Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Portugal, Jose Alberto
Area of Concentration
Literature
Abstract
This thesis is about Rosario Castellanos's multifocal rendition of the conflict between the Tzotzil Indians and the white, land-owning Mexicans in highland Chiapas during the 1930s. I hope to show the ways that Castellanos uses transgressions of social and cultural boundaries to express that the violations committed against the Indians had the effect of dehumanizing the white Mexicans along with the clear and purposeful dehumanization of the indigenous people. She does this by seamlessly weaving together the different worlds of her characters and using a suspended, imagined, literary time to exaggerate the growing agitation of the time. Castellanos portrays the fear that occurred when the rigidity of the society was trespassed by depicting susceptibility of the white Mexican world to Indian influence. The thesis looks specifically at her two novels, The Book of Lamentations and The Nine Guardians, with a particular focus on the former.
Recommended Citation
Ramirez, Febe, "THE PERMEABILITY OF BOUNDARIES IN THE NOVELS OF ROSARIO CASTELLANOS" (2016). Theses & ETDs. 5264.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5264