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Chapter 16
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 finds it difficult to fall asleep, so she decides to take a bath. She fills the tub with steaming water and steps inside. She begins to relax, thinking that it’d be nice to go on a vacation—somewhere with a beach. She’d invite Hugo Duarte. No, who was she kidding? She yearned for Francis now, not Hugo. Though a young woman her age was not supposed to know anything about desire, Noemí had experienced kisses, embraces, and certain caresses. The reason she hasn’t slept with any of the men she dated has less to do with sin than with the concern that they’d talk about it with their friends, or worse, entrap her.
One of the most powerful forces in Noemí’s life is scandal—the whole reason her father sent her here was to avoid a scandal, after all. She hasn’t slept with any of the men she’s dated for fear of generating a scandal, and as a woman, she’s more vulnerable than a man to this type of public disgrace.
Themes
She continues to rest, staring at the ceiling and contemplating the mold. Then she turns her head and sees Virgil standing in the doorway. He tells her that there’s no need for her to speak, no need for her to move. Noemí feels shame and anger coarse through her. She wants to yell at Virgil and slap him. But she’s not able to move her hand, and she can’t open her mouth either. “They can make you think things,” a voice whispers, “they make you do things.”
Though a voice in Noemí’s head suggests that Virgil is somehow preventing Noemí from reacting, a broader observation can be made: men with power often threaten women into silence during an assault. It’s telling that Noemí feels shame, even though she has nothing to be ashamed of—if people knew that Virgil saw her naked, it would likely be Noemí whose reputation was ruined by the scandal, not Virgil.
Themes
Virgil tells her to be a good girl, then leans over and kisses her. “Open your eyes,” the voice says. Noemí wants to shove Virgil off of her, but she still can’t move. Virgil kisses her neck, her chest, then runs his hand down to her thighs. Noemí isn’t shivering in fear anymore—it’s desire that’s making her shudder. She no longer feels that Virgil is an intruder. “Open your eyes,” hisses the voice. Noemí turns her head and the ceiling melts away—she sees a pale mushroom that looks like a snake rising through the ground, piercing an egg. She recognizes it as a specimen that she saw depicted in Francis’s room: universal veil.
The voice urging Noemí to “open her eyes” seems to be on her side, but it’s unclear who the voice belongs to. Noemí’s strange vision of the fungus called the universal veil suggests that there’s something inhibiting her senses—some sort of veil that’s preventing her from fighting against Virgil.
Themes
Noemí snaps her eyes open. Water drips down her back and fingertips, and her bathrobe is not cinched. The room she is in is dark, but she sees a lamp brighten as someone adjusts it. Virgil Doyle sits in his bed, raising the lamp that was resting at his bedside. Noemí asks what’s going on, and Virgil responds that she must have sleepwalked into his bedroom. Noemí manages to clumsily close her robe, and Virgil gets up to fetch her a towel. He tells her to sit down and have a sip of wine, and though Noemí wants to leave, she’s in such a state of anxiousness that she obeys Virgil.
Noemí is vulnerable when sleepwalking, and now that she’s walked into Virgil’s bedroom with her robe open, she feels particularly ashamed and defenseless. Though the last time she was here and Virgil told her to sit she refused, now she obeys Virgil without objection.
Themes
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Noemí’s mind is hazy. She doesn’t know what to say. She tells Virgil that he was in her dream. Virgil smiles and says that he hopes the dream was good. Noemí comes to her senses and feels repulsion in the pit of her stomach. She says his presence in her dream was an intrusion. She stands up and declares that she’ll be heading back to her room now. Virgil stands too and asks Noemí what she dreamt about. Noemí tries not to blush, but the thought of his mouth on hers and his hands on her thighs sends a thrill though her body. The dream felt like desire, danger, and scandal—all those things her body and mind have quietly coveted. She blushes, and Virgil smiles. Even though it’s impossible, Noemí is sure Virgil knows about her dream. She grabs Virgil’s lamp and marches back to her room.
Virgil’s smile and insistence on getting her to admit what the dream was about seem to indicate that he knows more than he’s letting on. Noemí’s feelings about Virgil are a mixture of desire and repulsion—she thinks his behavior is abhorrent, but he’s attractive and seductive. Perhaps these confused feelings are the result of society’s repression of women; because women are shamed for experiencing or talking about sex and desire, women like Noemí are woefully underprepared for dealing with this type of behavior. She knows that Virgil’s advances were wrong and unwanted, yet she was still aroused.
Themes
