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Article Excerpt
By applying Mikhail Bahktin's literary theory to The Inhabited Woman, this essay illustrates the way in which Belli's work empowers nature as a speaking subject and, reflecting the beliefs of Native American cultures, restores the important relationship between human society and the natural world.
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Whether through poetry or narrative, Gioconda Belli has consistently addressed two main (and revolutionary) concerns in her work: the Sandinista struggle for liberation of her native Nicaragua and the feminist effort to gain equal footing with men in a patriarchal society. In addition to these two themes, however, there is a third key element present throughout Belli's work that often has been overlooked or underestimated by critics. This element is nature and in The Inhabited Woman (La mujer habitada), her first novel and bestseller, the connections that exist between human beings and the natural world are as important to the narrative as are the relations that bind humans to one another. In this novel, nature is not only inseparable from the political and social dimensions of the texts, it is actually presented as a character. By applying Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory to The Inhabited Woman, the following analysis considers the way in which Belli empowers nature as a speaking subject and restores the important relationship between society and the natural world.
Set in a fictitious country called Faguas, The Inhabited Woman presents the stories of two women, Lavinia and Itza, through two distinct narratives. The first story is told in the third person, by an omniscient narrator, and recounts the events that took place over the span of one year in the life of Lavinia, a twenty-three year-old woman of the upper-class. To Timothy Richards, this narrative is a female bildunsroman since "through a progressively more comprehensive involvement in her society, [the protagonist] learns to distinguish the true from the false in her and the world around her" (209). Indeed, Lavinia carries out her own feminist revolution by refusing to consider marriage and choosing to be independent. She lives by herself and works as an architect. Her lover, Felipe, introduces her to the Movement--a revolutionary group whose mission is to overthrow the military dictatorship ruling the country. Eventually, the young woman grows to accept and embrace the principles of the revolution and joins the Movement. In the end, and shortly after Felipe is killed, Lavinia dies for the cause she has chosen to support. The second story runs parallel to and intertwines with the first. Its first person narrator, and protagonist, is Itza, an indigenous woman who lived over four hundred years ago in the territory that has become Faguas. Speaking from within the orange tree growing in Lavinia's garden, the young Texoxe Indian tells the story of the suffering her people endured at the hands of the Spanish invaders in the sixteenth century, and their efforts to resist them. Through her narrative, it becomes apparent that Itza, as Lavinia, rebelled against the norms of her society by being a warrior and following her lover, Yarince, into battle. Tragically, and also like Lavinia, Itza died in the struggle for national liberation.
From the brief summary of the novel presented above, it is easy to understand why critics have concentrated on the political and feminist dimensions of The Inhabited Woman. Yet, given that part of the message of the novel is delivered through the orange tree, the element of nature in Belli's text has also caught the attention of a number of scholars. Kathleen March, for example, considers the orange tree a symbol of "womanhood from the pre-patriarchal period when the Goddess was Mother Earth, giver of life (and not Eve, seductress of Adam)." To her, the presence of the tree in the text is crucial because it "gives rise to a series of themes, such as reproduction or creation, the unfettered giving of one's body (fruit or flesh) for another's sustenance or pleasure" (146). And she adds that Lavinia's relationship with the orange tree "other than a source of physical and mental nourishment (she drinks the juices of its fruit and contemplates its leaves), recalls for her the 'dichoso arbol, apenas sensitivo' ['blessed tree, barely sensitive'] of Ruben Dario" (154). Indeed, as March's comments point out, the orange tree can be seen as a symbol of womanhood and a source of food, but the reference to Dario's verse suggests that it is an object that lacks the ability to feel and, as we will see, nothing is further from the truth.
March's reading of the orange tree in The Inhabited Woman echoes Western culture's traditional understanding of nature, which in "The Question Concerning Technology" Martin Heidegger describes as the "standing reserve" for the growth of industrial and consumer societies (298). However, the manner in which nature is depicted in Belli's novel echoes the beliefs of the indigenous cultures of America. As Paula Gunn Allen explains in "The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective," indigenous peoples understand life as a "sacred hoop," which is "the concept of a singular unity that is dynamic and encompassing, including all that is contained in its most essential aspect, that of life--that is, dynamic and aware, partaking as it does in the life of the All Spirit and contributing as it does to the continuing of life of that same Great Mystery." An important consequence of these beliefs is that "tribal people allow all animals, vegetables, and minerals (the entire biota, in short) the same or even greater privilege than humans" (243). This attitude towards nature is characteristic not only of North American Indian cultures but also of the indigenous peoples of Central America. In Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America, Herbert J. Spinden points out that nature and natural elements are fundamental parts of the cosmology of the Aztec and Mayan cultures. They worship the Earth and natural elements as the source and sustainers of life, while, at the same time, they recognize the power of nature and respect its destructive capacity. Moreover, like the native North Americans, the indigenous peoples of Central America are animistic. They believe that the natural world is inspirited and its occupants are beings capable of communicating and interacting with each other.
Belli reflects the worldview of Native American cultures in The Inhabited Woman by making an orange tree central to the story and by underscoring the similarities among human beings, animals, and plants through her characters' comments and observations. To Lavinia, the members of the movement are "serene trees" (106, 201). For Itza, Felipe and Lavinia make love like animals: "they make love to each other like healthy animals, without garments or inhibitions" (41). Felipe sees Lavinia as a tiger when she gets upset (151), which is an assessment the narrator supports...
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