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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mexican Gothic, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power
Nature vs. Love
Colonialism
Life, Death, and Rebirth
Summary
Analysis
Noemí packs her suitcases, feeling disloyal for leaving Catalina. The Doyles have planned a farewell dinner, and as Noemí walks into the dining room, she finds it elaborately decorated. The ban on conversation has been lifted, but Noemí finds it difficult to talk with anyone besides Francis. Virgil is a bully, and Florence is not much better. After the meal, Virgil announces that they’ll be heading upstairs to visit Howard, who is expecting them. Noemí tries to make conversation and asks about the mine. Was the heavy rain the reason it closed? Virgil tells her that they couldn’t find enough workers with the Revolution going on, and finally the mine flooded, ending operations. But that’ll change soon, he says. Catalina has decided to invest in the mine. Just as a plant must find the light, the Doyles will soon find their way in the world.
Virgil’s revelation that Catalina’s money will reopen the mine provides the motivation behind Virgil’s decision to marry Catalina. It is as Noemí’s father feared: Virgil married her to take her money. Yet, there’s a contradiction here: for all of Virgil’s talk about genetic (and racial) superiority, he has to rely on a non-white woman’s money in order to refinance his mine and help his family “find their way in the world.” Surely if the Doyles actually were superior they could advance based on their own merit. Thus, this is one of a few moments in the novel where the reader can see the holes in the Doyles’ eugenics-based thinking.
Themes
Virgil’s revelation about the mine annoys Noemí. She wants to get this visit with Howard over with so that she can go to bed. The group proceeds to Howard’s room, and Florence begins to peel back the curtains of Howard’s bed. Noemí is shocked to see Howard lying there naked—his skin is terribly pale, and there are thick, pulsating boils on his leg. Virgil whispers that she must get closer, and he grabs her arm and forces her to her knees at Howard’s side. The smell makes Noemí want to retch. Howard leans forward and grabs her head, pulls her in, and forces his mouth on hers. Noemí feels his tongue and saliva in her mouth, and she becomes very lightheaded.
This sexual assault mirrors the dream in which Virgil sexually assaulted Noemí—horrifically, fantasy continues to blend with reality (or perhaps predict it). Strangely, Howard’s saliva induces a vision, almost like a hallucinogenic drug.
Themes
Noemí’s vision goes black. She then looks around and sees that she’s in a cave. There are other people too. She sees a man who resembles Howard being handed a cup and drinking deeply from it. He stumbles after he drinks. A voice in Noemí’s head tells her that he’s been ill for a long time, suffering from an illness that has no cure. In his desperation, he found this place. The people here didn’t like him at first, but they were poor and he had a purse fat with silver. But money wasn’t everything, the man knew—he was these people’s natural superior, and they recognized him as such.
At this point it’s unclear whether this man is Howard or an ancestor of Howard. This vision seems to be a history of the Doyles’ presence in El Triunfo. Not surprisingly, the Doyles’ attitude of racial superiority was present from the very beginning, affecting their earliest relationships with the indigenous people.
Themes
In the corner of the cave, Noemí sees a woman watching Doyle and an old man tending an altar. This is a holy site, but instead of candles there’s fungus. The room flickers, and Noemí knows that time has passed in the vision. The man looked sickly before, but now he seems hearty, as if his vitality has been restored. He has married the woman, following the custom of her people. But Noemí feels the disgust that he has for her, even if he has a smile on his face. He knows that he needs these people. He needs to learn their secrets. Eternal life is here for the taking, and these fools just can’t understand it. But this man sees the possibilities.
The indigenous people worship mushrooms, which seem to have some sort of healing property (evidenced by Doyle’s recovery). Doyle initially follows the customs of the indigenous people (and even marries an indigenous woman), but he only does this so that he can learn more about the mushrooms and use them for his own benefit—his respect of their customs is an exploitative sham, maintained only until he no longer needs them.
Themes
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The man knows that the woman he married will never do. But Doyle has two sisters back home, and that’s the key. It’s in his blood, the priest has said so already, so it will be in their blood too. Noemí’s vision blurs and time passes again. She sees Doyle drown the priest, then it’s all chaos and fire and smoke. Doyle killed their priest, and now he has burned all the people’s possessions. As the cave fills with a suffocating amount of smoke, Doyle hauls his wife onto a boat and escapes. He finds the woman ugly, but she is pregnant—she has a purpose to serve.
Howard is a typical colonizer: he discovers indigenous people with a resource that he wants for himself, so he kills them and takes it. Additionally, the fungus has beneficial effects for Doyle because of something “in his blood,” and this coincidence has certainly fueled the Doyles’ eugenics-based superiority complex.
Themes
