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De La Parra's 'Mama Blanca's Memoirs' : A Sin To Share

De La Parra's story is simple yet filled with poetry, art, memory and emotion. I am very grateful that Mama Blanca's Memoirs were published; it is a gift that we can read them. Originally the book filled with her story was meant not to be shown to anyone. Still, De La Parra kept with the trends of the times and realized that as simple as Mama Blanca's story is, it is one to remember. 

I wanted to discuss a few things about this book that resonated with me the most. First and foremost, the relationship between Mama Blanca and the girl she took in. At first, I was confused about how such an old lady could spark so much light in a child's life. After reading this collection of memories, I now understand that Mama Blanca holds her childhood dear to her heart. Her childhood was the foundation for her morals and life. Growing up on the plantation, she had many encounters with people from afar, filled with burning passions and beautiful words. Mama Blanca is still a child at heart. 

The theme of poetry and art in Mama Blanca's childhood sparked her imagination and curiosity.  

"The sudden interruption of my games--that is, the transition from the pleasures of play to those of poetry caused a momentary shock to my sensibilities" (32). 

Blanca Nieves spent much time with her mother, as she rhythmically curled each hair perfectly. Over the years, she engulfed her mother's eloquent words and details from her stories that soon became a part of her beloved childhood memories. 

"In this way my imagination could travel paths of fancy dotted with familiar landmarks to give them verisimilitude" (32). 

Her mother's stories encapsulated familiar landscapes, and Blanca Nieves relived the tale as she gazed out into the trees, hills and barns of the plantation. 

Blanca Nieves and her sisters were also graciously gifted with the stories and whimsical rants from their friend Cousin Juancho. He was another shining light of art and mystique in the girls' lives. 

"Without his voice, his gestures, that indefinable warmth which is the soul or bouquet of the art of great narrators, they are meaningless" (58). 

This quote was one of my favourites from the book. It plays on the importance of body expression and the power of oral tradition. Words on a page are filled with thought, but their Cousin's expression would never feel the same with just words. His words and movements gave the girls feelings of comfort and pure admiration. 

After moving, the girls are seen as ruthless. Although they grew up differently than city folk, the girls were blessed with nature and art at a young age. They grew up with Mother Nature, finding awe in the trees and bush brambles, rich in knowledge of play, laughter and creativity. Their lives were not contained to a room with four walls, allowing their imagination and spirits to run free and discover the blissfulness and simplicity of life. They may have been poor in education, but they were rich in their heart and soul. 

The importance of memory and keeping it intact was also very apparent in Mama Blanca's childhood. Reading along as they returned to the plantation after being bought, I was reminded of myself as a young child, visiting my old homes and neighbourhoods. Life always brings change, and I remember feeling overwhelmed with grief and sorrow when I saw where my childhood memories once happened were torn down by a new building. 

"Instead of the familiar shades, wherever we turned our eyes there had been painful changes" (113).

The quote above was filled with a lot more emotion than I anticipated. It made me tear up. This shows how the power of Mama Blanca's memories, as simple as growing up on the plantation, uncovers feelings and similar memories for the readers. Everyone has childhood memories, and Mama Blanca reminds us to hold onto them dearest because venturing out for them can bring pain and the feeling of being forlorn. 

Have you visited a place important to your childhood? And, if so, was it the same as it was in your memory? Did you experience any feelings of loss or pain like Mama Blanca did? 

 



Comments

  1. Hi Alyssa,
    Your blog post was beautifully written, it made me feel immersed in the book again. A very important place I hold dear to my heart from my childhood is my family home I grew up in. Although my loss, I would say, is not as major as Mama Blanca's, I still grieved moving away from that home into two seperate homes. That house holds my childhood friendships, loss of many pets, riding my first bike, sibling wars with my brother, the list can go on forever. Over the years, watching the house slowly turn into something almost unrecognizable made my memories way more vivid, yet also more sad.

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  2. Hi Alyssa! I loved your post. I was also quite captured by the relationship between mama blanca and the young girl. Reflecting on their relationship after finishing the memoir, I thought that it potentially was a way to fill the void of no longer having female relationships around (no more sisters to play with or mother, or sons). I love your question too. I have never visited somewhere and felt pain or loss, but it is crazy how differently you remember details as a little kid vs returning back later.

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  3. Loved reading your post! I also was really intrigued by the relationship that was described in the foreward. It seemed so strange and beautiful at the same time and made me excited to read the memoirs. I was thinking that without that image of Mama Blanca in her shabby house hanging out with the little girl, I would not be very invested in finding out about her life on the plantation!

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