Connections: Sor Juana & Concepcion

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My exploration of Professor Gaspar’s Sor Juana’s Second Dream was prompted by our study of her subsequent novel Calligraphy of the Witch. Adhering to her form of historical fiction, Gaspar’s novel serves as a sequel to her tale of Sor Juana, set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the era of the Salem Witch Trials. She inserts the fictional character of Thankful Seagraves, a mestiza slave, into American mythology during a prominently Puritan dominated era. Through my investigation into Professor Gaspar’s first novel I was able to discover the origins of the character of Concepcion, our class’s first introduction into the realm of the Chicano-gothic.

The character of Concepcion Benavidez enters Sor Juana’s world as one of her apprentice scribes. Throughout the novel, Sor Juana is unrelentingly strict in her discipline of the apprentices, constantly scolding them and, at times, beating them for misbehaving. However, she immediately develops an affinity for Concepcion when she is brought before her at the tender age of eleven. In her later years as a slave, becoming the property of the Dutch pirate Lauren-Cornille de Graffe, Concepcion is sold for the high price her talent of penmanship demanded in New England. Sor Juana recognized her aptitude for embroidery at their meeting and devoted her time with Concepcion to developing her penmanship skills, a skill which later becomes Thankful Seagraves instrument of salvation, relinquishing her from the control of her captor. As both Sor Juana and Concepcion grew and matured together, separated only by about fifteen years, their relationship developed into that of a mother and a daughter, resembling that of Sor Juana and la Marquesa , crossing in and out of a romantic affair. When the San Jeronimo convent houses, a cimarrona named Alendula, or escaped slave, an intimate relationship begins to develop between Concepcion and the prisoner. Concepcion visits with her often and begins to contemplate running away with the prisoner to her small village in Vera Cruz. Concepcion comes to Sor Juana with her plans to flee from the convent with the captive and make the treacherous journey across New Spain to the small settlement in Vera Cruz. Here, Sor Juana recognizes what she refers to as the “destiny of every woman’s body” and the inescapable lack of freedom tethered to this fate that all women must succumb to in their lives. (Gaspar 232) She allows Concepcion to make her own choices and exercise her own freedom, something Sor Juana yearned for her entire life but was never given the opportunity to experience. Here, the destinies of Sor Juana and Concepcion diverge, the narratives of their lives becoming completely their own. In the following months, Sor Juana hears news of a pirates’ siege of Vera Cruz which, unbeknown to her, results in Concepcion’s capture until her tenure upon the ship leads her to the New England colonies and the transition into Calligraphy of the Witch in which she takes on the persona of the Thankful Seagraves, an individual who was actually involved with the Witch Trials.

Presence of the Chicano-Gothic

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As the first major work this class encountered in the genre of the Chicano-gothic, Calligraphy of the Witch possessed a great deal of characteristics that embodied both the Chicano as well as the gothic. Naturally, as a prequel written by the same author, Sor Juanas Second Dream contains within it the sane Chicano-gothic qualities, many paralleling those at play within Gaspar’s narrative of Concepcion. Both novels find their climax and the major source of tension emanating from an authority like institution that seeks to persecute the main character. In Calligraphy Concepcion finds herself on trial before the Massachusetts Bay Colony facing accusations of witchcraft, the hysteria and confusion of the Salem Witch Trials causing Concepcion’s Chicano/Catholic foreignness to be construed as evil. In the same predicament, Sor Juana is put to trial before the Spanish Inquisition on accusations of heresy, rampant sinfulness, and blasphemy during a time when her progressive feminism and female intellect struck fear and misunderstanding within the religious confusion. The persecution within the societies both of these women lived in had very much to do with their marginalized ethnic dispositions, a very Chicano element. As a mestiza, a mixture of Native American and Spanish, Concepcion is already seen as a subservient figure in the eyes of Puritan society. Although quite educated and wise, those within the colony see her as threat because she cannot speak the language and her Catholic religious practices are grossly misunderstood. In the case of Juana, her criolla heritage places her at a slightly disadvantaged position in terms of caste, and her position as a woman even further reinforces the stigma surrounding her intellect as unnatural and unacceptable. The lack of solidarity and the search for a sense of identity surrounding both these characters truly embodies the sentiments of Chicano literature. Coming from broken homes, never having a firm grasp on who they are and where they come from, the combination of mixed ethnic backgrounds and the subordination inherent in being a woman during this time, makes for a volatile environment for the formation of an identity

Both of Gaspar’s novels share in common a great deal of gothic elements as well. Both novels employ the very gothic literary style of narrative in the form of diary entries. A bulk of the insight into the gothic, turbulent psyches of both these women comes through in their diary entries within the story. The manner in which Gaspar depicts life within the convent as well is extremely gothic. The superficiality, melancholy, and betrayal that seem to permeate life within the convent constantly resurface throughout this prequel, Sor Juana stating that, “evil and cruelty and evil lurk in this place.” (Gaspar 144) The regular public hanging of enemies to the state in the town square also casts a gothic shadow in the novel. The practiced self-flagellation and severe penance practiced by nuns, notably the instance of lashing as a form of sacrifice during the solar eclipse, within the convent creates and eerie and violent atmosphere that normally would not associated with a religious institution. A particular scene in which Sor Juana witnesses a curandera–esque delivery of a baby is one of the more gothic scenes within the novel. The servants of the convent delivery the baby within a smoky shroud, chanting songs, claiming that a “bad spirit will make the baby die.” (Gaspar 248) This somewhat sacrilegious ritual being performed within a convent casts a benevolent pal upon the already malicious activity within the convent.

Gaspar’s Sor Juana’s Second Dream flawlessly intertwines the motifs of the Chicano and the gothic as she tailors the fictional voice of Sor Juana with historical events of her illustrious life. Although not required in our course curriculum, this novel very much embodies the qualities which we have attributed to the Chicano- gothic, and would be an invaluable addition to future course of study within this incredibly unique genre.

Works Cited

1. Gaspar De Alba, Alicia. Sor Juana’s Second Dream. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Pres, 1999. Print
2. Gaspar De Alba, Alicia. Calligraphy of the Witch. Arte Publico Press, 2007. Print