The Shrouded Woman: All You Need is Love

It was refreshing to read a book that discusses many experiences and struggles that women face from a female author’s perspective, especially after reading “Nadja” by Andre Breton who talks about a woman’s suffering from his male point of view. I started this reading with the expectation that it would retaliate against Breton’s questionable perspective of women and focus more on aspects about gender. The book does talk about this, but I found one of the more central themes to be about love, or lack thereof. In Bombal’s “The Shrouded Woman”, we learn about the details of Ana-Maria’s relationships as she sees several men from her past for the last time on her deathbed. If I’m being honest, I was shocked and a bit judgmental when her husband, Antonio, made an appearance because it felt like Ana-Maria’s roster of men never seemed to end. A thought popped into my head that maybe she is the problem in these relationships and the reason that they didn’t work out too well. However, this thought was disregarded as I realized that Ana-Maria simply had many unfortunate experiences of not receiving enough love. Maybe it was partly her fault, maybe it was partly the man’s fault, but ultimately, she never received genuine love. I also found the theme of religion to be an interesting aspect of the book, especially because Ana-Maria seemed to have an unorthodox view against religion and God. It is yet another example of Ana-Maria not receiving the love she needs, as she is angry with God and has a poor relationship with Him. Even in the spiritual world, Ana-Maria does not receive love. 

In addition, Ana-Maria never fully got what she needed or wanted in life and was constantly under the control of the various men she was with. The book talks about how a woman’s identity is defined by and revolves around men, as noted in the book, “Why, oh why must a woman’s nature be such that a man has always to be the pivot of her life?” (p. 226). Going back to the religious example, Ana-Maria was laid to rest with a crucifix on her chest, reinforcing the idea that even though she appears to have a troublesome relationship with God, her physical body is still associated with Him. 

I don’t think Ana-Maria lived a very full and happy life. Living this life on earth is exhausting as it is, but having to endure miserable relationships and be constantly defined by men makes it worse. It is so damaging and burdensome that the only way for her to feel rested and at peace is to be dead and alone.

My question for discussion is “what other ways do you think religion played in this book?”.