I was glad to re-read Jesse Alemán’s
“The Other Country: Mexico, The United States, and the Gothic History of
Conquest,” not only for its applicability to George Lippard’s ‘Bel of Prairie Eden: A Romance of Mexico,
but also because after having read Lippard’s sensationalist novel I can better
understand why Alemán fears the possibility of “reproducing a hemispheric
paradigm” (409), and therefore chooses an inter-American approach (which Moya
and Saldívar identify as the “trans-American imaginary” (419)). Alemán explains
that an inter-American framework allows for the unveiling of how the US and
Mexico “share a familial relation that vexes citizenship as much as it troubles
their national literary histories, for their confluences indicate how one
country is already embedded within the history of the other, because the
borders across the Americas are so porous” (410). Alemán argues that through
the exploration of US nationalist texts, such as ‘Bel, much of the exposed conflicted history and destiny of Mexico
reveals the “fate” and “sameness” of the US (419-20). Thus, John Grywin’s
revenge and marriage to Isora not only functions as a parallel to Don Antonio’s
and Isabel’s rape relationship, but also as a marker of how John, as a
representation of the US, acts in the same manner as Don Antonio.
However, it is also important to
note that the “difference” to which Alemán alludes to by reversing Mignolo’s
argument about difference and sameness is presented through the rhetoric of
justice. This becomes salient when John marks the enactment of his revenge as
the day he has sex with Isora for the first time. The narrator tells,
John Grywin comes to Vera Cruz,
finds entrance into the home of the sister, and night after night, sitting by
her side, with her soft hand within his own, tells her the moving—somewhat
melancholy—story of his life, and wins her heart forever…Well, after all his
plans are laid, John Grywin, being still in pursuit of justice, brings the
threads of destiny together on the night of the 9th of March, 1847.
Look yonder, Father Pedro! Behold the barren Isle of Sacrificios! There, in the
sepulchers of the Aztec race, my bridal bed is waiting for me now. (155)
Here the many intersections between Don Antonio’s rape of
Isabela, his representation of the Mexican nation, and John’s justification for
manipulating and seducing Isadora become visible. In addition, this passage
highlights the Mexican nation in relation to its indigenous, but also imperial
Aztec roots. This moment in the narrative also demonstrates Lippard’s intentions
to construct a violent and impure Mexican history which validates American
expansion, but ultimately works to reveal the US’s inherently colonial
mindset.
The idea of Mexican history as
constructed by US nationalist written works in relation to Mexico and the Mexican-American
War can also be seen through Shelley Streeby’s American Sensations. Streeby centers her argument on the power of
Lippard’s sensationalist works, and notes the element of imperialism in the US
depictions of Manifest Destiny. She writes, “this fiction’s mode of production,
which accounts for its relative immediacy…often has the effect of foregrounding
the gaps, contradictions, and seamy underside of the ideological projects of
white settler colonialism and Manifest Destiny” (Streeby 40). Through her
in-depth analysis of Lippard’s novels, Legends
of Mexico and ‘Bel, Streeby
demonstrates how the impure depictions of Mexico and the borderlands (in ‘Bel’s case Texas) reveal “the age of
U.S. empire-building” (73). Moreover, Streeby notes that Lippard’s literary
works do not just show US empire-building by their vanishing of Native
Americans (Dippie’s argument) or removal of conquest scenes, but rather by
their depiction of consensual agreements between the US and Mexico (73).
Compromise or consensual relations become obvious all throughout ‘Bel, not only in the passage that
Streeby notes about Isora’s agreement to marry John, but also as the motivator
for the narrative which is John’s revenge. Revenge as compromise becomes
obvious in ‘Bel when John returns
home from the Texas frontier to find out that his father has been murdered and
his sister has been raped and John and the others tell the monk “You will
confess, Father Pedro, that John Grywin and Don Antonio Marin have a long
account to settle whenever they may chance to meet” (Lippard 154-55). This
moment shows that even Father Pedro, who demands peace, must accept that
revenge will be taken, and through violent means. In other words, that revenge
has a justification.
After reading your insightful post, I feel like I should re-assign article as a general practice. By returning to Alemán after a few months, you make a crucial connection between this idea of an "inter-American framework" and Lippard's novel. In the process--thinking selfishly now--you've helped me to gain a better understanding of a framework that fascinates me. Moreover, your analysis helps to disturb our assumptions of authorial intention, since you demonstrate how contradictions and unintentionality define Lippard's imperial narrative. In this light, the loss of consent, which marks the domestic narrative of the international race romance, as Streeby argues, also means that Lippard's true intentions cannot be easily deciphered.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up some really interesting ideas about concealment and rationalization here in your blog. The "consent" that is present in John and Isora's relationship (even though she's been tricked) is an important distinction, as we learned from Streeby. But your blog, especially the thought at the end about "justified revenge" has me thinking about our discussion of the function of Manifest Destiny and all these other ideological phenomena (like the Vanishing Indian) that rationalized US expansion and imperialism. The work of revenge and justice in 'Bel of Prairie Eden fits right into that discussion.
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