The Portrayal Of Women Essay, Research Paper
Women are portrayed differently in literature depending upon the societal
customs and the acceptance of women in the culture of the author. Although this
is true, it is only partially so. An author is not obligated to write about his
customs and norms, and in fact may use completely different ones in order to
show dissent to the ones he has lived with. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred
Years of Solitude takes place in a Latin American setting. The passage (1) used from the novel in the comparative analysis
involves a strong willed woman who is respected, however, is unaware of the
situation she is part of. The young woman is unknowingly sleeping with two men
who are identical twins. Similarly, Jorge Borges’ short story “The Intruder”,
also set in Latin America. The woman, in this case, is involved with two
brothers, but she is weak and her awareness of the situation is questionable.
Both selected pieces share common ties in situation, however, differing outcomes
arise, thus, a thoughtful analysis can be generated. Petra Cotes, the young woman in the selection from One Hundred Years Of
Solitude, intrudes in the narrative and distracts the Segundo twins from their
normal daily activities in the isolated village of Macondo. Aureliano Segundo
meets Petra Cotes while she is selling raffle tickets for an accordion. He
doesn’t reveal to her that he has a twin brother when she oddly greets him
familiarly. Petra likes Aureliano Segundo and his brother Jos? Arcadio Segundo.
She does not know that they are two different people. Aureliano Segundo
discovers after two weeks of sleeping with Petra Cotes that she has been
sleeping with his brother too. Once again he doesn’t clear up the girl’s
confusion that they are one person and instead he continues to share her with
his twin for two months. One morning Aureliano Segundo is really sick and he
does not know why. A few days later Jos? Arcadio Segundo becomes sick and tells
Aureliano that Petra Cotes is disgusted with the “low-life sickness” he has
given her and consequently refuses to see him. Jos? Arcadio Segundo never finds
out that his brother had shared Petra Cotes with him. Aureliano Segundo secretly
is cured of his sickness separately from Jos? Arcadio. He begs forgiveness from
Petra Cotes and once they live with each other, their animals begin to
proliferate at an alarming rate. A fortune is made by selling the extra animals
and through raffles. Aureliano takes advantage of his shared physical appearance with his brother
in order to sleep with a woman. Furthermore, he neither informs his brother, nor
the woman he “loves” that there he is a third party in the relationship. An
interesting element of the passage involves Petra Cotes’ name. Aureliano Segundo
describes the entire situation and after the line “Aureliano Segundo obtained
her pardon and stayed with her until his death” a new paragraph begins with “Her
name was Petra Cotes”. Aureliano Segundo’s future with Petra is revealed to the
reader before her name is. Does this suggest that her name is an unimportant
detail according to the Aureliano? Considering Aureliano Segundo irresponsibly
doesn’t inform Petra that he and his brother are sharing her it is a possible
assumption. Without respect for the truth, he may not have respect for the woman
involved. A deeper level involved with Petra’s name is that it means “rock” in
Spanish. She could be considered the “philosopher stone” of the novel due to
this association and her purpose in the story. Petra Cotes (the rock or stone)
brings wealth to Aureliano Segundo. The philosopher’s stone is a magical
substance in alchemy which will cause the transmutation of metals (e.g. a
plentiful supply of aluminum into gold), is a cure for all problems and can
provide immortality. This substance, however, exists only in the imagination. It
is relevant because Petra can propagate money (gold) by her supernaturally rapid
animal breeding. Also related to the stone is Aureliano Segundo’s preoccupation
with alchemy prior to Petra’s arrival, and his later obsession with making gold
fish in his laboratory. Garcia Marquez use of magical realism in his novel makes
this conclusion a fairly valid one. In Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “The Intruder” one woman is primarily
involved. The story is told by a man writing down the account of the Nilsen
brothers as he had heard it in a bar. The Nilsens names are Eduardo and
Christian. Christian Nilsen brings a woman, Juliana Burgos, home to live with
him. Eduardo, like his brother, leaves town to pick up a woman but he ends up
“thr(owing) her out” (2) a few days later.
Eduardo loves “Christian’s woman” (3). One
evening Christian tells Eduardo to “make use of her”. Eduardo realizes that
Juliana is an object to Christian and even so, from then on they “share
her” (4). The brothers, who had never disagreed
on anything, begin to argue about trivial skin dealings when “they were really
arguing about something else” (5). The two
brothers decide the only way to stop their fighting is to sell Juliana to a
prostitution house and divide the money between themselves. Temptation brings
the two men separately back to Juliana. Christian decides that it is ridiculous
to wear out the horses (or so that is his excuse) and it is necessary to take
action to halt the destruction of his and Eduardo’s family relationship. The men
ultimately decide to sacrifice (by killing) Juliana in order to mend their
brotherly bond.The brothers obviously see Juliana as an object not worth
calling by name. She is trapped in this situation and isn’t strong enough to say
“no”. Interestingly the man who is retelling the tale of the brothers before
delving into the story writes: “I write it down now because, if I am not wrong,
it reflects briefly and tragically the whole temper of life in those days along
the banks of the River Plate” (6)This
provides a possibility that the women in Latin America at the time of the story
were treated roughly and used by men. However, the way that Juliana was treated
in relation to Latin American women can only be a reflection of the society at
the time because life can only be a base for literature. The two men in the
story are built up to be tough and rough cowboys but end up being weak as they
succumb to their urges. The short story and the passage are comparable. The narrator in “The
Intruder” describes a Bible in the Nilsens’ house which “records the misfortunes
of the Nilsens” (7) . This is quite similar to the overall narrative of One Hundred Years of
Solitude which is being read out of Melquiades’ history book by the last of the
Buendia family. This mystical book contains all of the Buendia family’s history.
The family was doomed to extinction, hence all that was written in the book was
a misfortune. In both stories, the men who shared a woman were brothers. Also at
least one of the brothers consented to the sharing of the woman. Petra Cotes’
name wasn’t mentioned until Aureliano Segundo revealed the truth to her and the
reader learns of the future of Aureliano Segundo with her. Juliana’s name wasn’t
uttered by either brother after they both became involved with her. Neither of
the “sharing” situations lasted more than half a year. For the Segundos it was
two months, and the Nilsens “some weeks”. Both sets of brothers were around the
same age – their early twenties – and the girls were beautiful and youthful.
These examples illustrate the similarities between the two stories and the
behaviour of the men towards Petra Cotes and Juliana. With the common Latin
American setting it is possible to attribute these similarities to the way life
progressed around the Latin American authors perhaps it is not the sole factor
relating to the women’s treatment, but it can be regarded as one
reason.There are differences between the stories as well. In One Hundred
Years of Solitude Petra Cotes is unaware that she is being violated, whereas
Juliana, in “The Intruder”, does. An issue arises here. If Juliana knew she was
being used as an object to satisfy the desires of the two men, why didn’t she
attempt to leave? A reason, that further supports the explanation of the
similarities in the story is, Juliana was not permitted, culturally, to react to
the ill treatment she was receiving. Brotherly relationships are priority. The
women are not important, as they are potential intruders into the brotherly
love. Petra Cotes ultimately marries Aureliano Segundo whereas the Nilsens kill
Juliana. Aureliano Segundo marries Petra because he tells her the truth and then
respects her. These significant differences in the outcome of the tales
influence their analysis. The stories could have resulted in the same manner if
Aureliano Segundo and Jos? Arcadio Segundo were closer and more rough and tough.
It is safe to attribute the history of the Nilsen brothers and their cultural
opinion of women to their choice to kill Juliana.The treatment of the
women by men within One Hundred Years of Solitude and “The Intruder” depended
upon the characters’ backgrounds. The twin Segundos hadn’t ever been violent.
The Nilsens always were protective of their brotherly bond. Without the violent
background in one story or the gentler background in the other story, the
results of a similar situation were unique.Endnotes 1. 1 Appendix 1: Passage from One Hundred Years of Solitude, 192 -
197 2. 2 Borges, Jorge Luis. A Reader, “The Intruder”. ed. Emir Rodriguez
Monegal. trans. Alastair Reid. Fitzhenry & Whiteside: Toronto (1981),
291 3. 3 Ibid. 291 4. 4 Ibid. 5. 5 Ibid. 6. 6 Ibid. 290 7. 7 Ibid.Appendix A Passage from Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. p.192 -
197