Sobre la autora y la obra
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Poniatowska
o
México/France,
1932-present
o
One of México’s best-known authors and
journalists
o
Rich family
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Hasta no verte Jesús mío (Here's to You, Jesusa) from 1969 tells the story of Jesusa
Palancares, a poor women who fought in the Mexican Revolution and who later
became a washerwomen in Mexico City. It is considered to be a breakthrough in
testimonial literature written after about ten years of interviews with the
real life women by Poniatowska.
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This work is
not a direct transcription of Jesusa’s narration; it’s a fictional reworking by
Poniatowska à testimonial novel
Comps Example Questions
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Boom, realismo
mágico, and lo real maravilloso;
postboom and neobarroco; precursors;
modernity (see the “Modernismo since 1940” section of list) and the controversy
over postmodernity in Spanish America. Authors: Borges, Huidobro, García Márquez, Rulfo, Carpentier Asturias,
Cortázar , Allende, Puig, Sarduy, Fuentes, Poniatowska, Valenzuela. Note:
other movements which are associated with some of these writers, such as
surrealism (Cortázar) or the use of popular culture and other genres in
narrative (Puig), etc. Some suggested, secondary readings: Rodríguez Monegal,
Shaw, González Echevarría, Hutcheon.
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The aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. Authors:
Rulfo, Fuentes, and Poniatowska. Some suggested, secondary readings: Alonso.
Personajes
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Jesusa
– la protagonista
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Felipe
Palancares – el padre de Jesusa
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Emiliano
– el hermano muy obediente de Jesusa
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Evarista
Valencia – la madrastra de Jesusa
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Feliza
Martínez de Henestrosa – la madrina de Jesusa
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Pedro
Aguilar – Jesusa’s husband
Summary
The protagonist is Jesusa, whose life from the age of 5 until her old
age is told in the first person. She was born in Tehuantepec, in southern
Mexico. At age 5 her mother died and with her father Felipe Polancares - a
vagabond and a skirt-chaser - and her brother Emiliano, she travels from place
to place where her father works at whatever he can find. Even for one so young,
she rebels against her father’s women. Only her “stepmother” Evarista is exempt
from scorn (she is J’s feminine role model). There were the years of
revolution, and when her father and brother join the revolutionary troops,
Jesusa follows them into battle. Pedro Aguilar, a captain, marries her almost
by force and she then follows him. Her resentment of this controlling, barbaric
husband is part of P’s feminist message.
When he dies she want to return to Tehuantepec, but on her way, near the
capital, she is robbed of all she has and is forced to remain in Mexico City
the rest of her life. Her work and her many amusements take up most of her
time. By accident she comes across La Obra, a spiritual movement. Little by
little she is converted to their beliefs when she experiences strange visions
in dreams. Her life is always full of complications bc she constantly helps
those less fortunate than she. (She takes in a child, Perico). In her old age, she works as a laundress. She
is very sick and believes she is beginning to understand her destiny and the
reason for her existence.
Themes/ideas
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Genre: testimonial novel
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Mexican identity
o
Voice of lower class Mexican
o
Poniatowska’s attempt to capture this other
identity
o
Power of religion for the poor Mexicans,
important as a source of hope (example: Jesusa’s spirituality)
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Gender, female empowerment
o
Mexican Revolution was a scene for the
revolution of the woman as well
o
Jesusa’s personal revolution against her husband
o
General hatred and discrimination against women
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Orality
o
Language of the country people
o
Transcription of how people actually spoke
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Social/political context: Mexican revolution and
post-revolutionary state
Detailed, gratuitous plot notes from reading and prepping for class
Introduction (English version)
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Jesusa is very old and poor, and has a rough
character
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Poniatowska explains her relationship with
Jesusa; she wanted to hear her life story and visited her weekly to record it
Chapter 1 (11-17)
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Jesusa’s odd religious convictions and belief in
reincarnation; she recalls her revelations of her previous reincarnations; in
one of them she was a queen
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Her religion – her protectors that are the same
in various lives; her reconnection with her mother and criticism of Catholicism
Chapter 2 (19-25)
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Jesusa’s mother’s death when J was still young
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Her childhood in poverty
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Jesusa’s father’s other women after her mother’s
death; J hated them
Chapter 3 (27-35)
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Life near the sea – digging up turtle eggs,
father selling fish, swimming, her father’s work at port on the ships
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Jesusa’s older brother Efrén, who was a
drunkard; his abusive treatment of his woman, Ignacia; their daughter Felipita
who died as an infant
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Jesusa’s older sister Petra, who was abused and
finally rescued, then married her rescuer and came to live with them; eventual
death of both her and brother Efrén
Chapter 4 (37-46)
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Jesusa’s stepmother, Evarista Valencia, who
worked at a women’s prison– their life of routine and work at the prison;
Evarista taught Jesusa how to work, her strong punishments when she messed up
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At the prison, the old female prisoner there –
the earthquake in 1911, the stronger religious faith of the old prisoner, she
is given her freedom
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Father’s nomadic lifestyle; Jesusa followed him
Chapter 5 (47-54)
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Jesusa goes to live with her godmother Felisa,
who helped sick people die
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Jesusa’s hard work in the large home; her
adolescence/puberty years (describes her period)
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Jesusa’s father didn’t allow her to go to public
school and she didn’t learn anything in nun’s school
Chapter 6 (55-64)
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Jesusa worked as a nanny without pay
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Jesusa’s father takes a new mistress and forces
his son Emiliano to marry her daughter; he is ashamed and disowns Jesusa when
she’s about eleven years old
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Jesua worked for a French woman but left her
because she was so dirty and gets another job cooking for gringos
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Emiliano’s death; Jesusa is reunited with her
father; her fit when they want to do an autopsy on Emiliano; J and her father
go to the revolution together
Chapter 7 (65-78)
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At the revolution; Jesusa’s work as a soldadera
– the women always went ahead early and lied about how many men came behind
them, then cooked and set up camp for the men
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Jesusa’s father’s mistresses; her fight with one
of them
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The constant betrayals and switching of sides in
the revolution
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The time when Jesusa and other women got
separated from the troops and the general Zapata himself escorted them back
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Jesusa’s fight with her father; she separates
from him
Chapter 8 (79-89)
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The young officer that wants to marry Jesusa;
she was forced into because she had no other options; her new husband is Pedro
Aguilar and she hates him
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The horse, La Muñeca
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Pedro leaves Jesusa in a town and goes to fight;
J starts selling wine and when Pedro returns he is angry and forces her to go
to the revolution with him
Chapter 9 (91-100)
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The new generals train the soldiers
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The way they traveled on the trains; the women
went on the roof, the animals were given priority
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Jesusa hated Villa because of everything she
heard about him (94)
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Jesusa’s hatred for her husband Pedro; his
abusive and neglectful treatment of her; she never told anyone how awful he was
and he always hid it; she finally confronts him and forces him to realize the
gossip he’d been listening to was a lie and then never allowed him to abuse her
again
Chapter 10 (101-109)
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Pedro (Jesusa’s husband) and his problems with
other men because he slept with their wives; she beat some of his other women
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The voodoo doll someone made of Pedro that
nearly killed him
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Pedro and Jesusa’s rough marriage with no love
whatsoever
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Jesusa helped Pedro fight, riding alongside him
and changing the bullets in his rifle
Chapter 11 (111-123)
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All the counterfeit paper money used during the
revolution
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The coyote that Jesusa took in as a pet; a
colonel killed it one day when it defended her
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The poor family that brings them water; Jesusa
and Pedro give them food; Jesusa gave the little boy Refugio a blessing before
he died
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The way the village people react to death –
celebration and acceptance
Chapter 12 (125-130)
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The rumors about Villa and his awful doings
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Pedro’s death in battle; they retreat and cross
the US border and the gringos take them as prisoners
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Jesusa’s confused fate without a husband – she
tries to go home but all her things are stolen
Chapter 13 (131-143)
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Jesusa ends up staying with a soldadera’s
relative in the city; she tries to get her widow’s pension and General Carranza
doesn’t give it to her because she’s young and can still remarry
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Jesusa doesn’t know how to find work and after
several months of starving she meets a girl who helps her start as a maid;
after a few months there she gets sick and is fired
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Jesusa goes from house to house to stay with
people as she can; she’s often starving and work is unsteady; she works at a
series of factories making boxes
Chapter 14 (145-154)
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Jesusa continues working at the box factory and
goes drinking almost every night
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One night she hits a man who grabs her thinking
she is a prostitute; she gets fired and then gets a job as a maid and
dancer/waitress at a bar; she gets into a fight with a man who wants to be with
her
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Jesusa’s male friends (she doesn’t have sex with
them)
Chapter 15 (155-159)
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The spiritist who does magic with all the girls
at the restaurant but can’t with Jesusa because of her strong will; the
spiritist is then able to call the ghost of her father back from the dead and
Jesusa’s father says she needs to quit drinking so much and calm down
Chapter 16 (161-170)
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Jesusa plays with the power she has in the
spiritual realm through a young girl as her medium but is doing so in a bad
way; she sees the high priest of the “Obra Espiritual” in a vision and he tells
her to study for real instead of playing
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After that she and the girl begin to study for
real, being guided by her old man protector
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The gringo men that fell in love with Jesusa, a
banker and a captain; they both propose but Jesusa doesn’t want to marry again
after Pedro
Chapter 17 (171-177)
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Jesusa leaves the bar/restaurant and starts
working at factories again
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Jesusa gets into a fight with a drunk man and
goes to jail for three days
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The little boy Angel that Jesusa took care of
for a few years, then he died
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The dog that Jesusa took care of and fed bread,
who also died
Chapter 18 (179-191)
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The circus that Jesusa danced at sometimes with
a homosexual friend, Manuel; (small section about homosexuality); she helps
Manuel with money and eventually their relationship goes sour and they become
enemies
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Jesusa sees an incarnation of the devil and
knows that Manuel has called him to get his vengeance on her; she gets very
sick and thinks she is dying and gives all her things away including her money
Chapter 19 (193-199)
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Jesusa works as a nurse at a hospital with sick
and diseased prostitutes
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One of Jesusa’s old male friends from the
restaurant (Antonio Pérez) gets an STD and Jesusa helps him to get healed
through her religion
Chapter 20 (201-209)
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Jesusa finally leaves the city and goes off to
the Cristero Wars for a bit then goes back to the city
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The hidden priests and secret Catholic masses in
the city; the religious criticism about the nuns who were the priests’
mistresses and killed their babies so as not to be discovered and the rapes
Chapter 21 (211-223)
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Jesusa starts work as a cook’s assistant for the
soldiers
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A shop owner thinks Jesusa looks familiar and
hooks her up with some of her old family relatives, her uncle – she goes and
they argue because he thinks she’s looking for a handout
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Some of Jesusa’s family history
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Jesusa gets shot but her religious protector
saves her from the bullet penetrating her; she finds the temple in the city to
thank him
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Jesusa gets into a fight with a woman and they
put her in jail for a while
Chapter 22 (225-236)
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Jesusa starts running a barbershop but then gets
sick of the union stuff and sells it
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Jesusa’s criticism of the more modern soldiers
as she waits to see if they will leave the city so she can follow them
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Jesusa starts a hog-slaughtering business and
adopts a vagrant boy (Rufino) to help her; after two years Rufino took off with
a soldier
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Jesusa’s journey walking towards Mexico City
Chapter 23 (237-244)
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Jesusa starts working as a maid for a very
demanding woman; a series of jobs working for silly/demanding/cheap women – her
injuries from the work
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Someone takes Jesusa to a spiritual healing
place to cleanse her, and the woman there, Trinidad Pérez de Soto takes Jesusa
on to work with her – the jealousy of the others
Chapter 24 (245-254)
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Jesusa decided to quit drinking
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Jesusa goes to a special “Obra Espiritual”
religious service in another city – the miracles and interpretations of visions
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A friend of Jesusa’s, Sara Camacho, who gets run
over by a train
Chapter 25 (255-262)
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Jesusa starts living and working with a poor
family, the Torres
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The problems over the land that the family and
other families are living on; the government eventually runs them out
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José Torres wants to marry Jesusa but she
rejects him and he marries someone else but abuses her and is mean to Jesusa,
so she leaves the family
Chapter 26 (263-272)
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Jesusa rents a room with a family (Felicitas
Vidales) that had ten children
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The mother, Felicitas, gets very sick and the
family has some serious doctor bills; one of her kids goes to the US to work
and soon Felicitas dies
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Jesusa keeps one of Felicitas’ children, Perico,
and takes care of him
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Jesusa’s work as a washwoman
Chapter 27 (273-282)
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The somewhat affectionate relationship between
Jesusa and her adopted son Perico; she never let him forget his real mother and
took him to spiritually visit her often
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Jesusa’s friendly neighbor, Transito, who had
several men and several abortions
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Jesusa makes Perico go to school; they start to
grow apart because of the bad influences on him and eventually he leaves her
Chapter 28 (283-292)
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Jesusa’s resignation after Perico leaves her
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The animals that she took care of; the dog she
killed because it always caused her trouble
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The religious visions that Jesusa has had; her
critique of the others who lie about their visions; she recalls something akin
to speaking in tongues when she is given a vision and mission from God; the
problems that Jesusa had with the other sisters which is why she left the
congregation
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Jesusa’s critique of the church as a whole
because of materialism and jealousy
Chapter 29 (293-304)
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Jesusa remembers an old friend that she had a
falling out with, Iselda; she helped her give birth to her babies
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Jesusa comments on her old age
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Jesusa ponders religion and the creation of the
world and humans (Adam and Eve)
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Perico comes back to see Jesusa and ask her
forgiveness – comparison with the prodigal son; he starts visiting her daily;
Jesusa knows he is just taking advantage of her because he’s broke and hoping
to get money from her
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Jesusa thinks about her imminent death and says
she wants to die alone
Overly detailed notes on themes
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Género
o
Sobre
el padre – “nos hacía las tortillas grandes, porque era hombre y no sabía
tortear” (24)
o
Sobre
la hermana Petra quien estuvo abusada por varios años – “Cualquiera otra se
hubiera conformado, si con que se las trinquen ya les anda de contentamiento.
¡Si de eso piden su limosna, las pendejas! (33)
o
El
hermano sumiso de Jesusa (Emiliano) (54)
o
Sobre
Pedro y sus mujeres – “Yo luego caí en la cuenta que él no tenía la culpa;
cumplía como hombre porque las mujeres lo perseguían a propósito. Yo veía como
lo seguían, nalgueando, dale y dale, así es que, a lo legal, digo yo que las
culpables eran ellas” (102)
o
Sobre
las soldaderas – “Por lo regular, unas iban como yo, porque sus maridos las
obligaban, otras porque le hacían al hombre” (107)
o
Sobre
las mujeres sumisas a los hombres – “Si ya compraron la esclava para nomás
ponte y te lo finco cuantas veces se ofrezca, de guajes se van a andar con
adulaciones” (149)
o
“Para
todas las mujeres sería mejor ser hombre, seguro, porque es más divertido, es
uno más libre y nadie se burla de uno. En cambio de mujer, a ninguna edad la
pueden respetar, porque si es muchacha se la vacilan y si es vieja la chotean…
¡mil veces mejor ser hombre que mujer!... ¡Bendita sea la mujer que quiere ser
hombre!” (181)
o
“Por
eso digo yo que a los hombres de hoy no les llama la atención más que
aprovecharse. Nadie estima a su mujer ni la cuida. Al contrario, entre más le
sacan, mejor. Cualquier día no podré hacer ya nada y ni modo de decir: ‘Mi
muchacho va a ver por mí.’” (302)
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Trabajo
en la revolución como soldadera
o
“Yo
cargaba con la canasta de los trastes y caminaba con zapatos de tacón alto,
pero no con esas bayonetas que ahora se usan y que nomás andan agujerando el
suelo, sin con tacones buenos” (66)
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La
naturaleza de la revolución
o
“Así
fue la revolución, que ahora soy de éstos, pero mañana seré de los otros, a
chaquetazo limpio, el caso es estar con el más fuerte, el que tiene más
parque…” (71)
o
Los
corridos que los hombres inventaron (73)
o
“Dijo
Pedro que cuando él la viera perdida, primero me mataba a mí, y desde entonces
ya no me soltó y nunca me volví a sentir libre” (89)
o
“Yo
creo que fue una guerra mal entendida porque eso de que se mataran untos con
otros, padres contra hijos, hermanos contra hermanos, carrancistas, villistas,
zapatistas, pues eran tarugadas porque éramos los mismos pelados y muertos de
hambre.” (93)
o
“Esa
costumbre de robar la agarraron en la revolución porque antes el perro asesino
de Porfirio Díaz no admitía robadero.” (131)
o
Todo
el engaño económico de los líderes de la revolución (Capítulo 13)
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Religión
o
La
creencia de Jesusa en reencarnación (Capítulo 1)
o
El
muchacho espírita que hace mágico pero no funciona con Jesusa a causa de su
carácter fuerte; después él es capaz de llamar la fantasma del padre de Jesusa
de su muerte y el padre le dice a Jesusa que deje de tomar tanto y
tranquilizarse (Capítulo 15)
o
La
guerra cristera – la crítica de los católicos, de los curas y las monjas
quienes eran sus amantes y mataban a sus propios bebes para no ser descubiertas
(Capítulo 20)
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La
identidad mexicana
o
Jesusa
– “No me siento mexicana ni reconozco a los mexicanos. Aquí no existe más que
pura conveniencia y pura interés. Si yo tuviera dinero y bienes, sería
mexicana, pero como soy peor que la basura, pues no soy nada” (213)
