Mexican Gothic

by

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Noemí visits Catalina in the morning. Her cousin reminds Noemí of a drawing of Ophelia that used to hang in her house. She seems distant, but still, it’s good to see Catalina, and Noemí updates her on all the gossip from Mexico City. Then Noemí asks Catalina what she spends her time doing, and her cousin responds that the house takes up most of her time. It’s damp and dark, and very cold. The smile fades from Catalina’s lips, and her eyes—which had been distant—suddenly fall on Noemí with renewed lucidity. She asks Noemí to do something for her in secret: visit a woman in town named Marta Duval. Marta’s been making medicine for Catalina, and she needs more. Noemí tries to ask questions, but Catalina shushes her—they can hear you, she says, it’s in the walls.
The reference to Ophelia, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, affirms Catalina’s tragic position. Ophelia’s life was dominated by the men around her, driving her to madness. Tragically. her suicide is the only time in the play that she expresses her own agency. Catalina resembles Ophelia in more ways than one: her life is dominated by Virgil, she has an illness that affects her mental acuity, and, as the reader will soon see, she appears to attempt to take her own life.
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
Catalina continues to whisper nonsensically: “The walls speak to me. They tell me secrets. Don’t listen to them.” Catalina abruptly stops speaking, just before Florence enters the room. Florence announces that Dr. Cummins has arrived—Noemí can wait downstairs for him while he examines Catalina. Noemí waits in the sitting room, and after a while the doctor strides in, accompanied by Virgil. Noemí asks the doctor about her cousin, who quickly explains that Catalina has tuberculosis, but it’s nothing to worry about—she just needs plenty of rest and a good diet. He grabs his bag and prepares to leave, but Noemí stops him.
That Catalina won’t express her fears in front of Florence positions her as an antagonist to Catalina. Additionally, that Florence won’t allow Noemí to see Dr. Cummins examine Catalina makes it appear like she’s hiding something.
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
Noemí insists that Catalina is acting very odd; when she was a little girl, Noemí’s aunt Brigida had tuberculosis and she acted nothing like the way Catalina acts. Plus, Catalina wrote a very strange letter, and she just seems unlike herself. Doctor Cummins dismisses Noemí’s concerns; tuberculosis doesn’t change a person, it merely intensifies what is already there. Catalina is a very anxious, quite melancholic girl, he claims, and she has depressive tendencies. Virgil chimes in, explaining that Catalina has had great periods of melancholy since her mother died. Tuberculosis has simply made the depression worse.
Dr. Cummins confirms what Noemí has already been told: Catalina has tuberculosis. But Noemí again demonstrates her rebelliousness by refusing to mutely accept assertions from male authority figures. She challenges Dr. Cummins, and Virgil (another male authority figure) comes to his defense.
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
Feeling that the matter is settled, the doctor leaves. Virgil takes the doctor’s seat. To Noemí, Virgil looks bloodless, like he has ice in his veins. She can’t picture him showing affection towards any living thing, let alone Catalina. Did he really court her cousin? Virgil assures Noemí that Dr. Cummins is a capable physician—he’s the Doyle family doctor, they trust him implicitly. Noemí again brings up the idea of taking Catalina to a physician in Mexico City, but Virgil strongly opposes this suggestion. He acknowledges that his house has fallen in grandeur, but he insists that he knows how to take care of his wife.
Noemí challenges male authority and loses, causing her to see Virgil in a new light. He no longer appears suave; instead he looks cold and uncaring. Noemí suggests moving Catalina to Mexico City, but Virgil asserts his right as Catalina’s husband: he decides what happens to her.
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
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Noemí next suggests that they find a psychiatrist to come and evaluate Catalina. Virgil laughs in her face. Where would she find a psychiatrist around here? There’s a reason the family has an English doctor—El Triunfo is poor and the people are coarse and primitive. Still, Noemí insists on finding a second opinion. Virgil mocks her, “You get your way in most things, don’t you, Miss Taboada?” He sneers, “Men do as you wish.” Noemí is reminded of a fellow she danced with last summer; they were having fun, but the man held her too tightly and tried to kiss her. She refused him, and a look of pure, dark scorn came over his face. Virgil now stares at her with the same look.
Here Virgil reveals that he, like his father, has racist views of the indigenous people around him. His use of the word “primitive” seems especially colonial. Additionally, Virgil is not used to having his authority questioned—that it was done by a woman is particularly offensive to him. He thinks of women who challenge him as being worthy of mockery and ridicule.
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
Colonialism Theme Icon
Quotes
Noemí asks Virgil what he means. He says that he recalls Catalina mentioning how insistent Noemí could be when she wanted a man to do her bidding. He then relents, saying that he doesn’t want to fight with Noemí. She can get a second opinion—if, of course, she can find one. Virgil leaves, and Noemí feels a little pleased to have needled him. She senses that both Virgil and Doctor Cummins expected her to mutely accept their words.
Virgil eventually acquiesces, but it’s becoming more apparent how little authority Noemí actually has here, despite her father’s name. Virgil’s anger reveals that women at High Place are meant to accept the whims of men without complaint. 
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
That night, Noemí dreams that a golden flower sprouts from the walls in her bedroom—only it doesn’t quite seem like a flower, and it has tendrils. A hundred tiny golden mushrooms sprout from the walls too. She touches them and they explode, coating her hands in golden dust. Suddenly, Noemí becomes aware of another presence in the room: a woman in a dress of yellow antique lace. Where her face ought to be, there is a golden glow, like the mushrooms on the walls. The walls start to quiver and the floorboards pulse to the same rhythm as the golden woman.
The golden woman that haunts Noemí’s dream seems to be some kind of manifestation of the flowers and mushrooms, which pervade the house.
Themes
Life, Death, and Rebirth Theme Icon
The woman raises her hand and points at Noemí. She tries to speak but has no mouth, so she cannot. Noemí wasn’t afraid until this moment—something about the woman trying to speak but not being able to terrifies her. The woman makes a noise, almost like the crunching of leaves or the buzzing of insects, and Noemí tries to put her hands over her ears, but she can’t—she has no hands anymore. Noemí wakes up drenched in sweat. The bedroom is dark.
Interestingly, the golden woman is missing a mouth—it’s almost like the house rule about silence has been forced on her, too. Noemí is only frightened when she sees the woman attempt and then fail to speak, suggesting that silenced women (signifying oppression, perhaps) terrify Noemí.
Themes
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power Theme Icon
Quotes