Bombal - Life flashing before one's eyes

The themes I thought of after reading Bombal's "The Shrouded Woman" were love, death, memory, and jealousy. I also thought that the point of view of the narrator was very interesting as it looks through her memories in a unique way. I found myself getting lost in some of the long paragraphs near the end of the book where Ana Maria is explaining how she loves her husband but also don't, but these are the things that stood out to me.

The book is filled with themes of love. From Ana Maria herself reminiscing about her love life to her children's love lives. However, another theme that stemmed out of this was jealousy. Most of the couples in the book end up getting into a disagreement because of another person. For instance, one woman that singlehandedly broke up two couples in one chapter was Maria Griselda. However, she was not to blame since she is simply existing as a beautiful woman, but the men seem to be drawn toward her effortlessly. The men's partners suffered greatly from this that Sylvia, Fred's partner, even ended her life. I remember reading this and being so shocked that I jumped a little. Sylvia tried to give Fred another chance by asking him who was more beautiful, her or Maria Griselda. But, every time, Fred would not choose his own wife. He would dance around the choices by saying they are both beautiful. Being a woman, I understood Sylvia's pain because all she wanted was for her own husband to be loyal to her and reassure her. However, Fred failed to understand that as he was blinded by the beauty of another woman. Another incident that stemmed from jealousy was when Sofia, Ana Maria's best friend, cheated on her husband (and her best friend) with Ana Maria's husband. I believe this was from jealousy of Ana Maria's childhood as she had a more exciting childhood than Sofia. This possibly gave her the thrill that Ana Maria had. 

Next, the "Shrouded Woman" is a story about death and memory. The short chapters that start with "Arise, come!" show Ana Maria in between life and death. She is being commanded to go somewhere but she is unable to move. I kind of see this story as "life flashing before one's eyes" because even though Ana Maria is already dead, she is reliving her life and digging up her most important memories before she fully leaves Earth. Her memories are almost like realizations of her true feelings as she remembers them that by the end of the book, she instead of feelings of hatred and regret, she feels acceptance and forgiveness, as the lecture video suggests.

Before watching the lecture video, I thought it was simply a story about a woman reliving her life. But, after the video, I realized it was more than that. This is a story told in a woman's perspective. The difficulties of being a woman and how they are turned against each other and have to suffer on their own. A quote that stood out to me was,

"Possibly all men once in their lifetime long to make some great renunciation, to tear to pieces a butterfly in order to feel themselves, master of their own destiny.”

This reminded me of when Antonio revealed that just because he is married, that doesn't mean that he is forbidden to attracted to other women. His ego reminded me of Molliere's "Don Juan" which is about a man who is unable to be loyal to one woman. He feels the need to conquer all the women in the world's hearts, and if he could, he would go to a different universe just to conquer more of them and he does not feel remorse.

Discussion Question:

Why do you think Ana Maria was "downsizing" Sofia's betrayal when she said, "... perhaps, for the sake of great affection she had for me I should have forgiven her silly, insignificant betrayal... Don't you think so, Fernando?" (246).