubts it because she is no longer beautiful; she then
declares her own love to him. She wants to have sex with him as a way of
rewarding/thanking him, but can’t because of the great pain of her illness.
-
Hipo is just happy to have Santa sleep in his
arms.
-
Hipo has ordered Jenaro to have the house
covered with flowers when Santa wakes up. Santa is majorly touched.
-
Hipo and Santa are happy, but her illness/pain
is conquering her. They finally get a doctor, and Santa has cancer. There’s an
operation (a hysterectomy) she can have to attempt to prolong her life, but it’s
expensive. Hipo’s going to pay for it.
-
Santa is scared that she will die. She asks Hipo
to have her buried next to her mother if she dies.
-
Santa goes to the hospital for the operation.
Hipo and Jenaro are in the room during. Santa dies on the operating table.
-
Hipo and Jenaro have a private wake for Santa in
their house; they don’t tell anyone that she’s died. They then have her buried
in the same cemetery as her mother, as she had requested. Hipo visits her tomb
daily. He has never prayed in so long, and at the end he finally asks God for
mercy… “Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners”
FIN
Random Notes:
Santa
Introduction
Naturalist
-characterized by systematic observations
- wanted to strip away the clothing of
civilization to reveal the human animal which led them to portray socially
marginal characters whose animal instincts were thought to have been laid bare
by corrosive poverty, pathology, and exploitation),
- wanted to demonstrate that sex (the most
animal of instincts) is a mainstay of human behavior
-tell the composite story of people whose lives were never recorded individually as biographies,
a historian for people without a history
verosímil, cinematic
-Gamboa: supporter of Porfirio Diaz. (Díaz as
liberal dictator, believed average Mexicans would require years of tutelage
before being able to govern themselves in democracy)
-In Santa, Gamboa adopts a nostalgic, traditionalist view, skeptical about the
power of science and the benefits of untrammeled progress
-Religious language pervades the book (yet
the church is portrayed in a negative light
“Christian” plot structure: fall from grace,
judgement, penitence and redemption through suffering (though most naturalist
novels offer no hope of redemption)
-Gamboa is pro-Spain, anti-North American
-Scenes of Santa’s childhood are slightly
costumbrista
Ch. 1
Santa arrives at burdel, which is in a
reasonable, working-class place by day with other small businesses
Begins with costumbrista scenes of the town
(pavement, public school, coaches)
“young flesh still ignorant of all of the
horrors that awaited it”
Pepa, the owner of the brothel, points out
the irony of Santa’s name when they first meet.
Pepa had a “grotesque figure” from a
“lifetime of vice”
Santa has a very unappealing first visit with
the doctors. Point of no return; she’s not a woman now, but a ….
Another old psostitute, Elvira, is the owner.
Also rotten. First view of men as pigs, shallow…
There is a thunderstorm her first night on
the job.
Meets Hipo, a blind piano player; rough first
interaction
First client….Santa takes off her scapulary
(it didin’t protect her)
Ch. 2
Innocent, pure childhood. Garden-of-Eden-ish
description of her yard.
Santa is the idol of her brothers and the
pride of the village for her beauty. Her physiognomyà her sexual explorations. Priest tells her her guardian angel is the
only man who will never deceive her. She is a simple beauty.
Her brothers work at a factory, making a
pittance. The factory pollutes.
Santa starts to fall for one of the new
policemen in town. He is “a transient soldier incapable of undoing the damage
he did to country maids.”
During their first meetings, only nature
observed their actions. After she loses her virginity, she immediately begs him
not to leave her. Grimey men start to notice her. 4 mos. into her pregnancy,
she has a miscarriage.
Now, instead of drowning herself in the
river, she said she’d drown herself in filth.
Ch. 3
Odd mutual attractionà Santa and Hipo become friends.
“These decent, respectable men pursued the
recently fallen girl like a galloping herd of stallions (naturalistic, animal comparison)
She thinks, “Are there men who deserve to be
loved?”
She starts telling Hipo about more personal
things, odd friendship continues. Hipo tells her the story of being taken by
his mom to the school for the blind. She asks him for advice when Sr. Rubio
offers to take her from the brother l.
Spaniard, Jarameño, shows up. He’s pretty
charming, yet she will not sleep with him like she wouldn’t sleep with Hipo.
She is disenchanted, disgusted with life at the whore-house.
Ch 4.
Again, slightly costumbrista version of
things happening around the city, paperboys, etc.
Santa is out at a dance/show… “One would say
that not a trace of the village girl remained.” She’s got good style and expensive jewels. Flamenco is
played…Santa thinks it’s alright, but others really don’t like it. She is on
top, everyone loves her [services].
Her brothers come and tell her they don’t
care about her anymore, but that theur mother’s died and been buried and had
forgiven her for everything.
She knows she should pray for her mother, but
believes it’s a mortal sin for a prostitute to enter a church. Begins to
question her lifestyle. Enters church and feels hope of celestial pardon and
fear of divine punishment. When the Sacristan comes, he threatens to throw her
out or call the police (ironic). Without her mom, she’s now permanently an
orphan.
Ch. 5.
Talking to Hipo, she says you have to be a rock to do this job, bearing the insults that come with it. Hipo seems not
to like what he knows happens in the brothel and he took it out on the piano,
making it howl and groan.
“The voluptuous power of the ancient vice”.
One of the girls falls in love with Santa.
“look, not all people are born the same>” Hipo confesses his [redemptive]
love of Santita.
Police come to the brothel and it is
understood than police are going to be arbitrary and corrupt.
Bullfighter stops by and declares his love
for Santa. (his name is jarameño). He takes her out of the brothel. She was
free, rescued.
Ch. 6.
Scene: the boarding house full of Spaniards
where El Jarameño lives. Kind of comedic disputes. All of the people invest
their pennies in a contraption, a submarine.. “Oh, the progress of science!”
Ripoll, the Catalan engineer, is mounting debt as he mounts his creation.
Jarameño arrives and brings Santa with him.
Nicasia, the owner of the boarding house, says they can stay (but by that time,
there’s already hanky panky…the triumphal hymn of the Flesh.) The next day, Jarameño has a bullfight.
Then, on the day of the fight, Jenaro, Hipo’s
guide boy, shows up at the house because Hipo wanted him to.
A few days later…”The experiment with a
decent life had bored and displeased her, probably because her fall was
irreparable.” This leads Santa to infidelity, hooking up with Ripoll. Though
Jarameño wants to kill her, she’s saved by the virgin (literally, the statue of
the virgin falls and prevents the stab.)
Ch. 7.
Santa leaves the boarding house. She goes
back to the brothel, contemplating her decision to cheat on Jarameño (she can’t
really find a reason, she just did) Hipo is really happy to have her back. They
go to a costume party at a theatre.
Hipo asks to speak with Santa alone. He tells
her, again, how much he loves her. Says that he “controls the wild beast inside
of him” that makes him want to love her. She still think he’s a bit of an ugly
monster. She says that she likes his affection and feels like they will never
be separated. She kissed him
Meanwhile, the other girls are tired of
Santa’s prized place in the brothel and want to make up a lie that she is sick,
rotten, etc. Rubio (some other guy) offers her a place to stay outside of the
brothel in the city center.
Hipo thinks: “Evil did not exist, and if it
did, it would not rule forever. Repentant, Santa would bathe in the waters of
the Jordan river and emerge as white as snow.”
Then, a fight breaks out, a gun is cocked.
“Cain and Abel”. A man dies.
Ch. 8.
Courtroom trial (described as if the people
watching the proceedings were watching a telenovela). Santa and Hipolito draw
closer together, Hipo daydreaming about a
future in which they’d be together.
Judges: “They have to litigate, to steal
legally” (“Christians are as good at this as Jews”)
As the trial goes on, people get sick of
being in the courtroom. When Santa is asked to testify, she does not “awaken
and provoke a carnal appetite” as she usually would, but rather dutifully
answers the questions she is asked (the beginning of her redemption, road to
normalcy…)
Elvira is mad that none of her girls were
working that night.
Santa starts to feel sick. Hipo tries to pray
for her but feels that prayer doesn’t work.
Santa has pneumonia, gets better, but doctor warns that relapse could be fatal.
She is delighted with the feeling that she has escaped death.
In the background of all of this, El Jarameño
had visited her and given Elvira a piece of his mind so that Santa could stay
and rest at the brothel.
Rubio and Santa live together for a month,
but he starts to be rude to her (he “headed to a brothel like a sick man headed
to a pharmacy” before he found Santa.)
Santa starts to feel sick again and turns to
alcohol[ism] to feel better.
Ch. 9
Santa’s irreversible decline had begun (this
is like her second fall)
Talks about prep school boys (upper-class
girlfriend who only offers a kiss through the window grates, but he needs more, so he looks for
lower-class spoilt girls)
“love does not set a schedule. birds don’t
plan to meet” (again, animal/sex link)
She has syphilis. “The rough embraces of the
customers become like tongs that rip the flesh of holy martyrs.” Hence the name, Santa.. She keeps seeing customers. Her accumulated
wealth and wardrobe vanishes (she’s
buying off sanitation)
Hipo offers to give her his name so she could
get out of “the business”.
Hipo ends up “forcing himself on her like a
gorilla.” ‘Ay, Santita, if you were blind like me you’d be ready for the
light” (He keeps trying to save her.)
Poor people end up in “peripheral
neighborhoods” (As suggested in Ciudad letrada)
Finally, Hipo manages to get Santa out of the
brothel … “The evening twilight completed it’s spell, and Cinderella’s coach
pulled away from the curb in triumph.”
Ch. 10.
Santa, to Hipo, is the “communion he’s
dreamed about for so long” (sacrosanct church imagery) “Love was leading them
back to God!”
When she needs an operation, Hipo says, “I’ll
pay in advance.” (Christ-like imagery)
The hospital “is so nice it makes me feel
like I’m going to get better.” (But, is “modern” medicine just a façade?)
“Santa, who had gone to sleep hoping for
health and life, had crossed the last, awesome threshold.”
Love and suffering do not win earthly
partdon, but they are a road that rises to God.
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