What struck me at beginning of Sab was the stark contrast of the juxtapositions. In the first few pages she positions images of Sab against slaves, slaves against Carlotta and Theresa against Carlotta. Theresa is wearing a mask but hers is seen as negative, contrasting Sab’s positive one, neither one is seen; their souls and power are hidden. She hides behind a protective emotionless and severe hardness, yet she is an emotional, compassion person. Sab is first mistaken for an educated farmer. Society’s label is the mask to a soul remarkable different from expectation. Theresa is also contrasted against Carlotta who is on the inside as she appears to be, naïve, sensitive, and tender.
Sab stands out to the point that Enrique is mesmerized. On page 30
Avellaneda poses a description of Sab against a description of slaves, “…brows seared with mark of slavery just as their souls are branded with the desperation of Hell”. In the following paragraph Sab is described as extraordinary, “In effect, the bearing of that farmer [Sab] seemed to reveal something great and noble which attracted attention, and what the stranger heard, expressed in a language and with an eloquence which belied the class his dress appeared to denote, increased his admiration and curiosity”. (p.30) Enrique is fascinated with him because his interior does not appear to match his exterior, as defined by the culture they lived in. Sab is a slave, who are described in the preceding paragraph as degraded humanity, brutes, “brows seared with the mark of slavery”, but he is educated, eloquent, great and noble. Sab is able to contradict the labels. He explains himself on p. 30 “It can happen,” he said, again fixing his eyes on the stranger, “that at times the soul is free and noble though the body be enslaved and base.”
The poem at the start of chapter one describes the difficulty in determining oneself true self from one’s perception by society.
“The tyrannical influences of my guiding star formed me
into a monster of such rare quality
that while I am of heroic lineage
in the endowments of my soul,
I am also the scorn of the world”
I think this verse is ambiguous in that it could be referring to the author herself or to Sab. But ‘The tyrannical influences formed me into a monster’, says to me that he identifies himself as the monster society sees. There is acknowledgement along with the blame. It foreshadows the theme of hidden souls not just in slaves, but in all of her characters, and of the difficulty of not assimilating the perceptions and labels of the culture into one’s personal true identity.
This is the first work I have read by this author and I find the text well written and very enjoyable.
February 17, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Interesting comment that those lines (“the scorn of the world”) could refer to the author herself. Out of curiosity, how do you see that? I don’t believe that Avellaneda suffered the societal scorn and rejection of Sab in its entirety, although her lifestyle and the fact that she was a writer brought her not a little grief, and certainly in her rejection in being accepted as a member of the Real Academia, especially since, as one member noted, she was “more qualified than most in being on that revered committee.”
I liked your idea of “hidden souls” and find that to be an interesting facet of romanticism (if indeed it is; I am still very much in the “re-learning” stage of my education!)