# data[].attributes.body
Thoughts“ God, she felt stupid, standing there in her nightgown, gawping at him. She did not want to argue with him: there was no point in it. He was right, and besides, she dearly wished to get back to her room. It was too cold and dark in this hallway: she could hardly see anything. They could be sitting in the belly of a beast for all she knew. “ (119)   This makes me feel like the author is trying to foreshadow something about Noemis thoughts and future actions. It's important probably because these repetitive dreams are definitely already alluding to this factor of the house being “alive”.

QuestionsIs Naimi feeling this way about the house because of the actual energy or is she more using a butterfly effect knowing already that the house is crazy. Why would there be a repeat of a beast of a belly analogy, this can lead to the possibility of the life of the house.

Epiphanies
The connection between the recent dreams and metaphors help me understand the different emotions she is going through. Her dreams connect to her inner feelings about the family, she feels very threatened by this family especially the evil vibes so this in my opinion reflects up in her dreams. A belly is almost like a cage of organs, she said. The idea of this cage concept was just shown through this dream.

For Discussion:
Mushrooms Addicted Dreams stroke/ seizure Imagery Metaphors

# data[].attributes.headline
1st response (Historian/Anthropologist) Serena 

# data[].attributes.subject
1st response (Historian/Anthropologist) Serena 

# data[].attributes.body
Essential Questions:

How does social class and status affect the story?

How do gender norms and expectations affect the story and Noemi?

How do social class and gender norms affect what kind of person Noemi is and how she behaves?

How was race viewed during this time period?

Mexican Gothic takes place in 1950s Mexico and the main character is Noemi, a young socialite from a wealthy and well respected family. These aspects of her life affect Noemi’s character and her actions as well as the way the story is written.

In the very beginning of the story, Noemi is introduced as someone who likes to socialise and go to parties and not long after, details about her family's social class are revealed. “Like the rest of the house, his office was decorated in a modern style , which seemed to echo the newness of the occupants' money. Noemi’s father had been poor, but he had turned a small chemical dye business into a fortune.” This sets the stage and introduces the social climate and high class people of 1950’s mexico. Social class and wealth comes up again when Noemi’s father suggests that Noemi’s cousin, Catalinas husband might have married her to gain access to her money.  He says, “I also know that if Virgil and Cataline were divorced, he’d have no money. It was pretty clear when they married that his family's funds have run dry. But as long as they are married, he has access to her bank account.” This suggests that during this time period it wasn’t very uncommon to marry for money and often new money was better than old money.

The idea of marriage is also something that comes up quite a few times within the first 70 pages of Mexican Gothic. Noemi’s social class as well as the fact that she is a woman affect the things that are expected of her in life as well as in marriage. On page 12 it describes that Noemi’s mother believes that, “Girls were supposed to follow a simple life cycle, from debutante to wife.” This shows that a woman in the 1950s, especially of Noemi’s status and wealth would be expected to be educated, be proper, and then marry well. These aspects of culture and time period are important to the story because they introduce a sense of rebellion in Noemi. She often changes her mind about what she wants to do in life, she jumps from hobby to hobby, and from guy to guy, and most importantly, she is not yet married or on track to getting married.

The last aspect of culture that is introduced in the first 70 pages of Mexican Gothic is views on race. When Noemi meets Howard Doyle, one of the first things he says to her is, “You are much darker than your cousin,” Noemi is disgusted and caught of guard by this and throughout the chapter he continues to talk about “intermingling of superior and inferior types,” Beauty attracts beauty and begets beauty,” and natural selection. His ideas about race show that even though Noemi is considerably high up in the social hierarchy because of her father's success and wealth, there are still those that would see her as inferior because of the color of her skin and would see themselves as superior to her simply because of genetics

# data[].attributes.body
After reading more into Mexican Gothic you get to see the character's personality unfold a bit more. Noemi is still tending to her cousin, and we see her personality and the way the author chooses to portray her even more. For example she’s seen as very out of place at her cousin's manor. The chapter starts with them having dinner, and she attempts to start up a conversation and gets berated and treated like a nuisance. “She didn’t mean to be a nuisance, but her carefree nature had little understanding of solemnity.” This book is told from a third person perspective, so there’s not a particular bias because we get to experience the environment of all the characters, and not just how Noemi is feeling put on the spot in this moment. Also even in this little town Noemi is still portrayed as very dignified, and high class. “Her voice was like fine glass.” Another character we see in more depth is Howard. Howard is Virgil's (Catalina’s husband) father. While Noemi is described in this beautiful, fun way as I said before he is portrayed as creepy, and old. “He reminded her of one of the nummies she’d seen in the catacombs in Guanajuato.” It’s made very clear that he makes her very uncomfortable, “Truth be told she didn’t like his touch.” And later she has a very unpleasant dream involving him. It’s interesting to see the contrast in use of language for Howard compared to Noemi.

# data[].attributes.body
Questions:

-How does the author go about describing the setting and establishing the mood and atmosphere of the scenes?

-Does the author do a good job at establishing the mood of the book?

-How does the atmosphere affect writing style and word choices?

-Does repetition help to establish mood and atmosphere?

-Does the author do a good job of making the reader understand how out of place Noemi is at High Place?

In pages 70-105 of Mexican Gothic. Readers continue to get to know High Place and what it's like there. The author uses a variety of different methods to develop the setting and to communicate the atmosphere and mood to the reader. She does this by using repetition and descriptive language.

One of the ways the author sets up scenes and the atmosphere is by describing Noemi’s surroundings and the house in particular. The furniture in the house is described as “heavy furniture and heavy drapes” and the rooms are described as stuffy. Howard Doyles room is also described as having, “weighty, dark furniture, that abounded around the rest of the house, and thick velvet curtains that could conceal the thinnest ray of light.” These descriptions help to establish a heavy dark, heavy, and stuffy atmosphere. It also helps the reader to understand that Noemi is feeling those same kinds of feelings of heaviness, and feeling trapped in the house. The author does a good job of keeping this dreary feeling present throughout the scenes in the house.

The author uses repetition of words to help the reader understand the atmosphere of High Place and understand what Noemi is feeling. One of these words is “heavy” which is used to describe “heavy drapes”, and “heavy furniture”. Another word that is repeated is “thick”.  The word is used to describe the “thick velvet curtains” in Howard Doyles room, Florence's disapproval, which is described as “thick as treacle” and the thick fog in the cemetery. This repetition puts an emphasis on the heavy and thick atmosphere at high places and how that is making Noemi feel.

The last thing the author did to establish the atmosphere of the High Place was to put emphasis on the contrast between Noemi and High place and its residents. Noemi is described as, “Her voice like fine glass, contrasting with the heavy furniture and heavy drapes and equally weighty faces turned toward her. She didn’t mean to be a nuisance but her carefree nature had little understanding of solemnity.” This passage describes while she is carefree and light, the house and the people in it are heavy and solemn.

All of these details that the author includes in the story help the reader to get a really good understanding and feeling about the atmosphere and mood in High Place. It helps us to understand how Noemi feels in the house as well as how different and out of place she is in it. The description of the house, however, is somewhat limited because we as the readers only see the house the way Noemi does and therefore can only understand things through the lense of her bias whether that be her social class or just her protectiveness over her cousin.

# data[].attributes.body
Questions:

-How does the author go about describing the setting and establishing the mood and atmosphere of the scenes?

-Does the author do a good job at establishing the mood of the book?

-How does the atmosphere affect writing style and word choices?

-Does repetition help to establish mood and atmosphere?

-Does the author do a good job of making the reader understand how out of place Noemi is at High Place?

In pages 70-105 of Mexican Gothic. Readers continue to get to know High Place and what it's like there. The author uses a variety of different methods to develop the setting and to communicate the atmosphere and mood to the reader. She does this by using repetition and descriptive language.

One of the ways the author sets up scenes and the atmosphere is by describing Noemi’s surroundings and the house in particular. The furniture in the house is described as “heavy furniture and heavy drapes” and the rooms are described as stuffy. Howard Doyles room is also described as having, “weighty, dark furniture, that abounded around the rest of the house, and thick velvet curtains that could conceal the thinnest ray of light.” These descriptions help to establish a heavy dark, heavy, and stuffy atmosphere. It also helps the reader to understand that Noemi is feeling those same kinds of feelings of heaviness, and feeling trapped in the house. The author does a good job of keeping this dreary feeling present throughout the scenes in the house.

The author uses repetition of words to help the reader understand the atmosphere of High Place and understand what Noemi is feeling. One of these words is “heavy” which is used to describe “heavy drapes”, and “heavy furniture”. Another word that is repeated is “thick”.  The word is used to describe the “thick velvet curtains” in Howard Doyles room, Florence's disapproval, which is described as “thick as treacle” and the thick fog in the cemetery. This repetition puts an emphasis on the heavy and thick atmosphere at high places and how that is making Noemi feel.

The last thing the author did to establish the atmosphere of the High Place was to put emphasis on the contrast between Noemi and High place and its residents. Noemi is described as, “Her voice like fine glass, contrasting with the heavy furniture and heavy drapes and equally weighty faces turned toward her. She didn’t mean to be a nuisance but her carefree nature had little understanding of solemnity.” This passage describes while she is carefree and light, the house and the people in it are heavy and solemn.

All of these details that the author includes in the story help the reader to get a really good understanding and feeling about the atmosphere and mood in High Place. It helps us to understand how Noemi feels in the house as well as how different and out of place she is in it. The description of the house, however, is somewhat limited because we as the readers only see the house the way Noemi does and therefore can only understand things through the lense of her bias whether that be her social class or just her protectiveness over her cousin.

# data[].attributes.body
I think Noemi’s bias is really revealed during this part of the book and the reasoning behind the author’s choices. On page 75, Noemi is conversing with Howard about him marrying his cousin twice and his wife’s sister. The quote states, “Yes. Although… Although what, my dear? Nothing. They seem so alike.” … “Then you twice married your cousin, Noemi said. And your wife’s sister.” With the given ellipses after the first “although,” us as readers can sense Noemi’s hesitance and confusion because she’s not used to witnessing something so absurd before. This is probably due to the fact that she grew up with one parent, her mom hasn’t been mentioned in the book yet, and didn’t know people remarry so many times and especially with women that are related to each other. After living in High Place for a little bit, Noemi starts to experience strange things and believing her cousin when she said the house was haunted. She even starts to question if she’s crazy herself. On page 95 the quote says, “Noemi wondered if High Place had robbed her of her illusions, or if they were meant to be shattered all along.” Judging by this quote, it’s like Noemi is starting to think that she’s imagining all of the terrifying experiences she went through. I think the author included this because she wanted to show how similar Noemi and Catalina are in that sense. They’re both going crazy because of this house which shows that there’s something more sinister going on and it has to be found out.

# data[].attributes.body
1. What’s the difference between Noemi’s and the Doyle family's speech styles?

2. How does Noemi’s speech style show her personality?

3. Does the character's speech styles show their level of education?

From Noemi’s speech style, the reader can see that she has a lot of personality in her character. She can show her boldness and wits whenever she talks. Which is the opposite with the Doyle’s, they are very reserved and don’t show their personality when they talk. An example of this would be with Noemi talking with Francis in the cemetery. “She was joking. Anybody would have known it was a joke. Her tone of voice possessed the dramatic intonation that takes place when a woman is giving a grand performance. But he took it all wrong, no longer blushing but paling”(pg. 101). When she was joking around, she expected Francis to also take this as a joke as well. The rules in High Place are strict, so Francis doesn’t understand the difference between a person really joking or not. Besides Noemi speaking, the narrator also helps show her personality as well. The reader is able to hear Noemi’s thoughts, which shows more of her character than just her speech. She often thinks before she speaks, so the reader is able to see her thought process. Like when she was talking with Virgil in the greenhouse. “If Virgil couldn’t be persuaded to assist her, maybe the loathsome patriarch of the doyle family might rule in her favor. She might be able to drag Francis into her side of the court, she suspected that. Most of all she felt like leaving now would be betraying Catalina”(pg.93). This narration of her inner thoughts helps the reader see how Noemi is already thinking of ways to get back at the Doyle family. The reader can also see that she really cared about Catalina and doesn’t want to leave her alone. Noemi also shows how tough she is and how she wouldn't back down from a challenge. She first thought of getting her father involved since he would have more respect than her, but then thought “she wasn’t going to back down.” With Virgil, the reader can see how he uses his words slyly and to his advantage. “He had a way of parrying her words that was maddening. She finally understood why her father had been so irritated by Virgil's correspondence. She could imagine the letters he wrote, filled with sentences that feinted and amounted to an irritating nothing”(pg. 92). It’s obvious that Virgil is good with his words and knows how to use them against others. Noemi is also good at using her words, but she isn't as level headed as Virgil. During their conversation, Noemi said that she found it infuriating since his voice remained leveled. Francis also shows his level of education, though he does it through his interest in fungi. Francis never talked a lot when he first met Noemi, but eventually warmed up to her because of her friendly personality. When he talks about something he loves, he talks with gusto and goes in depth. Since he had to follow the rules of the house, he never really was able to share his interests with anyone. During his conversation with Noemi in the graveyard, he reeled back slightly since he wasn’t used to Noemi’s speech style and how she talks. “Noemi said, attempting a sort of lightness in the delivery, hoping he understood she hadn’t meant it, that they might laugh this silly quarrel away. He nodded slowly, but did not seem convinced”(pg.102).  Since they lived in completely different places, their understanding of speech is going to be different.

# data[].attributes.body
Throughout Mexican Gothic the author establishes the characters personality traits and tendencies but in the most recent chapters there are some shifts in the personalities of the characters especially Noemi and Francis. These changes can be seen as deliberate or they can be seen as inconsistencies in the character's traits.

Throughout the book, Noemi is described as being stubborn, determined, and independent. On page 114, Florence is talking to Noemi about not getting ideas about the city in Francis’s head and Noemi says, “I’ll be sure to discuss with him the pre approved subjects you dictate. Perhaps we can erase all the cities on the terrestrial globe and pretend they don’t exist,” Noemi said, because although Florence was intimidating, she was not willing to hide in a corner, like a baby.” This quote is a good example of her stubborn and bold nature. However, later in the chapter when she is talking with Virgil about the incident with Caterina and the sleeping tincture, she seems a little bit different. After Virgil asks Noemi to leave Caterina's care to the doctor, he says, “Will you follow this simple directive?” She clenched her hands. “I will,” she said, and she felt very much like a child.” Noemi went from being unwilling to be treated and looked at as a child to feeling like one. This seems out of character but it could be part of Noemi’s character development. It shows how the house and the things going on around Noemi might be changing and breaking her spirit in a way. This scene could also hint at a social commentary that the author is trying to communicate about women having less of a say than men in the 1950’s and sometimes even now.

There are also some changes in Francis’s character in recent chapters. Francis is described as quiet, frail, and neat with an “organized spirit”. Noemi describes him as, “bashful and a little odd.” Yet there are a few changes and new parts of his character are revealed. On page 135 and 136, it says, “there was a resigned quality to him that struck her as odd for someone his age,” Later he also says, “truth be told Ruth ought to have burnt High Place to the ground.” This comment is very out of character considering that Francis typically seems very loyal to his family and careful to follow his mothers rules.

These changes can be seen as inconsistencies in the characters' tendencies but I think they are a way for the author to subtly and gradually develop the character and move the story along. -Serena

# data[].attributes.body
Thoughts:
“He held the oil lamp at eye level and smiled at her. Virgil was an attractive man and the smile was a pleasant smile- almost teasing, in a good humored way- but there was an edge to his expression that the smile could not mask. She did not like it. She was suddenly reminded of her dream, and she thought of the man in the bed holding his arms outstretched, and she thought there was a golden cast to his eyes, a glimmer of gold among the blue. She turned her head abruptly, blinking and staring at the floor.”
Questions:
Are Noemi’s dreams foreshadowing negative future encounters with Virgil, or maybe even a sense of evil within him? Why does Noemi constantly talk about his good looks, why is she secretly attracted to him? Is he playing into her interest/ flirting with her? Is he flirting with her to try to distract from the fact that there’s strange things going on in the house?

Epiphanies:
My epiphany is that Virgil is trying to seduce Noemi to try and distract her from the curse of his family/ the strange things happening to her cousin and in the house. Noemi at first is very standoffish with Virgil but now he’s making his way into her dreams, and she’s constantly talking about how attractive she finds him. She never once stops her thinking to even consider her cousin.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Are Noemi’s dreams trying to tell her the history of the Doyle family or trying to drive her out?

2. Does Florence want to protect Francis?

3. Why does Catalina want to take the tincture?

Noemi experiences countless dreams during her stay in High Place. Her 2 most recent dreams involved her getting out of bed and roaming the halls. Her first dream had the ghost of Ruth kill a man in bed and then kill herself. The walls of the house were made of flesh and were alive. Noemi also says later that she wanted to get as far away from the house for a smoke, she felt the coldness of the house and that it was looking at her. Her other dream was of a woman giving birth on the cemetery ground, her husband then holding a grey lump of flesh repeatedly saying “Death, overcome.” The little girl then suffocated the lady with a cloth, everyone focused on the lump. Francis said before that Ruth should have burnt High Place to the ground, he also wanted to leave the house as soon as possible since you won't be able to escape it. He doesn’t like being in High Place, but he feels like he’s trapped and can’t escape. “But there’s no denying our natures. I was meant to live and die in High Place. Let Francis be. He’s accepted his lot in his life. It’s easier that way”(pg. 115). Florence told Noemi that she once wanted to see the world and thought a young man was going to change her life, but she eventually went back to High Place. She probably thought that trying to leave High Place is futile and doesn’t want her son to do the same thing she once did. It’s obvious that Francis doesn’t want to stay in High Place anymore, but he can’t do much. As Noemi goes into town she gets the tincture Catalina requested, Merta saying that it would help her sleep better. Though, when Noemi gave it to her, she suddenly had a seizure. Francis told her that a similar thing happened before when she took the same tincture. Noemi tried justifying her actions by saying that Catalina told her to get it, but eventually felt guilty for accidentally trying to poison her. Since Catalina kept telling Noemi that there are ghosts in the walls and that they talk to her, she wanted the tincture so she wouldn't be able to see them. Catalina has the same dreams as Noemi, and she feels like she can’t leave High Place and is stuck.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Why does Francis tell Noemi to not trust the rest of his family?

2. Why does Noemi feel safe with Virgil in her dreams?

3. How is Noemi mistaking reality with her dreams/hallucinations?

Francis was telling Noemi that Howard used to beat him as a kid, as well as that Ruth had the right idea in trying to kill him, even if it was futile. “Don’t trust Howard, don’t trust Florence, and don’t trust Virgil. Now you should go. I wish I didn’t have to send you off so quickly, but I should”(pg. 178). It’s alarming to hear from Francis that Noemi shouldn’t trust his own family, especially Florence. He also says that Howard is a monster, he also said before that he will never die even if he wanted him to. Noemi was thinking that Francis was never given affection in the household, and that he was tied to the house. This fact could also tie in to how he enjoys studying the plants and mushrooms that grow around High Place, he’s the only one who seems interested in it. “They used the fungus to heal their wounds and preserve their health, but it could be so much more. He’d seen it, the evidence was in the priest they blindly obeyed, and what he hadn’t witnessed he’d imagined. There was such possibilities!”(pg. 206). When Noemi was dreaming/hallucinating, Doyle knew that fungus was used for healing and could have been used for greater possibilities. Since Francis enjoys learning about fauna, he might know about the healing properties of fungi as well. Noemi had a dream that involved her taking a bath and Virgil coming into her room, as he was touching her, she heard a voice that told her to open her eyes. When she woke up, she was in Virgil’s room, only wearing a bathrobe. She slept-walked from her bathroom all the way to Virgil’s bedroom, when she came back the tub still had water in it. In her dream, Virgil suddenly came into the bathroom where she was taking a bath. She was angry at first, but when he kissed her, she suddenly felt safe and that this was something she wanted. She then saw an egg, a snake came out of it and started eating its own tail, similar to the symbol that was always seen around High Place. She then suddenly found herself in a coffin, she saw Ruth covered in blood and saying “Open your eyes”. Noemi is seen contemplating why she enjoyed having Virgil touch her, soon the feeling becoming sour and unwanting. She often avoided Virgil after having the dream, seeing him reminded her of him in the dream. This wasn’t the first time where her dream correlated with reality. Noemi saw mold moving on the wall of her room, but it was just her imagination. Virgil and Florence enter her room since they heard screaming, Noemi doesn’t recall yelling, she didn’t remember yelling very loudly when she burned herself with a cigarette. She experiences the same thing when she is in front of Howard. He was naked and had black boils on his leg, he looked grotesque and Noemi wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. During her hallucination, she experiences headaches, but she just fainted and imagined the whole scenario.

# data[].attributes.body
Role: Connector

Questions:

What could the snake possibly represent?

How does the author use symbolism?

What does the comparison to the snake in the garden of eden achieve in this passage?

On page 162 of Mexican Gothic, there is a description of a painted screen in Virgil's room that Noemi compares to a scene from the Garden of Eden. The passage says, “She noticed that among the flowers and the ferns, there lay a snake. It was cleverly hidden, the eye peeking from behind a clump of roses. It lay in wait, like the snake in the garden of Eden.” This passage could possibly hint at the meaning of the family symbol, the nature of the family, and even the nature of Noemi’s strange relationship with and attraction to Virgil.

The passage says that the snake lay among flowers and ferns and the eye was peeking from behind a clump of roses. This could be a depiction of the family's secrets. Just like how the snake is hidden behind roses, the family's secrets might be hidden behind the facade of the grand house and all the silver inside it.

The next part of the passage is also very interesting because it could be foreshadowing events later in the story. It says, “It lay in wait, like the snake in the garden of Eden.” In the Bible, the snake is the devil and he wants to tempt Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. If this description holds true to the snake in the family symbol, then it could be hinting at a possible evil within the family that is lying in wait for Noemi. The snake tempting Adam and Eve might also reflect Noemi’s strange attraction to Virgil and how he seems to almost tempt her at times into eating of the forbidden fruit which in this case would be betraying Catalina by being involved with her husband.

Noemi is in a place where she is trying to figure out the hidden secrets of the family and is starting to uncover things she hadn’t noticed before. She is also in a place where she is trying to understand the desire and temptation that she feels towards Virgil. The author uses this symbolism at this point of the story in order to reflect the hidden meanings behind what Noemi is going through and to give the reader a peek into future events.

# data[].attributes.body
Passage:

“She imagined it must not be easy to live day after day in that creaky, musty house, walking on tiptoes so as not to upset the old man. What resentments could sprout in a young heart when all affection and love had been denied? Because she could not imagine anyone ever loving Francis. Not his uncle, nor his mother. Had Virgil and Francis been friends? Did they ever look at eachother, wearily, and confess their dissatisfactions? But Virgil, though perhaps also nursing his own grievances, had gone out into the world. Francis, he was tied to this house.”

Thoughts:

I wonder why the author chose to include this and to compare Francis and Virgil so often throughout the book? Why does Noemi so often compare them? I wonder why even though Virgil and Francis were brought up in the same environment and must have had many similar experiences with the house and the family, they ended up so different from each other.

Epiphanies:

This made me understand the depth of differences between Virgil and Francis. They are foil characters of each other because they were brought up under the same conditions and have been denied love and affection but ended up dealing with things differently. Francis threw himself into hobbies like plants and painting and although he has resentment for the family, he still follows his mothers rules. Virgil on the other hand had a bit more freedom then Francis to go out and see the world. Despite this he seems to embrace the family more and even the power he has in it. The author's frequent comparisons of Francis and Virgil bring up a recurring theme of what it really is to be manly and to be strong. I think Throughout the book, Noemi is also questioning this.

For discussion:

How are Virgil and Francis Different?

How are they similar?

Why are they so different?

How does the way we are raised affect who we become?

# data[].attributes.body
Passage: “She tried to peel the snake off her, but it knotted itself tight, digging into her flesh, and it opened its jaws, ready to devour her whole. Noemi dug her nails into the snake, and it whispered “Et verbum caro factum est.” But a woman’s voice also spoke, and she said, “Open your eyes.” I must remember that, she thought. I must remember to open my eyes,”(pg. 220)

Thoughts
The snake that Noemi always sees around High Place ended up showing in her dreams, the snake might represent Howard or the Doyle family in general. When it attached itself onto Noemi, the words “digging into her flesh” was used. This could show how she is now part of the family and can’t escape anymore. “Devour her whole” could also represent that idea, fully consuming her so she can’t leave. The presence of the woman is still with her, telling her to “open your eyes”, so she could see the reality of High Place and escape from it.  Since the woman kept telling her to open her eyes throughout all her dreams, Noemi finally decided to take it to heart and listen.

Questions
- Why does the ghost keep telling Noemi to “open your eyes”?
- Why did the snake wrap itself around Noemi?
- Does the snake represent something?

Epiphanies
High Place is filled with the memories of the people who died there, Ruth’s memories being the one that stands out. While Noemi is “dreaming”, Ruth’s memories invade her dreams, telling Noemi to “open your eyes”. Ruth wants her to see the dark secret of High Place and break free from the embrace of it. Since Ruth wanted to rebel against her family but died during the process, she wants to let other unfortunate victims open their eyes to not get tricked into getting trapped in the house.  Maybe Ruth wants to get vengeance against Howard, so she is trying to tell Noemi to kill Howard and end the cycle. During Noemi’s “dream”, a snake wraps itself around her neck, “You’re ours, like it or not. You’re ours and you’re us.” This could tie in with the snake, it doesn’t let go of Noemi’s neck and she can’t escape from it. When it was going to devour her, it could represent how she is now part of the family and can’t leave anymore. The snake represents the Doyle family, specifically Howard. The snake is often depicted as eating its own tail; it could show how Howard wants to keep the bloodline pure and tries to marry people in the family. It could also represent how The Doyle family is very secluded and only mingles within themselves.

# data[].attributes.body
Passage:

“You are right to think that I was grown like an orchid. Carefully manicured, carefully reared. I am, yes, like an orchid. Accustomed to a certain climate, a certain amount of light and heat. I’ve been fashioned for a single end. A fish can't breathe out of water. I belong with the family.”

Thoughts:

I thought it was interesting how Francis is being compared with a plant. Plants and nature keep being mentioned to represent different things. I think in this case, plants, specifically the orchid, is being used to represent the way Francis was groomed, trained, and raised to do what his family wanted him to do. The passage also shows his hopelessness and how he himself feels like he won’t be able to function anywhere but Highplace. He has been made to feel like this by his mother who has told Noemi not to put any ideas in Francis’s head about the outside world because it will just cause him pain. I think this was caused by her experience with finding her husband. She was hurt by that experience and now wants to keep Francis from it. This is a good example of how parents often let their past hurts influence how they raise their children.

Questions:

How does this passage help the reader understand Francis more?

Why does Francis feel like he won’t be able to live apart from Highplace and his family even though he has said things like, Ruth should have burned this place to the ground.

Does Francis care for his family or does he just feel trapped?

Why is there so much repetition and symbolism with plants and nature?

# data[].attributes.body
Passage: “The house blazed in the distance. Let it burn until it was all reduced to ashes.”(pg. 293)

Thoughts

I find it fitting that in the end, the house ended up burning down. Before Francis told Noemi that Ruth should have burnt the whole place down. She knew about Agnes’s corpse and how it’s intertwined with the gloom. Noemi was also talking with Ruth during her “dream”, they were both at the cemetery looking at Agnes’s statue. this could have signifies how she knew Agnes was the gloom.

Questions
- Why did Ruth want to burn High Place?
- How did the entire house burn down even though the fire started in a crypt?
- Why didn’t Francis go crazy when all the gloom got burnt?

Epiphanies

Since Ruth knew that Agnes was the main source of the gloom, she wanted to burn the house so she could finally escape from the control. Ruth could have sneaked into the crypt and burn the gloom, but she decided to attack Howard first. I wonder if she did this since the control over her would have loosened, or she didn’t know that she could have burnt the gloom. Even though Noemì started the fire in the crypt, it started spreading all over the house. The whole house is filled with the gloom, so the fire was able to spread from the crypt all the way to the main house. Everything in the house in probably very flammable, since it’s old and there were no people capable to putting it out. Florence and Virgil were dead, Dr. Cummins was passed out, Howard was near death and incapable of moving, and these events weren’t moving. I thought the servents would have “woke up”, but they were still standing near the staircase while the whole house was burning. Their minds have been carved out, so Howard being attacked must have really affected them. While the gloom was being destroyed, Francis also felt the pain of it. I would have thought he would die once the gloom was gone, but he ended up being asleep for 2 days. Since Francis is related to Howard, he has a stronger mentally compared to the servents. Even when Florence died or Howard was terribly injured, he was still conscious. Unlike the servents who went into shock because of it.

# data[].attributes.body
https://silviamoreno-garcia.com/about-2020/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Short biography

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of the novels Velvet Was the Night, Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and many other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu's Daughters).

Extended biography

Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), Mexican Gothic (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), and others.

She has edited several anthologies, including She Walks in Shadows (World Fantasy Award winner, published in the USA as Cthulhu's Daughters). Silvia is the publisher of Innsmouth Free Press. She's a columnist for The Washington Post.

She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia. Her thesis can be read online and is titled " Magna Mater: Women and Eugenic Thought in the Work of H.P. Lovecraft." She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of the novels Velvet Was the Night, Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and many other books. She has also edited several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award-winning She Walks in Shadows (a.k.a. Cthulhu's Daughters). Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination.

# data[].attributes.body
https://the-bibliofile.com/mexican-gothic/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Review and Summary - The Bibliofile

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia came out recently, and I’ve been enjoying its creepy delights this past week. I liked it, though it may not be for everyone. It’s a Gothic horror novel set in Mexico in the 1950s. Mexican Gothic is a true Gothic horror novel, with equal emphasis on both the “Go…

# data[].attributes.body
I think the author's choices at the ending of the book showcased how much Noemi and Francis had gone through at High Place and the happiness they felt once they escaped. An excerpt on page 295 says, "The truth was she was afraid of going to bed, of what nightmares might uncoil in the dark. What did people do after witnessing the horrors they had seen? Was it possible to slip back into normality, to play pretend and go on?" This quote symbolizes how much Noemi was and still is affected by High Place and all that she went through. After experiencing such horrors, I can imagine how stressful and terrifying it is to try to go back to normal and pretend like nothing happened when so much did. I think that the ending really tied up everything that happened throughout the book and it was nice to read something good when the book was so dark and disturbing.

# data[].attributes.body
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (bookpage.com)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
BookPage | Discover your next great book!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, part of the joy in anticipating her latest novel is wondering what genre the author will use as a canvas for her talents this time. While often falling somewhere within the category of speculative fiction, the tones and settings of her work are legion, from a thrilling tale of rival vampire gangs in Mexico City to a romance between telekinetics in a Belle Epoque-inspired world. We talked to Moreno-Garcia about drawing from the gothic thriller for her latest novel, Mexican Gothic, and how she defied its conventions based on her own family history.

What inspired you to write a gothic novel?
My most recent novels were Gods of Jade and Shadow, a fantasy quest across 1920s Mexico, and Untamed Shore, a noir set in 1970s Baja California. I wanted to try my hand at something different and gothic novels are by default very melodramatic types of narratives with many meaty elements to choose from. Plus, they seem to have gone out of vogue so it was fun to go into a sub-genre where few people are going these days.

Why did you choose to set this novel in the 1950s?
Real life historical constraints. I wanted it to take place in a time period where Mexican mines would have closed so that we were in a town that was once active and now was dying. This would have to mean after the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero conflict ended. That placed me solidly in the 1930s or 40s. I ended choosing the early 1950s because I knew enough about it from stories in my family and it's the beginning of a huge period of industrial change in Mexico.

"For them, it's probably better to live in a rotting house than to have to accept their heyday is long past."

In many ways, Noemí defies gothic heroine conventions-she's not naïve or a tragic figure, rather she's confident, worldly and aware of her agency. How did you develop her character?
Years ago I had a lovely picture of a great-aunt of mine, which I lost when I moved. It showed her in a fancy dress with a gentleman, sometime in the 1950s. She was wearing a dress that bared her shoulders and looked extremely confident and pretty. I began to imagine the party she attended and the character grew from there. Mexican and Latin American characters are often shown as people who are suffering, uneducated immigrants and I wanted a character that doesn't fit the stereotypes readers expect. No brown woman who is riding La Bestia and yelling in italics "dios mio!" every other sentence and reminding you how wretched she is.

High Place is almost a character in itself in this novel. Were you inspired by an actual house or location or was it purely a place in your imagination?
The town that inspired this novel is real. It's called Real del Monte and it's in the mountains of Hidalgo. It was formerly controlled by British forces and there was a very important mine in the area. There is also a British cemetery in the town, which I've visited and which I thought looked like something out of an old horror movie. The town is very cold and misty. People are surprised by this every time I tell them a town in Mexico could be cold, but it's true. It also rains quite a bit at certain times of the year. The geography of Hidalgo is very interesting.

Symbols of decay play a significant role in this novel. Can you talk about how you tied those symbols of rot to the Doyle family specifically and why?
I think it might be interesting to have a haunted house that is in a new pristine condition. Perhaps a cursed Airbnb. But I love old things, so in this case everything is falling apart. At the same time, the Doyles just keep clinging to their majestic past and outdated lifestyle. For them, it's probably better to live in a rotting house than to have to accept their heyday is long past. But it's not like anyone who has ever oppressed others wants to hand away the keys to the house.

Many Gothics contain supernatural elements. How did you determine how "ghostly" this novel will be?
Ah, the Scooby-Doo factor. Gothic novels are classified by scholars often as "male" or "female." The male ones have explicit supernatural or fantastical elements and are more violent. The female ones don't have supernatural elements, and at the end, what seems like a haunting is revealed to have a natural source. There's also an important romantic element. I think I created a conundrum of classification because Mexican Gothic is all of the above at the same time.

The female characters in this novel are all under some form of patriarchal control. Noemí is at High Place at the behest of her father, Virgil controls Catalina and Howard controls everyone. Was this purely a function of when the novel was set or was this intended to be a commentary on the dangers of the patriarchy?
When my grandmother was a young woman in the 1950s, she wanted to attend medical school. Her father wouldn't let her because that meant she would go to school with men, so instead she went to secretarial school and then married. This was very much the rule in that time and place: Women in Mexico got the right to vote in 1953. You'd marry and you were under the control of either a husband or a father. But if you go back, gothic novels are very patriarchal. It's a "master of the manor" situation where the woman is often in a subordinate position to the man, which also produces a frisson of erotic excitement. At the same time, Noemí seems to be very much aware of all of this. If she were a modern woman, she'd probably dub herself a Final Girl.

The next answer contains spoilers! Click to show.

Many Gothics explore toxic families, but in this case the Doyles literally and figuratively poison the community they exploit. Were they based on any real family or were they meant to represent colonialism?
Mexico is a country that has been constantly in the thrall of colonizers, and they have often exploited its mineral riches. It started with the Spaniards but it didn't end there. The first mining strike in North America happened in Real del Monte due to poor labor conditions. Colonization worked in other insidious ways. In the 1850s, the British government plotted ways to steal Mayan ruins. Around that time, two young children with a congenital disease, taken from El Salvador, were exhibited in London as "Aztec Children" and used to theorize on ideas of race, race-mixing and biological fitness. Eugenicist discourse, which lasted well into the mid-20th century and beyond around the world, often mixed with notions of race. The Doyles are an invention, but the eugenicist principles spouted by the patriarch of the family were real.

I absolutely loved this novel. Are you planning on returning to this genre?
Gothic horror? Not right now. I am trying to sell a noir and I have a sword and sorcery novella out sometime next year. But the other day I had a good idea for a Satanic panic book. We'll see.
Author photo by Martin Dee.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, part of the joy in anticipating her latest novel is wondering what genre the author will use as a canvas for her talents this time. While often falling somewhere within the category of speculative fiction, the tones and settings of her work are legion, from a thrilling tale of rival vampire gangs in Mexico City to a romance between telekinetics in a Belle Epoque-inspired world.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-06-26/mexican-gothic-sylvia-moreno-garcia-review

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The twisted evil of eugenics made real in the novel ‘Mexican Gothic’

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sylvia Moreno-Garcia’s twist on the classic gothic horror tradition taps into elemental fears and evils that are ancient and also sadly timely.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/09/24/398263892/colonialism-eugenics-and-downright-terror-in-mexican-gothic#:~:text=Set%20in%201950s%20Mexico%2C%20Mexican,a%20handsome%20and%20mysterious%20Englishman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
subscribe to Code Switch podcast

subscribe to Code Switch podcast

This week on the Code Switch podcast, we tried to settle a months-long debate we've been having on the team: Which kind of books are best to read during the pandemic? Ones that help you escape our current reality? Or ones that connect you to it on a deeper level? In doing so, we got a chance to catch up with the authors of some of our favorite pandemic reads. We'll be sharing interviews with those authors throughout the week. First up, we have a conversation with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Mexican Gothic.

I read Mexican Gothic on a Saturday night this summer, curled up on my couch with a cider and a tray of cookies. (Prior to starting, I had been warned that I would not be able to stop reading until I finished the book. That turned out to be true. I was also warned by NPR books editor Petra Mayer that I would never look at mushrooms the same way. Unfortunately, that also turned out to be accurate.)

Set in 1950s Mexico, Mexican Gothic is the story of Noemí, a young woman who gets summoned to a small mountain mining town to check up on her ailing cousin, who has recently been married off to a handsome and mysterious Englishman. What happens next is pretty typical of Gothic literature: girl arrives at creepy isolated mansion, girl realizes the vibes are way off, girl devises a plan to GTFO.

But Mexican Gothic enters some new territory. The town Noemí arrives in has been colonized by the aforementioned British family. So Noemí's escape plan includes a reckoning not just with a handful of sinister individuals, but with the forces of race, empire and colonialism.

I spoke to Silvia Moreno-Garcia about her book. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell us about the main character, Noemí. What is she like?
Noemí Taboada is a socialite from Mexico City. She is very intelligent and well educated. She is going to university and wants to pursue a master's degree, but her family has been reluctant to allow it. One reason why she decides to go to the mountains to take a look at her cousin is because she's promised the opportunity of going to university to continue her studies if she does that, as a sort of exchange. So she's smart and she's determined. She's also a bit flighty. She likes dancing and parties and pretty boys and having fun. She's a very modern 1950s girl.
Most classic Gothic novels take place in Europe, with a few exceptions. Why did you decide to set this in Mexico, and what does that do to alter the genre?
The direct inspiration for this novel was a real town in Mexico that is located in kind of the middle part of the country in the mountains. It's called Real del Monte or Mineral del Monte. It was mined by the Spanish first, and then in the 1800s, the British came and they started mining there. And that's how it earned its nickname of "Little Cornwall."

It has an English cemetery, just like in my book. And that is what inspired the novel. I went there one time and I was walking around the cemetery and it was misty. And it's kind of chilly and rainy there, especially certain times of the year. And I looked around and I thought, this is something out of a Hammer film. So it never really quite left me.

But the other reason to set it there is because, I think when people think about Mexico, sometimes they do know that it was conquered by the Spanish. And they think the Spanish left and that was it. That was the only case of colonialism that existed. But obviously, many other forces came into Mexico throughout the years and engaged in explicit warfare or more subtle types of control. So the French were there. We had a brief French empire in Mexico. The British were there, as I mentioned, in Real del Monte, but also in the South, trying to gain some kind of control in Yucatan. Americans came and all sorts of foreign interventions have taken place throughout the history of Mexico. And I just thought it was an interesting bit of the colonial legacy, to look at the British legacy, and to set it in Mexico to examine some of those forces colliding.
Many Gothic novels have elements of fear or supernatural or horror. In this book, one of the things that adds to that horror is that the patriarch in the family is a eugenicist and a colonizer. Can you talk about that?
My master's degree was in science and technology studies, and my thesis was actually on eugenics, women and the work of H.P. Lovecraft. So I know a lot about eugenics. So one of the easy answers is because I knew a lot about it.

But the reason why I became interested in eugenics was because there was a widespread scientific movement at the time. People took it very seriously. Eugenics was found in textbooks. You would see it in women's magazines, like the equivalent of seeing it in Cosmo nowadays, or Good Housekeeping. Obviously, scientists were discussing it. So it was appearing in science journals, but it also made its way into common parlance, made its way into laws and regulations, you know, deciding things like sterilization, but also immigration.

And it was exported. It started in England, but it was widely adopted in other countries. Obviously in the United States, which was one of the places where sterilization laws really seemed to flower in certain states. You know, people were not allowed to have children; were sterilized against their will. But it also spread into other parts, and manifested in many different ways.

And obviously, when you come to places like Mexico and other states that were colonized, that question of race becomes very interesting because there's obviously a lot of race-mixing going on in these nations. And so it's not the same sort of eugenics that they're handling in Great Britain, where there is this great anxiety about miscegenation. It's a little bit different. It's still highly racist, but it's not exactly the same kind of thought process that is going on. And I just always found it so interesting how Europeans view the colonies as a space of fear, because it is that space where people are coming together and mixing.
But, without giving too much away, part of the dynamic in the book is also that these people who have protected their whiteness for so long need Noemi, in part because she doesn't share their same genes.
Well, I think one of the things that happens with women of color, both in literary spaces and in real life, is that even though there is a certain sense of objection, of disgust to the brown body, there is also a sense of desire, and of using the brown body in any way that whiteness sees fit. So for example, with sex tourism you see that a lot, where women's bodies become cheap commodities that white men can acquire very easily. And in my interactions with people, when I was younger I've seen that in my contact sometimes with white men, I became an object of exotic pursuit. And the implications of that were that because I was Latina, I was easy. An easy sexual conquest. And available in a way that white women would not be.
On Code Switch we talk a lot about the importance of language. One of the things I found interesting about this book was how important language becomes. The patriarch of the family that's terrorizing Noemie doesn't speak Spanish - which means that she's able to use Spanish to her advantage. How did you think about that?
Sometimes people say, well, it's unrealistic that they didn't learn Spanish, these colonizers. And let me tell you - it's not unrealistic, right?
What book have you loved reading during this pandemic?
When I was growing up and living in Mexico, at one point I worked for an English language newspaper. And we had an English language newspaper precisely because there was an audience that could consume it and basically didn't know a word of Spanish. And I would sometimes, you know, meet people that would be like, "Oh, well, you know, I've lived in the country for 10 years. I haven't learned, you know, any Spanish at all." So that was not unrealistic.

But in this case specifically, it is also a desire to maintain a certain kind of purity. It's not only a racial purity - it's a whole kind of white purity, with the house looking specifically the way it does in order to maintain a certain structure. They bring British earth, so they can grow things that they grew over there basically. And the mimicking of all of these social customs is for a reason. That's why they are old-fashioned. It's because [the patriarch] Howard Doyle is clinging to a kind of idealized past.

Oh, that's such a hard question. Well, for scary books, I read The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. I recommend that one a lot, because it has the classic 1980s horror feel. So if you liked Stephen King's It or Peter Straub's Ghost Story, you will definitely like it. But it has a twist. It feels fresh. So sometimes people are like, well, they don't make them like they used to. And this definitely is "like they used to." But it will also, I think, surprise you and do something new.

Readers, we want to hear from you! What books are you turning to right now? Are you team #EscapistReads or team #PandemicReads? Email us at CodeSwitch@npr.org and tell us your thoughts. And stay tuned tomorrow, for another Q&A with one of our favorite authors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Colonialism, Eugenics And Downright Terror In 'Mexican Gothic'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
subscribe to Code Switch podcast subscribe to Code Switch podcast This week on the Code Switch podcast, we tried to settle a months-long debate we've been having on the team : Which kind of books are best to read during the pandemic? Ones that help you escape our current reality?