This is the second installment of my exploration of gothic short stories across cultures. My first post can be found here. This post will explore the work of Chicano author Rudolfo Anaya in terms of his culture. I will be discussing his short story entitled “The Silence of the Llano”. Most of you probably already know a few things about Anaya since we read his book Bless Me Ultima. Anaya was born in Pastura, New Mexico on October 30, 1937. Anaya was strongly influenced by the land that he grew up on, and the llano has inspired many different works that he has produced. He discusses his homeland briefly in his author’s notes for his collection of short stories The Silence of the Llano. He tells us, “Once, this land belonged to the nomadic Indians; later, Spanish and Mexican settlers moved into the region from the Taos and Santa Fe area. Sometime during the mid-nineteenth century Anglo- Americans began to fill the range land” (Anaya 47). He goes on to say that he remembers hearing many stories as a child about the evolution of the land and the effects that the different cultures had on it. He cites these stories as the main source of inspiration because they sparked his imagination. He also discusses coming across “The ballad of Delgadino” which is the story of a father who professes his love to his daughter. When she refuses him he locks her in her room and she eventually dies. This father daughter dynamic was reflected in his short stories “The Silence of the Llano” and “The Road to Platero”. Today I will be exploring his short story “The Silence of the Llano”.
“The Silence of the Llano” tells the story of a young man named Rafael. The story is set on a desolate llano near a small town by the name of Las Animas. Rafael lives alone after his parents died in a blizzard. He mostly keeps to himself and only goes to town when he needs provisions. It is in town where he meets a woman, who has also lost her parents and is alone. He begins courting her and the two eventually marry. Rafael’s wife soon becomes pregnant and they are both happy on the llano and excited for their child. His wife soon becomes sick, however, and begins to have the baby prematurely. Rafael rushes to get Doña Rufina, the partera, who delivers the baby who is a girl. She cannot stop the mothers bleeding, however, and the mother dies. Rafael is heartbroken and he leaves for a few days leaving Doña Rufina to care for his child whom he rejects. When Doña Rufina dies, Rafael continues to ignore his daughter, who now has to care for herself. The girl grows up in a silent world of her own and has no real interaction with anyone. She only speaks the words that she remembers Doña Rufina saying to her. She begins to learn the language of the animals and even creates her own language. Soon hunters come to the llano and their presence frightens the girl. She locks the house and hides but they bang on the door and shoot their rifles. They eventually leave but they continue to haunt her dreams. One day Rafael returns from work with an uneasy feeling to find his door open. He finds his daughter on the blood stained bed with her shirt torn off and scratch marks on her shoulders. She approaches him with outstretched arms speaking his name for the first time. Her image reminds him of his wife, and Rafael flees. When he returns the girl has prepared him food and he tries to eat but he can’t. When he goes outside he sees his wife sitting on a pile of wood. This is the first time that the reader is given the name of his wife, Rita. The image of his wife suddenly turns into his daughter and he strikes it with an axe. Rafael is awakened from these visions by the sound of the screen door slamming. He sees his daughter walking to the water pump to bathe. He watches her as she bathes and then approaches her telling her that her name is now Rita. He then tells her where her mother is buried and that the seeds in her garden will now grow.
There are many gothic elements in this short story. To begin, the setting of the desolate llano is very gothic. The characters in the story are also very gothic. Rafael is a quiet man who lives in his own world and keeps to himself. His wife Rita dies but remains in the story as a haunting figure. The daughter is isolated and silent. She has no interaction with the outside world and has to teach herself everything. Doña Rufina is also a very gothic character in that she seems to have a connection with the spiritual world. This is seen in her death when she already knows she is going to die and waits for the figure of death to take her away. Some of the gothic moments in the story include the death of Rafael’s parents, who freeze to death in a blizzard only to be discovered by their own son. Rita’s pregnancy and birthing are also very gothic. She grows pale and weak during pregnancy and then dies giving birth to her daughter. One of the scenes that I found especially gothic was the daughter’s rape scene. The rape isn’t explicitly explained but it is clearly implied. The hunters know that Rafael has a virgin daughter who he leaves alone during the day. They take advantage of this, and attack her when she is most vulnerable. The haunting visions that Rafael has are also very interesting. He envisions his wife who then turns into his daughter who he describes as a demon of hell who is enticing him to sin. Here we get an implication of the possibility of incest. This possibility is further supported when Rafael watches his daughter bathe and then tells her that her name is Rita, which is his wife’s name. The issue of incest is a very gothic theme and I think that it is definitely present in this story.
Anaya’s culture definitely influenced this story in many ways. First of all, the llano is something that was very familiar to him since he grew up on the llano. The figure of Doña Rufina also would have been very familiar to him as he grew up in a small town in New Mexico. In his notes for the short story he discusses some of the things that inspire his writing. He says “Stories have come to me in dreams, while walking or watching television, from incidents in the past, from the people I meet everyday, what they say and do, from memories moving into consciousness” (Anaya 52). Anaya says the inspiration for “The Silence of the Llano” came after seeing the face of a young girl in his mind. He says when he was writing the story he found that he returned to the llano from his childhood for inspiration. He wanted the reader to be able to feel the aura of the llano as if they were actually there. The way that he begins his story is also inspired by the oral traditions that he grew up hearing. He says, “This is the way an old storyteller from the llano might have begun a story as he sat around with his compañeros” (Anaya 54). We see from this that Anaya’s culture clearly influences his work including the short story I have discussed in this post.
Works Cited:
Anaya, Rudolfo A. “The Silence Of The Llano: Notes From The Author.” Melus 11.(1984): 47-57. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
“Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya.” Bio.com. 2014. Web. Apr 15 2014 http://www.biography.com/people/rudolfo-a-anaya-39694.
Anaya, Rudlofo. “The Silence of the Llano” The Silence of the Llano: Short Stories. Berkeley: TQS Publications, 1982. 3-28. Print.
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